Batman’s rogue gallery features its fair share of villains who are strong and evil. One of them happens to be the mysterious Mr. Bloom. Even though he has only one major appearance, he is not a weak character. With a terrifying look with just a flower where his face is supposed to be, he indeed looks like the stuff nightmares are made of.
No one even knows his real name, and he certainly does not seem human. So how did this creepy villain become a part of the Batman Universe, and what makes him so strange and equally dangerous? Let’s get right into it.
Mr. Bloom: Origin
Mr. Bloom was created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo and made his first appearance in Batman Vol 2 #43 (October 2015). The original Mr. Bloom was a scientist named Daryl Gutierrez, who worked for Power Industries and invented the nanotech reactors called “Seeds” to give users random powers in hopes of creating more superheroes like Batman.
An unidentified patient who was a part of the experiments at the lab developed the ability to grow his body proportions and contort them. Using these newfound powers, he escaped the facility and stole the seeds for his use. He is first mentioned when the Commissioner of Gotham City, Jim Gordon, the current Batman, comes to see Bruce Wayne and asks him about a “Seed” he discovered was being sold in the narrows by someone called Mr. Bloom. Now, as many of you must be wondering why Jim is Batman, Bruce lost his memory after his big fight with Joker during the Joker’s Endgame arc.
Jim then decides to investigate and find Bloom’s identity. He comes across footage of Mr. Bloom and Qi Tsu meeting up but is soon ambushed by Qi and his men. Somewhere else, Mr. Bloom meets with Mr. Cobblepot, who seems to be interested in the seeds even though he claims he doesn’t need powers to wield power. Mr. Bloom shows him the roots but refuses to give any to Cobblepot, claiming that he is not a part of his plan. Cobblepot describes Bloom as a weapons dealer who doesn’t make any deals and states his notions of building a garden. One of Mr. Cobblepot’s henchmen shoots Mr. Bloom point-blank in the head and claims that they root the weeds out before they can grow and burn them so they can never come back.
As the group turns to leave, the henchmen are stabbed to death from behind by what looks like long branches. Mr. Cobblepot turns around in fear and witnesses the terrifying image of Mr. Bloom with his limbs grotesquely long. Bloom kills Cobblepot, exclaiming that weeds aren’t so easy to kill anyway and grow very fast. We see a flashback of Batman’s memories which gives us an insight into how Mr. Bloom worked.
A young man named Peter Duggio sought out Mr. Bloom after the Penguin double-crossed him, and he lost his store, which was then burned down, leaving him with nothing. The gang told him about the man at the end of the alley called Blossom Row. Peter met with the man and consumed a substance that led to him developing powers. He developed wings that he used to fly, but apparently, the effects of the substance didn’t last long, and Peter fell from the sky and died a horrible death. Mr. Bloom had already vanished from the area without a trace.
There are many mentions of Mr. Bloom in conversations between many characters in the present day. He finally arrives as Geri is holding a presentation launching new elements, one called Batmanium 206, and how Batman is beyond one man and how they can create a legacy. Mr. Bloom crashes his ship on the stage as Jim rushes in his Batman guise to save Geri. As the crowd tries to run, many of them are skewered by Mr. Bloom and his creepy long root-like hands as he exclaims that the party has just started.
He introduces himself to the crowd as Mr. Bloom. He states how there are so many familiar faces present, referencing his past as a test subject at the Power Industries, where the current presentation was being held. As Mister Crowne tries to flee the scene, he is stabbed in the eye by Bloom. He addresses the influential crowd consisting of soldiers, politicians, and activists of Gotham City.
He praises them for what they have been doing for the city, like building new police forces, reform programs, etc. He references Gotham City as a lawn and calls these people the rich fertilizer of the city, a weird analogy, but lawn talk goes with his character. Geri Powers steps forward and asks him to stop and ask what he wants by doing this. Mr. Bloom tells Geri he wants her to keep doing what she already is. He proceeds to say he wants to contribute to the cause and is about to pierce a dollar through her eyes and asks her to give it to Batman the next time she sees him.
Still, before anything could happen, Batman jumps Mr. Bloom from behind and shoots him multiple times in the head, but if we’ve learned anything from Mr. Bloom and Mr. Cobblepot’s encounter before, we already know it’s not going to work. Bloom attacks Batman and berates him as Batman asks his suit or, as he calls it, his partner to “Go pick some flowers.” Sassy as the words might have been; they do not work as Bloom easily pierces through the robot and grabs the Batmanium out of it.
Just as he exclaims, “The great symbol has no power anymore,” he gets pinned to a giant electromagnet by Julia. She took advantage of the seeds Bloom uses were electromagnetic in nature. Bloom taunts Jim that he is on his track to being the best Batman yet and that he would love to continue their conversation when his friends aren’t around anymore. But just as Batman says he would be sure to visit Mr. Bloom in jail, Bloom manages to extract himself from the magnet and makes his escape.
Geri decides that Bloom needs to be taken out immediately and plans to use the prototypes built to use in the Batman program. While Jim muses they do not know his location, Geri tells him she was able to trace using the echo trace that Jim ran back at Qi’s headquarters and that he was hiding in a warehouse at the edge of the Corner which fell along with Old Blossom. Jim convinces everyone to let him face Bloom alone.
He arrives at the place and sees Bloom sitting at a window in the warehouse. He invites Batman to come up and sit with him so they can talk before everything changes out there and that its going to look so different that he almost already misses it. Batman tells him to come down so that they can talk about whatever the hell he had been planning. Batman commands the Robo-suit, aptly named Rookie, to switch on the blocker and that it is time to get the bad guy, but the suit does not respond.
Bloom repeats the same thing, and Batman gets sucker-punched by his suit. Batman tries to reason with the suit, but Julia tells him that Bloom had planted a transmitter inside the suit through the earpiece, probably back during the incident at Powers Industries. Even though the suit was trying to resist, it would be overridden soon. Batman begs Rookie to let him go, and Bloom repeats the same instruction, resulting in Batman escaping the suit’s clutches.
After much hassle, he regrettably has to destroy the suit, as Mr. Bloom muses that it’s cold of Batman to destroy the Rookie after everything they had been through. Unfortunately, Mr. Bloom taunts Batman about how his new career will be short-lived and how everything is happening because of him. He states how he wants to keep Batman so that he can see the city regrow like a new garden with brand new seeds.
But you all already know there’s a twist coming. Batman had already fried the seeds that Mr. Bloom was planning to use. Due to the electromagnetic nature of the seeds, a small charge from Batman’s suit ruined them. As Bloom goes to attack Batman in rage, his attacks get subdued due to the blocker Rookie had switched on. Batman finally captures Mr. Bloom and takes him away in the surveillance van with Julia and Daryl.
As the crowds on the roads cheer for Batman and the trio in the van muse about possible vacation, Mr. Bloom quips that Batman should go to vacation in the dirt. As Jim begins to remove Mr. Bloom’s mask, as you know, talking to a daisy face is freaking weird, the roof of the van is torn open by Mr. Bloom’s clones, who attack the trio, and the van crashes. As Jim tries to communicate over the radio and try to figure the situation out, Mr. Bloom and the clones capture Jim, stating, “let’s climb the beanstalk,” Mr. Bloom’s body begins to grow, so much that he grows about as tall as a 2 storied building, and was still growing.
The gigantic Mr. Bloom, who still has Jim clutched in his hand, and his clones began attacking and destroying the city. He makes a public announcement “The City is about to die. Happy Tuesday.” Quite morbid, yes. He exclaims that Gotham is going down, that the garden will rot. He makes quite a long and morbid garden analogy as he destroys the city. He begins to berate Jim and announces how he had a hand in bringing Mr. Bloom into being.
The clones remove their daisy masks, and Mr. Bloom introduces them as criminals whom Jim Gordon had put away during his tenure as Former Head of the Police. He claims that Jim’s Batman isn’t like the real Batman, who was like a wildflower, just like Bloom. He recounts his past, how he was taken to the Potter’s field as he lay dying, how he had a grave with no name, about to return to the dirt.
He urges the citizens of Gotham City to join him so that what happened to him doesn’t happen to them. He announces that he’s hidden over a thousand seeds all over Gotham city. He explains that he’s hidden them under floors, or maybe in dirty little corners, and how anyone would be able to feel them If they passed by. If they find the seeds and choose to keep them, one must make an incision in their skin and plant the seed in their bloodstream, and soon enough, their powers will manifest. He tells the citizens that Gotham city isn’t a garden but a bloody meadow, and the people need to start thinking for themselves and get what is theirs.
All through the city, chaos ensues as the citizens fight tooth and nail to get one of the seeds. At Wayne Manor, Bruce makes his way to Alfred and demands to be taken to the Batcave so he can get his memories back and take back the mantle of Batman to be able to save his city. Alfred refuses him and tries hard not to let Bruce become the man he was before, but finally agrees. The two make their way down to the caves, and Alfred has already destroyed the machine Bruce had invented as his final invention.
A machine that could transfer all of Batman’s training, experiences, and trauma to anyone who would become the next Batman so his legacy could continue forever. Bruce manages to fire up the machine and regains his memories back of whom he used to be through much pain. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Bloom causes intense havoc throughout the city. The soldiers arrive in the prototype suits made by Powers Industries, but Bloom controls them with his powers and makes the suits aim at the innocent citizens while the officers can do nothing but watch.
Batman finally arrives at the scene as he defeats Bloom’s minions and bashes them all in classic Batman style. Bloom uses the Collider present in Powers Industries to create a huge power surge that takes energy from all the active seeds in the city and keeps growing, with the potential to destroy the entire city.
As Batman comes and attacks Bloom, the villain says it’s an honor to be meeting what he calls “the unkillable weed.” He summons the prototype suits and gets them to attack Batman. While Jim tries to stop the power surge using a blocker from the memory of prototype suits, Bloom breaks the antenna they planned to use to amplify the signal.
He then launches into another garden analogy of how after the destruction of the city by the power surge, it will become a “wild, wonderful garden.” At this very moment, Batman comes in a Robo suit and punches Bloom right in the face, which serves him right. Bloom tells Batman that they are alike and want the same thing for the city and asks him to join him in creating a new Gotham. Batman refuses, and Bloom’s talons pierce his suit.
As Bloom is aggressively making another garden analogy and about to attack Batman, he is blasted from the sky by Duke Robin. Batman takes this chance to grab the super seed from Bloom’s back. As Jim tries to close the transmitter, it is too late as the device has become self-sustaining and is powered by the seeds of Gotham city’s citizens. Robin uses super magnets and pulls Bloom away into the sky.
The ship Duke was on explodes, although he manages to jump out. The people of Gotham see Batman flying across the sky and start to take out the seeds implanted in their bodies which causes the power surge to lose power. Jim manages to destroy the Collider using the batmanium as it was super conductive, which results in Mr. Bloom’s plans being foiled as he is obliterated to pieces.
What makes Mister Bloom so powerful?
Mr. Bloom exhibits a variety of powers. First and foremost is his power of metamorphosis, which he uses to sharpen his finger and elongate them to stab and kill his targets. He has superhuman agility and strength. He can elongate any part of his body he desires. He can grow his body to become highly taller. He has extreme durability allowing him to tolerate excessive levels of physical pain.
He has been smashed through buildings, had bullets fired straight at his skull, and still survived. He can control the GCPD armored suits. He also possesses the powers of both Pyrokinesis and Cryokinesis. He was able to produce the high-quality seeds that gave everyone power. He was also a master manipulator, using his skills to convince people to join his side.
While Mr. Bloom has only one significant appearance in the Batman Universe, it sure is a lasting one. His creepy looks and evil actions make him a perfect supervillain. Hopefully, the future holds something for this character, and DC would be willing to give the fans some more of this flowery fiend. Mr. Bloom would undoubtedly make a great DCU villain, like the live-action look for his character alone could be enough for a decent DC movie mixed with a splash of horror that Mr. Bloom carries with himself, which would undoubtedly be a feast for the eyes.