8 Nobodies Who Got The Better Of Batman
The no-name rogues succeeding where the A-listers have so often failed.
When it comes to superheroes, a hero can only truly shine when having a great supervillan opposing him.
It's that school of thought that makes Batman jump out as one of pop culture's greatest figures, with the Caped Crusader having an excellent rogues' gallery consisting of the likes of The Joker, Penguin, The Riddler, Catwoman, Ra's al Ghul, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Bane, Hush, Scarface, the Court of Owls, Black Mask, Killer Croc, and so, so many more.
Truth be told, there's only really Spider-Man who even gets close to matching Batman when taking a look through the extensive rogues' galleries of the funny books' finest heroes.
While the majority of the aforementioned Bat-foes could be considered as supervillain royalty, those A-listers have more often than not ended up on the wrong end of a beating from the World's Greatest Detective as yet another plan has gone array.
On those rare occasions where Batman has been bested though, several of those encounters have come across villains who could be labelled as complete and utter nobodies.
Here then, are eight low-level characters who have managed to succeed where so many more well-known rogues have so often failed.
8. Frank Pratt
In the case of Frank Pratt, readers got a prime example of how vulnerable Batman can be.
Frank Pratt is the definition of a no-name comic book character. The fella was the very definition of 'a cup of coffee in the big time' - but that time in the sun did indeed see Pratt get the better of Batman.
This all came about in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's The Long Halloween follow-up, Batman: Dark Victory. In that 1999 arc, the central crux of the tale is the mysterious figure of The Hangman. That new villain turns up in the streets of Gotham City with the intention of offing as many of Gotham's police department as possible - all the while using a noose as a calling card.
Where Frank Pratt comes into this, this vigilante-hating SWAT team member finds himself on the run from The Hangman. By pure happenstance, Pratt's attempts to outrun The Hangman see him bumping into Batman on one of Gotham's countless rooftops.
It's here, at the drop of a dime, that Pratt instinctively shoots the Caped Crusader directly in the chest. His sturdy Batsuit may have saved the Dark Knight's life here, but he was knocked unconscious courtesy of Pratt's blast.
Unfortunately for poor Sgt. Pratt, that same gunshot gave The Hangman a heads-up on where he was - which soon resulted in Pratt meeting his demise.