8 Smartest Decisions In DC Villain History

4. Dismantling Bruce Wayne's Legacy - Heart Of Hush

Thomas Elliot arguably didn't become the great Batman villain he's known as today until much later into his career as a comic book character. Sure, he enjoyed a fine introduction in Batman: Hush, but he seemed unremarkable; another villain tied to Bruce Wayne's past who'd disappear, never to be seen again.

Six years after the publication of Hush, Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs would prove everyone wrong by orchestrating Heart of Hush, a tie-in to Batman R.I.P. that saw the bandaged supervillain strike at Batman in a whole new way - by stealing Catwoman's heart.

Not in a figurative sense, by the way. No, Hush literally takes Selina Kyle's heart and forces Batman into a wild chase in an attempt to get it back. Usually that'd be that; Hush hates Bruce Wayne and would do anything to make him hurt. However, Elliot takes it all one step further by revealing he's reconstructed his entire face to look like Bruce Wayne. The end goal? To impersonate his rival and tarnish his family's name.

Villains have tried time and again to get underneath Batman's skin, but none had the... inspiration, shall we say, to think this far ahead. The Bat-Family are able to curtail Elliot's schemes to a degree during Streets of Gotham, but in presenting a new quandary for them to deal with - all while the real Bruce was missing following Final Crisis - Hush's scheme will go down as one of DC's smartest.