Supervillain Origins: Hush

Supervillain Origins: Hush

This bandaged sociopath was once the childhood friend of Bruce Wayne. Welcome to Watchmojo.com, and today we will explore the origins of Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Elliot, otherwise known as Hush.

As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginings and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline that unfolded in 2002’s Batman #608 and was expanded throughout its 12-issue storyline.

First introduced in 2002, Hush was first seen stalking the dark knight from afar. This happened as Batman was attempting to get stolen money back from Catwoman, before his rope was mysteriously cut, causing him to fall into an alleyway.

With Batman suffering a fractured skull, and surrounded by street thugs, he was only saved when Huntress arrived in the nick of time. With his injures too serious for Alfred to contend with alone, Bruce communicated his request for a specific surgeon by tapping Morse code, asking for the help of his childhood friend, Tommy Eliot.

With Bruce’s injuries credited to a car accident, he was sent to the hospital to be operated on. While under, Bruce recalled playing chess with Tommy, and how he could never win as his friend was always several steps ahead, always outmaneuvering him and lecturing him to never attack without knowing his opponents weaknesses.

With the surgery successful, Bruce emerged feeling helpless, and left wondering who had cut the rope.

Afterwards, Alfred gave readers a flashback that showed Tommy’s parents in a terrible car accident years earlier. In that instance, Bruce’s father operated on them, but was unable to do anything for his father.

Several issues later, Tommy was killed when he foolishly tried to recover his pendant stolen by Harley Quinn and the Joker.

With Batman arriving to find his remains, the combined anger of the Joker having killed both the second Robin and now his childhood friend caused the Dark Knight to snap, and he brutally beat the Joker to a pulp. Readers were then shown the bandaged Hush watching from a distance, playing with two-face’s coin.

Following this, Bruce attended Tommy’s funeral. As he did so, Hush freed the Joker from Arkham, revealing that he used plastic surgery to take on Harvey Dent’s identity, having faked the demise of his former self, Tommy Eliot.

Several issues later, Hush had captured the current Robin and was holding him in a cemetery. However, he had already changed his identity again, this time taking on the face of Jason Todd, the version of Robin that had been killed by the Joker.

When Batman arrived, he managed to disarm Hush with help from Catwoman. He then began to fight his mysterious new adversary. All but defeated, the Jason Todd impersonator Batman assumed to be Hush de-solved into clay, revealing that he was actually Clayface. The trail running dry, Batman had to follow up on other lead in order to track the real Hush down.

His investigation eventually led him to confront Hush on a old bridge, and there the two began to fight.

During their battle, Batman noticed Tommy Elliot’s pendant, causing Hush to point out that their fight had led to the same bridge where Tommy’s parents had their car accident.

Hush ultimately confessed his true identity, and that that his vendetta against the Wayne’s was not because Thomas Wayne hadn’t saved his father, but because he had saved his mother. He had severed the brake line in his parents car, hoping to kill them both and become an orphan.

Hush was then stopped when Jim Gordon arrived with the real Harvey Dent, who opened fire on Hush, forcing him over the edge of the bridge the bridge. Batman dived in after him, but couldn’t find his remains. When he surfaced, he was told that the body that had been buried in Tommy’s grave had actually been Clayface as well.

In the years that followed, Hush re-emerged to stalk and play deadly mind games his old friend while allying with other Gotham super criminals.

As for his name, it was revealed to have come from his need to keep his true identity hush hush, and the nursery rhyme “Hush little Baby”, which was about a child who was never happy with what he had.

Though Hush has yet to appear in a film or animated series, he did appear in 2011’s video game “Batman Arkham City”, kidnapping inmates resembling Bruce Wayne and stealing their faces.

Are you a fan of this bandaged face swapping sociopath with a hate on for Bruce Wayne? For more gripping comic book origins, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.