| “ | I was supposed to be promoted to the Gotham office last year, but then Bob Lackey from WayneBev pulled the idea for Wayne Light Lime out of his butt and he took my spot! The only reason you're here is to come up with a big idea to get me out of this God-forsaken taint of a city! | „ |
| ~ Van Wayne to Emily Locke. |
Vanverdeer Wayne, better known as Van Wayne, is the main antagonist of the DC Comics-based TV series Powerless.
He was portrayed by Alan Tudyk, who has also portrayed Lenny and Dab the Dodo in Ice Age, Ludo in Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Duke of Weselton in Frozen, Ben Chapman in 42, Alistair Krei in Big Hero 6, Duke Weaselton in Zootopia, the Joker in Harley Quinn, House Of Tomorrow’s A.I. in The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, Doctor Phosphorus in Creature Commandos, King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph, Elias Marcos in Justified, and Iago in the 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin.
Overview[]
Van Wayne is the spoiled, mean-spirited cousin of Bruce Wayne and the boss of Charm City's Wayne Security division. While both Van and Bruce were born into wealth and privilege, Van lacks his cousin's compassion and selflessness, and so believes that having money makes him naturally superior and gives him the right to do as he pleases, no matter the cost to someone else.
After series protagonist Emily Locke creates the Jack-O-Lert watch and is promoted over him to Wayne Enterprises' Gotham City office, Van develops a personal hatred for her and becomes obsessed with destroying her career.
Villainous Acts[]
- In "Wayne or Lose", when his Wayne Security branch began to fail, Van made absolutely no attempt to save it, as he would be relocated to Gotham City and receive a better position if his branch failed, completely aware that he would end up costing his employees their jobs if he did nothing. However, thanks to Emily, the company manages to survive and Van begins to hate her for it.
- In "I'Ma Friend You", Van accuses his staff of using his private bathroom and threatens to fire the one who did it. Later, Van determines Teddy, Ron and Wendy as the most likely culprits and tries to pressure them into confessing, eventually turning them against each other. However, as soon as the three simultaneously confess in order to get Van to leave them alone, he receives security footage of what happened and realizes that the toilet was used by Jackie when she flushed a bee in order to get rid of it. It is also revealed that Van Wayne used to own a dog that he painstakingly taught to use a toilet like a human, although it ran away after it's training was complete as Van clearly didn't treat it very well.
- In "Van v Emily: Dawn of Justice", Van selfishly prevents Emily from using an office space that he isn't using for anything. It is later revealed that Van fired an employee simply because she became employee of the month instead of him and is willing to do so to all of his employees, resulting in them having to feed his ego for years in order to keep their jobs.
Personality[]
Van Wayne is incompetent, selfish, obnoxious and completely power-mad. He cares little for those around him and regards his employees as subjects. Van has nothing contempt for the poor, as shown in the episode "Emily Dates A Henchman", in which he states that he doesn't care about the fate of an orphanage or the people inside it and is only concerned about the window Batman accidentally took off his car. Because he has had everything handed to him, he is a man-child incapable of performing even the simplest task for himself, forcing his long-suffering personal assistant Jackie to do everything for him; she at one point states that he is less mature than her grade school-age daughter. As another result of his upbringing, Van has never experienced a personal loss, turning him into an narcissist who forces others to praise and admire his accomplishments, no matter how minor, lest they be fired or worse. Van considers himself to be worthy of becoming the next Robin, despite never having trained or prepared himself for the job.
Nevertheless, Van Wayne isn't completely evil and occasionally shows redeeming traits, such as when he (unknowingly) saved Emily and Jackie from the Riddler's henchmen or when he gives Emily a new office and new chairs and scones to his other employees.
Trivia[]
- Contrary to popular belief, unlike every other main character in the series, Van Wayne actually originated in DC Comics, although he only ever appeared in one issue (Batman #148). Likely as a hidden reference, in that same issue, Van dressed up in a Robin costume and masqueraded as him, much like he did in the episode "Emily Dates A Henchman".
- In "Wayne or Lose", Batman advertises the Jack-O-Lert watch by using an alternate version of it to find The Joker. It is possible that Batman (aka Bruce Wayne) advertised the watch purely to boost its sales and keep Van out of Gotham City, as he is mentioned to dislike his cousin.
- One of Van's childhood toys was a Green Arrow archery kit, which featured Deathstroke, China White, Calculator, Vertigo and Malcolm Merlyn as targets.
- Van Wayne Industries appeared in the last episode of The CW series Arrow.