WORLD'S FINEST - Fresh Question #36: Most Mentally Misguided

[Nightwing]

Attention all hero-types, important meeting of the minds in the JL watchtower. Quick, catch a bus or something! And don't forget to hold your breath! Cuz...ya know, it's up in space. Nevermind. It's new Fresh Question time, though!

I've thought this more than once so I'm sure you folks have too. Gotham City seems to breed and attract the mentally bye-bye. Well it's super villain population does anyway. Maybe it's the water. In any event, search through the Batcomputer's psych profiles and tell me:

Which character in our Animated Universe do you think is the most mentally ill?? Why??


The Joker doesn't play with a full deck, unless he's using it to kill people. Two-Face can never seem to agree....with himself. Ra's Al Ghul's best friend is genocide. Or maybe you know of a name who is not from the Batman side of the Universe.

[Fernus]

I would say the most mentally ill would be Two-Face. His mind has literally been split in half: one side is Harvey, the other side is his inner monster. Because of this, he is always two-sideded about everything, from the way he acts, to the way he dresses. He is a schitzo (spelling? ), which is down near the mental illnesses of insanity. People who can have conversations or arguments with themselves may have difficulty being mentally well.

[Nick K.]

I would say the most mentally ill would be Two-Face. His mind has literally been split in half: one side is Harvey, the other side is his inner monster. Because of this, he is always two-sideded about everything, from the way he acts, to the way he dresses. He is a schitzo (spelling? ), which is down near the mental illnesses of insanity. People who can have conversations or arguments with themselves may have difficulty being mentally well.

I agree in most parts. Harvey is that guy. The thing is people with D.I.D. don't just have two personalities, so when they popped out the Judge I was happy because it is realistic. If two face had more personalities it'd be even more real. And if those personalities had a purpose, that would be great. And the fact that he has D.I.D. doesn't make too much sense since it stems from severe abuse from childhood, but in his case he was disfigured. Oh well... It's just a comic/ cartoon, fictional thing...

[Barb Gordon]

Well not sure if the big ol' comp has hero profiles as well, but it should.
Because I wouldn't exactly say dear old Bats is all right up his belfry.

Joker is just plain crazy, Two-Face definitely has some serious mental issues, so he'd be the top of my list as well.

~Barb

[TimTwoFace]

Wow, so many people here already thinking that I'm crazy. And they're right.

Anyway, I think that most of Batman's rogue's are pretty messed in the head. Ultimately though, someone that can't even decide for themselves, and whose interior monologue (or dialogue?) is always at war with itself is likely the most confused - and that's why characters like Two-Face and the Ventriloquist would be at the top of my list here.

Then again, you can't discount the others.

Joker - Yeah, he's crazy, but he KNOWS it. He's only sick and misguided because he loves to hurt people, that's how he gets off. He know it's evil and cruel and he revels in it, and how the world is just a big joke to him.

Harley Quinn - She's only misguided in her love for a sick, demented person. If it weren't for him, she'd just be a bit of a brat at worst. She's not really mental or loony, REALLY - just blind.

Penguin - Not crazy, and that's why he's never set foot in Arkham. He's just greedy, but in a classy, sophisticated, poor-man's Lex Luthor sorta way.

Catwoman - She's just a thief. A good lookin' theif. That hardly counts as being misguided when in this crowd, though.

Riddler - Now here's a guy that's absolutely obsessed. He could be a brilliant criminal if he didn't always feel he HAD to give himself away. I know it's just a game to him, but really - he brings about his own downfall every time. Obsessed.

Poison Ivy - Hates men. Loves the environment. I know plenty of people this way, but she's just an extreme.

Scarecrow - Now here's another really messed up person. Under the guise of doing "experiments", he really digs scaring the bejesus out of everyone in the most horrific ways possible, only for his further personal gains. Taking away their dignity. Very shameless, and very misguided in striking at those at their moment of weakness.

Mr. Freeze - Not really misguided, and not crazy, either. This guy just has a broken heart. I bet that if someone just came up to him and gave him a hug, everything would change.

Mad Hatter - VERY misguided. Mind manipulator. Obsessive over needed to control everything. A sick, sick man is underneath that very approachable exterior.

Bane - Meh, just another big brute.

Killer Croc - Same as Bane. Not really mentally ill.

Firefly - Yeah, he's a little messed up, what, with his obsession with flames and his ex-girlfriend.

Clayface - Very misguided. He doesn't even refer to himself as Matt Hagen any more, he's just...just a big ball of mud. He can't figure out who he is.

Man, what a twisted group of people we have terrorizing our hero week after week - on a children's show, no less.

-Tim

[Fledgling]

Which character in our Animated Universe do you think is the most mentally ill?? Why??


Or maybe you know of a name who is not from the Batman side of the Universe.

How about Raven? Here's a girl with 9 separate personalities--and at least one isn't fully human.

No wonder in Final Exam, she wanted the other Titans to pick the pizza toppings!

[Nick K.]

How about Raven? Here's a girl with 9 separate personalities--and at least one isn't fully human.

No wonder in Final Exam, she wanted the other Titans to pick the pizza toppings!

They weren't separate personalities, they were her emotions.

[Darkseid]

This may be a matter of perspective, even moreso than just personal opinion.

From the perspective of our universe/the main DCAU dimension, Mxyzptlk would be the most mentally ill by a large margin. An endless series of non sequiters and nonsense with erratic, unpredictable behavior to match that has no comparison. Yet within his own twisted dimension, he's arguably fairly sane.

But barring such complicated issues, I'd have to go with Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow. He takes so much pleasure in torturing people with their darkest nightmares that it goes beyond, IMO, the issues of duality that haunt my closest runner-up, Two-Face.

[EJill34]

Batman. He thinks he can stop crime.

[EddieTheEditor]

Either Slade or Mad Mod.

Slade FREAKIN WEARS A MASK ON TOP OF A MASK and chases kids. That's messed up.

Mad mod pulls a little wizard of Oz schtick for.... pretty much no reason at all. I mean, if he could hypnotize people, couldn't he just hypnotize the other teen heroes in the universe and have them put the smack-down on the TT?

Oh, right: That means he'd have to talk to Aqualad. Forget that.


Seriously, though, I'm going with Riddler. Like a wise man once said: "Y'know, I think I'll become a criminal called the Anti-Riddler. I'll commit crimes, but leave NO CLUE as to my next one. I'll baffle Batman and the police, gain enough wealth in a week to retire, and Batman can get back to fighting villians who leave four-color pamphlets detailing thier next caper."

Or something to that effect.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Batman, Raven, and Two Face would be at the top of the list, in my opinnion. I think its pretty clear that all of them aren't exactly right in the head, and have a lot of inner turmoil(quite literally).

[shogunthethird]

I agree in most parts. Harvey is that guy. The thing is people with D.I.D. don't just have two personalities, so when they popped out the Judge I was happy because it is realistic. If two face had more personalities it'd be even more real. And if those personalities had a purpose, that would be great. And the fact that he has D.I.D. doesn't make too much sense since it stems from severe abuse from childhood, but in his case he was disfigured. Oh well... It's just a comic/ cartoon, fictional thing...

If I remember the origin episode, they did mention something about Harvey having something of a traumatic childhood, he was picked on frequently, eventually this led to the "Big bad Harv" persona's manifestation which would be fully defined as his ""two face" identity but then there's different degrees of mental instability but I'd like to mention Lobo for a moment, I wouldn't call him a sociopath inasmuch as as Id incarnate, death, destruction, sex, violence, greed, the Joker may be insane but this guy's off the fraggin' deep end! but then why do we love the main man? because let's face it, the only thing people love more than a hero is an anti-hero, and this guy's as anti-hero as they come but without the angst or moral dilemmas, on top of that who hasn't wanted to gut some idiot who truly had it coming?

[Style]

Which character in our Animated Universe do you think is the most mentally ill?? Why??

Two-Face can never seem to agree....with himself.

The thing is, I always felt Two-Face's dual nature was never really shown off in full form or that well developed. It was shown best in Two-Face, Part 1, and Second chance. Other than that, in most of his episodes you would hardly tell he had two personalities. You Never saw him arguing with himself, you never really saw his original Harvey Dent Personality re-emerge. It just seemed like the "Big Bad Harve" personality took over, completely. In Shadow of the Bat, Almost Got 'im, Trial, Sins of the Father, it just seems like Two-Face is an other wise balanced criminal personality who's occasional a bit indecisive, hence the need for flipping a coin. And in Judgement day, much is made over him having "Three" personalities now, but I only saw two: Big bad harve, and the Judge.

Now Scarface and the Ventriloquist... THAT was a brilliant exploration of a villain with a dual personality. I had always wished two face would have been more like that... Maybe The Batman will have a Two-face that is more clearly a dual personality.