Bat-Mite

Bat-Mite is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Bat-Mite is an imp similar to the Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk. 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, and often departs of his own accord upon realizing that he has angered his idol.^[1]

Bat-Mite
Bat-Mite as depicted in World's Finest Comics #113 (November 1960). Art by Curt Swan.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #267 (May 1959)
Created by	Bill Finger (writer) Sheldon Moldoff (artist)
In-story information
Species	Fifth Dimensional Imp (Zrfffian)
Place of origin	Fifth Dimension
Team affiliations	Justice League of Mites
Supporting character of	Batman
Abilities	Nigh-omnipotence Reality warping Immortality Invulnerability Fifth dimensional physiology Advanced technology

Bat-Mite has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily in association with Batman. Paul Reubens and Lou Scheimer voice the character in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and The New Adventures of Batman 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 and artist Sheldon Moldoff.^[2]

Bat-Mite was retired from the comic in 1964, when editor Julius Schwartz instituted a "New Look" Batman that shed some of the sillier elements in the series.^[3]

Bat-Mite appeared in a self-titled six-issue miniseries which lasted from June to November 2015.^[4]

Fictional character history

Cover to Detective Comics #267 (May 1959), the first appearance of Bat-Mite, art by Curt Swan.

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 to plague Superman and Batman together, as well.^[5] In 1964, the Batman titles were revamped under editor Julius Schwartz, leading Bat-Mite to stop appearing.^[6]

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity reboot, Bat-Mite is removed from DC's continuity.^[7] He appears in the Elseworlds special World's Funnest and is restored to the main continuity in Superman/Batman #25 (2006).^[8][9] Bat-Mite also appears as a hallucination that Batman suffers after losing his sanity.^{[10][11][12][13]}

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. He has access to various bat-weapons like his hero, Batman.^[14]

Publications

2015 series

• Bat-Mite (2016-02-17): Includes Bat-Mite #1-6 and a sneak peek story from Convergence: Supergirl: Matrix #2.^[15]

In other media

Television

Bat-Mite (left) as depicted in The New Adventures of Batman.

• Bat-Mite appears in The New Adventures of Batman, voiced by Lou Scheimer.^[16][17][18]
• An animatronic of Bat-Mite appears in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Deep Freeze", voiced by Pat Fraley.^[18]
• Bat-Mite appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Paul Reubens.^[18]
• Bat-Mite appears in Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered, voiced again by Paul Reubens.^[18]
• A stuffed Bat-Mite toy appears in DC Super Hero Girls.

Video games

• Bat-Mite appears as an assist character in the Wii version of Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame.^[18] Additionally, he can be summoned and controlled using a running copy of the game's Nintendo DS counterpart.^[19]
• Bat-Mite appears as a character summon in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.^[20]
• Bat-Mite appears as a playable character and game navigator in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Roger Craig Smith.^[21][18]

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."^[22]