The Music Meister/Is the man that the world shall obey/So do your job, steal all you can/While you're under my sway!
„
~ The Music Meister hypnotizing Gotham City
The Music Meister (real name: Dennis Neville Prowell) is an antagonist in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He is a supervillain who has the power to control people through singing. He is also notable for being one of the only villains who was created exclusively for the series.
He was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, who also played Dr. Blowhole in The Penguins of Madagascar, Dr. Horrible in Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog, Chester Creb in American Horror Story, Ray Thompson in Justice League, Foy in A Million Ways To Die in the West, John Tagman in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Count Olaf in Netflix's adaptation of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Music Meister mentions that he discovered his powers as a child and used it on those who bullied him for singing in choir, using his hypnotic voice to force them to dance. As he sang during his first song "Bullies used to pick on me because I sang in choir, but something very strange occurred when I kept singing higher, the ruffians around me quickly fell into a trance, and it was then with wicked glee I made those puppets dance!".
Music Meister makes his presence known to the world when he used his hypnotic voice to control fellow villains Black Manta, Clock King, and Gorilla Grodd, as well as Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary. Using his six mind puppets, Music Meister hijacked a government satellite he plans to use to project his voice across the world. His actions caught the attention of Batman, and his eyes caught hold of Black Canary. When he failed to win her over, Music Meister decided to do away with her and Batman by tying them up in a death trap. But in his arrogance, Music Meister underestimated his opponents. The two heroes managed to escape the trap and faced off against Music Meister and a mind-controlled world. Even Black Canary appeared to be caught in his spell and began singing. Batman challenged the hypnotized Canary to sing higher than he. Batman used the ruse to grab Music Meister's microphone staff and hold it to Canary's mouth, amplifying her sonic scream enough to shatter the Meister's amplifiers, ending his control over the world and allowing Batman to take him out with one punch.
In other media
Lego Batman 3
Music Meister can be a playable character in videogame Lego Batman 3.
He is also playable in the videogame Lego DC supervillains.
Powers and Abilities
Music Meister's singing voice contains a hypnotic frequency that allows him to control minds. It also has the unusual ability of forcing his victims to express themselves only through song and dance, as if they are in a musical.
His weapon of choice is a cane/baton outfitted with a microphone that allows him to amplify his voice, and shoots sonic blasts that resemble sheet music. His mode of transportation is a motorcycle shaped like a beamed note. This can also convert to a scooter shaped like an eighth note, and to a helicopter.
Outfits
The Music Meister changes outfits and hairstyles frequently over the course of the episode, having an extensive collection of ensembles based on different styles of music. One thing that remains the same is his sheet-music styled glasses. His outfits include -
A conductor's outfit, seen before the show's title sequence.
A zoot suit reminiscent of a 1930s big band leader.
Music Meister is loosely based on the Music Master, a one-shot villain used in the Justice League episode "Legends", one of the villains of an alternated universe who turns out to be a creation of the mutant Ray Thompson (coincidentally, Ray was also voiced by Neil Patrick Harris). Like Music Meister, Music Master has red hair and a gap in his teeth.
