Batman fans should also check out the Batman movie novelisation audio book, narrated by Roddy McDowall, the voice of the Mad Hatter: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/icWYpcSLr9urdpc.html

The one Batman villain I feel I truly identify with - not because he's lonely and socially awkward, but also because (like so many of us) he draws from his favorite character to give himself confidence.

The Hatter from the Arkham games is a darker version of this one. In Origins when he's trying to get his mind control tech working he tells his brainwashed henchmen "No one ever wanted to hear what Jervis had to say. He might as well have been invisible" suggesting that like the BTAS Hatter he had no friends, He kidnaps young blonde girls, forces them to play along with his fantasy including dressing them as Alice and a creepy tea party and kills them if they don't.

I found it funny that Dr Cates saying "heads could roll if you slip up again" apparently made Jervis decide "I'll make her act like the Queen of Hearts then."

Another thing that makes Mad Hatter so unique in this show is that he’s never after revenge. They could’ve easily made the first episode about his revenge on his condescending boss and Alice’s boyfriend. But instead those two characters are small inconveniences that he has to deal with in Jervis’s true plan. We this again in the perchance to dream episode, where instead of killing, torturing, or exposing Batman like any other villain in this show would, he gives him his perfect life. When asked why he says, “I was willing to give you the life you always wanted, just to keep you out of mine!” It just shows that no matter how depraved and evil he becomes, at his core, he’s still just a deluded child that wants to be happy.

'Perchance to Dream' also paraphrases a line from Shakespeare's 'Tempest' - "Stuff dreams are made of" - and Roddy McDowell, the voice of the Hatter, played an excellent Ariel when he was younger in a televised version of The Tempest. That's what I loved about Roddy McDowell - whether he was doing Shakespeare, historic drama, Planet of the Apes or cartoons, he always seemed to be having the time of his life.

It's worth noting that the Hatter's tech was instrumental to Joker's torture of Tim Drake and destruction of the Batfamily in the flashbacks in Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker. He and Project Cadmus were experimenting with it before that in the Justice League episode Wild Cards.

Something I noticed is that the suicide references specifically involve falling to death. This might actually be a subtle (and very morbid) reference to Alice falling into wonderland, which is very fitting for a character who's obsessed with wonderland.

Hatter always had this weird scary vibe to me, and looking back, i think it's because he's scarily real. As a girl, you see so many stories about men not accepting no for an answer and getting violent, which is pretty much exactly what Hatter does. He's kinda terrifyingly realistic. Like a living horror story for women.

I love how you kept his line in Trial there. Things to take away is that he blames Batman for his actions, and that he would have killed Alice before just letting her be. It’s a nice reminder that thinking of him as some poor unfortunate victim of circumstance is kind of false. I heard that the BTAS team based him on a postal worker who shot up his office.

Fun fact: If you know the musical themes of the characters, the mystery of "Perchance to Dream" is revealed at the title card.

I truly love this video; you did a great job analyzing Jervis Tetch, but I am surprised you did not mention one scene. Jervis talked with his rats alone and admitted that he intelligently knew his feelings for Alice were wrong because she had a boyfriend. It was better to withdraw like a gentleman and turn his heart to other pursuits. He angrily said never and considered using his technology to brainwash her, but then he realized that would reduce her to a soulless shell; he did not know what to do until he heard that Alice had broken up with her boyfriend. This scene says a lot about Jervis and his character. At the time, Jervis knew his obsession was wrong but was unwilling to give it up; at the same time, he was unwilling to force her to be with him, but once he saw an opportunity to be with her, he took it. When Alice accepted marrying her boyfriend, Jervis lost whatever standers he had and brainwashed Alice to be with him reducing her to a soulless shell.

I really appreciate how your videos on this subject have done so much to explain how this show carefully trimmed down comic canon into the show. Also, you’re right to be creeped out by the villainous and possessive tendency of TAS Tetch...it’s an interesting form of violence that can be impactful to both children and adults

Another thing I just realized, thinking about Perchance to Dream. It works great to illustrate the difference in approach to life between Batman and Hatter. Hatter is confused as to why Batman breaks out of the dream machine. It's not just that he's confused about how he got out, he doesn't get *why* Batman would want to. While a fake reality where everything is happy is an acceptable alternative to a real world to Jervis, Batman will not lie to himself just for his own happiness and Jervis cannot wrap his head around that. I think that this sort of stuff is why BTAS is so much stronger than most cartoons of its time. Most of the episodes are fun and exciting, yes, but they *also* pull double duty as saying a lot about who Batman and his foes are as characters. They aren't just plot devices to be used to excite the audience, they are living, breathing people in a living, breathing world.

I feel that the best thing that could happen to Mad Hatter's character as a whole is if he branched out and modelled his crimes off of and around children's literature in general. Mother Goose, Grimm's Fairy Tales, etc.

Holy shit, this is somehow the first time I've ever realized the age discrepancy between Jervis and Alice. That makes his first episode so much creepier.

Roddy McDowall was a true gem.

The fact that Mad Hatter had a memory stealing device in the comics just furthers my belief that Jim Carrey played The Mad Hatter in Batman Forever, not The Riddler.

It's so weird that the comics responded to the 60s show Hatter by creating a continuity mess. They didn't do that with the Clock King, his TV version just got ignored, so why acknowledge 60s Hatter at all?

What Mcdowell also did was give the hatter class. And, in his absence, that's what a lot of the newer incarnations don't have. Now, most of the time, he's either so disconnected from reality you wonder how he functions from day to day (like the Harley Quinn version) or really, well, sleazy. The McDowell one, no matter what else he was, was a gentlemen, most of the new ones are not.

I find it interesting how BTAS takes so many tropes from the old Universal Monster movies - almost every villain (well, except The Joker) is a victim of a circumstance or their own hubris, and was rejected by society as a result, very much like The Phantom of the Opera or Frankenstein’s Monster.

What makes this even better is in the comics there is an Alice themed villain, speaking exclusively in Carrol quotes, who'd much rather play with the Bat Family than Jervis. Even his own geek fandom rejected him.

While he always had a creepy edge, i dont like how they portrayed him in the Ahrkam games where he is either a sexual fetishist at best or a pedophile at worst.

It’s truly amazing that BTAS was able to reimagine old villains who you could say were really stupid like Mad Hatter and Clock King, but also make new villains that are memorable as well like Baby Doll and (of course) Harley Quinn

Prophetic? I would say timeless. There is nothing new under the sun.

Your Mad Hatter was an incel larper, MY mad hatter is a proto-TF2 player. We are not the same.

What helps this version especially is having a strong performance by Roddy McDowell

Excellent video, I recently watched Batman TAS for the first time and was surprised by how much I liked Mad Hatter's character, the voice acting for me it's stellar and he quickly became one of my favorite villains of the show

Given Batman's rich he could've just given him a spare cowl.I also understand the animated one's feelings of loneliness and unrequited love.

What a great video! You hit the nail on the head about his convoluted comic history. Ignoring the weird Ted Turner parody, the 'real' Hatter hasn't had that one defining story to really make him stand out. Which is a shame, as he's one of the most disturbing villains. Aside from Professor Pyg and Firefly, he's one of the few Batman rogues who seem genuinely disconnected from reality, which makes everything he does so much creepier.

@6:52 there's a great subtle detail in this scene where even the Joker looks creeped out by Mad Hatter

I read an interview by (I think) Paul Dini where he described the inspiration for the Mad Hatter’s premiere episode was a famous case where a man lusted after his coworker but after she rebuffed him, he committed a workplace shooting.

It's weird that both times Roddy McDowall was in a Batman show he played book related characters. I wonder if that anything to do with the casting choice for Hatter.

I hate the direction they're taking him nowadays, making him kind of a pedophile

This is the best version of the character 🎩 Also thanks to Paul Dini, he write almost all his episodes in the animated series and his scenes in the Arkham games

Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 - 3 October 1998)

You mean the Mad Hatter planning to turn Batman into a hat in the Adam West version wasn't threatening enough?

years later and people are still referring back to this incredible show :)

Didn’t he tell the muggers to jump in a river, not realizing what they were planning to do or misinterpreting the command?

The red hair was a reference to the books as The Mad Hatter is often depicted with red hair and not simply because "Hey, it looks nice " but due to the dyes used in hat making at the time which contained mercury. Mercury exposure lead to mental instability, hence 'mad as a hatter'. While keeping him a ginger in BTAS would have done well to reference the book as well as the actor who played him in the West series, looking back weren't a few of the BTAS villains red heads? Ivy, Riddler, wasn't the Scarecrow also a red head? I think they needed him to stick out more.... even though it could be argued that blond was used a lot too and-(error) And as far as comparing Hatter to an incel, I know I'm going to get bricked for this but the Hatter had one big thing a lot of incels don't; TALENT. The dude was a fucking genius and had technical skills that even removing the villainy would have supported him as well as outside of his obsession with Alice he still took care of himself. Maybe this is just me thinking too much but Hatter's obsession and possession screams more than just a basic idea of an incel. He's a lot more tragic, understandable but when he crosses the line it's a massive 180. He reminds me of those guys who unironicly have waifus but still somehow have their minds together to be the top in class...but then...that overlaps with incels and- (error) God damn, it. And yeah, it is sort of brow raising if he gets pissed at a person his solution is to get them to kill themselves. The other bad guys seem to do it via their own weapons but Hatter's like "I'll use my tools but they'll still do it on their own!" Why is this doof so dark?

The cartoon did wonders for the Madhatter as a character, they gave him a genuine character arc that plays out in his eariler appearances, from his obcessive love for a girl called Alice, to giving Batman everything he ever wanted and then in the trial ep, he shows how far he is willing to go, just for one his ideal, but after that, he not used much, but then, not using a character much, can be a good thing as it makes them more intersting

2:25 I love that I read his lines in Roddy's voice literally as soon as I came back from another tab

He is basically a cosplayer!

Just sad how he was never going to be taken seriously by the people around him because of his appearance and odd personality, despite how ingenious and initially kind he was. The one "off" thing about his introductory episode I feel was Alice's boyfriend. Feels like we should have learned a tad more about him. Again, it's unfortunate because if you look at her boyfriend and you look at Jervis, you could see why Alice chose her BF. Like maybe if we learned more about the other guy, like just how much of a good person he might have been, I don't know. For example, maybe have a very brief scene where Jervis meets her boyfriend and he's incredibly kind to Jervis and Jervis doesn't care, further reinforcing that all Jervis really cared about was getting Alice. Because as it was, Jervis felt a bit too sympathetic to me. It wasn't until that later episode where he said I'D HAVE KILLED HER FIRST that we see his true nature. And it's also weird and kind of random that Alice's boyfriend breaks up with her and then proposes in such a short time. Makes you wonder what kind of man he really is. It seemed that having him apparently flat out break up with her provided too good of an opportunity for Jervis. Like that seemed unnecessary because now Jervis was with a woman who was technically single. Like they could have just had it seem like they were having problems with their relationship instead of a complete breakup and that Jervis was instead sneakily trying to get involved with her.

a quick note on the mad hatters comic book history I feel is important to mention, he made a brief apperance in the grapic novel a serious house on serious earth around the time of the 89 film and that showed him as a sort of sexual deviant so I think some of the influences to the Mad Hatters BTAS backstory can be tracked back there

Roddy McDowall and Adam West are the only two actors who have performed in both the 1966 Batman and BTAS; in Roddy's case, he performed a villain in both (Bookworm and Mad Hatter). I just think that's neat.

People are always Fear Lossing Free Will,It,s a Power that will always be Abuse.

I rewatched the episode, and I wonder if you could read the story as having an aspergers/autism allegory. I know everyone and their mother misdiagnoses autism these days, but I feeel the episode could be read with an interesting parable in mind: Jervis is brillaint but lonely, he's obsessed with children's media, he's rather awkward, he goes to extremes to get what he wants... It's also a nice contrast to Batman, who modern reads have commented that he's flexible to a neurodivergent interpretation, and this analysis people make that his villains are often a dark contrast to him. Joker is chaos, the Penguin is a corrupted Bruce Wayne, Catwoman and Poison Ivy represent his fear of commitment to a relationship, etc.

7:18 I believe that the mentions of s**cide in basically only Mad Hatter episodes is because of a huge fear that Bruce has, which isn't really discussed in all varieties. Abandonment. A lot of stories of unrequited love are focused around the fear of rejection, but a lot don't know that when someone like the Hatter, whose never had another human in his life care about him, can get rejected, it blurs the lines of rejection and abandonment. He feels like he's been abandoned by the one human being who cared about him, and not just for his work. For certain people, that leads to a lot of s**cidal thoughts and even actions. They think they'll be abandoned again anyway, so, in their mind... why try? I've been through an experience slightly similar to it and I'm just glad I actually had family and friends to lean on.

Roddy McDowell, who had played Cornelius and Ceaser in Planet Of The Apes, and Peter Vincent in Fright Night voiced Mad Hatter in BTAS!

Before there was Titan/Tighten . . . there was BTAS' The Mad Hatter

One of the most underrated villians in the rouge gallery, imagine someone with the technology to control your mind and you become powerless to his orders

I love his portrail in the Arkham games. It's different, but way scarier on accound of being completely and utterly insane, with no connection to reality. That version is also a pedophile, having periodical relapses into obsessions with specific people, usually young girls he designetes with the name of "Alice" and from his interviews with Hugo Strange.... there have been quite a few alices over the years. In Arkham Knight, he even starts speaking 100% in rhyme, and designates Batman himself as his next alice.

Thanks to BTAS I learned about emotional intelligence and learned from the antagonist mistakes. Now that does not mean I haven’t had a bad day in my life and donned a costume and gas all of Gotham or some weird scheme just prevents me from making a pen stroke that I can not take back

In at least two separate Batman properties that I know of the Mad Hatter has teamed up with Scarecrow and they kinda make an interesting duo, (The Long Halloween and the TV show Gotham) both of them target the mind in some manner, with The Hatter using mind control and the Scarecrow using his fear toxin, and they play off each other rather well

I think what really helps madhatteer hre is how he is given a stinctive overbite (rather than the bucteeth the comics version sometimes had) which was used to really empaphasise his mouth, which in turn gave him a distinctive cartoonish grin

A considerable number of BTAS villains got a considerable of fan-cred from the show.

2nd appearance Mad Hatter think he playing Team Fortress 2

Remember that time he was found Dead in his cell? That was messed up.

Am I the only one who noticed that they took the story of The Mad Hatter from Batman TAS and cannibalized it for Jim Carrey's version of the Riddler for Batman Forever?

Poor Hatter, If he'd used his mind control to have them turn themselves in to the police, he'd have has a MASSIVELY different outcome. Potentially a Mad Hatter hero? Alice becoming his "Lois Lane"

BTAS legitimised mad hatter and arkham games made him into a realistic looking monster that he was

Yet another utterly tragic villain brought to perfection by the writers. "Would not, could not... would not could not... could not join the dance..." Haunting, really.

A chimp named "Carol Lewis?" that's an oddly specific name. *googles* oh... ohhh noooo

Ever since watching "Perchance to Dream" I'll periodically have dreams where I try to read something but I can't, and the letters are moving around just like in the episode, and I am aware that I am dreaming. I am not sure if you really can't read something in a dream of if this episode put that idea into my head.

Thank you! really love these BTAS videos

I gotta be honest; I love these videos and your coverage of the Btas characters, episodes and trivia But hearing that the mad hatter is motivated by lust is beyond creppy

The episode where the Mad Hatter is using dolls to mind control rich people to give him money so he could buy and island and disappear is good. I understand that motivation as well.

for the "Hat Fetish" Mad Hatter, all Batman would of had to do is toss him a spare and he'd have an instant fan boy.

There’s an interview with Paul Dini on the website Animation Arena where he states that the inspiration for Jervis’s characterization came from a real incident in Silicon Valley a few years prior where a guy went postal in his office because a woman had rejected him, so Jervis here being a proto-incel is right on the money.

If I had a nickel for every time a superhero cartoon made for kids had a storyline about a light haired nerd gaining powers, which he uses to try and win over the female co-worker he has a crush on. Only for her to fall for another guy, which then makes nerd guy become a supervillain and use his powers to get revenge. Eerily predicting the rise of incel nerds and “nice guys” on social media preying upon women they feel a messed up sense of entitlement to… I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s still weird that happened twice.

Wish you would have mentioned the voice of the late, great Roddy McDowell, who really brought him to life in B:TAS... 😏

Mad hatter is a reference to mercury poisoning from the making of those types of hats, so ya the autoyeet fits.

Jervis would have loved Reddit tbh

its so funny to me how he looks different in every goddamn frame, moreso than any other character

4:01 Now knowing about the "hat fetish", the hat department here seems to be a clever reference.

For me Mad Hatter is the perfect villain for the sequel to Matt Reeves The Batman, they could subtitle it descent into madness or something like that as Gotham gets even worse, they just need to adapt this Mad Hatter and perhaps make some elements more explicitly horrifying

I argue Gotham took the ideas presented in TAS and implemented them to a much darker scale.

I'd really love if the Mad Hatter appeared as the main villain in The Batman 2. Maybe he could control people's minds with a new drug he created or some website related to Alice in Wonderland. He could be played by Daniel Radcliffe or Adam Driver.

Hav you done Scarecrow or Riddler yet? I think a lot of people would be interested in videos about them regarding what BTAS did for them.

I remember Bruce Timm mentioning that he based the BTAS version of the Hatter of someone who was obsessed with a female coworker and shot up the work place as a result

Would be cool to see a Batman with Mad Hatter as the lead villain in a future film. Perhaps an animated one?

Was anyone else kind of put-off by the fact that Wayne Enterprises was apparently funding fucking mind-control technology?!

He deserves to be a villain in a Batman movie. My choices to play the character are either Sharlto Copley or Bill Skarrsgard

I love BTAS' depiction of the Mad Hatter, because it shows why his behavior is wrong in a subtle and entertaining way. Unlike today, where they would probably stop the show, look at the camera, and say, "Rape is wrong. Consent is sexy."

One thing about the 60s Hatter that always bothered me was that Batman could just make another cowl and give him the old one. But he never thinks of it

the 60s hatter/hat man would love tf2

The mad hatter made me remind of Wazzat from Yo-kai watch

Amazing video

I like how they remodeled this backstory in the comics where he took growth pills that turn you mad because he was in love with an older schoolmate (Alice). Later, dressed as the Mad hatter, the adult Jarvis finds out where Alice lives, but when he sees she turned old, ugly and depressed, he strangles her with a cable and tells himself she wasn't the real Alice. At one point he also wants to recreate his favourite day, the day he and Alice went to a carnival, which was similiar to how he and Alice went to the wonderland park here.

The new 52 versión is complete Psychopath

The Mad Hatter would definitely watch Andrew Tate

Is it a coincidence that Lewis Carroll may in real life have had an unhealthy infatuation with Alice? The writers surely must have known this.

Let's be honest, Mad Hatter could use a touch more sophistication. Although I agree that they really need to settle on an origin story for him. They changed it yet again for the comics that came afterwards.

1:08 yo hold the phone. Is that Carl from ATHF as the queen?

I just noticed he's the one character who doesn't have detailed ears. It makes him look a little bit more abstracted than everyone else in the show

The Animated series produced a lot of great villains. Its kinda a shame that alot of them, never got their big break on the big screen or they are twisted into either a parody or a far right extremist. One character i would actually love to have on screen would be the Ventriloquist and Mr Scar Face. I think that character could actually be used as the main villain in a movie. Making it more or a gangster movie.

I gotta say, the Gotham tv show version was axtually really good too.

Thank you!

Peter McNichol (Ally Mc Beal) voices Mad Hatter in the Arkhamverse (Batman Arkham City, Origins, and Arkham Knight). He also voices Chronos in JLU episodes Once and Future Thing Pt 1 & 2😉😎