When it comes to Batman villains, do you consider Hush a hit or a miss?

[ngroove]

Bane has pretty much the same problem, thats probably why he was pre flashpoint hardly used as batman villain and they never made a real follow up to Knightfall in that continuity.

The follow up was Legacy, in which Batman convinced Bane to battle on Bats' terms, at peak strength. Batman won.

They've also tussled further in No Man's Land, and a couple tales on Batman: Gotham Knights.


Hush, however, was further utilized well, in Heart of Hush, and Batman Eternal.

[Aahz]

The follow up was Legacy, in which Batman convinced Bane to battle on Bats' terms, at peak strength. Batman won.

They've also tussled further in No Man's Land, and a couple tales on Batman: Gotham Knights.

But nothing he did was even nearly on the scale of Knightfall. And henever tried to break Batman again and in Legacy he shared iirc the role of the main villain with Ras.

And they relativity quickly turned him into more of an Anti Hero afterwards.

[nonsense man]

well for a one off instead of a reoccuring villian he is a success but overuse him it does not make sense at all

[Slim Shady]

I’d say miss as a reoccurring villain. I guess a hit for the initial story since it is pretty popular. He’s kinda like Doomsday for Death of Superman or Bane for Knightfall, good for a certain story but kind of shallow after that. I actually like Heart of Hush better than Hush. But after that, idk he just seems like a weak threat.

I always heard the plan originally was Jason Todd to be Hush and the story was supposed to be his big return from the dead, but they changed it last minute. I don’t know how true that is, kinda makes sense for the lazy substitution of Elliot. That would have been better but then no UTRH so I guess it all worked out.

[Restingvoice]

Oh, I like the part where he realized that he doesn't want to destroy or be Bruce Wayne, but Bruce Wayne's best friend just like they used to be, so he decided to change his face again to be Dick Grayson. I didn't saw that coming.

The reveal was pretty creepy, but when I just said it in a sentence it does make him sound clingy XD

[oasis1313]

Hush always felt to me like they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Now Bruce's childhood buddies are turning evil and coming back? Bleh.

[Kingcrimsonprog]

Everyone has already said it, but I like the Dini stories.

[Restingvoice]

Hush always felt to me like they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Now Bruce's childhood buddies are turning evil and coming back? Bleh.

and when they're not making a new childhood friend turns villain, they make the current villain childhood friends
Penguin in Telltale Batman
Two-Face in All-Star Batman

Black Mask was first introduced to Bruce Wayne as little Roman Sionis by their parents although I don't think they're friends. They're not capitalizing on that since he's now more connected to Catwoman or Red Hood thanks to a couple of popular stories.

[godisawesome]

I’m another of the guys who thinks Dino knew how to make him work. Even the retcons and changes he added helped him get good.

Think of the Dini stuff as being an application of the BTAS-Villain-Debut episode ethos, but on a grander scale, an elevated maturity level, and with a full on villainous protagonist monologue that really, really works. He really zeroed in on the idea of Tommy being motivated by pure envy and greed and being a deliciously hate-able elitist snob. Dini also knew how to wring genuine drama and chemistry for a villain with Tommy’s knowledge about Bruce’s identity, and it was pure genius to have him serve as Bruce’s involuntary body double during Batman RIP.

In contrast, the other attempts to repackage him from a pretty light initial form didn’t work. The intial “Hush Returns” version weirdly stripped him of his decent costume for just more bandages and crime-surgeon stuff, and the Batman Eternal New 52 version was just a light version of the character without anything new.

[Gurz]

Dini stuff was amazing. The rest was not so much...

[EsotericFailures]

I remember the Dini stories with him being decent but his first story is such a joke that I'll never take him seriously. It's a mystery were the villain is this brand new character specifically introduced in this arc who also has a tragic backstory connecting him to Batman. The suspense!

I enjoyed the Loeb Batman mystery stories when I read them as a kid but looking back they're all sort of terrible, though some bits of Long Halloween are okay.

[exile001]

I'd have to say miss at this point.

I disliked Loeb and Lee's Hush back when it was originally released, and I don't think it ages well. It's been mentioned before, but Loeb basically just wrote The Long Halloween for the third time, only dumber and more contrived. Hush himself wasn't really a character, just a word/name until the very end where he was quickly defeated. His plans amounted to nothing, didn't even come close to succeeding, and barely made any sense (other than a series of gratuitous cameos). We got no real explanation as to why any of this was happening. Yes, Loeb gave a short backstory (your Dad saved my Mum, now you must DIE!!!), coupled with his meeting Riddler but why then did he suddenly give up every part of his life to become a costumed villain, how did he gain the expertise to cut the Bat-line or puncture the Batmobile's tyre? Why was this even still an issue after 30 odd years? None of it was even touched on.

The one thing I liked in Hush was The Riddler reveal at the end, but even that was poorly done and the follow up (back up stories in the Bat-books, LOTDK's Riddle Me That and Winnick's plans following Green Arrow and the Red Hood saga) went nowhere, as it was dropped for One Year Later.

I am that one guy who quite liked what A J lieberman was trying to do with him, but the execution was very hit and miss. He really tried to run with the anti-Batman theme, and create a credible long-lasting threat. The ending was pretty epic. Hush evolved here and we got a sense of what he was about. However, his plans were still bizarrely convoluted,

I'm clearly in a minority here, but I thought Paul Dini's run on Hush was awful. I dislike elements that are contrived, and there was so much of it here. So, Hush was engaged to the new Ventriloquist, was tutored by Jonathan Crane, has a perfect working knowledge of Mr Freeze's cryogenic equipment and, despite being a renowned brain surgeon, he perfectly cut out Catwoman's heart (alone, apparently). Prior to this, the brain surgeon also managed to perform perfect plastic surgery on himself because he now wants to replace Bruce because reasons. The constant quoting was just bad writing.

Batman Eternal made a minor tweak to Elliott's origin, and I loved it. This changed Elliott from just a childhood friend to a childhood friend who wanted to be Bruce Wayne. Who slowly became more stalker-like, re-created Bruce's tragedy and in college introduced himself as Bruce Wayne. This was pretty chilling stuff, and a bit more unique as Bruce has had many "only" childhood friends show up over the years, some good, some bad, but never this intimate a threat.

Sadly, this version hasn't been seen much or given a large role since, and was pretty much destroyed in the awful preludes to the wedding series.

[oasis1313]

Hush is just another blowhard.

[theoneandonly]

the hush storyline never made much sense to me. the scion of a powerful rich family walking home so he can be conveniently kidnapped....Batman not preparing for having his line cut is PIS carried to the zenith. the kryptonite ring should have brought Superman to his knees instead of 'slowing' him down but whatever they had to have a fight. huntress role felt shoehorned to add to the pages of the storyline. scarecrow's fear gas not working due to love is the height of absurdly comic contrivance. Ras al ghul planting the sword exactly where Harold had placed his transponder was another random as hell contrivance which didn't add much sense to the plot. then is the absurd climatic fight where somehow a surgeon manages to match Batman's skills and get the better of him.(granted he was distraught but still...) nor does it help that riddler approaches hush due to his mother suffering from cancer only for heart of hush to reveal it to be a fabrication and her dying long before the events of hush.
Ultimately hush is a absurd character who has marginally worked in part due to his famous creators.

[Vakanai]

For me I say it depends on whether or not the upcoming movie version can do him better than I've heard the book did. I've avoided getting his intro story because I've heard the whole point is really how it uses every single villain just about and all of the Batfamily of the time but the story was weak and Hush himself wasn't great. But maybe the cartoon can improve that.