Kite Man

Publication history

Kite Man first appeared in Batman vol. 1 #133 (August 1960), and was created by Bill Finger, Chris Russell and Dick Sprang. Brown's name is said to be a comic reference to Charlie Brown of the 'Peanuts' comic strip, which featured a running gag about Charlie Brown's inability to get a kite in the air.

Fictional character biography

Charles "Chuck" Brown is a man who armed himself with kite weapons to be used to commit crimes. He flies with a big kite strapped to him. He also uses a barrage of kites to overwhelm his enemies. He has run afoul of Batman, Robin, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl on different occasions.

In his first appearance, he uses kites for a variety of crimes, including helping criminals escape prison. Batman uses kites of his own to defeat him. This appearance is reprinted in Batman Family #3 (1975). Kite-Man returns again, now sporting a visor. He hires several men, whom he betrays. Batman again defeats him with his own kite. Len Wein brings him back in a story about payroll heists. The gimmicky kites were not used.

Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna confront him again, in Hawkman's title. His real name is revealed, as well as a childhood fascination with kites. He is defeated and crashes into a tree.

Kite-Man is one of many criminals to take advantage of the villain-friendly atmosphere of the fictional country of Zandia. He ends up joining its sports team and later becomes involved in a fight against an invading troop of super-heroes.

In Infinite Crisis, Joker reports that Brown was thrown off Wayne Tower without his kite by Deathstroke, after he refused to join the new Secret Society of Super Villains.

Brown, however, survived his fall and reached some low rank in post-Crisis Gotham City's underworld in the pages of the weekly series 52. He is captured alongside Sewer King, Dawson, Lamelle, The Squid and Mirage. As with the other prisoners, Kite Man is killed and eaten by Bruno Mannheim upon refusing to side with him.

DC Rebirth

Kite Man appears in the DC Rebirth universe. This version of the character's real name is unknown (his last name is not listed on his prison file.) He seems to be be somewhat unstable, constantly chanting the catch-phrase "Kite Man, hell yeah!" He first appears robbing a luxurious party, before being quickly foiled by Gotham Girl. He is then seen in a prison cell in Arkham Asylum as Batman walks down the aisles looking for criminals. At some point, he escapes, as he is later one of the many villains taken down by Batman and Catwoman after he takes her along with him on an average night of his job in Gotham City.

Television

Kite Man is featured in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by Jeffrey Combs. As a boy, he was obsessed with Benjamin Franklin and attempted to recreate his famous kite-flying electrical experiment. However, he failed to take adequate safety precautions, wore metal braces, and stood in a bucket of water. The subsequent electrical shock psychologically traumatized him and forced him into a life of kite-centric crime. In "Terror on Dinosaur Island," a flashback depicts him as the leader of a group of thieves equipped with high-tech glider kites that allows them to commit crimes. Kite Man is stopped by Batman, and his former henchman Eel O'Brian (who Batman rescued from the vat he fell in) testified against him in court, and was later arrested. In "Long Arm of the Law," Kite Man steals a sample of Plastic Man in order to complete a theta beam gun that will enable anyone to copy Plastic Man's powers, or petrify someone with elastic powers. He also obtains a sidekick named Rubberneck and gains stretching powers from theta beam exposure, and fights Batman and Plastic Man. However, he and Rubberneck are defeated when they are entangled together and the theta beam gun turns them to stone.

Film

Kite Man appears in The Lego Batman Movie.

Video games

Kite Man is mentioned in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.