Kite Man

Kite Man
Interior artwork from Batman #27 (September 2017).
Art by Clay Mann and Danny Miki.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Batman #133 (August 1960)
Created by Bill Finger
Dick Sprang
In-story information
Alter ego Charles "Chuck" Brown
Abilities Excellent hang-glider pilot
Uses a variety of gimmicked kites

Kite Man (Charles "Chuck" Brown) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics

Publication history

Kite Man first appeared in Batman #133 (August 1960), and was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang.

Fictional character biography

Charles "Chuck" Brown is a man who armed himself with kite weapons to be used to commit crimes. He flies with a big kite strapped to him. He also uses a barrage of kites to overwhelm his enemies. He has run afoul of Batman, Robin, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl on different occasions.

In his first appearance, he uses kites for a variety of crimes, including helping criminals escape prison. Batman uses kites of his own to defeat him.[1] This appearance is reprinted in Batman Family #3 (1975). Kite-Man returns again, now sporting a visor. He hires several men, whom he betrays. Batman again defeats him with his own kite.[2] Len Wein brings him back in a story about payroll heists. The gimmicky kites were not used.[2]

Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna confront him again, in Hawkman's title. His real name is revealed, as well as a childhood fascination with kites. He is defeated and crashes into a tree.[3]

Kite-Man is one of many criminals to take advantage of the supervillain-friendly atmosphere of the fictional country of Zandia. He ends up joining its sports team and later becomes involved in a fight against an invading troop of superheroes.[4]

In Infinite Crisis, Joker reports that Brown was thrown off Wayne Tower without his kite by Deathstroke, after he refused to join the new Secret Society of Super Villains.[5]

Brown, however, survived his fall and reached some low rank in the post-Crisis Gotham City's underworld in the pages of the weekly series 52. He is captured alongside Sewer King, Dawson, Lamelle, The Squid and Mirage. As with the other prisoners, Kite Man is killed and eaten by Bruno Mannheim upon refusing to side with him.[6]

DC Rebirth

Kite Man appears in the DC Rebirth universe. This version is referred to as Charles, Chuck, and Charlie Brown. He seems to be somewhat unstable, constantly chanting the catch-phrase "Kite Man, hell yeah!", a reference to his son, Charles Brown Jr.'s reaction to the first time he tried flying a kite. He first appears robbing a luxurious party, before being quickly foiled by Gotham Girl.[7] He is then seen in a prison cell in Arkham Asylum as Batman walks down the aisles looking for criminals.[8]

At some point, he escapes, as he is later one of the many villains taken down by Batman and Catwoman after he takes her along with him on an average night of his job in Gotham City.[9] Kite Man later sold a kite to a pawn shop, where Headhunter purchased it to use to kill Swamp Thing's father. Batman and Swamp Thing interrogated Kite Man later.[10]

In a story set during the early years of Batman's career, it is revealed that he studied wind in school. He was a divorced father, became an alcoholic and began a life of criminal activities, eventually being recruited by the Joker to design the Jokermobile. During The War of Jokes and Riddles, he becomes encircled by Batman, who commands him to get the Joker's phone number and, later, to meet him. Shortly after, the Riddler kidnaps Charles, wanting to know about his future meeting with the Joker. After being free, he is kidnapped again, this time by the Joker, who tells him about his encounters with Batman and the Riddler. He is then forced to serve as a suicide bomber by the Joker to kill Batman, but realizes that the bomb is fake. Charles Brown Jr., his son, is poisoned by the Riddler and subsequently dies. Wanting to get revenge on the Riddler, Charles Brown creates the persona of Kite Man to join the Joker's side.[11]

After Batman joins the Riddler's side on the war, he starts to defeat every villain on Joker's side, leaving Kite Man for last. When Kite Man is captured, he tells to Batman and the Riddler about Joker's last secret hideout on a building and develops to them and all the villains on Riddler's side kites so they can infiltrate it through the windows. After breaking inside, Riddler and his villains turn against Batman, who tells Kite Man to activate the jet-propelled inverse parachutes in their packs, making the villains ascend to be captured by Alfred Pennyworth in the Bat-Blimp. The Riddler then punches Kite Man, leaving him unconscious.[12] Later, the Riddler reveals that the creation of Kite Man, and his defeat of him, was part of his plan to make the Joker, who is feeling miserable, laugh again.[13]

In other media

Television

  • Kite Man appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Jeffrey Combs. As a boy, he was obsessed with Benjamin Franklin and attempted to recreate his famous kite-flying electrical experiment. However, he failed to take adequate safety precautions, wore metal braces, and stood in a bucket of water. The subsequent electrical shock psychologically traumatized him and forced him into a life of kite-centric crime. In "Terror on Dinosaur Island", a flashback depicts him as the leader of a group of thieves equipped with high-tech glider kites that allows them to commit crimes. Kite Man is stopped by Batman, and his former henchman Eel O'Brian (who Batman rescued from the vat he fell in) testified against him in court, and was later arrested. In "Long Arm of the Law", Kite Man steals a sample of Plastic Man in order to complete a theta beam gun that will enable anyone to copy Plastic Man's powers, or petrify someone with elastic powers. He also obtains a sidekick named Rubberneck and gains stretching powers from theta beam exposure, and fights Batman and Plastic Man. However, he and Rubberneck are defeated when they are entangled together and the theta beam gun turns them to stone.

Film

  • Kite Man is featured in The Lego Batman Movie. He is among the villains that are brought together by the Joker.

Video games

See also

References

  1. ↑ Batman (vol. 1) #133 (August 1960)
  2. 1 2 Batman (vol. 1) #315 (September 1979)
  3. ↑ Hawkman (vol. 2) #4 (November 1986)
  4. ↑ Young Justice #50 (December 2002)
  5. ↑ Infinite Crisis #3 (February 2006)
  6. ↑ 52 Week Twenty-Five (October 2006)
  7. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #6
  8. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #9
  9. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #14
  10. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #23
  11. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #27
  12. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #31
  13. ↑ Batman vol. 3 #32
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