“Gotham” is digging deeper into the roster of Batman villains in Season 3, and this week the show has introduced one of the lesser-known but odder foes from the franchise: Jervis Tetch, a.k.a. The Mad Hatter. While not the most physically imposing villain, The Mad Hatter specializes in psychological warfare with his mastery of hypnosis and mind games.
But while he plans to terrorize Gotham City with his tricks, he also suffers from delusions of his own, namely his obsession with “Alice In Wonderland,” and the Alice in his own life. While “Gotham” has changed Jervis’ background so that the Alice he longs for is his sister, the comics have him obsessed with a childhood sweetheart whom he could never let go of.
For some time, the Hatter was a relic of the lighter, sillier period of Batman comics. But in the ’90s, he was introduced to a new generation of fans through “Batman: The Animated Series,” though he did not have the hypnosis abilities his “Gotham” incarnation has. In the classic episode, “Mad As A Hatter,” Tetch is a scientist for Wayne Enterprises who has developed computer chips that allow him to take over the minds of others.
When the object of his affection has a falling out with her boyfriend, Jervis takes the identity of the Hatter and puts on a show to impress Alice. Unfortunately, she ends up back with his boyfriend. Jervis goes mad with rage, using his mind control device to make him break up with her again and then ultimately takes over Alice’s mind to turn her into the Alice of Lewis Carroll’s famous tale. When Batman spots two criminals committing suicide as a result of Jervis’ chips, he recognizes them from Jervis’ experiments at Wayne Enterprises and hunts him down.
Batman and the Mad Hatter eventually have their final showdown in a Wonderland-esque maze of cards, which you can view above. If you enjoyed this week’s episode of “Gotham,” you should check out the rest of “Mad As A Hatter” and other episode of “Batman: The Animated Series” on Amazon Video.