The iconic Batman: The Animated Series ran for over 100 episodes, and gave us incredible interpretations of the Dark Knight’s legendary rogues’ gallery. But even with that many episodes, Bruce Timm and company left out a few baddies, for various reasons. In the new Batman: Caped Crusader series, Timm is finally doing his version of some of these forgotten villains. Villains that we admit are a kind of D-listers at DC Comics. These criminals are Natalia Knight, Firebug, and Gentleman Ghost. Because of their less-than-glorious status, Timm and company reinvented these bad guys almost from the ground up, with some connective tissue to the original comics. Here’s how they transitioned from comics to Caped Crusader.
Nocturna/Natalia Knight
Natalia Knight was created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Newton, and first appeared in 1983’s Batman #363. A character conceived in the Vampira/Elvira mode, she is a sexy and deathly pale woman with jet-black hair, with an equally slinky black dress. She and her brother, who went by the name Night Slayer, inherited their father’s criminal empire. When Natalia became afflicted with a disease that robbed her skin of all pigment, she adopted the name Nocturna. Although she looked like a vampire, she was actually just extremely goth. She did have the power to teleport short distances, however. In DC’s New 52 reboot, they reimagined Nocturna as Natalia Mitternacht (German for “midnight”), now an actual vampire.
Natalia Knight Was Almost in Batman: The Animated Series Twice
In the ‘90s, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini wanted to use Nocturna, and had plans to make her an actual vampire. This was something DC wouldn’t actually do for years in the comics. Timm even drew up concept art, and Dini wrote a script. Fox Kids Network censors would not allow an actual vampire on children’s programming. Even when they tried to pitch Nocturna a few years later to Kids WB for The New Batman Adventures, the answer was the same. But now that Caped Crusader doesn’t have to worry about network censors, Nocturna has finally made it to animation. Although plans for her character have changed.
Natalia Knight in Batman: Caped Crusader Channels Wednesday Addams
Instead of a slinky vampiress in the Morticia Addams style, Natalia Knight in Caped Crusader is a child, more akin to Wednesday Addams, not her mom. Natalia is now an energy vampire, sapping the strength and life energy from those around her, praying on kids who wander into a carnival. She still works with her brother, who is now a sideshow charlatan. He created a machine that would mitigate her illness. This cure left her with a need to absorb human energy. Like her original comic book counterpart, she sunlight remains deadly to her.
Firebug
Chances are, if you’re a big enough Batman fan, you’re aware of Firefly. This pyromaniac villain has appeared in Batman: The Animated Series, the 2004 cartoon series The Batman, not to mention in live-action in Arrow. He was set to be a villain in Batgirl, played by Brendan Fraser. He first appeared in the comics back in the early 50s. But there’s a second pyromaniac Batman villain who is far more obscure whom people often confuse with Firefly. His name is Firebug, although his civilian name is Joe Rigger.
Firebug Is Often Confused With Firefly
Firebug, created by Len Wein and Irv Novick, actually debuted back in 1979. Joe Rigger made a mere handful of appearances. A military demolition expert, when three members of his family all die due to negligence in their buildings, he decides to burn said buildings to the ground. He made only a few appearances over the years. Usually, the already-existing Firefly overshadows him. His original costume was like a garish red and yellow circus outfit, and for his modern appearances, he wore something a little more intimidating. He never even appeared in any cartoon, TV series, or film. Until now of course.
Firebug Finally Appears in Animation
In Batman: Caped Crusader, Firebug finally makes his animated debut. His fireproof costume and accompanying goggles look far more like Firefly’s do in the modern comics. In the episode, people even mistakenly call him Firefly, to which he quickly corrects them and lets them know it’s Firebug. Tom Kenny provides the voice. There’s not much backstory or motivation to his character beyond “pyromaniac.” He’s essentially used by the Gotham City Police as a means to lure the Batman out of the shadows. And when the corrupt cops who use him are done, they kill him. His time was brief, but after 45 years, Firebug finally made the big time.
The Gentleman Ghost
This oft-forgotten DC villain has fought the Dark Knight several times, but didn’t start out as a Batman villain. The Gentleman Ghost first appeared in 1947’s Flash Comics #88 as a villain for Hawkman and Hawkgirl to fight. The original version wasn’t really a ghost at all but a mortal criminal named Jim Craddock. Dressed in a pristine white 19th-century aristocrat’s outfit, his head only appears as a floating hat, monocle, and transparent face. He used magician’s tricks to make himself appear as a spirit but was fully alive, in a manner similar to future Scooby-Doo villains.
From Fake Ghost to Real Ghost
In the reborn DCU, Jim Craddock was indeed a 19th-century highway robber from England who made his way to America in the days of the Old West. The cowboy couple Nighthawk and Cinnamon encounter him and Craddock dies as a result of his tussle with the pair. An ancient curse says he will never move on from this Earthly plan until his killers are free of this mortal world and must always wander as a spirit. Sadly for Craddock, his killers are in an endless cycle of reincarnation, most recently emerging in the 20th century as Hawkman and Hawkgirl. So as long as they’re on Earth, so is he. Now stuck on Earth as ghost, Gentleman Jim still commits crimes of all sorts.
Gentlemen Ghost in Classic DC Animated Series
Gentleman Ghost has appeared before in animation, first in the 1970s Super Friends cartoon. Bruce Timm and the producers of Batman: The Animated Series wanted to utilize him, but it never materialized, possibly for the same reasons Natalia Knight never appeared. He appeared in the background of some Justice League Unlimited episodes but never as a main character. He did appear in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in a more comedic take, voiced by Greg Ellis.
Gentlemen Ghost Is Truly Scary in Batman: Caped Crusader
With Batman: Caped Crusader he finally appears in a Bruce Timm series in a main role. For this show, instead of no face and floating monocle, he wears a full face mask. He also looks dressed in 18th-century attire, setting him back even further in time than his DC Comics counterpart. His origin is now that he was once the wealthy aristocrat James Craddock, who lost the family fortune due to gambling. Believing wealth was his birthright as an aristocrat, he became a highwayman, robbing the “lower classes” of their money to give to himself. After his execution, his spirit continued his same criminal activities, more for revenge against the poor and less about acquiring wealth for himself.
Will a season two of Batman: Caped Crusader introduce new versions of forgotten Batman foes? We can only hope the creators dig through the archives and find some long-lost gems, ready for their close-up at last.