Man-Bat

68 (NW)

**Man-Bat**is an antagonist in *Batman: Shadow War, Batman: Red War and Batman: New War.*He is a gifted scientist with a rare condition that caused chronic deafness and attempted to cure it only to end up being transformed into a hideous, monstrous vampire bat-human hybrid.

## Biography

### Early Life

When Kirk Langstrom was a young boy, he fell into a deep cavern and was lost for more than six weeks. Police conducted a massive search for the child, and were nearly ready to give up when they finally found him. Though his parents were overjoyed to see their son returned to them, Kirk seemed almost sorry to leave the cave. He silently waved goodbye to all the "friends" he left behind. A short time later, Kirk met six-year-old Bruce Wayne outside of a movie theater. He regaled Bruce with tales of his adventures beneath the earth, and embellished such tales by telling him about the race of half-human, half-bat creatures he encountered.

As an adult, Kirk left his hometown of Chicago and enrolled at Gotham University where he met his fellow student and future wife Francine Lee. The two aimed to cure human diseases by using genetic splicing. The two had a happy and functional marriage despite financial issues caused by the widespread skepticism towards the research.

### Becoming Man-Bat

Kirk eventually developed chronic deafness, providing him with a challenge and an opportunity to test his theory. Finally developing a method of splicing the DNA of a vampire bat into human DNA, Kirk tested it on himself in hopes to cure his hearing loss. However, the effects were far stronger than Kirk anticipated, causing him to mutate into a human-bat hybrid. Out of control of his actions, the creature destroyed the lab, inadvertently killing Francine in the process, before escaping out into Gotham.

Man-Bat traveled aimlessly around Gotham before he broke into Gotham Zoo, killing a security guard and attracting the attention of the GCPD. District Attorney Harvey Dent and Detective Harvey Bullock mistook this as the actions of Batman. Batman set out to clear his name and stop Man-Bat from taking more lives, later encountering him and fighting the creature. Batman subdued Man-Bat and took him to the Batcave to develop a cure for him. Batman also found video footage of Kirk's transformation into Man-Bat and him killing his wife. Batman tried to inject the cure into Man-Bat however the creature suddenly woke up and attacked Batman, so Batman tells Alfred to evacuate and fights Man-Bat. Batman manages to use sound-piercing technology to incapacitate Man-Bat before retrieving the cure and injecting it into the monster in pain. Kirk slowly returns to normal and Batman manages to convince Gordon, despite initially not being allies during this period of time, that he was not the one who broke into the zoo and killed the guard, but Kirk Langstrom in his Man-Bat form. Batman explained the situation to Gordon, and he agreed to have Kirk committed to Arkham Asylum to treat him and isolate him as there is a possibility he may become Man-Bat again. Kirk is locked in a cell and breaks down in tears upon discovering Francine's fate.

## Personality

As a human, Kirk Langstrom was a gifted scientist and a loving husband, who did not have a bad bone in his body. He was ambitious however his ambition resulted in an abomination. As Man-Bat, Kirk is reduced to a mindless, violent and animalistic beast. After he was cured, he showed genuine concern for the safety of the people around him, should he transform back into Man-Bat and also became incredibly devastated and depressed after accidentally killing the love of his life.

## Abilities

* **Transformation:**By the genetic splicing with a vampire bat, Kirk Langstrom transformed into a half-human/half-bat creature.
	+ **Enhanced Strength:**Man-Bat can easily kill a human with a single strike, as well as break structures with his bare hands.
	+ **Enhanced Durability:**Man-Bat can survive impacts from falls as tall as buildings, without any notable discomfort or injuries at all. He also has increased stamina, since he was able to fly for lengthy periods of time without showing any signs of fatigue or exhaustion at all.
	+ **Flight:**Man-Bat can naturally fly thanks to his artifically generated wings.
	+ **Claws:**Man-Bat has sharpened claws which are strong enough to easily tear through flesh and muscle.
	+ **Echolation:**Man-Bat can navigate through the air without sight by screeching, which bounced off potential obstacles and flew back toward the user, which in turn, alerted them to the hazard.
	+ **Superhuman Senses:**Like any bat, Man-Bat can smell and hear better than peak-human beings, such as Batman.
* **Expert Scientist:**Kirk Langstrom is a gifted scientist and pioneering gene therapist.

### Weaknesses

* **Sensitive Senses:**Man-Bat's hearing is highly sensitive and extremely loud noises cause him great pain. He is also extremely sensitive to bright light, preferring instead to remain in dark locations.