DC Comic Conjecture: Lock Up

Comic Conjecture: Lock Up

SPOILER ALERT!

I know many of you reading this are Batman fans. Many of you have watched Bruce Tim’s Animated Batman series back in the 90s. Lock Up is a character that I feel has not been used to the fullest of his potential as a villain, or as a vigilante style hero. His most famous moments are taking his duties as chief of security at arkham so seriously he begins breaking laws himself, and as the prison warden during the events of No Man’s Land. So today, lets discuss the potential future of Lyle Bolton AKA Lock Up.

Lyle Bolton started out as a security expert working for Wayne Enterprises. Bruce Wayne recommended him to work as Head of Security for Arkham Asylum.  This is a humble beginning for the man and he eventually grew into his own vigilante-esque villain, who just happened to also be a little bit forgettable.

You have to think so much bigger.

If you haven’t been reading Batman, you’ve been missing out on an excellent story arc called Zero Year. This event shows Batman learning the ropes and starting out in Gotham in his early years. Much like the Year One titles from the pre 52, the series seems to have been created to offer up the rewritten timeline after Flashpoint.

I only bring up this event because it creates a kind of terminal threat feel to the past.  So far the threats have been serious and city wide. The Red Hood gang showcased the Joker’s origin in manner of speaking, and the Riddler has single handedly created a disaster on the same level as an act of God. If we are coming up on an updated No Man’s Land then we have found the perfect place for Lyle Bolton to make his first appearance.

I foresee the man as being an officer in the National Guard, called in to help with the hell that has broken out in Gotham City. He would start out hardened but altruistic, a true blue military man. As the chaos of a city under siege continues, his paranoia, aided by the Arkham set and the Bat-family, would drive him into declaring martial law. He would also begin taking precautions such as putting himself and all of his men in the same concealing costume to make them nearly impossible to distinguish from assailants.

A connection to the Court of Owls could be established, giving him the resources and man power to be the biggest threat to the city ever. Going so far as to build walls and dismantle bridges, not unlike how Bane held the city under martial law in the movie Dark Knight Rises.

His infringing on civil liberties and stealing the citizens’ lives away from them in an effort to keep them “safe” would be an excellent formative story for Batman. It would illustrate not only the dangers of carrying the weight of Gotham’s protector squarely on your shoulders, but would make him define the length to which he would go to save the city.

Should he be captured upon his defeat, he could be an excellent recurring villain, with a desire to imprison, not kill, his enemies, which include both Batman’s allies and rogues. His knowledge of security and the desire to build a better mouse trap would make him hard to keep imprisoned, and his desire to punish evil would make him just as ruthless and relentless as Batman.

For Bats sake, DC, why haven’t you thought of this before?