|
| “ | I didn't mean to. | „ |
| ~ Baby Doll's catchphrase. |
| “ | Look. That's me in there, the real me. There I am. ...But it's not really real, is it? Just made-up and pretend, like my family and my life and everything else! Why couldn't you just let me make-believe? | „ |
| ~ Baby Doll's breakdown. |
Mary Louise Dahl, known better by her alias Baby Doll is the titular main antagonist of the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Baby-Doll" and the New Batman Adventures episode "Love is a Croc".
She is a former TV child star who suffers from hypoplasia, a medical condition that prevents her from physically aging; when her career stalls, she kidnaps her former costars to recreate her TV "family". She later allies herself with Killer Croc in a crime spree because he cons her into believing he loves her.
In her first appearance, she was voiced by Alison LaPlaca. In her second, she was voiced by Laraine Newman, who also played LaWanda Dumore in Problem Child 2 and voiced Dr. Constance in American Dad!, Tara Ribble in The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, and Melora in Despicable Me 4.
Appearance[]
Due to her systemic hypoplasia, Baby Doll looks like a little girl, even though she is actually over 30 years old. She has curly blonde hair tied in two pigtails with dark purple ribbons and light blue eyes and wears a light purple short-sleeved dress with a dark purple peter pan collar, cuffs, buttons, frilly white panties, matching ankle-length socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. In her first TV appearance, she wore the same costume in her TV series "Baby-Doll" and talked in both her adult woman voice and little girl voice, depending on which voice is the most relevant to the situation. She carried an old rag doll called "Mr. Happy Head" containing a hidden gun, with the end of the barrel disguised as one of his eyes.
When Batman: The Animated Series was revamped, many characters were redesigned, as was Baby Doll. In her new form, Baby Doll still looked like a 5-year-old little girl, but now wore a pink short-sleeved knee-length dress with white buttons, collar, frilly cuffs, and sash, had more straightforward hair, wore black, with black lipstick and black Mary Jane shoes.
Biography[]
Background[]
Marion Louise "Mary" Dahl, was a TV actress who was born with systemic hypoplasia, a rare condition which kept her from ever growing, meaning that she spent all of her life looking like a toddler. She became famous for a brief period when she played the title character in the fictitious TV sitcom "Love That Baby" (when she was 20, though she still looked like she was 5). She and the show were wildly popular, but as the series got older, the ratings dwindled. In the final season, the producers of the show decided to add a new character; Baby Doll's cousin who was called Spunky. Baby Doll was angry at Spunky because she thought that he was stealing her spotlight, especially on one occasion on her birthday episode, where she got her face pushed into her birthday cake by Spunky. Furious, she left the show in order to turn herself into a proper dramatic actress. Her first role other than Baby Doll was in Macbeth.
Unfortunately, the reviews for the play and her acting were terrible, ruining Mary's chances of becoming a popular celebrity. When her career went down the tubes, she tried to get Baby Doll back on the air because it had been cancelled when she left, but the networks turned her down (if mostly because she was difficult to work with). After that, Mary tried to get any job that came her way but was always shunned and never got the role. Without any jobs coming her way, Mary went through a rough, depressing period of her life where she realized that the only time when she had been truly happy was when she was in the show as Baby-Doll, when she used to have a "family" in the show and was adored by millions of viewers.
Batman: The Animated Series[]
Keeping her persona as Baby Doll permanently, Baby goes around with her 2 hired thugs as well as her personal caretaker Mariam, and kidnaps all of the original cast of Love That Baby, bringing them together so that she can get revenge on Spunky and her fellow cast members. She ties all of the actors up in the Baby Doll sets and bought along a birthday cake. After pushing Spunky's head into the cake, she then gets a stick of TNT, puts it on the cake like a candle and lit it, planning to blow up the cast members. Spunky ruins her plan by grabbing the TNT with his mouth and throwing it to the other end of the studio, throwing it far enough away that it explodes without hurting anybody. Batman crashes into the room and reveals that the actor who played Spunky wasn't the actor but is actually Robin in disguise. After Batman and Robin had realised what Baby Doll was doing, they had gone to the actor, told him what was going to happen and the man had let Robin take his identity. When Robin had been captured, he had sent a radio signal to Batman who traced it and found out where Baby Doll was.
"But it's not really real, is it?"
While Robin releases the captives, Batman chases Baby into a nearby fair, and then into a Fun House. Inside the Fun House, Baby comes across a hall of mirrors. Within one of the distorted mirrors, Baby sees herself as an adult, how she believes she should look. Knowing this to be fake, just as her character, Baby Doll shoots and breaks all of the mirrors before breaking down mentally and running out of bullets. When the Batman walks up to her, she goes peacefully, uttering her infamous catchphrase, "I didn't mean to".
The New Batman Adventures[]
The next time we see her in a substantial role, it has been a few years since she was released and has gotten help for her issues. She is now the concierge of a hotel, but a rude guest checking in with his wife made fun of her medical condition, her character, and her being a criminal. Although his wife tried to stop him, Baby Doll viciously beats him by slamming his head into the book, to the horror of his wife. Feeling like an outcast, she sees a news report about Killer Croc and identifies with him because he, too, is an outcast due to a medical condition. She helps him escape from prison, and the two form a criminal duo: Baby Doll as the brain, and Croc as the brawn. However, Baby later found out that Killer Croc was cheating on her.
Enraged, she later plans to kill both Croc and herself by deceiving him into helping her hijack the power station. After Croc ask if they will call the city for a ransom, but Baby Doll her knowledge of his betrayal and voices her intentions in causing a chain reaction that would destroy Gotham so that they could be "together forever." While it seems that they're doomed, Batman and Batgirl come crashing in to stop them. Croc quickly tells them of Baby Doll's plan. Although they take his words into consideration, they still fight, and while originally at a disadvantage, he gains the upper hand and starts a fight with her and Batman. During the fight, Croc was knocked out when a blast of hot water shot out of a pipe he had torn from the wall as a weapon, leaving him unconscious. Baby felt sorry for Croc, yet again, and went peacefully when Batman approached her.
It is unknown if she was re-released or if she was permanently imprisoned.
DC Comics[]
Dawn of DC[]
Baby Doll from Prime Earth
In the Post-Flashpoint continuity, Baby Doll first appeared in Harley Quinn 30th Anniversary Special #1 (2022).
Her real name is Mary Louise Dahl. She was a sitcom star back in the '90s born with systemic hypoplasia, a condition that stopped her aging. She found fame playing a ten-year-old, but she struggled to get other work when the show was canceled.
Eventually, she resorted to live-streaming herself, kidnapping her old TV family in a deluded attempt to get the show back on the air. Lotta stories about what happened next; some say Batman got involved, and she got help. Others say she went to prison and came out as an actual criminal.
Multiverse[]
Baby Doll as seen in Li'l Gotham.
Baby Doll appeared in the critically acclaimed, all-ages comic book series Li'l Gotham. Baby Doll later cameoed in the Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures crossover comic mini-series and Batman: The White Knight.
Other Media[]
Baby Doll in Kite-Man: Hell Yeah!
- Main article: Baby Doll (Harley Quinn TV Series)
- In the Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode "Invasion of the Secret Santas!", Baby Doll appears as a doll being held by the villain Fun Haus, and he uses it as a bomb against Batman and Red Tornado, but the latter elevates it before it explodes.
- In the Arrowverse series Batwoman, Angelique Martin uses the name "Baby Doll" as a member of the False Face Society.
Trivia[]
- Mary Dahl's condition was stated to be systemic Hypoplasia. Although this is a real genetic condition, it is merely a lack of built-up cells in a person's body resulting in underdeveloped tissues or organs. Unlike the show, this does not make people appear like a child even as adults and usually results in just having underdeveloped features like women not growing breasts during puberty or a misshaped lower jaw. A more applicable condition in real life would be Syndrome X (neotenic complex syndrome).
- The final scene in which Batman comforts Baby Doll before handing her to the police at the end of "Baby Doll" is considered by the fans as one of the best moments of the series, who believe that it symbolizes that both Batman and Baby Doll are not so different after all, as while Batman lost his childhood, Baby Doll could never get out of hers.
- While Baby Doll's first hairdo was ringlets, she now has simple pigtails.
- The fact that Baby Doll has visible panties is rather disturbing, given the age she seems to have.
- Baby Doll is one of the few villains shorter than The Penguin.
- When she wears glasses and a business suit with her hair up, Baby Doll looks similar to Harley Quinn without makeup and when she dressed like a psychologist. Ironically, both characters were created for the DC Animated Universe before debuting in the comics and both of them fell for a member of Batman's rogues gallery (Killer Croc and The Joker). However, unlike Harley, Baby Doll swiftly deduced that Croc was using her and tries to retaliate.
External Links[]
- Baby-Doll on the DC Database Wiki
- Baby-Doll on the DC Animated Universe Wiki
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