| “ | 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 on and off main antagonist of the DC Comics based TV series Powerless.
Van Wayne is the spoiled, unprofessional and tyrannical cousin of Bruce Wayne and the boss of Charm City's Wayne Security division. Unlike his cousin, Van experienced a very spoiled and over-privileged upbringing that lead to him to have a completely deranged morale and set of ideals that lead him to becoming the man he is today. After she created the Jack-O-Lert watch and prevented him from being relocated to Gotham City, Van Wayne developed a personal hatred for Emily Locke, the protagonist of the series.
He is portrayed by Alan Tudyk, who has also voiced Ludo, The Duke of Weselton, Duke Weaselton and King Candy.
Villainous Acts
- In "Wayne or Lose", when his Wayne Security branch began to fail, Van Wayne 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 Wayne 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 Wayne 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 best described as incompetent, selfish, obnoxious and completely power-mad. He cares little for those around him and regards his employees as subjects. Van is also somewhat xenophobic to the lower class, as shown in the episode "Emily Dates A Henchman", in which he states that he didn't care about the fate of an orphanage or the people inside it and was only concerned about the window Batman accidentally took off his car. His over-privileged upbringing has also turned in him into a man-child who is incapable of doing even the most simplistic task by himself, even Jackie states that he is more of a child than her own daughter. As another result of his upbringing, Van is extremely delusional due to never experienced a loss in anything his entire life, turning him into an unbelievable egomaniac who forces others to praise and admire his accomplishments, no matter how minor, lest they be fired or worse, to the point where Van considers himself to be worthy of becoming the next Robin despite never having trained or prepared himself for the job.
Despite how much of a repulsive human being he is, Van Wayne isn't pure evil and occasionally shows redeeming traits, such as when he (unknowingly) saved Emily and Jackie from The Riddler's henchmen or when he willingly gave 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 it's sales and keep Van out of Gotham City, as he is mentioned to dislike his cousin.
- Wendy is seemingly attracted to Van.
- One of Van's childhood toys was a Green Arrow archery kit, which featured Deathstroke, China White, Calculator, Vertigo and Malcolm Merlyn as targets.