Origin
He appears as a small childlike man in an ill-fitting Batman costume, with a black lightning bolt instead of the Bat-insignia. In Bat-Mite’s dimension, his people idolize the heroes of the DC Universe and impersonate them, acting out their heroic adventures. Bat-Mite’s favorite is Batman, and he has visited the Caped Crusader on many occasions, often setting up strange events to see his hero in action. Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a villain, and often leaves when he becomes aware that he has angered Batman.
History
Bat-Mite regularly appeared in Batman, Detective Comics and World’s Finest Comics for several years during the early part of the Silver Age. Bat-Mite was the Batman titles answer to Mr. Mxyzptlk, with whom he often teamed up in the pages of World’s Finest Comics to plague Superman and Batman in tandem, in addition to pestering the Dark Knight solo. However in 1964, when the Batman titles were revamped he vanished.
He did not appear again until well into the Bronze Age, he appeared, again teaming-up with Mr. Mxyzptlk in “Bat-Mite’s New York Adventure” from Detective Comics #482. In that story he traveled to the DC Comic offices asking for his own comic. Apparently this failed, as he did not appear again until Legends of the Dark Knight # 38, although he was portrayed as possibly a hallucination of a drug-addled criminal named Bob Overdog. Bat-Mite appeared again with the same creative team in the One-Shot Mitefall (a spoof on Knightfall with Overdog in the role of Azrael). A few years later, in issue 6 of the 1999 World’s Finest mini-series, Mr. Mxyzptlk encountered Bat-Mite, shortly after having been mistaken for him by Overdog. While in this story the post-Crisis Bat-Mite encountered Batman for the first time; Superman and Batman subsequently surmised that Mxyzptlk had created him, inspired by Overdog’s ravings.
In Superman/Batman #25, it was revealed that the Joker had taken Bat-Mite’s powers by absorbing his essence and was freed by Bizarro. Since then Bat-Mite has been fully re-established into the current continuity.
The first Post- Infinite Crisis appearance of Bat-Mite was in Batman #672, written by Grant Morrison. Batman is confronted with Bat-Mite (or “Might”) after being shot in the chest by Sleeper and suffering a heart attack. Might, who bears a green insectoid creature on his back, claims to have come from “Space B at the Fivefold Expansion of Zrfff” (Batman #674) (At times Zrfff has been used as the name of Mr. Mxyzptlk’s home dimension). Only Batman sees him. As Batman is having an increasingly difficult time keeping his grip on reality during this period, it is possible that Might is a mental delusion.
In Batman #678, Might reappears at the last page, commenting, “uh-oh” to Batman’s increasing delusions. He then, throughout the whole Batman R.I.P. series, appears to counsel the Batman of Zur En Arrh, a delusional personality manufactured by Bruce himself to keep Batman able to fight in case he was mindwiped, or driven to insanity. Batman #680 reveals that Might is indeed a product of Batman’s imagination being Batman’s rationale, although he comments that he is from the 5th dimension because the fifth dimension is imagination.
In Superman/Batman #52, Bat-Mite appears having had a bet with Mr. Mxyzptlk similar to that of World’s Funnest. This Bat-Mite appears to have an admiration of Batman and Batman addresses him with familiarity.
Powers and Abilities
Bat-Mite possesses near-infinite magical powers and comes from another dimension, much like Mr. Mxyzptlk.
Characteristics
- Height: 2’11”
- Weight: 47 lbs
- Eyes: Black
- Hair: Unknown
Other Media
Bat-Mite is seen as an animatronic doll on Batman: The Animated Series along side a toy version of Ace and Krypto.
He appears in Batman The Brave and the Bold. He directs a fight between Batman and some thugs. Soon afterward, he meets Batman face to face. He makes batman face lots of his famous and less known enemies, including Calendar Man whom he turns into Calendar King. In order to show Mite the true way, Batman tells him to become “Batman”. When he ultimately faces a lot of Batman’s villains, he is overwhelmed. Batman takes over and defeats the rogues, telling Mite that he should try to use his magic for good use. Bat-mite agrees and everything returns to normal. However, else where, Green Arrow is seen defeating Copperhead, and suddenly, “Bat-Mite” appears and says, “I’m your biggest Fan!”
It has been revealed that he will return to Brave and Bold just in time for Joker to steal his powers (similar to how he did to Mr. Mxyzptlk in the Emperor Joker story arc).