Hush (character)
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Hush | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | Batman #609 (January 2003)[1] |
Created by | Jeph Loeb (writer) Jim Lee (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Thomas Elliot |
Species | Human |
Notable aliases | Bruce Wayne, "The Identity Thief"[2] |
Abilities |
|
Hush (Thomas Elliot) is a
Thomas "Tommy" Elliot was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne who attempts to murder his own parents and inherit their massive fortune. His plan fails when Bruce's father, Dr.
The character has been adapted from the comics into numerous forms of media, having been portrayed in live-action television by Cole Vallis in Gotham and Gabriel Mann and Warren Christie in Batwoman. Kevin Conroy voiced Hush in the Batman: Arkham video game series.
Publication history
Hush resurfaced in Batman: Gotham Knights, and later in Detective Comics and Batman: Streets of Gotham. He was also the architect behind several of the events of Batman Eternal.
Fictional character biography
Origin
Thomas "Tommy" Elliot was a childhood friend of
Driven by his desire for independence and wealth, Tommy severed the brake line of his parents' car, causing a crash that killed his father and injured his mother; his mother, however, was saved in an emergency operation by Thomas Wayne, which enraged young Elliot. While at a summer camp with Bruce, Tommy attacked a boy and ended up in a psychiatric ward; he blamed Bruce and his mother for his outburst. He is released by an intern named Jonathan Crane, who becomes the villain Scarecrow.
During the next few years, Tommy tended to his mother. When Bruce's parents were murdered, Tommy resented him for inheriting the Wayne family fortune, just as he had hoped to do with his parents' money. Shortly before Bruce returned to
Finally the sole recipient of his family's fortune, Tommy abandoned Peyton and began traveling the world, as Bruce had. Although he went on to Harvard University and became a successful surgeon, Tommy continued to harbor an irrational grudge towards his childhood friend.
At some point in his career, Edward Nygma, also known as the Riddler, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and eventually hijacked one of Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pits to regain his health. During this mystical treatment, which renders the participant temporarily insane, the Riddler experienced an unexpected epiphany: he realized that Bruce Wayne was Batman. Soon afterwards, the Riddler attempted to sell Tommy the secrets of his newfound revelation in exchange for a large cash sum. Tommy, by this time having discovered Nygma's criminal background, instead offered to pay him to kill Bruce. Realizing that they shared a common hatred for Wayne, Tommy and the Riddler decided to pool resources to bring him down.
To this end, Elliot created for himself the persona of "Hush". Riddler said that the name started out as a joking reference to the need to keep Tommy's identity secret, but became a more permanent alias when Scarecrow started to sing the lullaby "Hush, Little Baby".[4]
Hush character arc
In their attempt to destroy Batman, Hush and the Riddler manipulated several other villains into unwillingly helping them. These included the Joker, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Killer Croc and Clayface. They even manipulated some of Batman's closest allies (Superman, Huntress, and Catwoman) against the Dark Knight, utilizing such methods as Poison Ivy using her pheromones to control the Man of Steel and Catwoman and Hush's seemingly benevolent funding of Huntress's vigilante activities. Part of their plot included fooling Bruce into believing the Joker had murdered Tommy; Clayface shapeshifted into Tommy's corpse to create this illusion.
With these villains as their pawns, Hush and the Riddler set up an elaborate plot against Batman.
Around this time, Hush cured the disfigured
When Tommy finally revealed himself to a worn-out Batman, the Dark Knight was saved only by the intervention of Harvey Dent, whose Two-Face persona had been unwittingly wiped out by Tommy when he repaired Dent's disfigured face. Once again on the side of the law, Dent shot Hush twice, throwing him off a bridge. Although Batman was sure that Hush was his childhood friend Thomas Elliot, he was not able to unmask him.[8]
In 2022, a 20th anniversary edition trade paperback of the original Hush storyline contained a newly produced epilogue. Written and drawn by the original authors Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, it detailed how Hush escaped to an air pocket in a sunken boat at the bottom of the Gotham river after his defeat on the bridge. After performing surgery on himself to remove the two bullets from Harvey Dent's gun, Hush is shown to crawl ashore only to run into Harley Quinn and the Joker, who puts a gun to his head. The epilogue then ends with a To Be Continued. [9]
Hush returns
Still out to destroy Batman and determined not to let the rest of the villains get in his way, Hush quickly carved out a niche for himself, beating his former accomplice the Riddler to within an inch of his life. Hush even drives the Joker out of the city, thus proving to the Clown Prince that Hush can be a threat to him. He also temporarily killed Poison Ivy during a failed attempt to recruit her.
Following a short-lived alliance with JLA nemesis Prometheus, Hush began to torment Bruce Wayne with help from Clayface. Exploiting the latter's shapeshifting abilities, Hush was briefly able to shed doubt on his true identity and had Alfred Pennyworth framed for murder, using samples taken from the new Clayface to infect Alfred with a virus that would allow Elliot to control him. Hush also attempted to analyse samples taken from Clayface with the goal of duplicating Clayface's shape-shifting abilities for himself without the usual side-effects such as loss of a default human form, eventually attempting to perfect this analysis by releasing Cassius Payne from prison, reasoning that samples from Cassius would be more useful as he is the only 'pure' Clayface... the only one who was never human in the first place. After Clayface realised that he was being manipulated, he provided Batman with a sample of himself to find a cure for Alfred's condition despite knowing that this would not leave Batman with time to cure him, and also ensured that Alfred's name would be cleared by ensuring that his final appearance after death would be a form whose fingerprints so closely resembled Alfred's that the detectives would assume that they had made a mistake (The aforementioned events occur in issue #50–55 and #61–72).
Payback
The Joker eventually returned to
Bruce consented to help Hush on the condition that he allow himself to be treated in, and confined to, Arkham Asylum. Hush agreed, and then immediately escaped after being told that the surgery had been a success. He was intercepted by Batman before he could confront the Joker and demanded that Batman allow him to kill the Joker. Batman seemed to agree and began to leave, but then revealed that he had tricked Hush – the pacemaker was still in his body, and he had been allowed to escape from Arkham. At that moment, the Joker arrived, and Hush begged Batman not to leave him.
The issue (and the Batman: Gotham Knights series) ended unresolved. Hush returned in the later Man-Bat miniseries,[10] and is later shown remembering how painful it was to remove the pacemaker alone, and how the time between Gotham Knights and Heart of Hush was mostly spent recovering from the damage suffered, confirming that Batman did desert Hush at the conclusion of "Payback".
Heart of Hush
Hush returns in Detective Comics #846-#850, in the story "Heart of Hush", which ties together with "
Hush then ambushes and subdues Catwoman after she scratches off a portion of his facial bandages, recoiling in horror at what she sees. He then cuts out her heart, places her on life support supplied by Mr. Freeze, and delivers her to Gotham General Hospital. Hush ponders the formulation his plan in the wake of Batman’s abandonment of him.
While Catwoman is left in Doctor Mid-Nite's care, Batman learns the location of Hush's headquarters from Scarecrow. Hush attacks Batman with a paralytic gas, and shows him the room containing Catwoman's heart, which is being kept alive through artificial means. He then confesses to Batman his plan: using his newfound resemblance to Bruce, he will kill and disfigure him to steal his identity, eliminating those who know him best and regularly interact with him, after which he will retire with the Wayne fortune, reasoning that Batman's fellow superheroes will accept that Batman has earned the right to end his career.
However, Batman is able to stave off the effects of the paralytic gas, recover Catwoman's heart, and warn Alfred of Hush's deception. Although Alfred disarms Elliot, Hush manages to get the Batcave, where he nearly kills Batman, but Alfred's continued interference and the arrival of Nightwing and Robin turned the tide. Hush retreats on the Whirly-Bat, a one-man helicopter, but his bandages become tangled in the rotor, causing the vehicle to explode.
In searching for traces of Hush, Batman, Nightwing, and Robin find only some bloody bandages, and conclude that he is dead. Doctor Mid-Nite surgically restores Catwoman's heart, but notes that she is unlikely to ever regain her physical prowess. While convalescing, she and her allies find all of Hush's secret bank accounts, and loots those funds for themselves, which she documents in a video that she ultimately leaves for Hush to find, in the event that he survived. Hush, revealed to be indeed alive but wounded and crutch-bound, sees this video, before limping off into locations unknown.
Later, posing as Bruce Wayne, Hush travels to Australia and Vietnam to loot the cash accounts of Wayne Enterprises' subsidiaries. He is captured by Catwoman, and along with Nightwing and Robin, incarcerates him in a secret safe house. Hush, still wearing Bruce's appearance, decides to fake his surrender, waiting for the right moment to escape.
Batman reborn
In Streets of Gotham, Batman's biological son
"House of Hush"
Hush reappeared in Streets of Gotham for the story arc "House of Hush" beginning in #14.[16] He attempted to push the boundaries of his new role as Bruce Wayne, such as recommending that convicted criminals be allowed back on the streets. However, this plan backfired when the criminal Jane Doe—a woman who lost her face in an accident and had resorted to cutting off the faces of others—became obsessed with 'Bruce Wayne' after he had her released. She infiltrated his life by taking the face of his new assistant, and subsequently cut off Elliot's new face with the intention of becoming Bruce Wayne herself. The returned Bruce Wayne, once again acting as Batman, caught her and Hush, and they were both sent to Arkham, Bruce declaring that he was Batman's financial backer to make any attempt Hush might make to expose his identity basically irrelevant.
During the events of
The New 52: "Batman Eternal"
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Hush first appears in issue twenty-one of Batman Eternal as the apparent mastermind behind Commissioner Gordon's downfall and Carmine Falcone's return. After injecting Alfred with fear toxin, Hush was seen communicating with Jason Bard about taking control of Gotham.[18]
In issue twenty-six, a slightly revised origin for Hush was revealed; he was still Tommy Elliot, a childhood friend of
Hush turned public opinion against Wayne Enterprises by blowing up one of Batman's hidden weapon caches (known to be connected to Wayne Enterprises after the events of Batman Incorporated) below Gotham, killing an unknown number of civilians, policemen and military personnel. He was able to enter the cache with DNA taken from Alfred Pennyworth.[20]
After having blown up another weapon cache and having been shot through the shoulder with a grappling hook by Julia Pennyworth, Hush gave up his location to Batman to face him in a final showdown. They met and fought in a weapon cache below the Martha Wayne Foundation hospital, which Hush had rigged to explode as a backup plan. Batman defeated Hush, but was then informed that the government had seized control of Wayne Enterprises and its holdings due to its involvement in the catastrophic explosions around Gotham. Hush then taunted Batman, stating, "Maybe you're right Bruce, maybe I'm not you. But right now, who would want to be?"[21]
Hush was then kept as prisoner in the
All-Star Batman
In All-Star Batman #10, Hush secretly allies himself with Penguin, Black Mask, and Great White Shark to trick Batman into procuring a MacGuffin called the Genesis engine for them. The ruse succeeds, but Hush and his allies are then ambushed and nearly murdered by the new villain Nemesis. [23]
DC Rebirth
After DC Comics' new line-wide relaunch
Then, in the one-shot Batman: Prelude to the Wedding: Nightwing vs. Hush #1, Hush is tipped off to Batman's upcoming wedding by the Joker. Hush attempts to attack Batman's bachelor party, causing an explosion to distract Superman and then attacking Batman and Nightwing. In the course of the confrontation, Hush's attack disrupts a dimensional gate Superman had provided that was intended to take Batman to a peaceful pocket universe, resulting in Hush and Nightwing being trapped in an in-between place for individuals who have lost all sense of individual identity. As Hush's rants affirm his inability to forge a life for himself outside of an obsession with Bruce Wayne, he reveals that he has given himself plastic surgery to look like Dick Grayson to try and recapture his old friendship with Bruce. Ultimately, Hush is left behind in the pocket dimension despite Nightwing's attempts to help him.[25]
However, in Batman (vol. 3) #70, Hush is apparently back in
Hush resurfaces in Detective Comics #1031, where he takes advantage of the confusion during an anti-vigilante riot to drug and kidnap several members of the
Other versions
Batman Beyond
The 2010 Batman Beyond miniseries revealed that Bruce Wayne's last fight with Hush occurred on a rainy night and consisted primarily of a rooftop chase. As a last-minute means of escape, Elliot dove into an open window, only to be shot by the homeowner who mistook him for an invader. With Batman severely injured and not on good terms with the police, he left Hush's body without examining it himself. Bruce seemed initially satisfied with the official police identification of the body as Elliot's. However, he later admits suspecting that Hush's skill for strategy and plastic surgery could have fabricated the entire scenario.
Some time after the events of
Returning to the cave, Terry learns what happened in Bruce's last fight with Hush. Terry soon discovers that the reformed villain, Armory, has been killed with sharpened umbrellas (the Penguin's weapon of choice). Attempting to stay ahead of their foe, Terry and Bruce search out the Calendar Man (Julian Gregory Day). Upon confronting Day, Terry is suddenly ambushed by Hush, who broke in beforehand.[31]
During Terry's fight with the new Hush, it is revealed that this Hush is not only capable of matching the current Batman in a fight, but is also aware of Bruce Wayne's identity as Batman. He regards Terry as an impostor with no understanding of what it means to be Batman. He also regards his murders of Batman's rogues gallery as orphaning Batman all over again by killing his enemies as the only loving family he has had.
Hush escapes by throwing the Calendar Man out the window with a bomb attached to Day's chest. Terry chooses to try and save Day, but fails. Confirming that Tim Drake was under constant physical and psychological observation since his time as the Joker, Terry eliminates Drake as a suspect and proceeds to confront Dick Grayson.
Meanwhile, Hush is revealed to have hired the new
Using the new Bat-Wraith (a robot designed to replace Terry as Batman), Bruce intervenes in Hush's attempt to kill Catwoman. Hush demonstrates a knowledge of Bruce's old methods—including his equipment trials with Alfred and his habit of making the logo on his chest heavily armoured—and manages to shut down the robot. Hush then proceeds to attempt to hack the Bat-Wraith, which forces Bruce to use the self-destruct.
Terry subsequently attempts to trap Hush by posing as current Bat-foe Mad Stan, only to be defeated and exposed by Hush's use of Shriek's technology. Hush unmasks himself, appearing to be a bitter and enraged Dick Grayson.[33] He spares Bruce and Terry so that they can witness him in action saving Gotham. Bruce then directs the new Catwoman on how to treat Terry's injuries.
The new Hush is subsequently revealed as a clone of Grayson. Waller, determined to provide the world with a Batman, cloned Grayson based on DNA and memory readings taken after Grayson's last fight as Nightwing. Waller believed that Grayson was more stable than Bruce and would therefore be easier to control. Doctor Reid also reveals herself to be the granddaughter of the original Hush (Nora Elliot before her marriage), seeking to atone for her grandfather's sins.[34]
Hush sends a transmission to the Batcave, revealing that he has taken control of the Bat-Wraiths. He threatens to destroy Gotham to save it by setting off bombs along a fault line and triggering a new earthquake. The wounded Terry is aided by Dick Grayson despite Bruce and Terry's concerns about his old injuries. They are joined by Catwoman who is seeking revenge for Hush's attack on her.
The three track down Hush, but are unable to convince him that he is merely a clone. The group is only able to defeat him when Bruce temporarily overrides Hush's control of the Bat-Wraiths. Hush is then accidentally impaled and killed on a Bat-Wraith when Terry throws him off of the real Grayson, the clone being impaled by a Bat-Wraith coming out of a pit that it had previously fallen into before both fall back into the pit. Terry grimly notes that the lack of a body means they can only think the clone is dead rather than being sure of it. Waller later had Reid taking the blames for Hush's actions to continue her work.[35]
Absolute Power
In an alternate timeline in the pages of Superman/Batman where Batman saved his parents while travelling back in time via technology from the Legion of Super-Villains, Bruce Wayne and Tommy Elliot were still friends as adults.[36]
Flashpoint
In the alternate timeline of the 2011 Flashpoint storyline, Hush is killed by Batman.[37]
Batman: Arkham Knight
Hush appears in the
Tales From The Dark Multiverse
The
In other media
Television
Animation
- Hush was originally intended to appear in a cancelled DTV set for The Batman. He was later set to be introduced in the episode "Rumors" but was ultimately replaced by the original villain Rumor (voiced by Ron Perlman).
Live-action
- Tommy Elliot appears in This version is a student at Anders Preparatory Academy who initially bullies Bruce Wayne, but later apologizes and becomes his friend.
- Hush appears in new Batwoman.
Film
- Hush makes a cameo appearance in Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants, voiced by Dave B. Mitchell.
- Tommy Elliot appears in Batman: Hush (2019),[44] voiced by Maury Sterling. This version is a normal surgeon who does not take on the Hush identity, with the role instead going to Edward Nygma / Riddler (voiced by Geoffrey Arend). Nygma later kills Elliot to torture Bruce Wayne, who knows of his identity.
- A variation of Hush appears in Batman: Death in the Family (2020), voiced by Vincent Martella. Jason Todd takes on the Hush identity in one of the possible storylines if the viewer chooses to have him cheat death.
Video games
Lego Batman
- Hush appears as an unlockable playable character in Lego Batman: The Videogame.[45]
- Hush appears as an optional boss and unlockable playable character in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, voiced by Cam Clarke.
- Hush appears as an unlockable playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.[46]
Batman: Arkham
Tommy Elliot / Hush appears in the Batman: Arkham series of video games, voiced by Kevin Conroy.
- Introduced in Batman: Arkham City, this version was a member of a medical team inside the eponymous super-prison who was implicated in the theft of aid supplies. After removing his face, he becomes a serial killer who dissects his victim's faces before murdering them. After encountering one of his victims, Batman investigates the other murder scenes and eventually finds Elliot's hideout, discovering that he has been using Arkham City inmates as "donors" to facially reconstruct and graft Bruce Wayne's face to himself to impersonate him and get revenge. Elliot then escapes Arkham City, with Batman vowing to find him again and stop him.[47]
- Elliot returns in Wayne Tower by impersonating Bruce and holds Lucius Foxhostage in an attempt to steal Wayne's fortune. He again encounters Batman who unmasks himself before disarming Elliot and knocking him out with Lucius' help. Bruce then has Lucius detain Elliot in the tower's vault.
Other video games
- Hush appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by J. Shannon Weaver.
- Hush appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[48]
- Hush appears as a playable character in the mobile version of Injustice 2.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ^ Batman: Arkham City
- ISBN 9780345501066.
- ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1.
- ^ Batman #617–618 (September–October 2003). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Annual #25 (March 2006). DC Comics.
- ^ Red Hood: The Lost Days #6 (January 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman #619 (November 2003). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: Hush 20th Anniversary Edition (November 2022). DC Comics.
- ^ Man-Bat (vol. 3) #1–5 (June–October 2006). DC Comics.
- ^ Detective Comics #849 (December 2008). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 (August 2009). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: Streets of Gotham #4 (November 2009). DC Comics.
- ^ Batgirl (vol. 3) #8 (March 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Red Robin #12 (May 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: Streets of Gotham #14 (July 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: Gates of Gotham #1 (July 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Eternal #21 (August 2014). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Eternal #26 (October 2014). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Eternal #32 (November 2014). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Eternal #34 (November 2014). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Eternal #47. DC Comics.
- ^ All-Star Batman #10-14, 19 ( 2017). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman (vol. 3) #19 (March 2017). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman: Prelude to the Wedding: Nightwing vs. Hush #1 (June 2018). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman (vol. 3) #70 (June 2019). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman (vol. 3) #80 (October 2019). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman (vol. 3) #75 (July 2019). DC Comics.
- ^ Detective Comics #1033 (December 2020). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Beyond #1 (June 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Beyond #2 (July 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Beyond #3 (August 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Beyond #4 (September 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Beyond #5 (October 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Batman Beyond #6 (November 2010). DC Comics.
- ^ Superman/Batman #17. DC Comics.
- ^ Flashpoint: Batman:Knight of Vengeance #1 (June 2011). DC Comics.
- ^ Varnson, Fletcher (2022-07-19). "How To Enjoy The Entire Batman: Arkham Series In Order". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
- ^ Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Batman - Hush #1. DC Comics.
- ^ "Exclusive: Tommy Elliot Returning to 'Gotham' in Season 4". ComicBook.com.
- ^ "(GTH-407) "A Dark Knight: A Day in the Narrows"". The Futon Critic. October 11, 2017.
- ^ Mike Sorrentino. "Batwoman will have Hush origin, Burt Ward cameo revealed at Comic-Con panel". CNET. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
- ^ Matt Webb Mitovich (2 October 2019). "Batwoman Baddies First Looks: Revenge Fave Gabriel Mann Is Hush, Rachel Matthews Cast as Magpie". TVLine. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
- ^ "Batman: Hush is Getting an Animated Movie". 20 July 2018.
- ^ Ahearn, Nate (2008-09-09). "LEGO Batman Updated Impressions – Xbox 360 Preview at IGN". IGN. Xbox 360. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "#Batman beware. Play as Hush when you pre-order LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham!". Twitter. GameStop.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Scribblenauts Presents: The Top 13 DC Comics Characters You Don't Know, But Should". DC. 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2019-09-08.