Doctor Hurt | |
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Hurt wearing Thomas Wayne's bat-themed masquerade costume. Art by Frank Quitely.
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance |
Unnamed: Batman #156 (June 1963) As Simon Hurt: Batman #673 (June 2008) |
Created by |
Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris Revision by Grant Morrison |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Simon Hurt |
Team affiliations | Black Glove, Club of Villains, Religion of Crime |
Notable aliases | The Hole in Things, Mangrove Pierce, Dr. Hurt, El Penitente, Old Thomas Wayne, Barbatos |
Abilities | Possible immortality Master of psychology Highly intelligent Expert strategist and tactician |
Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris
Dr. Simon Hurt, commonly known simply as Doctor Hurt, is a fictional character from the DC Comics universe. Hurt was retro-actively revived in 2008 by writer Grant Morrison after first appearing as an unnamed character in Batman #156 (June 1963).
Visually, Doctor Hurt is based on an unnamed scientist who first appeared in Batman #156 (June 1963), in a story titled "Robin Dies at Dawn". In that story Batman participated in an experiment for NASA that caused him to hallucinate that Robin (Dick Grayson) was in constant danger; the story itself is referenced many times in Morrison's run on Batman. The character made behind-the-scenes appearances throughout Morrison's run before actually appearing fully in the first chapter of "Batman R.I.P."
The character was first called "Doctor Simon Hurt" in Batman #674. He is a brilliant psychologist whose true identity and nature is an enigma; over the course of Morrison's run he has been strongly implied at times to be the Devil, the demon Barbatos, a supernaturally-empowered ancestor of Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne's long-lost evil twin, Bruce Wayne's father, an instrument of Darkseid, and perhaps even Darkseid himself. Hurt is dedicated to completely destroying Batman in body, mind, and soul, and replacing him with a corrupted, evil counterpart.
Doctor Hurt led both the Black Glove and the Club of Villains against Batman in "Batman R.I.P." Hurt was the main antagonist of Morrison's run on Batman titles from 2007 to 2011, appearing in Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne, and Batman and Robin, as well as behind-the-scenes in Final Crisis.
A psychiatrist, Doctor Hurt was involved in a program which created three "replacement Batmen" with the participation of the Gotham City Police Department. Sometime after the three replacements had been trained, Hurt was hired by Defense Department to oversee an isolation experiment. During this process, he gave Batman a post-hypnotic trigger connected to the phrase "Zur-En-Arrh". He also arranged for the replacements to fight the dazed Batman, but they were defeated. Batman suspected nothing of this.