Rumor is the anti heroic antagonist of The Batman episode Rumors. He was the body guard of Paul Karon but after failing to protect him from an attack by Joker, he became Rumor, with the goal of killing every villain in Gotham.
His armor gives him ablites such as making himself invisible.
Personality[]
Rumor is a man driven by revenge. He will do whatever it takes to keep villains out of the picture even if it means killing them. Unlike Batman he has no code of ethics as he told the villains that killing them is something Batman does not have the guts to do. He even tells Batman that he should have become more brutal as a vigilante. However, he is also shown to be a coward as he begs Batman to save him from the villains after they all get free.
History[]
Mario was the bodyguard of Paul Karon. When Karon was introducing his latest invention, a device that shot low sound vibrations that could destroy buildings, he was attacked by the Joker who wanted to steal the weapon for himself. Despite Batman stopping Joker he still ended up crippling Paul. Mario felt guilty at his failure to save his boss, and vowed to kill the super-villains of Gotham City, something Batman never had the courage to do.
Using the tech from Karon's office, he kidnaps Black Mask, Mr Freeze, the Kabuki Twins, Punch & Judy, the Riddler, Spellbinder, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Hugo Strange, Rupert Thorne, Man-Bat, Firefly, the Riddlemen, Bane, Cluemaster, Gearhead, Maxie Zeus, Killer Moth, Temblor, and Ventriloquist and Scarface. However he forgets to capture Tony Zucco and Clayface. He captures Killer Croc by beating up him and his henchmen while invisible in his sewer lair. He then appears on the news attracting Batman and Robin's attention. Penguin trips an alarm at the museum on purpose so Batman can arrest him and save him from Rumor. However, Batman could not stop him from taking Penguin and Catwoman, but he did get a small piece of the suit, identifying Paul Karon's company as its creator.
Batman first thinks its Karon and pays him a visit. However, after a long talk they learn its Mario after learning that he had the day off. Meanwhile, Mario captures Joker while beating up thugs the clown had ordered to protect him and attempts to execute them with a giant version of Paul Karon's sound device that Joker tried to steal long ago. Hugo Strange taunts him over his state, which makes Mario want to kill him even more.
Batman and Robin arrive to fight Rumor saying he crossed the line, and eventually, they beat him, but they accidentally caused the release of all the other criminals. Batman and Robin fight them all off to save Mario from getting killed, but then Mario then gets sent to jail with the rest of the criminals saying he is innocent, except Catwoman and Hugo Strange, who managed to sneak away.
Trivia[]
Rumor could be considered a foil to Batman, as he is what Batman would have become if he didn't have morals and only killed criminals rather than arresting them.
