Man-Bat
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{{Superherobox
|image=Image:ManBatCv3.jpg
|caption=The Man-Bat.
Art by Mike Huddleston
|comic_color=background:#8080ff
|character_name=Man-Bat
|real_name=Doctor Kirk Langstrom
|publisher=DC Comics
|debut=Detective Comics #400
|creators=Frank Robbins and Neal Adams
|alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
|status=Active
|alliances=
|previous_alliances=Assorted Batman rogues
|aliases=
|relatives=Francine Langstrom (wife), Rebecca Langstrom (daughter)
|powers=Flight, echolocation, above-human strength
|}}
Man-Bat (real name Dr. Kirk Langstrom) is a fictional character in DC Comics' universe who first appeared in Detective Comics #400, illustrated by Neal Adams.
Contents |
Character history
Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a scientist specializing in the study of bats, developed an extract intended to give humans the bat's sonar sense and tested the formula on himself because he was becoming deaf. While it worked, it had a horrible side effect; transforming him gradually into a hideous human bat.
He first clashed with Batman when he tried to steal the chemicals needed to reverse his transformation, but his control over the new animalistic instincts resulting from his bat-like state was tenuous, and Batman was forced to subdue him in order to administer the antidote. Langstrom was cured, but still unbalanced; shortly afterwards, he transformed himself again and kidnapped his fiancée Francine, turning her into a human bat like himself with the intention of starting a new race of bat-like beings. Again, Batman was able to subdue the pair and return them to normal.
Langstrom later refined his serum, enabling him to retain his human intelligence while in bat form, and allowing himself control over his transformations. He worked for a while as a detective and independent crime fighter as Man-Bat, while he and Francine married and had a daughter, Rebecca. Eventually, however, his instability returned and he was left unable to control his transformations. In this condition, he clashed several times with Batman in the Batcave (which he found by following other bats through the network of caverns; he did not recall its location in human form, and he never knew Batman's secret identity), believing — erroneously — that his daughter was dead and that Batman was somehow responsible.
Although he briefly regained control of his transformations, after Infinite Crisis, this appears to have changed. He recently has begun to suspect that his cures missed an element of the serum, and he's losing control to his bat side. He believes he has slaughtered his own wife, son, and daughter.
Elseworlds
The Batman: Man-Bat mini-series, by Jamie Delano and John Bolton, is an Elseworlds showing Kirk and Francine, now living exclusively in bat form, with a teenaged son. Man-Bat, more unstable than ever (although at least coherent), was determined to replace the human race with a "superior" species of man-bat hybrids. There's nothing about this story that suggests it was originally intended to be an Elseworlds episode, which suggests that it was assigned that way because it effectively made Man-Bat into a Ra's al Ghul-style megalomaniac, which apparently contradicted other plans for the character. Some assume that the comic was already completed or close to completion when the conflict arose, leading DC to go ahead with its publication but under the Elseworlds Banner.
Other media
Man-bat has appeared in several Batman animation series including The Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, and The Adventures of Batman and Superman. He is played by Marc Singer in the latter two series.
In Batman: The Animated Series, Dr. Kirk Langstrom is a zoologist at the Gotham City Zoo. He first appeared in On Leather Wings, where he begins to steal a serum at the chemical labs. Langstrom also has a wife named Francine Langstrom. One night, Langstrom begins to drink the serum, when Batman arrives to question him - revealing himself as the thief of the serum from the chemical labs. Langstrom begins to transform into a half-man, half-bat creature, and turns on Batman. Francine arrives at the lab and discovers that the creature is her husband. Langstrom is cured and returns to his wife.
In Terror in the Sky, Langstrom is having a dream that he transforms into Man-Bat, and he begins to eat a fruit. Then, Langstrom is awakened, just to find the remains of the fruit. Then, as Francine decides to go to another city, he then discovers that the other Man-Bat turns out to be Francine herself. In the end, Batman cures Francine, and she returns to her husband.
In The Batman, Langstrom (played by Peter MacNicol) is an employee in Wayne Industries doing research on bats and apparently afflicted with albinism. When Bruce Wayne begins to cut off his project, Langstrom tells Bruce that he needs the project to cure the deafness of his niece, Carlie. When Bruce discovers that Langstrom was lying, he goes to Langstrom's office to discover the project's real purpose. Langstrom arrived in his vault to find his boss there, and drinks a serum, transforming him into a half-man, half-bat creature. He attacks Bruce at his office, and escapes. Bruce changes into Batman and confronts Man-Bat in the skies of Gotham City. They land on the ground, and Langstrom reverts back in his human form. To be safe, Batman destroys one of Langstrom's vials. Langstrom drinks the remaining vial, transforms back to Man-Bat, and kidnaps Detective Ethan Bennet. Batman confronts Man-Bat in a sewer, and Langstrom reverts back to his human form, and he was taken away to Arkham Asylum.
In Pets, Langstrom is still in Arkham and trying to recreate the Man-Bat serum, while The Penguin finds a sonar device he wanted to use on his birds. When Penguin uses the device, Langstrom transforms to Man-Bat and instinctively goes to the Penguin's hideout. Somehow, Penguin is able to use Man-bat to do his bidding for him, returning him to his human form by saying "rest." Langstrom is furious with Penguin when he learned that Penguin plans to use it to turn Langstrom from human to a half-man, half-bat creature. At the docks, Batman confronts Man-Bat, and, using his own sonar device, revert him back to his human form. Langstrom and Penguin are both taken back to Arkham.