Hugo Strange

Hugo Strange
Cover to Batman: Gotham Knights #9. Art by Brian Bolland.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #36 (February 1940)
Created by	Bill Finger Bob Kane
In-story information
Alter ego	Hugo Strange
Notable aliases	Batman, Dr. Victor Absonus
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Trained in psychology, chemistry, and biology

Hugo Strange is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. He is one of Batman's first recurring villains. Hugo Strange is also the first Batman villain to deduce the hero's secret identity.

Hugo Strange first appeared in Detective Comics #36 (February 1940) and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Hugo Strange first appears as a scientist who uses a stolen "concentrated lightning" machine to generate a dense fog every night, allowing his gang such as the E-sida to rob banks unseen, though he knows Batman poses a threat to him. Batman, who already knows of Strange's experiments, begins investigating him after one of his henchmen kills a man. When his henchmen are apprehended, Strange vows to set a trap for Batman as the next target on the list. When Batman arrives, over a dozen of Strange's men are waiting for him, and one of them knocks him out with a blackjack. He wakes up in Strange's lair, where Strange hangs him from his wrists and lashes him with a whip. Batman breaks the ropes, gasses the room, and tackles Strange, who is jailed but plans to escape. In Hugo's second appearance he escapes from the "city asylum" with a gang of criminals, then breaks out "five insane patients" and uses them as test subjects, turning them into hulking 15 ft zombies by administering a powerful artificial growth hormone that acts on the pituitary gland. They wear bulletproof clothing, and he releases them to wreak havoc in Gotham City while his men commit robberies. Strange administers the serum to Batman after the giants capture him, saying it will work in 18 hours. Batman tricks two of the monsters into killing each other, and then saves himself by creating a drug that prevents any abnormal secretions from the pituitary gland. He is then able to kill all the other monsters, and sends Strange to his apparent demise, although he suspects that the mad scientist has survived. In Detective Comics #46 Strange starts spreading a fear-inducing powder around the city until a punch from Batman sends him falling to his apparent death.