This text comprises spoilers for “Batman: Caped Crusader” Season 2, Episode 4, “The Satan’s Due.”
“Batman: Caped Crusader” is about within the Nineteen Forties, and the present is predicated on the earliest Batman comics from that decade. You possibly can see that in Batman’s design, which resembles his unique designs by Invoice Finger and Bob Kane (longer ears on his cowl, smaller gloves with no spiked fins, and many others.)
Now, “Caped Crusader” has launched one of many first ever Batman villains: the Mad Monk, who debuted in 1939’s “Detective Comics” #31 (by Kane, Gardner Fox, and Sheldon Moldoff) and fought Batman nicely earlier than now-classic foes just like the Joker, the Riddler, and many others. Amazingly sufficient, that is additionally the primary time the Mad Monk has appeared in “Batman” animation, which may be defined by each his relative obscurity and in addition the horror-tinged overtones of his character. “Caped Crusader,” which is geared toward an older viewers, can embrace these.
As within the comics, the Monk (voiced by Blythe Melin) is a cult chief. In “The Satan’s Due” his flock worships the bat god Barbatos, which pulls from a a lot later wrinkle to the Batman legend. The Monk’s robes are purple, however are given new bat motifs resembling Batman’s personal costume.
The cult imagine Batman (Hamish Linklater) is an avatar of Barbatos, they usually want his blood to summon their god. No less than, that is what the Monk says. The episode’s twist is that he doesn’t imagine in Barbatos, and is barely utilizing the parable to swindle his followers. He even tries to rope Batman into the grift, solely to seek out himself stabbed by one of many true believers he cultivated. “Batman: Caped Crusader” has confirmed unafraid of supernatural tales, however on this case selected to discover the all-too widespread development of phony cult leaders.
Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 brings within the Mad Monk and Barbatos
In “Detective Comics” #31-32, the Monk was a really supernatural foe: a vampire who may shapeshift right into a wolf. A vampire is a simple foe to match up with Batman; he is a person who attire like a bat, whereas Rely Dracula and his ilk can actually turn out to be bats.
To point out you ways early into Batman’s historical past this was, he killed the monk by taking pictures him with a silver bullet. Sure, Batman used the deadly drive of a gun, which is one thing you’d by no means see at present. This was earlier than Batman developed a “rogues gallery” of villains; the Joker himself was meant to die in his first look (“Batman” #1) too, earlier than a final minute edit saved him.
The Monk was revisited within the 2006-2007 mini-series “Batman: The Mad Monk” by Matt Wagner, which remade the unique “Detective Comics” story. Right here, the Monk’s nature was extra ambiguous. He claims to be a vampire named Niccolai Tepes and drinks blood from his sacrificial victims’ necks (then shares that blood together with his followers in a goblet, evoking Christian communion). Batman, although, involves imagine he is actually Richard Rallstone, the scion of a wealthy Gotham household, pulling a con. The comedian suggests maybe Rallstone was possessed by a real demonic drive whereas touring Europe, however the Monk is incinerated by a strike of lightning and the questions stay unanswered.
“The Satan’s Due” owes most to Wagner’s “Mad Monk” by depicting the villain as a charlatan with a mass of followers. Him supposedly wanting Batman’s blood may learn as a nod to vampirism, however he by no means drinks from anybody’s opened neck. Not for nothing, “Caped Crusader” already did a vampire villain final season, so possibly there was reluctance to revisit that.
In Batman comics, Barbatos is all too actual
“The Satan’s Due” depicts Barbatos as a centuries-old Gotham city legend that the Monk appropriated for his cult. There’s by no means any true doubt raised that possibly Barbatos is actual, however in DC Comics, he completely is. The character goes again to the underrated story arc “Batman: Darkish Knight, Darkish Metropolis” by Peter Milligan and Kieron Dwyer (revealed in “Batman” #452-454).
In the course of the 1700s, in early colonial Gotham, a gaggle of males tried to summon Barbatos (initially spelled Barbathos) to grant them energy. However this “Ceremony of the Bat” went awry. The cultists fled, leaving their meant sufferer (a lady named Dominique) and Barbathos trapped within the cellar the place they’d carried out the act.
The trendy Gotham Metropolis was constructed upon this tomb and Barbathos’ affect traveled up like the town’s root. Barbathos manipulated Gotham’s creation, stone by stone, to create the person who would someday set him free: Batman. This recontextualizes your entire historical past of Batman; he lives in an accursed metropolis, one the place a vigilante dressed like a bat is the one sane response to its woes.
As a substitute of scary us with a buried bat demon, “The Satan’s Due” is in the end a couple of more true corruptive evil: demagoguery. One of many Monk’s meant victims is Hattie Tetch (Laraine Newman), a sensationalist discuss present host turning Gotham’s public opinion towards Batman by blaming the cult’s murders on him. Each the Monk and Hattie undertake platforms of legitimacy and unfold lies to wayward souls for their very own profit. Hattie manipulates through mass media, whereas the Monk does so with religion and guarantees of godly energy. That Hattie nearly winds up on the flawed finish of his knife exhibits which is extra harmful.
“Batman: Caped Crusader” is streaming on Prime Video.
