D.A.V.E.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
D.A.V.E. is an original villain in The Batman. He is voiced by Jeff Bennett. He first appeared in Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind, Season 3 finale.
Contents |
[edit] Character History
D.A.V.E. (Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator) is an Artificial Intelligence created by Dr. Hugo Strange that includes several villains' brainwaves: The Joker, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Riddler, Clayface, and even Strange's. Strange claims that the AI is so advanced he doesn't even realize he is a computer program, instead under the pre-programmed notion that it is a human criminal genius whose mind has been sentenced to life in a computer. However, D.A.V.E. goes on a rampage, builds a powerful, robotic body and breaks from Arkham Asylum to create chaos.
D.A.V.E. hacks into Gotham City's computers and introduces itself to the citizens, claiming to be the "Ultimate Criminal Mastermind", and dresses himself in a trenchcoat. His warning messages begin appearing on all of Gotham's lights and signs, including a countdown to the revelation of Batman's secret identity. Batman shows up and battles him, but D.A.V.E. is too powerful. D.A.V.E. continues his criminal rampage by emptying all of the citizen's bank accounts by hacking the bank's main computer. Batman discovers that Strange let D.A.V.E. loose deliberately in order to capture Batman.
When Batman returns home after visiting Strange, D.A.V.E. kidnaps Alfred Pennyworth and discovers Batman's true identity. It offers Batman two choices: rescue Alfred and have D.A.V.E. reveal his identity to the public, or save his identity and lose Alfred. Batman chose neither, and again battles D.A.V.E., this time in the Batcave. Batman finally defeats D.A.V.E. by asking it about its origin. D.A.V.E., confused by the other villain's origins, malfunctions when it learns that it doesn't have an origin and isn't even human, and Batman crushes D.A.V.E. with a giant penny.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
D.A.V.E. has the brainwaves of several Batman villains, thus allowing it to guess correctly most of Batman's moves, and can imitate other villains', such as the initial acrobatic feats the Joker was capable of accomplishing, or the Penguin's total mastery of martial arts, making him a tough opponent to battle hand-to-hand. Its robotic body is light, resilient and flexible enough to take on Batman. D.A.V.E. is as intelligent as Riddler and Hugo Strange, giving it the psychological advantage. It can hack into any computer and control every machine it encounters.
[edit] Inspiration
Most obviously, D.A.V.E. is a parody of HAL 9000 and HAL's technician Dave, while the three-dot pattern in his face is similar to Brainiac, and the way D.A.V.E. figured Batman's true identity is similar to Ra's al Ghul or Bane. The voice actor for D.A.V.E. was Jeff Bennett, who also voiced H.A.R.D.A.C.. D.A.V.E. is very similar to H.A.R.D.A.C., which originally appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series. D.A.V.E's destruction also pays tribute to the closing scene in The Terminator. Both instances show the characters' electronic eye slowly blinking out, after he is crushed by a heavy object.
