The majority of Batman’s iconic villains challenge him on both a visceral and thematic level. The Joker is chaos to the Dark Knight's order, the Riddler challenges his detective skills, and Bane is both a physical and intellectual challenge. There are some villains, however, that really don’t fit in with the world of Gotham City, and Man-Bat is one of them.
Outside of his name being a reversal of Batman’s, Kirk Langstrom’s alter ego has very little relevance to the world of the Dark Knight. In fact, his lack of a real legacy makes him come off as a rip-off of a character who actually debuted later: Marvel’s Morbius, the Living Vampire.
Why Man-Bat is Batman's Worst Villain
Debuting in Detective Comics #400, Kirk Langstrom (a.k.a. Man-Bat) was the creation of Neal Adams, Julius Schwartz and Frank Robbins. A scientist attempting to replicate a bat’s sonar abilities in humans, Langstrom instead mutated himself into a hideous bat creature. Although this transformation usually made him lose his grip on his humanity, he occasionally retained his sanity. At other times, however, he would use his serum on his wife, and they would wreak havoc on Gotham City together.
The problem with all of this is that Langstrom has no depth. He’s essentially a retread of Marvel villains such as The Lizard and especially Morbius, the Living Vampire, who actually debuted a year after Man-Bat. The difference is that those Spider-Man villains are actually tragic characters, with both of their experiments meant to help them heal from some sort of debilitating ailment or injury. Man-Bat has no such tragedy built into his character, but instead took part in an inane experiment that backfired. There’s no real narrative hook that connects him to Batman besides his name, and he certainly doesn’t fit into the grounded world that separates the Dark Knight from the overarching DC Universe. Additionally, the character has no substance in the DC Universe, with no essential stories or defining moments despite his fifty year existence.
The Obscure Villain Man-Bat Should Not Be Brought Into the DCEU
Even outside of the comics, Man-Bat would be an odd fit. For one, he has absolutely no place in the gritty noir tone of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and introducing him would be like introducing aliens into the world of Goodfellas. However, there is another reason why the character should not even be considered for the less grounded DCEU.
Sony/Marvel are now releasing their theatrical Morbius movie, and introducing a villain this similar to DC's cinematic universe would likely be seen as a rip-off in the eyes of many moviegoers. It is actually somewhat strange how much more popular Morbius is (especially to have been the more “recent” character), and his current prominence in the Spider-Man comics attests to this. Thus, it seems like in both the comic books and the related films, Man-Bat is more of a bad pun than a good character.