List of villains in The Batman Mastermind but he must think again, stating that he thinks himself as the Ultimate Criminal Mastermind. In Strange New World, he made plans to turn all of Gotham, bar himself, into zombie-like creatures who obey his every command. He was barely stopped in time and moved to maximal security if not he had escaped Arkham Asylum. In Rumors, Hugo Strange is abducted by the hateful Rumor who wants to get rid of crime by executing them all. The mad psychiatrist requested a dead man favor in asking Rumor why is he seeking to punish criminals. The sinister self vigilante replied that his boss, Paul Karen, is a good man but was wounded critically by the Joker. Batman had a chance to eliminate villains but was following his code of ethics so he could not do what was necessary. Strange easily mocked Mario (Rumor) in saying that the bodyguard was not vigilante of justice but only an emotional man who tried to undo his failure of being unable to protect his boss from his accident at the hands of the Joker. By the end of the episode, only Professor Strange and Catwoman remained at large. In "Lost Heroes," he helps the Joining into capturing the Justice League and uploading their powers into their robots. However, when the Joining give him his reward of all the knowledge in the universe, his cerebral cortex cannot handle it and he is reduced to a drooling, catatonic state. It was revealed in an extended preview for Batman: Arkham City at the 2010 VGA on Spike that Dr. Hugo Strange will be one of the principle villains in the game when it releases in 2011.
Appearances • • • • • • • •
Meltdown Strange Minds A Fistful of Felt Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind Strange New World Rumors Lost Heroes Part 1 Lost Heroes Part 2
The Joining An extraterrestrial mental/technological societal/militant manifestation with an as yet unexplained origin and determination to conquer/destroy Earth. It/they are reminiscent of Brainiac, an enemy of Superman, who has ambitions of learning all knowledge there is to know and then destroy existence. In the two part episode, The Joining, they attacked Earth, causing destruction everywhere, and Batman and his enemies even worked together to destroy them. The Joining was supposedly destroyed. However, they later returned to Earth, being a little sneakier, for the last time was apparently a test, and this time, they had help from Hugo Strange, who consumed the powers of the Justice League, and gave them to the Joining. The heroes got back their powers, and destroyed the member of the Joining holding them, and the Joining's operating base was destroyed, along with the rest of the army of Joining duplicates.
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