Wrath (comics)

Wrath is the name of two fictional comic book supervillains published by DC Comics. The original Wrath debuted in Batman Special #1 (1984), and was created by Mike W. Barr and Michael Golden. The second Wrath debuted in Batman Confidential #13 (March 2008), and was created by Tony Bedard and Rags Morales.

Publication history
The Wrath's debut story was titled "The Player on the Other Side", published in Batman Special #1 (1984). The title was based on the essay "A Liberal Education and Where to Find It" by Thomas Henry Huxley (although mistakenly attributed to Aldous Huxley by Bruce Wayne). It is also a reference to the Ellery Queen novel of the same name, as the story's author, Mike W. Barr, is a renowned Queen enthusiast.

A post-Infinite Crisis legacy version of the Wrath debuted in the pages of Batman Confidential #13 in a story arc written by Tony Bedard, with Elliott Caldwell, the 'student' of the original Wrath, taking on his mentor's mantle.

The original Wrath
The first Wrath was an enemy of Batman, described by him as his "opposite number". The Wrath's appearance and motivation are reminiscent of Batman's, but with notable differences. The Wrath (like Batman) is distinguished by perfectionism and obsession in what he does. His costume is also very similar to Batman's (though coloured in crimson and purple with a W-insignia on the chest and cowl; the W on his cowl, when seen in the right light and at the right angle, looks like the ears of the Batman's own cowl).

Wrath's parents were a couple of burglars like Joe Chill, the man who shot and killed Batman's own parents. They were killed in a shootout with a young Commissioner Gordon on June 26th, coincidentally the same day that Batman's parents were gunned down in Crime Alley. Due to this, Wrath dedicated his life to a campaign of revenge against law and law-enforcers. Independently of one another, the Batman and the Wrath adopted strikingly similar costumes and skill-sets, although they used them for opposite purposes.

When Wrath finally returns to Gotham City, he comes to kill the man who had shot his parents. Wrath's target turns out to be Commissioner Gordon of the Gotham City Police which leads to Wrath coming into conflict with Batman. In the course of their impersonal battle of wits, Wrath learns Batman's secret identity as Bruce Wayne and proceeds to attack several of his friends; Alfred Pennyworth is hospitalized and Leslie Thompkins is taken hostage by Wrath.

During his rooftop showdown with Batman, one of Wrath's explosive capsules detonates during the fight; Batman's attempt to throw Wrath off of him leads to the villain accidentally landing in his own fire and falling over the edge to his death. Looking down from the rooftop, Batman remarks that watching the Wrath's death felt like watching his own.

In Wrath Child (Batman Confidential #13-16), several details of his origin underwent a retcon, including the original story taking place shortly after Dick Grayson became Robin (the original story was published the same year that Grayson became Nightwing), with Grayson missing the events because he was away at the time on an "educational holiday" (one of the various training missions Batman sent him on). Wrath's father is now depicted as a corrupt cop who was robbing a warehouse with his wife and so acting as a lookout. Gordon confronted them and, in a gunfight, killed the parents in self-defense. Additionally, The Wrath is now depicted as having copied Batman, whereas in his original appearance, this is never suggested and it is implied that they both developed nearly identical personas independently. When Batman hears the story of the Wrath's origins from the original's successor, the young Wrath claims that only his predecessor's father was armed and Gordon shot to kill first, but in reality his father fired first and then his mother took up his father's gun, with Gordon's shots only being fatal because his aim was off due to his injuries (it is unclear if the young Wrath believed this story because he heard it from his mentor or if his mentor told him the truth and he then twisted it to make the Wrath seem like a victim). Abandoned by the cops in an effort to conceal the corruption - Gordon going along with the plan because then-captain Gillian B. Loeb threatened to kill the boy (as he was the only witness) if he talked - Wrath became a contract killer in the hopes of "avenging his parents again and again". While preparing to assassinate Gordon, Wrath studied Batman and initially planned to dress just like him to needle Gordon. However, he came to the conclusion that they were kindred spirits inspired by a similar disaster in their lives, and duplicated Batman's costume and equipment as an homage - to the extent that he began training his own "Robin", who went on to become the second Wrath.

Elliot Caldwell
Sporting an all-purple costume, this Wrath, who Batman deduces is a copycat from his first appearance owing to the differences in age, physical built, and trainings, begins murdering police officers visiting Gotham for a convention and breaks into Gayle Hudson's apartment. After a fight with Batman, during which he confirms that he is not the original Wrath-and is apparently unaware of Batman's true identity-he tells the Dark Knight to investigate Commissioner Gordon's actions on June 26 twenty five years ago, the same night that Bruce Wayne's parents died. Upon another meeting with Batman, the second Wrath tells a distorted version of the events that happened (although it is unclear if he is reciting the version he learned from the original Wrath or if he has twisted it in his own mind), saying Gordon killed the original Wrath's parents in cold blood, though Batman saw through this and realized that Gordon shot them in self-defense. His subsequent assessment of the old Wrath helps Batman determine the identity of the new one; as the original Wrath sought to duplicate all of Batman's methods, Batman concludes that the new Wrath must be the original's equivalent of Robin.

Batman and Nightwing, upon confronting the second Wrath for a final time, reveal that they have learned that the new Wrath's real name was Elliot Caldwell, an orphaned boy whom the Wrath trained to be his answer to Robin, based on a psychological profile run by Alfred looking for children in Dick's age range who disappeared around the time that the Wrath was active. Elliot was one of five orphans who the original Wrath kidnapped and trained, but he was the only one who survived the training. Despite Caldwell's refusal to believe their claims and his subsequent efforts to continue fighting, he was stopped by Batman and Nightwing, whose teamwork and care for each other forced Caldwell to recognize that he had never had the same relationship with his mentor. He was subsequently sent to Blackgate Penitentiary, although he reflected that he would be ready to face them again in the future now that his 'emotional weakness' had been purged.

The New 52
In September 2011, another version of Wrath appeared during The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, E.D. Caldwell is the CEO of Caldwell Tech who appears as a legitimate magnate trying to buy Wayne Enterprises. When a series of policeman murders strikes Gotham, Batman deduces that Caldwell is a sociopath killer using the company to create an army of soldiers called Scorn (namely a thug named Clyde Anderson) and adopting the codename the "Wrath". Caldwell manages to capture Alfred Pennyworth and plans to murder him. After failing to kill Batman, Wrath kills Anderson while preparing his suit to face Batman in combat.

Wrath then went after Batman as he chased him in his plane through the streets of Gotham, forcing Batman to abandon his Bat-Plane to gain more time and caused it to self destruct and him to escape on his Bat-Glider. Alfred after having hacked Caldwell's files revealed to Bruce that Elliot's father had been killed by corrupt Gotham police officers. Elliot later used his tank to bomb Gotham City Station, he then got out of his tank expecting to find a mass of dead police officers. Instead he found only Batman as Bruce had convinced James Gordon to evacuate the building, where Batman in a modified suit similar in style to Wrath's proceeded to beat down Elliot, however, he didn't deliver the finishing blow. He instead allowed the Gotham Police Department to open fire on him and revealed to him that it was James Gordon who brought down the police officers who killed his father and proceeded to knock him out. Helped by the Gotham City Police Department, the Batman finally defeats the Wrath. While in Blackgate, Wrath is greeted by James Gordon who after the Wrath meets with Emperor Blackgate, where they both begin a partnership.

In other media
The Wrath appears in The Batman episode "The End of the Batman", voiced by Christopher Gorham. William Mallory and his brother Andrew Mallory (voiced by Daryl Sabara) are the children of jewel thieves. It is implied that their parents made themselves wealthy this way. However, they were eventually caught and convicted on the same night when Thomas and Martha Wayne were shot. At the time, the Mallory brothers were still only young children. Andy barely remembers them at all, due to him being no older than a toddler. It is this event that motivates them to become the Wrath and Scorn, and to help criminals in their crimes. The Wrath defended their actions with the bizarre claim that criminals like the Joker have the right to make a living their way just as much as innocent people do, demonstrating no interest in his comic counterpart's vendetta against the law that took his parents. Their activities consist of aiding Batman villains such as the Joker, the Penguin, Killer Croc, and the Ventriloquist and Scarface. At the same time, they also fought the Batman and Robin directly. When out of costume, the Mallory brothers become friends of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Though Andy and Dick do little to hide their disdain for each other, ultimately, it is this "friendship" that leads Bruce and Will to realize each other is the Batman and the Wrath. Although the Wrath and Scorn are eventually captured after the Batman summoned some bats to help him defeat them, they plan to reveal the Dynamic Duo's secret identities. Batman is willing to accept that outcome, but the Joker is not. Having grown tired of the Wrath and Scorn's "interference" and seeing the end of the Batman's career as the end of his greatest source of fun, the Joker decides to silence them by posing as a police officer when they plea to him to get them out. Instead of breaking them free, he gases them with Joker venom. The Joker implies that this will "break [their] minds" and it clearly prevents them from speaking. The two of them are last seen laughing uncontrollably, as the Batman and Robin go after the Joker.