| Bat-Mite | |
|---|---|
 Bat-Mite as depicted inWorld's Finest Comics #113 (November 1960). Art byCurt 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 | |
Bat-Mite is a character appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. Bat-Mite is animp similar to theSuperman villainMister Mxyzptlk. Depicted as a small, childlike man in an ill-fitting copy ofBatman's costume, Bat-Mite possesses what appear to be near-infinite magical powers which could be considerednigh-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 asupervillain, and often departs of his own accord upon realizing that he has angered his idol.[1]
Bat-Mite has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily in association with Batman.Paul Reubens andLou Scheimer voice the character inBatman: The Brave and the Bold andThe New Adventures of Batman respectively.
Bat-Mite made his first appearance inDetective Comics #267 (May 1959) in a story titled "Batman Meets Bat-Mite", and was created by writerBill Finger and artistSheldon Moldoff.[2]
Bat-Mite was retired from the comic in 1964, when editorJulius 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]
Bat-Mite regularly appeared inBatman,Detective Comics, andWorld's Finest Comics for five years. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages ofWorld's Finest Comics to antagonize Superman and Batman.[5] In 1964, however, when the Batman titles were revamped under new editorJulius Schwartz, Bat-Mite vanished along with other members of the Batman extended family, such asBatwoman,Bat-Girl, andAce the Bat-Hound.
After this, only three more Bat-Mite stories were published in the pre-Crisis DC Universe: two more Bat-Mite/Mxyzptlk team ups inWorld's Finest Comics #152 (August 1965) and #169 (September 1967) (which were not edited by Schwartz, but byMort Weisinger),[6] and "Bat-Mite's New York Adventure" fromDetective Comics #482 (February–March 1979), in which the imp visits the DC Comics offices and insists that he be given his own feature in a Batman comic. This story featured protestors with picket signs shouting "We want Bat-Mite!" outside theTishman Building (where DC's editorial offices were located at the time), and was accompanied by an editorial comment that this story was published to acknowledge the real-life requests of fans for this character's revival.
After the continuity-changing 1985limited seriesCrisis on Infinite Earths was published, Bat-Mite was mostly removed from the Batman comics canon.[7] Bat-Mite made an appearance inBatman: Legends of the Dark Knight #38, although he may have been thehallucination of a drug-addled criminal named Bob Overdog. This comic states that Bat-Mite is one of the many admirers of superheroes from another dimension. This version of Bat-Mite later returned inBatman: Mitefall — A Legends of the Dark Mite Special, aone-shot book which was both part of, and a parody of, the Batman storylineKnightfall (with Overdog briefly in theJean-Paul Valley role). In #6 of the 1999Batman and Superman: World's Finest miniseries, Mr. Mxyzptlk encounters Bat-Mite, shortly after being mistaken for him by Overdog. While in this story, the post-Crisis Bat-Mite encounters Batman for the first time, Superman and Batman subsequently concluded that Mxyzptlk had created him, inspired by Overdog's ravings.
Bat-Mite also appeared in the 2000 one-shotElseworlds comic specialWorld's Funnest, in which he battles Mr. Mxyzptlk, destroying the Pre-Crisismultiverse and the post-Crisis DC Universe, as well as the Elseworlds ofKingdom Come,Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and theDC Animated Universe.[8]
The first post-Infinite Crisis appearance of Bat-Mite was inBatman #672, written byGrant Morrison.[9] Batman is confronted with Bat-Mite (or "Might") after being shot in the chest and suffering a heart attack. Might, who bears a green insectoid creature on his back, claims to have come from "Space B at the Fivefold Expansion of Zrfff".[10]
After Batman transforms himself into "theBatman of Zur-En-Arrh", Might counsels Zur-En-Arrh, a 'back-up' personality manufactured by Bruce himself to keep Batman able to fight in case he was mindwiped, or driven to insanity.Batman #680 reveals that Might is a product of Batman's imagination, representing the last vestiges of his rational mind.[11]
Bat-Mite appeared in a self-titled six-issue miniseries which lasted from June to November 2015.[12]
Bat-Mite appears in the four-part story "Impossible" inWorld's Finest #26 through #29, June through September 2024. The story also features Superman, Batman, Robin, Jimmy Olsen and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
Bat-Mite, as a fifth-dimensional Imp, hasnigh-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 manipulatespacetime. He has access to various bat-weapons like his hero, Batman.[13]
InHandbook 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."[21]
