Film Freak

Superherobox


caption =
character_name = Film Freak
publisher = DC Comics
debut = Batman #395 (May 1986)
creators =
alter_ego = - Burt Weston
- "Edison"
full_name =
species =
homeworld =
alliances =
aliases =
supports=
powers =

Film Freak is the name of a DC Comics villain and enemy to Batman.

Burt Weston

Burt Weston is a wannabe actor who dreams of getting a big break by playing quirky villains, because those kinds of villains were rich. When each of his plans failed, he faked his death in a method similar to one used by Paul Newman's and Robert Redford's characters in the movie "The Sting".

Years later, he committed every crime known in films and the Gotham Newspapers dubbed him Film Freak. One of his signatures was a pair of earrings in the shape of film cans. When a reporter named Julia Pennyworth discovered his identity, Film Freak stalked her in a manner similar to that of the character Norman Bates in the movie "Psycho". Film Freak began to murder his fellow associates and is tracked down by Detective Harvey Bullock and Batman.

In the "" storyline, The Mad Hatter controlled Film Freak and used him to spy on and kill Bane. When Bane discovered Film Freak, Bane killed him.

NOTE: Burt Weston is named after the actors who played Batman and Robin on the "Batman" TV series: Burt Ward and Adam West.

"Edison"

In "Catwoman" #54 as part of the One Year Later storyline, Film Freak appears as a television show host, similar to Elvira. The fact that he answers to the name Edison in #55 suggests he is a new character. He later approached Angle Man after he was brutally defeated by Catwoman (Holly Robinson).

Film Freak deduced Catwoman's identify, and then he and Angle Man kidnapped Catwoman's daughter. While they were defeated with relative ease, Catwoman was forced to call Zatanna to erase their memory of her identity. She noted that oddly, Film Freak had no actual memories, only "film clip after film clip". She then ordered the men to confess their crimes.

While Angle Man went to the cops to turn himself in, Film Freak's warped mind interpreted the order differently. Watching Angle Man escorted into the police department, he said "I have crimes to confess...crimes against cinema" and went on a murderous rampage, killing people in ways to reference classic movies. Before its end, he had stabbed his boss to death (in a shadowy montage sequence resembling "Psycho") for canceling his show, killed two policeman by dropping a building on them, slammed an acid-drenched grapefruit into a woman's face, stabbed a cab driver, shot a security guard, set a giant ape loose on the city, stole a nuclear warhead and killed his supplier, murdered an entire studio full of people to broadcast his nuclear threat, and finally set up the bomb in a giant movie palace, where Catwoman quickly beat him up and disarmed the bomb after an extended dialogue, leaving Catwoman enraged that he was uttering movie quotes before trying to kill millions of people.

While Film Freak's psychology was never truly explained, it seemed he did truly think he was in some kind of movie, judging from Zatanna's view of his mind and his reaction to it (Angle Man confessed to his real world crimes, whereas Film Freak only recognized cinema crimes). To drill in this fact, every page concerning him had the edges of a film reel (Sometimes presented as a slanted or cut off film roll), essentially coloring the events on the pages as he actually saw them in his demented world, consistent with how Zatanna describes his mind.