| Mutants | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | The Dark Knight Returns #1 (February 1986) |
| Created by | Frank Miller |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | SeeMembers |
TheMutants is a fictionalstreet gang appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. While the Mutants were first seen inThe Dark Knight Returns, there were other incarnations of the Mutants that appeared in laterBatman comics.
InThe Dark Knight Returns, set in a potential future, the Mutants are a youth gang that formed sometime after Bruce Wayne retired as Batman. A decade later, Wayne becomes Batman again after crime rates spike. Although Batman defeats the Mutants, the Mutant Leader ends up goading him into a fight. Batman, despite being able to match the Leader in strength, is severely injured due to being out of practice.Carrie Kelley creates a diversion, allowing Batman to immobilize the Mutant Leader, and the two of them escape. TheGotham City Police Department arrive and arrest the Mutant Leader and his associates. While in police custody, the Mutant Leader is visited by the unnamedMayor of Gotham City, who wants to negotiate with him. The Mutant Leader kills the mayor by tearing out his throat, causingDeputy Mayor Stevenson to be sworn in as the new Mayor of Gotham City. Assisting in Batman's plan,Jim Gordon has the Mutant Leader released while Carrie spreads the word of a showdown between Batman and the Mutant Leader. The two engage in a fight at a sewage run-off pipe. Leveraging the mud from the sewage to slow him down, Batman deals the Leader a brutal defeat. Seeing Batman defeat their leader, the Mutants disband. Some of them come together as a group called the "Sons of Batman", using excessive violence against criminals, while others splinter off into gangs such as the Nixons andBruno's gang.[1]
The mainstream version of the Mutants were seen causing trouble until they fightDick Grayson asBatman andDamian Wayne asRobin.[2]
In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC Universe. The Mutants are seen taking place in a smuggling operation conducted byLeviathan. They are defeated byBatman Incorporated.[3]
WhenBooster Gold accidentally bringsJonah Hex to the present, he finds a family being endangered by the Mutants led by King-Boss-Champion Steaktube. He manages to shoot them until the police andBatwing arrive.[4] After getting out ofArkham Asylum usingAmadeus Arkham's great-grandsonJeremiah Arkham as a hostage, they steal a car and come across a GCPD checkpoint, where both groups are attacked by the Mutants. Hex takes some guns from the downed police officers and starts to fight the Mutants.[5]
