Villain Profile: Hush

Batman has a lot of villains that are oddly similar to him. Two-Face has his duality, Riddler his intellect, Scarecrow his obsession with fear, but, who is the true reflection of Batman?

That’s easy, ME!

Joker, you’re his opposite. He’s order, you’re chaos. He’s up, you’re down. He’s right, you’re left. I’m asking who is his reflection, similar background, similar life, but went down a completely different path. So, no, not you.

Simple, and yet complex.

You’re no fun.

So sue me. Of all the characters I’ve covered up to this point, Black Mask is the best contender. Both are wealthy sons of Gotham’s upper crust, that use their family’s wealth to fund some… unusual hobbies. But I have one today that is slightly better. His name? Hush. Let’s get to it.

Hush was born Thomas “Tommy” Elliot, son of the wealthy Elliot family of Gotham City. He and Bruce were friends from a young age. They met at their private elementary school, and bonded over the fact they were both wealthy, and had a pair of first names for first and last names. They were near intellectual equals, and Tommy was one of the first people to encourage Bruce to think like his opponent and use their abilities against them. This mostly came about through playing chess and other games of strategy, but Bruce learned to utilize this mindset in other facets of life as he grew older. Despite the good times with Bruce, Tommy’s personal life was pretty awful. His father was abusive, physically and verbally, and his mother was no help whatsoever. Why? She came from poverty, and loved the lavish lifestyle of being Mrs. Elliot, so she submissively took everything that Elliot Sr. dished out to both her and her son. Side note, could we have just one villain that didn’t grow up with abusive parents? Seriously, they seem to be getting rarer and rarer. Someone can be a villain without having the “bad parents” crutch. Just saying. But back on task. Despite his father’s abuse, he did encourage Tommy to excel in school. He had a particular fixation with Aristotle, often quoting the ancient Greek philosopher. So… Mr. Elliot gets points for encouraging education, I guess.

Tommy finally had enough of his father’s abuse, and decided to do something about it. What did he do? Call social services? Tell Bruce? No, he went to the extreme and cut the break lines of his father’s car. Not going to lie, going for the Juglar in this instance is a little… extreme. But, since Tommy could be described as a control freak, he also insisted that his parent’s driver remain home that night, and waited until an incredibly serious storm to act. His parents crashed, obviously, but things didn’t end as Tommy would hope. The Elliot’s were rushed to the hospital, where they were attended by surgeon Thomas Wayne. Despite his best efforts, Thomas couldn’t save Mr. Elliot, but he saved Mrs. Elliot. And this is where Tommy’s hatred for Bruce and the Wayne’s began. Why? Because his mother living kept Tommy from his family inheritance. In his slowly twisting psyche, Dr. Thomas Wayne had deliberately denied Tommy what was rightfully his. Twisted logic, but just rational enough for a crazy person to believe. A short time later, while at summer camp with Bruce, Tommy snapped for the first time and attacked another boy. He was sent to a psychiatric ward for evaluation but was soon released on the word of an intern. Who was this intern? Jonathan Crane. Aka Scarecrow, if the real name doesn’t ring a bell. Guy was screwing crazy people up worse even before he put on that creepy mask.

Pretty much the only way this fight could end, by falling.

This hatred intensified and shifted completely to Bruce after the elder Wayne’s murder. Again, in Tommy’s twisted mind, he saw it as Bruce getting his inheritance scot free, while Tommy was forced to take care of his frail mother. Tommy did find a small respite in the following years, while Bruce was away learning on how to be a Batman, when he met woman. Peyton Riley was her name. She came from a poorer background, which Tommy’s mother never approved of. Wow, total pot/kettle situation there, isn’t it? Tommy didn’t let his mother’s disapproval stop him from seeing Peyton though, well, for a while. After Mrs. Elliot’s health began to improve, she’d been suffering from cancer for years but it was in remission, she decided to punish Tommy for going against her wishes. She cut him off, completely, and had her lawyer change her will so Tommy wouldn’t inherit anything upon her death. Enraged at once again being screwed over by his less than ideal parent, Tommy smothered her with a pillow. At the same time, Peyton killed the lawyer and burned Mrs. Elliot’s new will. Tommy and Peyton covered their tracks incredibly well, so as far as Gotham was concerned, Mrs. Elliot died in a household accident. And Thomas Elliot was now the toast of the town. Finally having everything he could want, Tommy broke up with Peyton and started traveling the world. Kind of like Bruce. He went to Harvard, and became a successful surgeon. He still held a grudge against Bruce, which only intensified as Bruce returned to Gotham and became the new new toast of the town.

Skip forward a few years, Batman is now a thing, Riddler is dying of cancer, and Tommy is still kind of a dick. The Riddler broke into a Lazarus Pits, bathed in the pits, and had an insanity induced epiphany about Batman = Bruce Wayne. WHY he needed an insanity induced epiphany to figure this out is anyone’s guess. He tried to sell this information to several individuals with grudges against Batman or Bruce Wayne, which included Tommy, but he wasn’t interested. In the information, anyway, as he already knew the Batman/Wayne connection. Instead, he offered The Riddler a deal of his own, kill Bruce Wayne. The two decided to work together to destroy their mutual enemy. To this end, they created a new identity for Tommy. He started going by Hush, this was initially an in joke that just kind of stuck.

The villains formed an incredibly elaborate plan to ruin Batman, using a combination of their own intellect, funds, and other manipulated villains to keep Bruce Wayne/Batman off balance. Things begin subtly. Tommy, as Hush, cut’s Batman’s line as the Dark Knight swung through Gotham chasing Catwoman. This led to Bruce cracking his skull, and needing expert medical attention. Using an intense amount of subconscious programing, Hush makes it so the only surgeon on his mind was Doctor Thomas Elliot. So, Tommy gets the call to operate on Bruce after a “car accident.” While he’s digging around in Bruce’s skull, he also takes the liberty of installing a tracking device. Not sure how that got passed the other doctors in the OR. After this, things get immensely more complicated. They did things like having Poison Ivy manipulating Killer Croc and Catwoman to steal 100 million dollars, later getting Poison Ivy some Kryptonite lipstick so she can control even Superman, have Harley and Joker perform a high stakes opera robbery, and later had a surgically repaired Two-Face spring Joker. During the Joker/Harley robbery, they also staged Tommy’s murder. Try to follow me on this one, they had Harley steal a personal memento from Tommy that Bruce knew he’d kill to protect. Then, when separated, Two-Face shot Clayface in the shape of Tommy, and made it look like Joker performed the hit. The plan was, Bruce, while in a blind fury would Kill Joker and thus ruin his reputation and sanity. The plan might have worked if former Commissioner Gordon hadn’t arrived to talk him down.   

Who is Hush? It totally isn't the old friend of Bruce's that
he never spoke of before this story. <Wink>

Hush and Co went for the Juglar at the site of the grave of Jason Todd. Using Clayface, again, and knowledge gleaned from a resurrected, vindictive Jason Todd, they attacked Batman’s greatest weakness. Specifically, the guilt of failing and inadvertently causing the death of his unofficially adoptive son. Not going to lie, seeing a physical ghost of a dead loved one would screw me up pretty bad, too. It’d be worse when said ghost attacks. The façade keeps Bruce off balance, for a bit. But as the fight goes on he notices inconsistencies with what is happening. Namely, “Jason” not using his or Bruce’s real names, and that he appears to be significantly more athletic and acrobatic then Todd had been in life. Realizing the ruse, he takes down Clayface. Batman, after chatting with Ra’s al Ghul, Robin (Tim Drake), and checking out the Batcomputer, realizes he’s had a major breach in security and that there is only one person that could have messed with his gear. Namely a man known as Harold. Harold was a mute and deformed hunchback, but he was also a wizard with electronics. Harold was the only person aside from Batman to work on his tech. Batman tracks Harold down and finds out he’d received several surgeries and somehow been able to regain the ability to speak. Harold ask for forgiveness and admits that the only reason he did any of it was he was sure Batman was good enough to stop Hush even with these handicaps. Hush then kills Harold in front of Batman. Snapping, the two throw down.

Hush’s combination of intelligence, skill, and training leave Batman at a loss as to who he’s actually fighting. Hush’s love of Aristotle makes Batman wonder if he’s fighting old foe Maxie Zeus, and his two-pistol fighting style made Batman wonder if he was Deadshot, too, and the repeated one-two one-two shots seem more akin to Two-Face’s psychosis. A few minutes later later, worn out and severely beaten, Batman learns the truth, when he found Tommy’s necklace around Hush’s neck. Imagine his horror when he discovered one of his oldest friends absolutely despised him. Their fight would have continued, had Gordon and Harvey Dent not arrived. Dent opened fire on Hush, knocking him into Gotham River. I’m sure he’ll never be seen again. Just kidding, he appears again, and often, in Gotham, always attempting to destroy Bruce.

Dr. Thomas Elliot is a skilled surgeon, strategic mastermind, and incredibly wealthy. Much like Bruce, he’s undergone rigorous training to push his body to the absolute limit of human potential, making himself as strong and fast as he is intelligent. Tommy is also a master of disguise, having gone so far as to perform plastic surgery on himself to complete his disguise. His current face is that of old pal, Bruce Wayne. It’s the practical reason for why his costume includes a bandage mask. He uses a special formula of makeup comprised of Clayface’s clay to hide the scars on his face.

Hush has had only minor appearances outside of the comics. Mostly as an unlockable character in video games. Not too surprising, given that he was only created a little over 15 years ago. Don’t give me that look, it’s taken character twice as long to get name recognition.

Yeah, pretty much sums them up.

To date, Hush has only appeared in any real capacity in the Arkham games by Rocksteady studios. He first appeared in a side quest in Batman: Arkham City. Shortly after arriving in the titular Arkham City, Batman learns that someone known as the ‘Identity Thief,” is going around murdering inmates and stealing parts of their faces. What do the victims have in common? They could pass for Bruce Wayne look alikes. As the story progresses, we learn how Tommy got to this point. He initially was sent into Arkham City to give medical help to the inmates. He was eventually accused of stealing medical supplies, at which point he snapped, slides up his own face, and disappeared into the night. When Batman confronts Hush in a crude surgery theater in a AC slum, Tommy reveals that he’s made himself into a perfect Bruce Wayne look alike. He escapes, swearing vengeance against Bruce.

He reappears briefly in Batman: Arkham Knight. Using his newish Bruce face and the chaos of Scarecrows attack on Gotham, he breaks into Wayne tower and tries to steal Bruce’s assets. Imagine his frustration to discover Bruce’s tech uses retinal scans, the one thing he couldn’t alter. He kidnaps and forces Bruce’s friend, confidant, and CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox to unlock said computer. Batman later busts in to stop the party. Realizing that Lucius’ life is in danger, Bruce reveals himself as Batman to Tommy. In the confusion, Batman disarms him, and Lucius breaks a glass jar on his face for good measure. They agree to keep him locked in Wayne Tower until the craziness dies down.

It’s only been teased, but long time Batman voice acting veterans Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Mark Hamill (Joker) have hinted at the idea of doing a Hush animated movie. Let’s hope it turns out better than the Killing Joke adaptation.  

Overall, I do like Hush. Batman has a lot of foes that match him in athletic ability, but only a handful that match or surpass his intellect. It takes an unbelievable amount of cunning to manipulate THE Batman. His backstory, while on the more generic end of things, is still interesting. A child murdering his parents to get their fortune? Sign me up to read more. The abusive Dad angle ruins it just a little. Can’t he just be a rampaging sociopath? You can be completely amoral and still an interesting character. Just ask Joker, Lex Luthor, Doctor Doom or Ultron. I’m mainly talking about their comic incarnations, obviously. His costume is also really cool looking. It takes a lot to make a bandaged face look intimidating, just saying. So yeah, he’s the cold, calculating, hateful harbinger of headaches, Hush. 

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