Considering the fact Batman mostly fights other humans in costumes, some fans the impression that his rogues’ gallery isn’t that dangerous, but one of his wackiest villains showed how deadly he is by taking down the entire Doom Patrol.
The Mad Hatter is a Batman villain who isn’t often used but can be terrifying when he is. Jervis Tetch was a brilliant scientist who had a debilitating fixation on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland stories. Jervis even led his own gang based on the Wonderland stories at one point, but this isn’t what made him dangerous. What makes the Mad Hatter stand out from the other villains in Batman rogues’ gallery is the fact Jervis is extremely capable of mind control. When someone wears one of Jervis’ hats he can order them to do whatever he pleases, which makes him unbelievably dangerous.
While Jervis’s ability for mind control undeniably makes him dangerous, one might think that as long as someone isn’t wearing one of his special hats. Well, in the pages of Gail Simone’s and Brad Walker’s Secret Six #4 readers are shown just how wrong that is. When the Secret Six comes up against the Doom Patrol, they are completely and hopelessly outmatched. After all, the Doom Patrol is used to fighting reality-bending villains. Deadshot isn’t exactly a threat when compared to the likes of Mr. Nobody. This is why it is such a shock when an even smaller villain, comparatively speaking, is brought in and promptly destroys the Doom Patrol with only a few words.
Mad Hatter Showed His True Power Fighting The Doom Patrol
After arriving on the scene, Jervis demonstrates the true extent of his power, where he manages to hypnotize every member of the Doom Patrol with but a few words and gestures. While this bypasses Jervis’ usual weakness of needing his victims to wear his hats, it’s not impossible to believe that Jervis manages to do it with radio waves or some other signal coming from his own hat. Jervis has in the past been portrayed as being able to hypnotize without the use of his hat, such as in his side mission in Arkham Origins when he hypnotizes Batman using a clock and a few words. Jervis almost manages to achieve what Deathstroke can’t. The Mad Hatter manages to take control of Elasti-Girl’s mind, using her to almost bite Beast Boy’s head off. The only reason he stops is that Scandal Savage knocks Jervis’ hat off, which breaks his control over the Doom Patrol and also lends credence to the idea he is using his hat somehow to project his control.
Jervis Tetch manages to defeat an entire superhero team by himself with little effort on his part, and he’s someone who regularly fights Batman. The Mad Hatter’s defeat of the Doom Patrol just goes to show that while some of Batman‘s villains could be written off as silly or gimmicky, they can still be unbelievably dangerous.
