8 Mysteries Even Batman Couldn't Solve

1. The Puzzle That Is Onomatopoeia - The Widening Gyre

Batman City of Bane Alfred Pennyworth
DC Comics

Created by Kevin Smith and Phil Hester for their 2002 run on Green Arrow, Onomatopoeia is one of the most fascinating modern villains in comics. He's also sadly a rogue who has been criminally underused since his first appearance.

Despite being introduced as an Emerald Archer villain, this unique bad guy is one who has also had the odd tussle with Batman. In particular, Smith and Walt Flanagan's The Widening Gyre tale in 2009 had Onomatopoeia completely outsmart the World's Greatest Detective.

To this day, the real identity of Onomatopoeia is a mystery that's yet to be solved. His face has been seen, his chillingly normal family life has been seen, we've heard about his past work in the mundane world of insurance, but not even Bruce Wayne has been able to crack the mystique that surrounds this serial killer.

For those not familiar with Onomatopoeia, he is a brutal and cold murderer who forever remains mute bar to mimic the sound of certain moments - such as mirroring the "Sssssslit" noise heard as he slit Silver St. Cloud's throat in The Widening Gyre.

Even worse, that murder only took place because Onomatopoeia had been invited into the Batcave by the Dark Knight. Having earned the trust of Batman as a new vigilante dubbed Baphomet, Onomatopoeia was shown the Batcave and even had Bruce unmask in front of him. All of which climaxed in the rogue revealing his real identity and slaughtering St. Cloud.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.