#56 - Ratcatcher
First Appearance: Detective Comics #585 (Apr 1988)
"Just call me The Ratcatcher official as was -- unofficial as is!" ~Ratcatcher
F*** the haters. Ratcatcher is a creepy, disgusting, pitiful creature, and that makes him perfect for the Batman rogue's gallery. For almost twenty years, Flannegan was a great little diversion from the more psychotic and immediate threats, living in the sewers and caring for his disease-ridden pets. I remember my first encounter with Ratcatcher was in Cataclysm, where he broke out of prison with several other villains, leaving them to go and protect his now-destroyed subway system haven. I remember that Batman let Ratcatcher up to his own devices during No Man's Land because, frankly, Otis was just about the least dangerous threat to the people of NML, and he wanted to stay away from them as much as they wanted to stay away from him. It made me sad that during the reopening of Gotham, he lost his home and seemed so violently territorial about it, as well as betrayed that the people of Gotham would so unfairly take away what he thought was rightfully he is. In many ways, he felt like a small child and I felt a lot of sympathy for him. Unfortunately, Otis was killed by OMACs in Infinite Crisis; an unfitting end for a complex and tragic character.
Ratcatcher fits into the category of villains like Blockbuster, Charaxes and Man-Bat who for the most part would prefer to just be left to their own devices. If only they could all learn to more peacefully coexist with others, they might just be able to get the isolation they want, but sadly all of them are monstrous, grotesque characters who frighten Gothamites, and where fear is bred so is hostility. Ratcatcher was a villain, yes, but a reactive villain. I never think of him as evil, just lost, and having a little empathy for a villain goes a long way to making them great.
Greatest Ratcatcher Story Ever Told:Detective Comics #679 - Dick Grayson's first tenure as Batman was extremely short, but he had some great adventures nonetheless, including this one involving both Two-Face and Ratcatcher. Otis comes across sufficiently strange and menacing and yet you once again can't help but feel that these fights with him are an unfair way to solve the "Vermin Problem" in Gotham.
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RandomName basically describes it. It's a list of the top 100 Batman villains. (Note: This isn't MY list. So, if you don't agree with it, don't freak out and rant in the comments)
