Batman has battled innumerable adversaries over the years, including those who have attempted to imitate his approach. There is, however, one incredibly underappreciated villain who, despite stealing a few ideas from Batman, was able to resist the dark knight in many of their meetings. Cat Man is the name of this obnoxious bad guy. Although he has no relationship with Catwoman, he undoubtedly took inspiration from her look.
The difficult experiences Cat Man had as a child may have influenced him to grow up to be a merciless villain. Cat Man has experienced everything, from being a wealthy, upper-class resident of Gotham City to turning into one of the most dreaded villains. In this video, we will investigate all the enigmas surrounding the persona of Cat Man and how he mistreated Batman. So let us watch the video now without further ado.
Exploring the origins of Catman
The first appearance of Catman in the DC universe was in Detective Comics issue #311, which is titled “The challenge of the Cat Man,” in January 1963. He was conceived by James Noel Mooney, a genius, and Milton Bill Finger, a celebrated comic book writer and co-creator of Batman.
Catman was born as Thomas Blake to a rich, ruthless hunting father and an actress mother who now lived off her husband’s wealth. His early years were filled with gloom because he witnessed domestic violence and torture firsthand. Thomas’ father was very hard on both his mother and him. He wanted his son to grow up to be a man, not a wimp, thus he did not enjoy that Thomas was so close to his mother.
As a result, he would constantly torture and beat his wife. One day, after Thomas turned nine years old, his mother decided to leave his father because things were getting out of control. However, his father would not let her go. So, Thomas decided to help his mother by getting hold of his father’s hunting rifle. Soon after, due to his father, the gun went off, and Thomas accidentally shot his mother in the chest.
This incident left Thomas in shock. He did not know what to do. On the other hand, his father tried to call the cops on his own son to report him for the murder of his wife. But Thomas quickly picked up his father’s hunting knife and stabbed him. He then left his father to bleed to death. Eventually, as Thomas Blake grew older, he began to follow in the footsteps of his father.
He trained and became a professional jungle cat hunter. As a result, he was soon recognized as one of Gotham City’s wealthiest socialites. However, he eventually grew tired of hunting and wanted to spice up his life, especially now that he had wasted most of his money. So, he decided to become a costumed criminal in Gotham City as a burglar. Since he had dedicated most of his life to hunting cats, he chose them as inspiration for his costume and became Cat Man.
The iconic criminal Catwoman, also known as Selina Kyle, who had then retired from her life of crime, was another influence on his Catman identity. Now, as Catman, Thomas began committing a series of crimes that were mostly centered around stealing cat-themed objects, such as expensive cat paintings and sculptures. However, Batman and Robin soon discovered his secret identity as Thomas Blake, after which they tried to capture Catman.
In this mission, they were also helped by Catwoman, simply because she was extremely annoyed by Catman’s attempt to imitate her costume. When Batman and Robin finally confronted Catman, he tried to fight them with the help of a giant cat robot, but the Dynamic Duo was easily able to defeat the machine. Catman soon realized that he was about to be captured, so he tried to flee. However, he got swept away by a nearby river and was believed to have died.
After a few issues, we once again get to see Catman alive and doing well. We then find out that, apparently, the suit worn by Catman is made out of an antique African fabric that allows him to have nine lives, just like cats are believed to have. So, it appears that Catman will be able to commit more crimes than the heroes anticipated.
Catman in the DC animated universe
The character of Catman makes his first appearance in the animated TV series Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the 19th episode of the first season, which is titled Legends of the Dark Mite. In this episode, Catman gets caught by Batman while he is attempting to sell off an endangered Sumatran tiger. He ends up engaging in a battle against Batman and Ace the Bat-Hound, who is the canine superhero crime-fighting dog.
Later on, in the 8th episode of the second season, which is titled A Bat Divided, we briefly get to see Catman in the company of a few bad guys in a pub. But soon, Firestorm arrives with the three Batmen in order to apprehend the enemies. Eventually, we also get a glimpse of Catman riding his infamous robot cat from the cover of Detective Comics issue #311 in the 8th episode of the third season, which is titled Time Out for Vengeance. In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Thomas Blake is voiced by the American actor Thomas Francis Wilson Junior.
In the DC animated universe, we get to witness another version of Catman in the 1997 animated tv series known as The New Batman Adventures. In this series, his character is voiced by the Scottish actor Scott Cleverdon. He makes an appearance in the third episode of the second season, which is titled Cult of the Cat. As the name suggests, Catman shows up as the leader of a cat-worshiping cult.
Much like in his previous versions, he fashions gloves on his hands that have claws made out of knives. Other than that, he wears a basic black shirt and jeans. Now, when Catwoman steals a cat sculpture from Thomas Blake’s cult, he tries to capture her with the help of the other cult members in order to murder her. However, when he succeeds in catching Catwoman, he thinks that perhaps he can turn Catwoman into a cultist as well.
So, he asks her to kill Batman in order to be initiated into his cult, but this plan does not work out. As a result, Thomas engages in a battle with Batman himself and ends up getting severely hurt and hospitalized.
Catman also appears as a side character in several animated films. In the 2009 movie known as “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies,” Catman is one of the numerous villains who are attempting to murder Superman and Batman in order to take advantage of the monetary reward proposed by President Lex Luthor. Next, he appears in the 2017 computer animated comedy film known as “The Lego Batman Movie.” He serves as one of the criminals who are involved in the Joker’s invasion of Gotham City.
He also appears as a side character in the 2018 film known as “Scooby-Doo! and Batman: The Brave and the Bold” and the 2021 adult animated film known as “Injustice.”
The Secret Six comic series treated his character with the respect that he deserved
Gail Simone, an American comic book writer, brought back the character of Catman in her work on the Secret Six comic book series. The story of Catman begins in Villains United, which is a 2005 DC Comics mini-series event in which practically all of the supervillains in the world unite to develop a single conspiracy.
Now, Catman was shown to have returned to Africa after his failed suicide attempt in order to reinvent himself as the man he used to be. There he started to live with a family of lions, and things gradually became better for him. He restored his feeling of self-worth and confidence, lost a lot of weight, and even improved his combat abilities with regular practice, becoming an even better fighter than he was before.
However, things took a turn as he was soon visited by the members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, which was created by the sole survivor of Earth-Three, Alexander Luthor Junior, who was disguising himself as Lex Luthor. The Secret Society’s plan was to gather every supervillain on the face of the earth as one large group in order to control them. So, Talia Al Ghul and Doctor Psycho went to recruit Catman.
However, he refused to join their team. The Secret Society felt humiliated that someone like Catman, who was basically worthless, rejected them. As a result, they butchered Catman’s entire family of lions. So, Catman swore to take revenge on them. Later on, he was approached by the Secret Six, which is a team of six villains who deeply resent the Secret Society. It was formed by the mysterious character known as Mockingbird, who is actually the real Lex Luthor.
Now, two members of the Secret Six, Deadshot, who you might recall from Suicide Squad, and Scandal Savage, who is the daughter of the immortal warrior Vandal Savage, ask Catman to join them, and he quickly agrees since he wants to fight the Secret Society. Now, as part of the Secret Six, Catman went on several missions that were assigned to them which proved to be much more dangerous than his team members had imagined. Eventually, the Secret Six declared war on the Secret Society while being led by Mockingbird.
After spending considerable time as a member of the Secret Six, Catman also developed a close relationship with another member known as Cheshire, who was primarily an enemy of the Titans. Cheshire wooed Catman, and the two also ended up having a physical relationship. Later she revealed two tragic pieces of information to Catman. She told him that when Mockingbird was keeping her captive, she thought Blake was an excellent specimen of a man and fooled him into sleeping with her because she wanted to conceive a child.
She also informed him that Deadshot actually killed his family of lions on orders given by Mockingbird in order to manipulate Catman into joining his team. Initially, Catman presumed that the one who performed the massacre was Deathstroke, the terminator, who was an enemy of the Justice League and the Teen Titans, and a member of the Secret Society. After discovering the truth, Catman gets outraged at Deadshot.
So, he engaged in a battle with Deadshot and was hell-bent on killing him. But, the Secret Society soon attacked the Secret Six, and Catman left Deadshot to fight the enemy. During this encounter, he also realized that Cheshire had betrayed the Secret Six and joined the Secret Society. After the battle was over, Deadshot apologized to Catman, and the two team members became somewhat friends because Catman wanted to have some peace.
Even though their so-called friendship was a bit rocky in the beginning and full of trust issues, at least they could now be in the same room with each other and continue to go on missions together. It is also revealed to us that Mockingbird chose Catman to be a part of the Secret Six because he had fought Batman on several occasions and knew more about the vigilante than anyone else.
Now, eventually, in the Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special, we see that all the members of the Secret Six have decided to become mercenaries, and as long as they get paid, they are ready to work for the good guys as well as the bad guys. The line between good and evil had blurred for Catman as he now became neutral.
What makes him such a unique character?
Well, we know that Thomas Blake wears an extraordinary catsuit that gives him some special powers and an edge over his enemies. This catsuit was made out of a material that belonged to a South Sea cat cult. Upon wearing it, Catman received the 9 lives of a cat and could come back to life. The suit also gave him the power to sense danger before anything actually happened.
Even before Thomas became a seasoned criminal, he was a professional hunter of jungle cats, and he was excellent at this job since he was known worldwide as the best hunter in Gotham City. Since Catman spent most of his time out in the wild as a game hunter, he became an excellent tracker because he would always need to be on the lookout for dangerous animals.
Despite the lack of meta-human abilities, Catman is able to recognize and track down scents. After Catman became a burglar, he showed us his extraordinary hand-to-hand combat skills during his several encounters with the caped crusader and Robin. He is able to go up against some of the most powerful villains in the DC universe and certainly gives them a good fight.
His intellect is also on a genius level due to the life he has led since childhood. Since Catwoman inspired Catman, he also used a similar mode of transportation to her, which is the Catmobile. Much like Catwoman’s car, Catman’s catmobile was also designed like a cat, with four wheels and even a tail at the back of the car. A unique feature of catman’s catmobile was that it could also jump short distances.
After many years, when Catman became a somewhat neutral character who was neither good nor evil, he rebuilt the catmobile in the form of a sports car so that it was faster and more agile. He then started using it as a weapon in order to destroy the lawbreakers in Gotham City. However, after some time, the catmobile suffered a great deal of damage, and Catman had no other option but to leave it.
Catman always tried to build weapons similar to Batman’s, and he managed to make one. Just like Batman uses Batarang, Catman began using Catarang. It was a sharp throwing weapon with several spikes that looked like a cat’s claws and had tips made out of diamonds. He also colored it red in order to match his cat suit. Other than that, he mainly uses knives and special bladed weapons in battles. Catman also has a partner in crime, who is his pet tiger known as Rasputin. Many people would view Rasputin as a deadly threat, but Catman has a deep connection with his Siberian tiger.
Catman is one of the most powerful villains that Batman has ever fought. He can be as ruthless as the mission requires and does not feel guilty for killing people at all. In fact, when Gail Simone recreated his character, she made Catman into a villain who was ready to kill just about anyone if he was being paid well. The character of Catman certainly has the potential to become a major villain in the future if he is given more spotlight. Watching his story in the DC Cinematic Universe would also be fun.
Well, guys, that is all for today; we hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!