2. Dr. Hugo Strange and the Mutant Monsters

Batman # 1 (1940)

Hey look, it's a villain we all recognize! Well, okay, some of us recognize.

This story comes from Batman # 1 and it sure does exist. Hugo Strange has broken out of jail and Bruce Wayne hears about it. But he doesn't do anything else and so a month later, a giant monster man attacks the city. These Monster Men look like original series Scooby-Doo villains. They cause chaos and destroy the train tracks, which Batman does not save?

Batman arrives at Strange's hideout, where he's ambushed and captured. Hugo Strange pumps Batman full of Monster Serum and knocks him out. He wakes up eighteen hours later, with only 15 minutes to go before his transformation. First he punches Hugo Strange out a window, like you do, before flying off to machine gun his henchmen to death. Then he throws a rope out of the Batplane and"¦ lynches a monster man. Yeeesh. That's not great. The final monster man climbs a skyscraper before Batman knocks him off to his death. Not, uh, not my favorite Batman story.

One of the Greatest Batman Stories of All Time?: Nope!