With rumors once again swirling that Mister Freeze will be the villain for The Batman Part II, something I am dying to see, there’s another, lesser known villain that seems like he could be set up more directly than any other. We’ve never seen this villain in live action or even animation as far as I know.
This villain is Anarky.
Anarky made his debut back in 1989 in Detective Comics #608 as a villain for Batman. For those who don’t know, Anarky’s real name, in most stories, is Lonnie Machin. He’s a young man, sometimes even a teenager depending on the story, who is fed up with all sorts of different things about society and decides chaos and anarchy are the only true ways to live in this world. He uses chaos and anarchy to upend governments he believes are unjust and that brings him to Batman. In some stories, Anarky is even presented as an anti-hero who isn’t always on the opposite side of Batman.
Let’s take it back to the events of The Penguin. The most common issue in the show is dealing with the aftermath of the Riddler’s terrorist attacks on Gotham City. We see the attack from a different perspective when Vic, the series’ heart and soul, is sitting on a rooftop with friends and his home is washed away. We see hundreds of people struggling to make ends meet, living in homes without power or on the street, and more. Taking it back a bit further to The Batman, a common theme is classism and something along the lines of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”.
Anarky has been used to tackle common social issues before. He’s been used as a vehicle for criticisms of capitalism, the forward movement of environmentalism, and, of course, economic inequality. With Batman being a hero that is rich, and Reeves commenting on Batman’s shift in morals moving forward, Anarky could make for a great villain.
The people of Gotham in The Batman and The Penguin are seeing extreme poverty and massive corruption exposed in their government. Systems put in place to protect them are being abused and the maddening effects of this knowledge are creating terrorists. This scenario seems prime for a villain like Anarky to make an appearance. Reeves could continue the theme he lightly touched on in The Batman of the Dark Knight creating his own villains. Riddler was obsessed with Batman and assumed Batman knew they were operating together. A man who gets his face crushed by Batman says to him, “I’m vengeance,” essentially the Caped Crusader’s slogan. Anarky could continue this idea and possibly be presented as an anti hero.
If Freeze really is going to be the villain of The Batman Part II, Anarky could still work as a secondary villain. Superhero movies have been plagued in the past with having too many villains (lots of older Batman movies, Spider-Man 3) but Reeves can clearly handle stories with multiple characters. There are absolutely no plot details confirmed at the moment, but if Freeze has some kind of vendetta against the elite of Gotham or even the crime families, Anarky could fight alongside him.
If you’re interested in reading comics that feature Anarky, the character had his own series in the 90s. During the New 52 run of Red Robin, one of the alter egos of Tim Drake, Anarky made regular appearances as well. In the excellent Batman: Zero Year storyline, Anarky has a heavy presence. He also appeared in Batman: Arkham Origins, a game considered to be the worst of the Arkham franchise by many fans, but is still a fun game to play.
What do you think about Anarky being a villain in The Batman Part II or Part II or potentially appearing in a series between them? Let me know!