Kite Man Should Be Batman’s Next Great Nemesis (Yes, Really)

Batman has some of the best villains in comic books. The Joker is perhaps the best known archenemy ever, and even he’s competing against Ra’s al Ghul, Bane, and other heavy-hitting villains like Mister Freeze and Poison Ivy. All of these villains can make a legitimate claim to try and stand at the top of the Dark Knight’s rogues gallery, but out of all of them, the one who deserves to give Batman a run for his copious amounts of money the most is Kite Man. Yes, I’m serious. Kite Man deserves to be the biggest threat to Batman for at least one story, and by the end of this article, you’ll think so too.

He might seem like a joke villain with no actual crime-committing skills, and you’d be completely right in that assumption. Kite Man is a massive gag, and that is one of the reasons why he is so well set to be one of Batman’s best villains ever. He’s the exact opposite of everything a Batman villain should be, and that’s the point.

Batman Villain Fatigue

Like stated above, Batman’s rogues gallery is often lauded as the strongest in comic books for good reason. Every single villain is expressive and bounces off of the Caped Crusader in such a fun and unique way, each bringing out and testing a different aspect of him. Batman is a very special character because of his many aspects, from detective to fantastical hero to incredible martial artist, and there is a villain to challenge every part of him. However, these villains being so incredible is also what has made them so much less interesting in recent years. 

There’s this sentiment that Batman comics have gotten boring in recent years. There’s certainly a long list of problems that permeate Batman’s comics and contribute to this idea, but one of the big reasons is that the villains themselves have gotten boring. It feels like we just see the same stories over and over with no variety, no new ideas. Everyone has heard about Joker Fatigue, the idea that Joker shows up way too often and has become far more pomp and shock value than substance, but the same is true about the rest of his villains to some extent. Scarecrow shows up and throws the entire city into a panic with fear toxin, Bane shouts about how he broke Batman, and Penguin almost dies, disappears for ten minutes, then retakes all organized crime in Gotham like nothing happened. It’s been the same stories and plot beats on repeat for years. Instead of pushing the envelope and innovating like how they became famous, Batman’s villains have been riding their own coattails. 

And it’s always the top tier names doing this. When was the last time Professor Pyg was the main villain of an arc? Black Mask? Maxie Zeus? Batman’s villains have all stopped evolving and growing, which is why Kite Man is the perfect man to shake everything up.

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Kite Man Is the Villain We Need

Kite Man is nothing like what you expect in a Batman villain. He’s a bit of a joke, even, but that’s exactly why he can be the villain to push everything about Batman in the right direction. Tom King’s Batman run was contentious, but it is the comic that reinvented Kite Man from a gag villain to a grief-striken man who uses kites to commit crimes to feel connected to his dead son. Yet even in that heartbreaking story, Kite Man’s existence was the punchline to everything. Imagine a story where Kite Man was tired of being treated like a joke. What if he dedicated himself to committing crimes in a way only he could. Nobody would see Kite Man coming, and nobody would take him seriously until it was way too late. I’m not calling for him to become a darker character, he should still be Kite Man, but he can stand to step up his game.

Kite Man has a lot going for him that other villains don’t. He has a tragic backstory that makes him as sympathetic as Mister Freeze, a unique gimmick that has a lot of potential to be played with, and a strong fan base. Most other lower tier villains aren’t nearly as popular as he is, but he’s in the unique position of being so popular and underutilized at the same time. Beyond all of that, if Kite Man of all people almost beats Batman, that’s the perfect motivation for everyone in Gotham to go through a villainy renaissance. Do you really think any of the ego-maniacs that practically live in Arkham’s padded rooms would be able to stomach the thought of being upstaged by Kite Man? Kite Man being a formidable villain not only would be original like few modern Batman stories are, but it perfectly inspires everyone else to evolve what they do out of spite. It’s the perfect recipe for a new type of supervillainy!

Kite Man is a joke, but he’s a joke that can be used for such an awesome purpose. Kite Man has the potential to change the very nature of Batman comics going forward, and all they have to do is let him take center stage and be competent for about five minutes. Hell yeah!

Which c-tier Batman villain do you want to be the lead in a new story? Let us know in the comments below!