Bat-Mite
Bat-Mite is a
fictional character who has appeared in
comic book stories published by
DC Comics. He first appeared in
Detective Comics #267 (May
1959).
Bat-Mite is an
imp similar to the
Superman villain
Mr. Mxyzptlk. He appears as a small childlike man in an ill-fitting
Batman costume, with a black lightning bolt instead of the Bat-insignia. Bat-Mite possesses near-infinite
magical powers and comes from another dimension, much like Mr. Mxyzptlk. In Bat-Mite's dimension, the resident imps idolize the heroes of the
DC Universe and impersonate them, re-enacting their heroic feats and adventures. Bat-Mite's favorite hero is Batman, and thus the imp visited Batman on various occasions, often setting up strange events so that he could see his hero in action. Despite this, Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a
supervillain, and often left his hero alone when he realized he had angered his idol again. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages of
World's Finest Comics to plague Superman and Batman together, as well.
Bat-Mite regularly appeared in
Batman,
Detective Comics, and
World's Finest Comics for five years. However in
1964, when the Batman titles were revamped with a more serious tone under new editor
Julius Schwartz, Bat-Mite vanished along with the other extraneous members of the Batman family such as
Ace the Bat-Hound. After this, only three more Bat-Mite stories were published in the pre-
Crisis DC Universe: two Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk teamups in
World's Finest Comics #152 (August 1965) and #169 (September 1967) (which were not edited by Schwartz but by
Mort Weisinger), and "Bat-Mite's New York Adventure" from
Detective Comics #482 (Februaryâ€"March 1979), in which the imp visits the DC Comics offices and insists that he be given his own feature in a Batman comic.
After the continuity-changing 1985
limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths was published, Bat-Mite was mostly removed from the Batman comics canon. Bat-Mite made an appearance in the series
Legends of the Dark Knight, although he may have been the
hallucination of a minor character. This version of Bat-Mite later appeared in
Mitefall, a
one-shot story in the same title book, that was a parody of the "
Knightfall" Batman storyline. He also appeared in the 2000 one-shot
else-world comic special
World's Funnest, in which he battles Mr. Mxyzptlk, destroying the pre-Crisis
multiverse and the Post-Crisis Universe of DC Comics, as well as the Elseworlds of
Kingdom Come,
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and the
DC Animated Universe. Despite being an Elseworlds story itself, it is not clear whether
World's Funnest is in continuity.
Apart from
World's Finest, there has been no direct connection between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk; the
World's Finest special implied that different rules applied to their powers. In the
Bizarro Comics anthology, Mxyzptlk's native 5th Dimension seemed to include beings similar to Bat-Mite and
Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt. Neither of these comics are considered canonical, however, in a JLA/JSA crossover in
JLA and in
JSA #78â€"80 it was revealed that both Mxyzptlk and Thunderbolt came from the 5th Dimension. Letter columns and writer interviews indicate that Bat-Mite comes from there as well, although this has never been shown thus far in the comic stories themselves.
In the post-Crisis issue
Superman/Batman #25, it was revealed that
the Joker had gained Bat-Mite's powers by absorbing his essence; at the end,
Bizarro was able to free him. As such Bat-Mite has been fully re-established into the current continuity, though his exact connection or whether he idolizes Batman like he previously did, has not been established.
 |
Bat-Mite, Batman, and Robin from The New Adventures of Batman. |
Bat-Mite was a regular character of the 1977
animated series The New Adventures Of Batman where he was depicted as a well meaning magical fan of the superhero. As such, he tried to help Batman even though he usually complicated matters. One episode featured his home planet, called Ergo, as well as a villain of Bat-Mite's species named Zarbor. Bat-Mite was voiced by
Lou Scheimer.
An
animatronic Bat-Mite briefly appeared in the "Deep Freeze" episode of
Batman: The Animated Series, in which Bat-Mite enthusiastically greeted Batman, saying, "Hi, Dynamic Duo! I'm your biggest fan!" before kissing Robin, who was shocked. It then malfunctions and falls apart, stuttering "I just wanna help!" as it does so. In the background, an animatronic Mr. Mxyzptlk and
Streaky the Supercat can also be seen.
One episode of the animated series
Teen Titans had the appearance of a very similar character named "Nosyarg Kcid" ("
Dick Grayson" spelled backwards) but whom the characters rename
Larry for ease. In this episode, "Larry" idolized Robin rather than Batman. He also claims to be his dimension's incarnation of Robin (hence the name), and they are proven to be genetically identical.
