Gotham’s premiere hero Batman has had plenty of villains try to copy his style, but one baddie actually has the fighting ability to keep up with the Dark Knight. Thomas Blake, aka Catman, is more than just the Dark Knight’s second most-well-known cat-themed adversary. After a massive reinvention of his life, he became one of the few villains that could actually go toe-to-toe with Batman in a fight.
Catman was one of the star characters of writer Gail Simone’s run on Secret Six, a comic about a group of supervillains turned mercenaries. Having become a joke both in-world and in real-life, Simone revitalized Blake by having him go through a metaphorical rebirth that turned him into one of the deadliest trackers in the DC Universe. His skillset made him quite useful as a member of the Six to the point where he was once dispatched to handle Batman in one of their earliest missions.
In Secret Six #2, by Gail Simone, Nicola Scott, Doug Hazelwood, Jason Wright, Cliff Chiang, and Travis Lanham, Batman waits for Catman on a rooftop after delivering a warning to the Secret Six to not proceed with their most recent job. The two have a short discussion where Blake makes it clear that he isn’t the same Catman anymore and that he has no qualms about fighting Batman directly. The two quickly begin to spar with Catman getting in several good hits and even gaining the advantage over Batman. The Dark Knight recovers and gives Blake one final warning for Blake’s team before Catman smugly responds saying that the Six have already started on their job.
It turns out, Catman was simply meant to distract Batman while the rest of the Secret Six broke into the metahuman prison Alcatraz to free their target, Tarantula. While the mercenaries go on with their prison break, Batman and Catman continue their fight, with the former imploring that their mission could lead to people’s deaths, including Blake and his teammates. However, Batman’s words fall on deaf ears as Blake stops the fight, considering he’d given his team enough time to complete their mission. In a final snub towards his rival, Catman tells Batman “I let you win, you know.” It may be that Blake was simply saving face, but he did successfully keep Batman distracted in a fight that lasted for the entire issue. Batman never did serious damage to Catman and both sides walked away assured that they were the victor. Not enough to truly claim victory, but there’s definitely enough evidence to say Catman is certainly Batman’s equal.
Secret Six treated Thomas Blake with a level of respect he had never seen before, and the series was full of moments that showed that such respect was well-deserved. Nothing showed the fighting prowess of the reinvigorated Catman more than his extremely close fight with Batman.
Next: DC Needs to Bring Back Their Better Suicide Squad, The Secret Six
