DC might just have created their own version of Marvel’s King Venom and the one holding the title is none other than the Man-Bat himself
Marvel’s Venom and DC’s Man-Bat have been comic parallels and are becoming more alike over time. The Man-Bat, who is a DC villain who came to life after Dr. Kirk Langstrom tested a serum on himself that was meant to give humans the sonar sense of a bat. Obviously, the experiment went wrong and Langstrom transformed into a savage bat like a creature without any human intelligence. Batman managed to reverse these effects but the Man-Bat kept on returning and therefore Dr.Langstrom was very much troubled by his “Condition” and wanted to find a cure.
However, another villain intervenes and decides to use Dr.Langstrom’s predicament to motivate him in order to fulfill his own selfish, sinister goals. As the story progresses, Dr.Langstrom finds himself driven into a corner and he ends up making his condition even worse after evolving his powers.
The Man Bat And Scarecrow’s Run-through
DC’s Man-Bat from writer Dave Wielgosz and artist Sumit Kumar puts Dr. Langstrom on the run from everyone including Batman, Gotham’s police, and the Suicide Squad, desperate to find a cure. The reason why he was in a rush was that his condition was going to get worse soon i.e., if he doesn’t find a cure for himself soon, his Man-Bat condition will become permanent and he would have to live the rest of his days as a mindless beast.
Seeing opportunity in his peril, Dr. Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, starts to plot his scheme to use Langstrom’s mind for his own benefit in Man-Bat #4. He captured Dr. Langstrom and his wife, putting them under some sort of mind manipulation and forcing them to build a sonic cannon for themselves. What’s special about this sonic canon is that it transmits subconscious signals that could induce fear in the minds of anyone it hits.
The Rise Of King Man bat
Scarecrow held Dr. Langstrom and his ex-wife hostages using the same tech that he was forcing them to build. Luckily, the Caped Crusader arrives and intervenes with his plans only to worsen the situation. Langstrom realized that if he intends to get back on the scarecrow for his doing, he would first need to deal with Batman, and hence he decides to inject himself with Bane’s venom (Strength Boosting compound). The result of Langstrom’s action was far beyond his worst nightmares and he transformed into a god-like version of his alter ego gaining unimaginable power.
He called his latest transformation “King Man-Bat” much like Marvel’s venom who became the King in Black, earning the title of “God of Symbiotes”. Both Langstrom and Eddie Brock (Venom symbiote’s host) initially wanted to get rid of their counterparts only to lose themselves and submitting control to their Monstrous halves. Although Venom’s god title refers to his newly developed powers, Langstrom’s title of the King simply points towards his enhanced physical strength, but both definitely superior foes to the heroes that deal with them. Man-Bat was scary before but now he is terrifying and you DO NOT want to mess with him!
