Saturday, April 13, 2013

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Yes, there is more than one Batman villain that is based on the works by Lewis Carroll. In fact, there were about seven, but we will get to that.
History
Dumfree and Deever Tweed are two criminal masterminds nicknamed "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" due to their names and resemblance to John Tenniel's portrayal of those characters. Despite often being mistaken for twins, they are cousins. They prefer to have henchmen to do their schemes for them and use their resemblance to each other to confuse their enemies.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee first met Batman and Robin, when Dumfree and Deever were committing a series of robberies in Gotham City. They became recurring enemies of Batman and sometime worked for the Joker. In War Games, Dumfree was killed in a police shoot out.
In Infinite Crisis, Tweedledee and a new Tweedledum (who turns out to be Dumpson Tweed, Dumfree's twin brother) were members of  Alexander Luthor Junior's Secret Society of Super Villains.
After reality was rebooted, there was a super villain group called the Wonderland Gang. The members included the Mad Hatter, a new Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Lion, Unicorn, Walrus and Carpenter. Ironically, Mad Hatter is the only member actually based on Alice in Wonderland with the rest are from Through the Looking-Glass (the book's sequel). It turned out Tweedledee and Tweedledum were actually running the Wonderland Gang and had mind-controlled Mad Hatter to pretending he was running the team. Batman freed the Mad Hatter and the two defeated the Wonderland Gang. The Gang later tried to escape, but were stopped by Batman, Nightwing and Robin. In Salvation Run, Tweedledee and Tweedledum were among the villains sent to an alien planet. They were freed by Hush pretending to be Bruce Wayne.
In The New 52 reboot, Tweedledum and Tweedledee were henchmen for Mad Hatter for the latter's plan to drive everyone in Gotham City insane. Here, Mad Hatter is manipulating them instead of vice versa. Batman quickly took them out.
Powers
The two brothers have fat bodies that allow them to bounce and roll like a ball. In The New 52, they seem to also have super resistance and strength.
References:

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