Bat-Mite is a fictional character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

s published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. Bat-Mite is an imp similar to the

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

villain

Mister Mxyzptlk Mister Mxyzptlk ( or ), sometimes called Mxy, is a character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is usually presented as a trickster in the classical mythological sense. Mxyzptlk possesses reality-warping powers with ...

. Depicted as a small, childlike man in an ill-fitting copy of Batman's costume, Bat-Mite possesses what appear to be near-infinite magical powers which could be considered nigh-omnipotence, but he actually uses highly advanced technology from the fifth dimension that cannot be understood by humans' limited three-dimensional views. Unlike Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite idolizes his superhero target and thus he has visited Batman on various occasions, often setting up strange and ridiculous events so that he could see his hero in action. Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a

supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

, and often departs of his own accord upon realizing that he has angered his idol. Bat-Mite has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily in association with Batman.

Paul Reubens Paul Reubens (; ; August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman. Born in Peekskill, New York and raised in both Oneonta, New York and Sarasota, Flo ...

and Lou Scheimer voice the character in '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' and ''

The New Adventures of Batman ''The New Adventures of Batman'' is an animated series that aired on CBS from February 12 to May 28, 1977, featuring the DC Comics superheroes Batman, Dick Grayson, Robin, and Barbara Gordon, Batgirl. The series was a Filmation and DC Comics pro ...

'' respectively.

Publication history

Bat-Mite made his first appearance in ''Detective Comics'' #267 (May 1959) in a story titled "Batman Meets Bat-Mite", and was created by writer

Bill Finger Milton "Bill" Finger (February 8, 1914 – ) was an American comic book writer who co-created the DC Comics character Batman with Bob Kane. Despite making major (sometimes, signature) contributions as an innovative writer, visionary mythos/world ...

and artist

Sheldon Moldoff Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff (; April 14, 1920 – February 29, 2012) was an Americans, American comics artist best known for his early work on the DC Comics characters Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and as one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" (unc ...

. Bat-Mite was retired from the comic in 1964, when editor

Julius Schwartz Julius "Julie" Schwartz ( ; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he ...

instituted a "New Look" Batman that shed some of the sillier elements in the series. Bat-Mite appeared in a self-titled six-issue miniseries which lasted from June to November 2015.

Fictional character history

Pre-Crisis

Bat-Mite regularly appeared in ''Batman'', ''Detective Comics'', and ''World's Finest Comics'' for five years. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages of ''

World's Finest Comics ''World's Finest Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled ''World's Best Comics'' for its first issue; issue #2 (Summer 1941) switched to the more familiar name. Michael ...

'' to plague Superman and Batman together, as well. In 1964, the Batman titles were revamped under editor

, leading Bat-Mite to stop appearing.

Post-Crisis

Following the ''

Crisis on Infinite Earths ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' is a 1985 to 1986 American comic book fictional crossover, crossover series published by DC Comics. Written by Marv Wolfman and penciller, pencilled by George Pérez, it was first released as a 12-issue limited ser ...

'' continuity reboot, Bat-Mite is removed from DC's continuity. He appears in the ''

Elseworlds Elseworlds is the publication imprint (trade name), imprint for American comic books produced by DC Comics for stories that take place outside the DC Universe Canon (fictional), canon. Elseworlds publications are set in alternate realities that ...

'' special '' World's Funnest'' and is restored to the main continuity in ''

Superman/Batman ''Superman/Batman'' is a monthly American comic book series published by DC Comics that features the publisher's two most popular superheroes: Superman and Batman. ''Superman/Batman'' premiered in August 2003, an update of the previous series, ' ...

'' #25 (2006). Bat-Mite also appears as a hallucination that Batman suffers after losing his sanity.

Powers and abilities

Bat-Mite, as a fifth-dimensional Imp, has nigh-omnipotence, which is shown as near-infinite magical power. Bat-Mite has powers and skills identical to that of Mister Mxyzptlk (but not his weaknesses), such as the ability to manipulate

spacetime In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualiz ...

. He has access to various bat-weapons like his hero, Batman.

Publications

2015 series

* Bat-Mite (2016-02-17): Includes ''Bat-Mite'' #1-6 and a sneak peek story from ''

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

: Supergirl: Matrix'' #2.

In other media

Television

* Bat-Mite appears in ''

'', voiced by Lou Scheimer. * An

animatronic An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

of Bat-Mite appears in the '' Batman: The Animated Series'' episode "Deep Freeze", voiced by

Pat Fraley Pat Fraley is an American voice actor and voice-over teacher, known as the voice of Krang, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman and numerous other characters in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated television series and voiced Falcon in ...

. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. * Bat-Mite appears in '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'', voiced by

. * Bat-Mite appears in '' Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered'', voiced again by Paul Reubens. * A stuffed Bat-Mite toy appears in '' DC Super Hero Girls''.

Video games

* Bat-Mite appears as an assist character in the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

version of '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame''. Additionally, he can be summoned and controlled using a running copy of the game's

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

counterpart. * Bat-Mite appears as a character summon in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''. * Bat-Mite appears as a playable character and game navigator in '' Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham'', voiced by

Roger Craig Smith Roger Craig Smith is an American voice actor. He is known for his voice roles in video games such as Chris Redfield in the ''Resident Evil'' series (2009–2017), Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series (2009–2011), Kyle C ...

Reception

In ''Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives'', Matt Yockey writes, "Bat-Mite pointedly represents the intersection of utopia and trauma in the superhero genre and he signals that the mastery over trauma is an essential step toward realizing a utopian ideal. His home in the 'fifth dimension' and his magical powers locate Bat-Mite in the utopian realm, yet he turns to Batman as his ideal, suggesting that contact with trauma is in fact indispensable to the expression of a utopian desire."

References

External links

Bat-Mite
at Comic Vine {{Batman characters Batman characters Characters created by Bob Kane Characters created by Bill Finger Characters created by Sheldon Moldoff Comics characters introduced in 1959 DC Comics aliens DC Comics characters who can teleport DC Comics characters who use magic DC Comics deities DC Comics male superheroes DC Comics male supervillains DC Comics superheroes DC Comics supervillains Fictional higher-dimensional characters Fictional tricksters Imps