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The thing about rumors, they're often true. You get one chance, Batman. Step away from the lowlife scum.
~ Rumor to Batman.

Rumor is the main antagonist of The Batman episode Rumors. He was the bodyguard of Paul Karon but after failing to protect him from an attack by Joker, he became Rumor, with the goal of killing every villain in Gotham.

He was voiced by Ron Perlman, who also played Bane and Killer Croc in the same show, Clayface in the DC Animated Universe, Mr. Grasping in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, Dieter Reinhardt in Blade II, Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis, Slade in Teen Titans, Kago in Tarzan II, Sheriff Collie Entragian in Desperation, Warhok in Kim Possible, Sozin in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Clay Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, The Lich in Adventure Time, Nicola in Bunraku, the Stabbington Brothers in Tangled, Nino in Drive, Xibalba in The Book of Life, Armaggon in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Bular in Trollhunters and the Podestà in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

Personality[]

Rumor has the anger and lethality of many vigilantes in fiction, believing that the best way to stop crime is by killing people. Unlike Batman he compromises all ethical values of a hero when it comes to fighting villains, treating several criminals equally brutally by attacking and kidnapping them so he can personally execute them all, which suggests personal glee from enacting his vengeance against all villains. He believes all villains are cut from the same cloth, and goes on a quest for revenge after Joker harms Paul Karon. Hugo Strange points out that Rumor did not become a vigilante to save Gotham, but only out of misguided vengeance against all villains, believing in both the black and white morality and hasty generalization logical fallacies.

However, Rumor is primarily motivated by his remorse for not being able to save Karon, and the reason for his vengefulness is because he believes that if Batman had been more brutal as a vigilante, nothing would've happened to Karon. This makes Rumor a very self-righteous vigilante, who tells Batman that he should have become more brutal as a vigilante. Despite his gung-ho behavior towards killing villains, he is shown to be cowardly, as he begs Batman to save him from the villains when they all get freed.

Biography[]

Mario was the bodyguard of Paul Karon. When Karon was introducing his latest invention, a device that shot low sound vibrations that could destroy buildings, he was attacked by the Joker who wanted to steal the weapon for himself. Despite Batman stopping Joker he still ended up crippling Paul. Mario felt guilty at his failure to save his boss, and vowed to kill the super-villains of Gotham City, something Batman never had the courage to do.

Using the tech from Karon's office, he kidnaps Black Mask, Mr Freeze, the Kabuki Twins, Punch & Judy, the Riddler, Spellbinder, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Hugo Strange, Rupert Thorne, Man-Bat, Firefly, the Riddlemen, Bane, Cluemaster, Gearhead, Maxie Zeus, Killer Moth, Temblor, and Ventriloquist and Scarface. However he forgets to capture Tony Zucco, Clayface II and the Ventriloquist's henchmen Rhino and Mugsy. He captures Killer Croc by beating up him and his henchmen while invisible in his sewer lair. He then appears on the news attracting Batman and Robin's attention. Penguin trips an alarm at the museum on purpose so Batman can arrest him and save him from Rumor. However, Batman could not stop him from taking Penguin and Catwoman, but he did get a small piece of the suit, identifying Paul Karon's company as its creator.

Batman first thinks its Karon and pays him a visit. However, after a long talk they learn its Mario after learning that he had the day off. Meanwhile, Mario captures Joker while beating up thugs the clown had ordered to protect him and attempts to execute them with a giant version of Paul Karon's sound device that Joker tried to steal long ago. Hugo Strange taunts him over his state, which makes Mario want to kill him even more.

Batman and Robin arrive to fight Rumor saying he crossed the line, and eventually, they beat him, but they accidentally caused the release of all the other criminals. Batman and Robin fight them all off to save Mario from getting killed, but then Mario then gets sent to jail with the rest of the criminals saying he is innocent, except Catwoman, Hugo Strange, Ventriloquist and Scarface and more who managed to sneak away and not be involved in the fight with Batman and Robin.

Trivia[]

  • Rumor could be considered a foil to Batman, as he is what Batman would have become if he didn't have morals and only killed criminals rather than arresting them.
  • Hush was originally going to appear in the series, but DC Comics didn't like the idea and as result, Rumor was created.
  • In some ways Rumor is similar to Lock-Up since he too was a guard who later wanted to detain and do something about Batman's supervillains.
    • He is also similar to Jason Todd/Red Hood since the both of them view Batman weak of not finishing off the villains and criminals when they deserved to die.

Navigation[]

           The Batman Villains (2004 cartoon)

Joker | Penguin | Bane | Catwoman | Mr. Freeze | Ethan Bennett | Killer Croc | Man-Bat | Firefly | Riddler | Punch & Judy | Kabuki Twins | Hugo Strange | Cluemaster | Cluemaster's Henchmen | Ragdoll | Temblor | Poison Ivy | Tony Zucco | Count Vertigo | Harley Quinn | Maxie Zeus | Basil Karlo | Gearhead | Francis Grey | Killer Moth | D.A.V.E. | Dracula | Rumor | Toyman | Mirror Master | Lex Luthor | Black Mask | Sinestro | Joker 2.0 | Prank | Killgore Steed | Team Penguin | Julie | Spellbinder | Blaze | The Joining | Cosmo Krank | Marty Slacker | Nolan | Warth and Scorn | Metallo | Shadow-Thief | Mercy Graves

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