Hugo Strange

Professor **Hugo Strange** (ヒューゴー・ストレンジ, *Hyūgō Sutorenji*), is a fictional character and deuteragonist from the *DC* series. He is a brilliant psychiatrist and skilled manipulator who operated out of both Blackgate Prison and Arkham Asylum as the morally ambiguous head chief of Psychiatry, who was driven by his keen interest of the criminal mind. His prowess has led him to spent years studying the Dark Knight, eventually accomplishing a feat that few ever did; deducing Batman's identity. Armed with that knowledge and a great deal of cunning, Hugo formed an alliance with Rā's al Ghūl and his secret organization, the League of Assassins. Outlining his plans with Ra's to assume complete control over Gotham City and purge its population, Hugo also lusted to claim the League and the secrets of immortality that they possessed for himself by proving to be a worthy successor to his new master.

Manipulating political activist and Warden of Arkham Asylum, Quincy Sharp, via mind control drugs, Hugo enabled Quincy into becoming Mayor and authorized the construction and opening of Arkham City, an anarchist prison that was built in the heart of Gotham, to hold thousands of inmates and even innocent people. Forming connections throughout Gotham's criminal underworld, Hugo eventually targeted Bruce Wayne in order to complete his plans to implement Protocol 10, an operation that would murder thousands and pave the way for Ra's and himself to conquer the world.

"*You are a truly extraordinary specimen. I look forward to breaking you.*"

—Professor Hugo Strange, in an Interview Tape to Batman as he pays his respects to his parents in Crime Alley.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice actor*: Corey Burton (English), Not Known (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Canadian French), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), [Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

### Biography

Professor Hugo Strange have first gaining fame as a psychiatrist who declared that he’d fully analyzed the Dark Knight from afar, and later lent credence to his own claims by deducing Batman’s true identity as Bruce Wayne. However, his interest in the Batman turned into a deranged obsession, and he’s used his medical expertise to hatch a series of bizarre plots based around genetics and mind control in order to defeat the Batman and possibly take his place. Hugo’s fragile mental state has left him with intermittent knowledge of Batman’s true identity, a fact that hangs over Bruce Wayne’s head – for if Strange ever snaps completely, Batman’s greatest secret might be revealed…

### Appearance

Hugo Strange was shown as a tall and somewhat muscular man with a thick grey beard and a completely bald head. Strange wore a pair of tinted round glasses and a white knee-length medical coat bearing the Arkham City logo, as well as his Warden's badge. In addition, Strange also wore black pants, black gloves, and black shoes.

* Hair Color: Gray (Beard)
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Gray
* Age: Not Known
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
* Weight: 180 lbs (82 kg)

### Attributes:

* Trained to physical perfection.
* Extensive Knowledge of Genetics.
* Obsessed with Batman.
* Plagued by schizophrenic episodes that leave him confused and dangerous.

## Personality

Hugo Strange was one of the most brilliant psychiatrists throughout the entire world, but that fact was disturbed by his unstable ego and maniacal mind. Strange was very dedicated to understanding the workings of the human mind, and believed that the only way for him to achieve infamy and power was to use that new-founded knowledge to control the mind. In his quest to learn the full aspects of criminology, Strange was unethical and willing to dispose of anyone to his grand manipulations and treated his patients callously.

Strange dominated Catwoman, Mr. Freeze and the Mad Hatter during their therapy sessions with bribery or blackmail, and forced them to relive their painful past experiences to satisfy his own thirst for knowledge. Strange used that knowledge over criminals who encountered Batman to learn of the Dark Knight's secret identity and employ his growing information over the criminal mind to advance Protocol 10. When he learned that Bruce Wayne was Batman, Strange's mind snapped completely as his ego and obsessions went out of control and he was determined to leave a legacy as a hero and Batman's successor in most regards.

Strange had a vast hated for the criminals and the patients whom he treated, abused them regularly, and used immoral means to abstract information from their dark pasts. Meanwhile, Strange possessed a malignant mind. Strange was dedicated to his work, but seemed to perform his experiments with a smile on his face, which was shown by the way that he sadistically watched over the carnage of Protocol 10 atop Wonder Tower, and claimed that it was "glorious" when he was confronted by Batman. Strange had little remorse in his regards as he allowed the Mad Hatter to experiment on the Lunatics and later lobotomized them, but he claimed that they were justified as no one would remember them.

Strange was completely obsessed with Batman, stalked him repeatedly, and used his advanced psychiatric abilities to deduce his identity. That deranged obsession eventually grew to resentment as Batman was everything that he could never be and that created a desire within Strange to accede Batman in every way by proving himself as his better by replicating the Dark Knight's ideals and ultimate goal; bring peace to Gotham. Of course, his methods of doing so were far more of a extreme nature, but Strange nonetheless viewed his way as superior, repeatedly degraded Batman's no-killing-rule as the presence of criminals, believed his unwillingness to end the Joker's life was what required the drastic action of Protocol 10, and effectively placed the blame of the inmates of Arkham City's deaths on Batman.

Ever since he encountered Ra's, and he promised him to succeed him as the Head of the Demon, combined with limitless resources and even the prospect of immortality with rights to the Lazarus Pit, Strange appeared to have accepted the philosophy of the League of Assassins. He truly believed that Protocol 10 in Gotham, Keystone and Metropolis was for the good of the cities and that this was transparent to Ra's own beliefs. On the other hand, Strange's goals of using the resources of the League of Assassins were extremely self-centered. Every action that Strange made throughout Arkham City was solely to reaffirm his superiority over Batman, even if he did believe in the righteousness of what he did.

The knowledge Strange had learned through Ra's and the League and the fact that he was chosen to be the next Demon's Head in Ra's place made him more arrogant, narcissistic and downright fearless as he constantly bragged that he was "powerful" and "untouchable", while he protected himself in Wonder Tower. Strange gloated that he would focus on Batman's allies after the success in Arkham City, remained defiant even when he was throttled by an enraged Dark Knight, and simply stated that he had "powerful friends". The great irony was that Ra's had no plans to surrender the League to Strange, and simply viewed him as pawn to use and dispose of for his own agendas.

Strange was able to logically anticipate and employ protocols and procedures that were set in place as fail-safes for his or his plans failure through a long period of time that he had the capacity to foresee. In the drastic case that Arkham City would be lost to the inmates, he set in motion Protocol 10 should the need for it arise. Of course, Strange instead controlled the gang war by exacerbating the situation by supplying both sides with military-grade weapons to fulfill Ra's purpose. Strange's arrogance did not distill his scientific mind. Strange was able to anticipate his defeat despite his believe that he was infallible, knew about Batman's superior skill and Ra's treacherous nature, placed Protocol 11 in hiding, and pended the off-chance of his defeat.

Through Arkham City and the failure of Protocol 10, Strange did leave behind a legacy but not one that he wanted, not of a hero or the savior of Gotham, but instead of an insane, fascist madman who only left behind death and depravity. Strange's actions to save Gotham actually ended up furthering its doom as the City Council was eventually forced to free the unlawful imprisoned crime lords, Penguin and Two-Face and thousands of prisoners, which quickly sped the city into chaos on the night of Scarecrow's terrorist threat until Batman put a stop to the villains' plans once and for all.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* TYGER
* Quincy Sharp
* League of Assassins
	+ Rā's al Ghūl
* Scarecrow
* Floyd Lawton/Deadshot
* Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter

### Neutral

* Autobots
* Justice League
	+ Superman
	+ Batman
	+ Iron Machine
* Teen Titans
	+ Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing
* Karen Starr

### Enemies

* Jack Napier/Joker
* Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin
* Harvey Dent/Two-Face

## Powers and Abilities

### Abilities

* **Psychiatry**: Hugo is trained to physical perfection and is a brilliant psychological analyst, with extensive knowledge of psychoactive substances.
* **Genius-Level Intellect**: Hugo is able to single-handedly figure out Batman's secret identity, a feat no one else has been able to duplicate thus far.
* **Science**: Hugo has shown, with help from the Mad Hatter, the ability to create a formula that practically hypnotizes his guards to follow all his commands.

### Weaknesses

* **Schizophrenia**: Plagued by schizophrenic episodes.

## External links

* [[[Wikipedia:Hugo Strange|Hugo Strange]] *Wikipedia*
* Hugo Strange *DC Database*
* Hugo Strange *Arkham Wiki*

## Notes & Trivia

* Hugo Strange first appeared in *Detective Comics* #36 (February 1940)
* Hugo was apparently an admirer of William Blake, as he named his security force after his well-known poem, *The Tyger*, and even incorporated several stanzas of the poem into the military firm's oath.
* During Hugo's discussion with Riddler, Riddler revealed that he knows about Hugo's secret panel in his office that revealed what he wanted most and that Hugo would sit wearing some kind of "suit" in his office. This implied that, like his comic-book counterpart, Hugo Strange wore his own custom designed Batsuit as part of his obsession to become Batman.
* During his interview sessions with Mr. Freeze, Hugo Strange informed the former scientist that he did not know how it felt to love someone, which showcased just how deep Hugo's obsessions and lusts ran.
* The pass-code for Protocol 11, Wayne, seemed to implicate that Hugo himself knew that Batman could potentially reach him and might even defeat him.
* Hugo's old psychiatrist office building could be found within the boundaries of Arkham City, and served as a riddle, which shed more light on the mysterious and criminal past of the villain once solved. Ironically, the location of the office was across from the Monarch Theatre and Crime Alley, where Batman's origins took place.
* In the same room where Strange tortured one of his TYGER Captains to death, there was a jar of blood with the label, *Drink Me*, on it. That was the same label from a jar of Joker's poisoned blood that the Clown Prince of Crime showed to Batman after he poisoned him, though any connection between the two items in terms of plot relevance was unclear.
* On certain accounts, there were several Easter Eggs that pointed towards Hugo's activities during the course of events in the game:
	+ Several posters could be seen in the Diamond District of New Gotham, and advertised his services in 'Self Help Seminars', which implied that Hugo Strange already was well into his hobby of experimenting on human test subjects by the events of the game.
	+ Hugo was mentioned within various Extortion Data Tapes that were collected and hidden around Gotham by Enigma and his informants, which revealed that he was a professor at Blackgate Prison before Arkham Asylum's reopening, and who treated patients such as Alberto Falcone, with Harleen Quinzel, who acted as his intern.
	+ Hugo's office and home could at Park Row in Old Gotham, as it was in Arkham City, but it appeared much more well lit and functional due to Hugo living there.