The Batman Trailer during DC FanDome revealed that Gotham has a new demon to deal with. The Riddler is coming for Batman’s head. But fan theories claim that the villain Paul Dano plays is not the Riddler but Hush. Here are some fascinating details regarding the character.
Master Physician and Surgeon
Hush is a very gifted surgeon. His abilities in the field of medicine and surgery make him an almost superhuman surgeon and neurologist. He has performed and successfully conducted operations that were thought to be impossible even by Batman. One of his greatest feats included treating Harold Allnut’s Chronic Kyphosis. Even Bruce Wayne had given up on Harold. Hush did not just cure Allnut’s kyphosis but also treated his muteness, giving him back the ability to speak again. Fata skull fracture that would have easily taken away Batman’s life was treated by Thomas Elliot. Elliot was the only one who could have done that surgery. Elliot’s other feats include removing Catwoman’s heart and placing it in a machine that could keep it beating and alive.
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Became Bruce Wayne
Hush is probably the world’s greatest surgeon. He is proficient in all forms of surgery, including Plastic Surgery. While on his quest to usurp the throne of Bruce Wayne and the massive Wayne Fortune, Hush did plastic surgery on him-self. Via sheer will and determination and using only mild anesthetics, Hush survived the operation and successfully became the only person capable of self-surgery. He then tried to impersonate Bruce Wayne on multiple occasions. In the end, he ultimately failed to do so.
Joined Forces with Red Hood
Batman: Hus revealed just how detailed and invasive Hush’s plans were to take down the Batman. Hush and the Riddler had an inside man that gave them critical information on the Batman. Jason Todd, who had died at the hands of the Joker in Death in the Family, was resurrected later by plunging his corpse into the Lazarus Pit. Jason gave Hush and Riddler the data they needed to get inside Batman’s skin. By using Clayface to impersonate Jason Todd, they made Batman revisit those old painful memories. Hush had successfully penetrated the Batman’s mind. The only other villain who had managed to do that was the Joker.
Tactical Genius on Par with Batman
If Batman is smart, Hush is smarter. During Batman: Hush, Thomas Elliot showed a level of mental proficiency and deviousness not even the Joker could dream of. Hush’s greatest asset is his ability to think like his enemies. By putting himself in the shoes of his opponents, Elliot could come up with a strategy that would exploit their greatest weaknesses. Hush showed he was a strategist ever since he was a child. When he was childhood friends with Bruce, he showed him and made him learn the basics of battle strategy. He orchestrated the death of his father and the eventual death of his mother. He is a shrewd and cunning individual who would go to any extent to reach his goals.
Hates Thomas and Martha Wayne
Like Bruce Wayne, Tommy too was the heir to a wealthy fortune. His family belonged to Gotham’s greatest elites. But unlike Bruce, Tommy hated his father and mother. His father was an abusive alcoholic and he considered his mother a coward for never speaking up against it. He tried to commit parricide so that their deaths would lead to the massive heritage being left behind only for Tommy to squander. Thomas Wayne managed to throw a monkey wrench in his plans. He saved Tommy’s mother and she was the one who inherited her husband’s fortune. Bruce later became an orphan, gaining a life Tommy always wanted. Because of Thomas Wayne’s involvement in foiling his plans, Hush hates the Waynes.
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Copied a Previous DC Villain
Hush is a relatively new villain. But his costume draws heavy inspiration from an existing DC Universe villain. The bandaged mask and the overcoat were used by the Crime Doctor. First appearing in Batman #77., he was also a gifted surgeon that could use his surgical skills to change his identity with skin masks of his own design. In Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, Harvey Dent’s burnt face is reconstructed and he is also forced to wear a mask made out of bandages in the arc. The story line was released way back in 1986.
Made Batman Learn a Very Crucial Lesson
As we have already mentioned, Thomas Elliot was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne’s. He had taught him many lessons including the strategy of thinking like his enemies. When you think a plan from your enemy’s perspective, you gain some critical advantages like the ability of turning their strengths into weaknesses. Bruce would later take those lessons to heart and use them as his core beliefs while he hopped from one building to another as a crime-fighting vigilante of Gotham City.
The Scarecrow Connection
After Hush’s father died due Tommy’s own actions, he suffered a mental breakdown. During that episode, he attacked a boy in a summer camp. To cure Tommy of his new mental ailment, Tommy was admitted into a psychiatric ward. Tommy believed that his violent outbursts were the result of his hatred for Bruce Wayne and his family. He was later cured of his episodes after being treated by a young Dr Jonathan Crane. Crane is now better known as the Fear Toxin using super villain Scarecrow.
The Ventriloquist Helped Kill His Mother
When Hush was young, he dated a woman known as Peyton Riley. Riley would later become the Ventriloquist of Gotham. Tommy’s mother hated Peyton Riley and disapproved of his relationship with her. To coerce him into leaving her, his mother wrote Tommy out of the will. Tommy and Peyton took matters into their own hands. Hush murdered his mother while Peyton took care of the lawyers that were in charge of the new will. The old will stood and Tommy became the sole heir to the massive Elliot Fortune.
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The Riddler Turned Him into Hush
Thomas Elliot was a crooked and broken chap with extreme hatred for Bruce Wayne. He would have done anything to hurt Bruce. But it was not his idea to take on the Hush identity. It was the Riddler, who partnered with him and convinced him to become Hush. The Riddler has earlier cured himself of cancer by throwing himself into a Lazarus Pit. The pit affected his mental state and in an episode of insanity, he figured out that Bruce Wayne was Batman. The Riddler shared this new information with Thomas Elliot, who decided to turn Batman’s life upside down. Thomas became Hush and the rest is history.
