Dracula (The Batman)

"I thank you for keeping my legacy alive in my absence, but now there is only room for one Batman in Gotham!"

- Dracula to Batman Count Dracula was the titular main antagonist in the Elseworlds trilogy Batman vs. Dracula, and in the eponymous animated film it inspired.

In Comics
Dracula appeared as an antagonist in the Batman comics, but in the first volume of a trilogy Elseworlds (then in a story out of continuity), composed of the episodes Red Rain, Blood Storm and Crimson Mist. After centuries of travels around the world, the King of Vampires came to Gotham City, where he began to transform many of its inhabitants into vampires. Dracula was betrayed by Tanya, a vampire in the past part of his family that, but Pentasia took sides and the side of good, that helped Batman, who was bitten by the vampire servants of Dracula but was still master of his humanity, to fight the army of vampires. The two, to kill all the vampires in one go, they decided to draw them inside the Batcave, which crumbled with dynamite, and killed all vampires, Dracula ruled out, the price of the sacrifice of Tanya. At the end of the story, Batman and Dracula competed in a terrible duel in the skies of Gotham, after which the Dark Knight was able to defeat the King of the Vampires, who died after being impaled on the trunk of a tree destroyed by lightning, but not before he had drunk the blood of Batman, and stole the rest of his humanity.

Although Dracula died in the first volume of the trilogy, the consequences of his showdown with Batman rebounded in the two remaining episodes. Batman, in fact, gradually lost control of himself, yielded to bloodlust, and transformed gradually into a vampire who was ruthless, evil, and dangerous as he was.

Character History
Count Dracula was a centuries-old vampire, Transylvanian nobleman, and sorcerer. He was frequently considered the King of the Vampires, due to his great age and increased supernatural abilities. Ever seeking power and innocent women to turn into his eternal vampire brides, Dracula was opposed by many heroes throughout the ages, most notably vampire-hunter, Abraham Van Helsing. A public domain character and staple of the horror genre, Dracula was frequently pitted against Batman in popular culture, due to both characters' roots as creatures of the night. Those connections include an animated film, an unlicensed Fillipino film, and the aforementioned DC Comics Elseworlds miniseries (set on an alternate Earth of the DC Multiverse). Thus far, Batman and Dracula have not met in official DC Comics canon.

History (Animated Version)
Aside from his beloved bride Carmilla, much of Dracula's origins in the movie matched Stoker's original novel. Originating from Transylvania, Dracula was eventually vanquished, and his remains were moved at an undetermined time to Gotham City. Here, while incarcerated in Gotham Cemetary, Dracula was accidentally revived by the Penguin, who he hypnotized into acting as his servant. Dracula soon became obsessed with remodeling Gotham in his own image, and turned hordes of citizens into vampires like himself, with him as their King and Carmilla (with Vicki Vale's beautiful soul) as their Queen. Dracula seemed unable to tolerate either Bruce Wayne being the ruler of Gotham's elite, as well as the idea that there was another 'Bat Man' in Gotham, and strove to kill Batman.

Dracula successfully hypnotized Bruce Wayne for a short period while he acted as Dr. Alucard, but that cover was soon blown. In an attempt to resurrect his bride, Dracula kidnapped Vicki Vale, and drew the life energy out of her soul and into Carmilla. However, Batman managed to interrupt the ritual, saved Vicki, and cured the 'Lost Ones' of their vampirism, as Dracula turned his attention to finally killing him. Eventually blowing his way into the Batcave after a prolonged chase through the city's underground tunnels, a badly wounded Batman managed to blast Dracula with a device from Wayne Industries that stored pure sunlight, and destroyed the vampire. Dracula found out that Bruce Wayne was Batman before Batman finished him off.

Powers and Abilities
Immortality, vampirism, super strength, super speed, super reflexes, hypnotic manipulation of people with weak will, shape shifting.

Other Media
Dracula was the King of the Vampires, and was based on Bram Stoker's iconic character. After being stabbed in the heart and temporarily vanquished, his corpse came to Gotham City.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, Dracula himself stated in the film that being exposed to sunlight was "an almost permanent death" for his kind (as he was describing Carmilla's demise), and so while he appeared to have been killed at the end of the film, there was still a chance that one day he might be resurrected again. However, it appeared that the resurrection required a second vampire to extract the soul. However, in Bram Stoker's original story, sunlight did not kill a vampire. Rather, like all nocturnal animals, vampires were perfectly capable of functioning during the day, albeit in a diminished capacity.
 * In addition to his usual liking of blood as sustenance, Dracula also enjoyed eating flesh. That was shown at the Wayne Manor Party when he ate the beef steak tartar offered as hors d'oeuvres, much to Vicki Vale's disgust. It was implied again that vampires also ate flesh when Dracula stated that after Carmilla had fed on Vicki's soul, he would give her Batman's corpse as a wedding gift.