#66sexyroguescompetition

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Semi/Finals Match 1:

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Quarter-Finals, Match 2!

In his second appearance, the Joker would rig school vending machines to give out free money to those who used them, hoping to drive up the dropout rate and thus take advantage of the larger hiring pool. This episode would also see some downplayed appearances of some gags that would later become Joker staples, such as a boutenniere which sprayed sneezing powder (acid in later adaptations) and the shocking joybuzzers, although their voltage wouldn’t be as dangerous as in later versions. This episode could also be argued to imply that while this Joker was generally not as lethal as his successors, he definitely wasn’t a force to be trifled with.

The Riddler’s third TV series appearance would show him smuggling a rare universal wax solvent in order to commit capers in low-volume areas where an explosion would be ill-advised, or in situations where an explosive might damage the loot. If you’ve heard him quoted as saying, “Crime is no fun without riddles. I’ll have you know that’s the main reason I took up this crime game,” this is the episode where he said that. This was also one of his more vocal episodes, with the Riddler loudly cheering upon obtaining the riddle book, and just playing with words and vocal tone in general.

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Semi/Finals Match 3:

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Semi/Finals Match 4:

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Round 3, Match 4:

Portrayed by Frank Gorshin and appearing as the first villain in the series, the Riddler remains as one of the most notable rogues to emerge from the 1960s Batman series. In his second appearance, the Riddler teamed up with the River Rat Gang in order to steal jewels and kidnap a visiting king in exchange for rasom money. While he threatens to blow up the Gotham City Museum if he doesn’t receive the ransom, he also agrees to deactivate the explosives when he believes he has gotten it, and had begun to do so before realizing the Dynamic Duo had gotten there first. This two-parter also sees some pretty heigtened theatrics from the Riddler, from turning back to taunt Batman with his knowledge that the decoy crown was fake to declaring himself “The Prince of Puzzlers, the Count of Conundrums, the King of Crime!” in response to Mousey’s claim never to have met royalty, to letting loose with a wild cackle that would have made Hamill’s Joker proud. I’d also argue that Riddler’s second appearance was one of the better showcases of his rapport with his henchmen, sinc we see more extensive interactions with all the River Rats, as opposed to his work with the Molehill Mob, where he primarily interacted with Molly.

If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then Marsha is the girl in question. Styling herself the Queen of Diamonds, she worked with her Aunt Hilda, who created various potions for her. One such potion enabled her to hypnotize people so that she could pull off massive diamond thefts, at one point nearly hypnotizing Batman and successfully hypnotizing Robin. Holding the Boy Wonder hostage, she nearly forced Batman into a marriage with her, which would have enabled her to find his secret identity and the location of the Batcave. In a later appearance, she worked with the Penguin to steal gold, as well as planning to appear in a movie he directed, which probably contributed to the tendency in some fanfictions to have them on friendly terms. She would later enjoy a few appearances in the spinoff comic as well.

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Round 2, Match 8:

With his iconic reading lamp hat and book leather suit, Bookworm’s love of books and publication frustrations led him to carry out a massive and complex scheme involving books and wordplay, including “blowing up” a bridge using a projector, supposedly despite lacking even an ounce of originality (at least according to his would-have-been publisher). Alongside Lydia Limpet, he was also shown to be capable of improvising with changes in his plans, as he did when Lydia was able to capture the Boy Wonder. While he appeared to be closest to Lydia, he seemed to enjoy an affable relationship with most of his henchpersons and was constantly sharing quotes from books with them. According to a postcard sent by actor Roddy McDowall after portraying him, he couldn’t wait to get back into the suit, which was saying a lot since in the same letter he compared the suit to “being captured in a Sauna bath.”

Louie the Lilac was a gangster with an affinity for flowers, using them for various purposes including illegal manufacturing of perfumes, as hypnotic agents, and growing a maneating lilac. He originally attempted to manipulate Gotham’s “Flower Children,” and later abducted Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson in an attempt to force them to work for his illegal perfume manufacturing, getting the scent glands from dangerous animals. He might have also been one of the fake prison guards hired by Ma Parker in her prison scheme, though that might also just be a coincidental casting. Louie had a brief cameo in the comic spinoff, where he was placed in a comatose state by Poison Ivy, though she later released him from it after her capture, as well as in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

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Round 2, Match 7:

As requested, it is now time for the Battle of the Riddlers!

Portrayed by Frank Gorshin and appearing as the first villain in the series, the Riddler remains as one of the most notable rogues to emerge from the 1960s Batman series. Prior to the series, he had only had about three appearances in the comics from the time of his creation in the 1940s. In his forward to the collection Batman: Featuring Two-Face and the Riddler, Mark Hamill even describes Gorshin’s performance as the moment when the Riddler “really came into his own.” His first appearance in that first episode would see the introduction of the Riddler’s question-mark suit and bowler hat, his fiendish giggle and enthusiasm for everything he did, as well as showcasing his use of misdirection and love of dangling clues in plain sight, since he used a riddle to tip off the Dynamic Duo to his ruse and used a gun-shaped lighter to trick them into making a false arrest. While his riddles in and of themselves were not always particularly challenging, he often set them up in a way that the answers could point to multiple next steps for his plans, sometimes even managing to get a step ahead of our Caped Crusaders.

In season two, the Riddler was temporarily recast, portrayed by John Astin (a.k.a. Gomez Addams). There seems to be a bit of disagreement in the fandom over whether Astin’s Riddler should be considered a separate character from Gorshin’s iteration, since he generally came across as a bit sneakier and less theatrical, with some fanfictions portraying him as a separate character using the Riddler title, while others, namely the webcomic spinoff, portray the Astin Riddler as a disguise. Interestingly, Astin’s Riddler marks the first time the character would be portrayed with the question-mark cane.

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Round 3, Match 1:

With his startling intellect, fondness for eggs and egg puns, and notable portrayal by Vincent Price, Egghead was introduced exploiting a loophole in Gotham’s constitution to give himself control of the city. Though he was foiled by the Dynamic Duo discovering a stipulation to the loophole which he failed to consider, Egghead later attempted to deduce Batman’s true identity, nearly identifying him as Bruce Wayne, though of course, Bruce found a way to misdirect him. Egghead was also in the process of writing a book on criminal success in his first appearance, which he had a secretary taking notes for. Later, he inspired Olga to a criminal career and became a prospective consort to her.

With his signature squawking laugh and array of custom trick umbrellas, Penguin made the scene as a dapper criminal whose umbrellas were in fact part of a business scheme. Penguin was definitely a rogue with an appreciation for the finer things in life, being shown to enjoy theater and other pastimes when not performing criminal capers. Interestingly enough, during his first outing as a supervillain, he appeared to be unaware of Bruce Wayne, since when he captured the millionaire, he wrote him off as a rival salesman, not even speculating on a name for him, though he seems to have rectified this gap in his knowledge by the time of the movie. Penguin was a frequent collaborator with other rogues, having teamed up with the Riddler, Joker, Catwoman, Marsha, and Lola Lasagne at separate points. The comic spinoff seems to be aware of this, adding Black Widow and Mr. Freeze to his list of sometime allies. While it isn’t as talked about as Frank Gorshin’s influence on the Riddler character, Burgess Meredith’s portrayal added several of the traits we associate with Penguin today, with his squawking laugh being used to cover coughing fits from smoking for the role, and his waddling walk being a way that Meredith found easier to walk in the Penguin’s costume.

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Round 1, Part 1B:

As a result of contract disputes with Frank Gorshin, throughout the second season of Batman, there were a couple of attempts to replace or recast his version of the Riddler.

 The initial attempt at doing so resulted in a storyline being rewritten in order to introduce the Puzzler, whose primary interests were in aviation (including puzzle balloons) and Shakespeare, possibly as a nod to his actor’s theatre background. Despite his villainy, he also took pride in his naturalized American citizenship, and even seemed to appreciate Batman correcting him on a Hamlet quote he botched.

Later in season two, the Riddler was temporarily recast, this time portrayed by John Astin (a.k.a. Gomez Addams). There seems to be a bit of disagreement in the fandom over whether Astin’s Riddler should be considered a separate character from Gorshin’s iteration, with some fanfictions portraying him as a separate character using the Riddler title, while others, namely the webcomic spinoff, portray the Astin Riddler as a disguise. Interestingly, Astin’s Riddler marks the first time the character would be portrayed with the question-mark cane.

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Round 3, Match 5:

With his iconic reading lamp hat and book leather suit, Bookworm’s love of books and publication frustrations led him to carry out a massive and complex scheme involving books and wordplay, including “blowing up” a bridge using a projector, supposedly despite lacking even an ounce of originality (at least according to his would-have-been publisher). Alongside Lydia Limpet, he was also shown to be capable of improvising with changes in his plans, as he did when Lydia was able to capture the Boy Wonder. While he appeared to be closest to Lydia, he seemed to enjoy an affable relationship with most of his henchpersons and was constantly sharing quotes from books with them. According to a postcard sent by actor Roddy McDowall after portraying him, he couldn’t wait to get back into the suit, which was saying a lot since he also compared the suit to “being captured in a Sauna bath.” The character would also enjoy a small role in Batman vs. Two-Face following a cameo in Return of the Caped Crusaders.

The latest in a long line of unfortunate alchemists, Dr. Cassandra Spellcraft was determined not to share in their grisly fates. She initially completed a robbery using camouflage pills to turn herself invisible, later deciding to break several rogues out of prison. She then gave them the camouflage pills to turn them invisible in exchange for 50% of the profits from their criminal capers. Although she was ultimately arrested, she did at least manage to avoid a ghastly end like her ancestors. There were plans to include her in the comic spinoff, with herself and her husband appearing as members of the League of Shadows, although these plans never came to fruition before the comic’s cancellation.

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Semi/Finals Match 5

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Congratulations to our Twice-Crowned Queen!

Congratulations once again, to the Eartha Kitt Catwoman! Now two-time SexyRogue winner and easily one of the highlights of season three!

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Round 1, Part 3B:

With his startling intellect, fondness for eggs and egg puns, and notable portrayal by Vincent Price, Egghead was introduced exploiting a loophole in Gotham’s constitution to give himself control of the city. Though he was foiled by the Dynamic Duo discovering a stipulation to the loophole which he failed to consider, Egghead later attempted to deduce Batman’s true identity, nearly identifying him as Bruce Wayne. His attempt was only foiled because Bruce Wayne purposefully thought the shallowest thoughts he could imagine, leaving Egghead disgusted at the mere possibility of Batman being able to think such things, and thus he dismissed his previous conclusion. Egghead was also in the process of writing a book on criminal success in his first appearance. Later, he inspired Olga to a criminal career and became a prospective consort to her.

Seeking revenge for the accident that left him unable to survive outside of subzero temperatures, Dr. Schivel alias Mr. Freeze was introduced stealing all the ice in Gotham city. However, he used some clever wordplay in order to steal valuable diamonds, including a pitcher who had it as a name. In his first appearance, portrayed by George Sanders, he expressed reluctance to kill the Dynamic Duo, even claiming that, if he hadn’t needed his revenge, he would have preferred to let them live. In his earliest appearance, Mr. Freeze only needed his special suit if he was leaving his lair, since he used temperature controls to maintain the climate he needed, selectively controlling heated areas to allow his henchmen to pass through. Sanders portrayed this frozen felon with an almost Bond villain-like sense of wealth and taste, even stopping to enjoy dinner with his henchmen during his crimes.

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Side Poll #1: Battle of the Catwomen!

No trivia for this one, unfortunately. Since this is a side-poll running concurrently with the Quarter-Finals, I would have likely ended up repeating my already-written trivia (especially since I'm coming up a bit short for Meriwether's version at this point) but I did want to do something like what I did with the Freezes in the preliminaries, so here you are!

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Quarter-Finals, Match 4!

With the Lee Meriwhether Catwoman’s single appearance in the 1966 movie and lack of appearances in the comic spinoff, it may be that she was originally intended simply as an actor swap of the Newmar version of the character. The main continuity which subverts this is in the animated spinoff Batman vs. Two-Face, in which she is originally a prison staff person, but is last seen admiring herself in the mirror when she wakes up after the original knocks her out in order to swap their uniforms.

Despite his limited appearances in the series, Bookworm would later enjoy multiple appearances in the spinoffs, with two cameos in Return of the Caped Crusaders (he’s featured in the opening sequence, as well as in the final battle) and a larger role in Batman vs. Two-Face, attempting to steal several books themed around duality. While I sometimes found his characterization in the comic adaptation to be hit-or-miss, one of his most notable appearances would see him committing minor crimes in order to gather intel on Batman in an attempt to deduce his identity. While he came close to determining the correct answer, he was duped by some false hints Batman planted, leading him to conclude that Alfred was Batman, rather than Bruce Wayne.

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Quarter-Finals, Round 1, Match 1:

In one of Penguin’s most notable schemes, he pretended to have reformed, secretly staging several crimes which he would conveniently be around to stop. This two-parter was another showcase of the Penguin’s use of technology, using anti-surveillance tech in a trick umbrella to foil an attempt by the Caped Crusaders to swap his cigarette holder with a bugged one, and later programming umbrellas to cause a diversion while he robs his own wedding. I would argue that, given his attempts to get into Countess Sophia’s good graces, this was also one of the episodes that showcased Penguin’s daytime persona as a dapper socialite.

Although she would only enjoy two appearances in the TV series, Lorelei Circe alias the Siren would return in the third issue of the Batman ’66 comic spinoff, where she would initially pretend to have reformed alongside Chandell (who had genuinely reformed), only to reveal her ruse and use her voice to hypnotize the men into surrendering everyone’s valuables. Although Batman had inoculated himself against her hypnotic high note, Siren revealed that she had obtained a throat spray which would allow her voice to produce hallucinations, a side-effect for which the Caped Crusader was unprepared. Though it isn’t confirmed in the comic, it’s possible that she used another special throat spray to repair her voice after losing it in her TV appearance.