Batman fans are no stranger to the poetic story of the villainous Hush. They’re familiar with the epic storytelling that fills the streets of Gotham - the longtime conflict with the Joker and the accompanying morality involved with facing the Prince of Crime, the star-crossed lovers feel to Bruce Wayne’s romance with Catwoman, and more than enough Bat-Family drama to give Shakespeare a run for his money. Bruce’s latest comic pages even admit this literary prowess shared with his childhood friend, Thomas Elliot – aka Hush. As Bruce contemplates the nature of his familial relationships, his young days with Elliot inevitably come to the surface.
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A newer villain to the Batman mythos, Hush arrived in comics thanks to Jim Lee, Jeph Loeb, and Scott Williams in 2003’s Batman #609. Molded as a shadowy opposite to Bruce’s good nature, a young Thomas Elliot shows troubling signs of a dark mind the moment he appears on the page. Like the Waynes, the Elliots live lavish lifestyles with comfortable fortunes. Unlike Bruce, however, Tommy very much wishes his own parents were dead, going so far as to plot their murder for his own benefit. Bruce enjoys a loving family while Elliot suffers in an abusive home, thanks to his alcoholic father. This sets the stage for the poetic foil of Bruce and Thomas’s essential character views on family, attachments to wealth, and extreme levels of long-game intelligence. To put it simply, if Batman is Gotham’s symbolic sun, then Hush is its lonely moon.
2020’s Detective Comics #1033, made by the talented group of Peter J. Tomasi, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Dave McCaig, treats readers to Bruce’s inner musings on his relationship with his son, Damian Wayne. Bruce admits a desire to be a better father-figure, but it’s not long before Hush is revealed to be the villain of this story. Threatening Bruce’s son is Hush’s big mistake, and it sends Batman into a rage, having Bruce declare his awareness of the connection between him and Elliot. As Batman lunges at Hush, he yells, “You know what’s been taken from me…You dare threaten my family?!” The artwork of this panel highlights the deeper meaning behind Bruce’s words as it depicts two images meaning to reflect the youthful figures of Bruce and Elliot off of Batman and Hush respectively. Bruce repeats the line “My family?!” to emphasize that Hush is no longer a part of his family, and any existing friendship that could have lingered between them vanished the moment Elliot crossed the line to attack Bruce’s family. Bruce acknowledges that young Tommy, and the closeness of their youth, can never be again.
Though the two could have led very similar lives, it’s these disparate mindsets that solidify Hush as one of Batman’s greatest villains. All Bruce ever wanted was for his family to become whole again, to take back his parent’s murder. Thomas, however, envies Bruce’s tragic circumstance, resenting his family and longing for his own torturous narrative.
In other words, a tragedy led to Bruce finding his new family, while Elliot’s family caused him to fall into the tragic persona of Hush. The literary duality to their character arcs is nothing short of exemplary, making it no wonder why Hush is perhaps the best Batman villain ever crafted.
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