Simon Hurt

Doctor Hurt
Simon Hurt as depicted in Batman and Robin #14 (October 2010). Art by Frank Quitely.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Unnamed: Batman #156 (June 1963) As Simon Hurt: Batman #673 (June 2008)
Created by	Sheldon Moldoff (writer) Charles Paris (artist) 2008 revision by Grant Morrison
In-story information
Alter ego	Simon Hurt
Species	Human
Team affiliations	Black Glove Club of Villains Religion of Crime
Notable aliases	The Hole in Things, Mangrove Pierce, Dr. Hurt, El Penitente, Thomas Wayne, Barbatos
Abilities	Possible immortality Master of psychology Highly intelligent Expert strategist and tactician

Dr. Simon Hurt, commonly known simply as Doctor Hurt, is a fictional character from the DC Comics universe. First appearing as an unnamed character in Batman #156 (June 1963), the character was retroactively revived in 2008 by writer Grant Morrison and established as Thomas Wayne, a distant relative of Bruce Wayne and his father Thomas Wayne.

Visually, Doctor Hurt is based on an unnamed scientist who appears in Batman #156 (June 1963), in a story titled "Robin Dies at Dawn".^[1] The character made behind-the-scenes appearances throughout Morrison's run before appearing fully in the first chapter of "Batman R.I.P."^[2][3]

The character was first called "Doctor Simon Hurt" in Batman #674.^[4] He is a brilliant psychologist whose true identity and nature is an enigma. Has been implied to be the devil, the demon Barbatos, a supernaturally-empowered ancestor of Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne's long-lost twin brother, Bruce Wayne's father, an instrument of Darkseid, and Darkseid himself. Hurt is dedicated to destroying Batman in body, mind, and soul, and replacing him with an 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 is involved in a program that creates three "replacement Batmen" with the participation of the Gotham City Police Department. Sometime after the replacements are trained, Hurt joins the Department of Defense to oversee an isolation experiment. During this process, he gives Batman a post-hypnotic trigger connected to the phrase "Zur-En-Arrh".

Going over his notes on Batman's psychology, Hurt realizes that Batman is "powered by tragedy" and intends to traumatize the three replacements to make them better crimefighters.

Years later, Doctor Hurt is working with the Black Glove when they decide to target Batman and his allies.^[5] Hurt is presumed dead after a helicopter explosion, but survives and resurfaces in Mexico.^[6] With Joker working as an unreliable ally, Hurt releases a drug into Gotham's air to drive its citizens insane. Hurt shoots Dick Grayson in the head and attempts to force Damian Wayne to swear allegiance to him. However, Dick survives and eventually recovers while Batman defeats Hurt.^[7][8] Hurt escapes before the Joker subdues him.^[9]

Hurt also appears in Convergence, where he is killed in battle with Batman.^[10]

In the DC Rebirth relaunch, Hurt's immortality is derived from the Hyper-Adapter, a time-traveling device created by Darkseid.^[11][12]

Hurt claims to be Dr. Thomas Wayne, the name being shared with a devil-worshiping ancestor back in the 18th century. Batman initially suspects him to be the actor Mangrove Pierce, dismissing the belief of the third replacement Batman and the Joker that Hurt is the devil; Hurt alludes to this possibility several times using metaphor only, claiming "I am the hole in things..."the enemy", "the piece that can never fit, there since the beginning", all cryptic statements that relate to the mythology of a demonic figure. Near the end of "Batman R.I.P.", however, Batman begins to wonder whether Hurt really is the devil. Batman states that Darkseid is attempting to "incarnate" in Hurt.^[13]

Following numerous hints and plot threads throughout Batman and Robin and Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, the mystery of Hurt's identity was seemingly resolved in Batman and Robin #16, in which he was identified as a devil-worshipping ancestor of Bruce Wayne's named Thomas Wayne (first mentioned in Batman and Robin #10 and appearing in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #4). The issue reveals that, centuries beforehand, Hurt attempted to summon the demon Barbatos, but instead was confronted by the Hyper-Adapter, a hyper-dimensional creature tasked by Darkseid with overseeing Batman's voyage through history after he was struck by the villain's Omega Effect. Corrupted — or perhaps possessed — by the Hyper-Adapter's energies, this Thomas Wayne became extremely long-lived (potentially immortal), living until the present day, when he was taken in by Batman's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne. Wishing to help him, the Waynes send him to Willowood Asylum, a reference to a Pre-Crisis story in which Bruce had a mentally damaged brother who was sent to the same facility.^[14] This was previously referenced in Morrison's Batman #702, which showed the asylum as the same hospital to which Thomas Wayne Jr. was sent. Batman and Dick Grayson conclude this reading of events to be the truth, and impartial flashbacks in the issue appear to confirm it as accurate, though the insane Hurt continues to claim throughout the issue that he is both Thomas Wayne and the devil. However, since Hurt was already an adult man when the Waynes met him, it seems unlikely that they would have claimed him to be their son, Thomas Jr. As Bruce Wayne travels through time as a result of the Omega Effect, Hurt is seen as a doctor in Willowood, rather than a patient.^[15] Grant Morrison explains the ambiguity during an interview in Wizard Magazine:^[16]

There's a doctor who's got some good lines in the original story Robin Dies At Dawn, and he's never named. I thought, "What if he's a bad guy?" That became Dr. Hurt. I thought, "Wow...there was a guy who had access to Batman's psychology for 10 days. That's my villain!" I also thought it was a way to sort of reinvigorate those old stories, as a service to DC, to sell some more of the older books and collections.

The minute I say who he is...it will stop people talking. I was trying to do a definitive Batman story. Batman's stories tend to put Batman against a diabolical mastermind. I thought, "Who's the ultimate diabolical mastermind?" This is a story about Batman's Black Casebook which is all the mysterious cases, the ones that are supernatural or bizarre. So for me, this is the ultimate supernatural Batman story. There are clues, there are places in fact, where they actually state who's he up against in the story. But people don't want to accept the supernatural explanation. But yes: This is the story of how Batman cheats The Devil.

— Grant Morrison, "Batman: RIP Director's Commentary", Wizard #211 (May 2009)

Hurt appears in the "Batman in Bethlehem" alternate future where Damian Wayne became Batman. In Batman Incorporated (vol. 2) #5. Damian fails to stop a "Joker Virus" from devastating Gotham City. Hurt, having become a personal advisor to the President of the United States, convinces the president to destroy Gotham with a nuclear weapon.^[17]

• List of Batman family enemies