DEEP DISH THEMES:

ORIGIN: Kirk Langstrom was a dedicated geneticist interested in extracting and isolating traits from one species and transferring them to another; however, he was so obsessed with his work he started to lose his wife and became a mockery of the field. He was hoping to use the enhanced hearing of bats to overcome his deafness. When he made a breakthrough he requested more funding but was denied. This struck him with overwhelming grief that made him lash out at his fiancée, Francine, and climaxed in him testing the experimental serum on himself. The serum succeeded and returned his hearing to him. He quickly makes amends with Francine, but Kirk's hearing has become superhuman and then it happens, he starts mutating into a man/bat hybrid. His mind is overcome by instincts and he is plagued by frequent blackouts. Kirk's transformation completes when he tries to commit suicide, and being complete for the first time, he flies away saving himself from death.



PROS: This figure is likely collecting dust at the bottom of player's boxes. He's not really good for much. Older figures do have the tendency to have long dials despite having a low point cost, and this figure is no exception. He is a great cheap option to have for when you absolutely have to have a Man-Bat on your team, but your points are tied up elsewhere. For only 23 points you get a highly mobile figure that can tie opponents up or act as Mastermind fodder for the dozens of characters that you might play him with that are bound to have Mastermind. With his massive SIX CLICKS OF LIFE for only 23 points he is able to absorb some hits, too. Not many figures these days can one-shot a six click long dial, and if it even takes them two hits to get past his lengthy dial, you'll get your points worth out of him.

CONS: This figure would have been a great contender for an awesomely cheap taxi for Gotham City teams, but they errata'd him to not have the flight ability. This would have made him possibly one of the best all time taxi pieces, but now he really doesn't have much use other than meat shield. Back in the day that wasn't so bad of an option, but back in the day you could stand somebody next to him to borrow a higher attack value and his opening two damage was much more likely to give you headway in a battle. With lower point characters these days you are not as likely to come up against heavy damage reducers for him, but two clicks of damage doesn't leave too many figures unable to be effective. Two damage to a rookie Firelord back in the day was enough to make him almost useless, but two damage to most modern pieces will leave them not much worse for wear.

THEME: There are extremely few figures with the Animal keyword that have Mastermind, and as that is mostly what he's good for, I won't go against the grain here. Gotham City has LOADS of Mastermind to work with. This Man-Bat should be able to find a place on that team if you have any points that you can use him as filler with. He will gladly "Take one for the team" for you, and you might even get your points' worth!



PROS: He's not QUITE as cheap as the rookie version, but with only costing four more points, he's still a pretty great contender for a great low point taxi for Gotham City teams. He still has six clicks of life so he is still just as much of a Mastermind sponge or tie-up piece as he was before, but now he can carry that Mastermind piece around for you. He still has the Batman Enemy team ability, so he is still possible able to get a shot in here or there as actions and situations allow, but it's not going to be likely to hit or for damage to stick...still...if you have the opportunity and extra actions, there's no harm in going for it even if he DOESN'T have an attack value to borrow from a friend.

CONS: I actually kind of miss the Leap/Climb on his dial. It used to allow pieces to automatically break away, and that was a great thing on a taxi. Now it only gives a +2 to break away rolls, but it's an important thing to have on a taxi when and where possible. I also would have liked a click or two of Toughness. He's a giant bat after all. With his kind of proportions and leathery hide, he should at least merit a click of it. It would really help him in his role as meat shield.

THEME: For as long as these old Man-Bat pieces remain best as Mastermind fodder, I will keep suggesting them for Gotham City keyword pieces...that is, unless they start to get diverse at all in their keywords, but as of right now they are Gotham City and Animal keywords only. There surprisingly aren't a tremendous amount of flying animal pieces...only about 1/6 of them are, but I would still find better use for him on a Gotham City team.



PROS: Here's a bit of a change of the status quo for Man-Bat. He now has Charge to work with! He has a ten movement to work while he's using it, so he can either Charge five squares in and get next to the Mastermind piece that he might/should be carrying or he can actually carry said Mastermind piece at only a one square net loss. This gives him much more possibility for offensive abilities. His stats may not be quite to the level that are going to make much headway in battle, but sometimes a "Hail Mary" attack is just what the doctor ordered. It's not as if there are any shortage of characters with Outwit in the keywords that he has available to him. He is a very long lived taxi with SEVEN clicks of life for only 31 points. He's going to be able to take at least a few good solid shots before your opponent is able to put him down. Try doing my favorite trick with him and a ranged attacker. Have him carry your ranged piece into a fight, but place Man-Bat on a square in the diagonal adjacent square next to an opponent for tie-up and leave your ranged combat piece in a square adjacent and diagonal to Man-Bat but with clear line of fire to the opposing piece. Make him a taxi and tie-up all in one fell swoop.

Here's a graph for a helpful visual:
M=Man-bat
E= Enemy
R= Ranged Attacker
X= Clear terrain

XEX
MXX
XRX

CONS: Most his dial is only good for soaking up damage. It doesn't do much of anything, and if you have to roll a critical hit just to be able to hit what would normally be considered a low defense or to do much in the way of damage, you're kind of failing to represent the character well. Don't get me wrong, as a game piece he has merit and could potentially still be useful in the game even after the many years that he has had to collect rust. As a game piece, he's still worth something. As a representation of what Man-Bat could be, I think he fails, though.

THEME: Monster is a keyword that usually doesn't come with a lot of Taxis, Telekinesis, or range. Getting into the fight can be difficult depending on what you're building with. I think you can get the most out of him by putting him with his fellow monsters and giving them a ride around so they don't get shot up by the range heavy opposing team that you'll likely be facing. Another problem that monsters have is being laden with Battle Fury, though, so make sure you check your dials to make sure that you're not accidentally cheating and to make sure that Man-Bat can indeed carry somebody into the fray.



PROS: This figure used to be very popular back during it's heyday. You could charge in and maybe get a click or two of damage in, and then on the next turn you get to activate his Poison to deal an additional click of damage. There was enough Perplex floating around in the game back then that you could actually turn Kirk into a decent alpha striker in a low point game. He may actually have picked up a step now that you can activate Poison any time during your action phase. Carry somebody up while he charges, drop them off, Poison on your next turn (Since you can't do it on the turn where you moved or were placed) either before after your passenger makes their attack, and laugh at all of the damage that you were able to do. He still has everything that was good about the Veteran dial, but this one has picked up the afformentioned Poison and an extra click of Charge. All in all, not bad for only a ten point price hike.

CONS: I'm of two minds when it comes to his additional click of Charge. On one hand it makes him very pushable since he isn't losing TOO much from click one to click two where making straight up attacks is concerned. On the other had, if you charge him in, it's easier to smack him around a little bit than it would be to try to break-away and possibly fail, so he is probably not going to get to use that second click of Charge anyway. I said there wasn't too much to lose by pushing him, but Poison is still one of those things, and it's not like he's only going to be taking one damage. VERY few characters deal only one damage these days...so I think I'm going to have to make up those two minds about him and say that I'd rather him be a little bit cheaper and NOT have that second click of Charge.

THEME: Gotham City seems to be a good fit for this one. If for no other reason than for the characters that are available in that keyword that have Outwit and can make sure that Kirk is getting the absolute most out of his Poison. He's probably going to shine the most when surrounded by the bad guys in Gotham, and they can help him as much as he can help them.



PROS: Meet the former best sculpt in the game (Or at least ONE of the best sculpts in the game) and it came in the form of Man-Bat from the Icons set starter pack. The dial is pretty straightforward because it was from one of the pre-carded era sets. There aren't many bells or whistles from even THAT era, though...which is fine. This was actually a nice upgrade from the previous Man-Bat set. Who would have thought that one little click of Blades/Claws/Fangs would make all the difference? I used the ever-lovin' snot out of this guy when it first came out. He was a sub-fifty point figure with move and attack ability and the potential for HUGE damage if you're rolling hot. He does have the Batman Enemy team ability so that nine opening attack is passable on it's own, but you have the potential for getting it MUCH higher than that with the help of some friends. He has a good mix of keywords to work with too so there is a lot of teams that he works well with. Had they not made even BETTER Man-Bats, I might still have used him as my go-to still.

CONS: I really wish that I knew how much those two clicks of Toughness at the end of his dial add to his points...I really do. They are utterly worthless on this dial. His defense isn't tough to hit in the SLIGHTEST, and if you happen to get down to that point on his dial, chances are that two clicks of toughness aren't going to save ANYTHING. I cannot remember the last time clicks of Toughness saved me from actually losing a figure...I mean, I'm sure it's happened, but it's almost always because my figure started out with the power and I was able to reduce the damage by JUST ENOUGH to be on my last click or two before the end of the dial. These will easily be blown past and won't make a difference in 99% of the games that you'd play with him. Even if it saved him three points on his cost, I'd deem it worth it to get them off his dial.

THEME: I really want to use him on something other that a Gotham City team, but that is where you're going to get the most out of him. He'll be a much needed taxi, his Team Ability will actually get some use, and if he's off his top dial or you're trying to save a more valuable piece, he's like the original set and is good for Mastermind fodder. There is also a decent number of characters that have both the Batman Enemy team ability and the Scientist keyword, so if you are looking for something a little different to use and that isn't constrained by universe membership, you could also go that route and still get a lot of use out of him...you just wouldn't get the Theme Team Probability Control.



PROS: All hail the winner of greatest sculpt in the game. It took a lot to dethrone the old title holder (the previously mentioned Icons Man-Bat), but it did so spectacularly! I can't believe that this thing wasn't some kind of chase with a sculpt like that. The dial isn't half bad either. First of all he has some VERY high movement with Charge at the top of his dial. Even carrying a character he's going to get a six square movement out of that top click. He's always capable of at least a little bit of move and attack. He starts with three clicks of Charge and ends with three clicks of Sidestep. His entire dial is covered in Blades/Claws/Fangs, and on clicks #2-6 it's in the form of a special power that also gives him Steal Energy. Speaking of Steal Energy, if a friendly character uses their Batman Enemy team ability to borrow Man-Bat's attack value, they get to use Steal Energy as well! That's some VALUE! Bane took damage from Venom Pumping? Well...your pal Man-Bat has both an evac plan for you AND a way for you to heal! He's somewhat of an homage to the Icons Man-Bat, but he certainly has enough of his own clout to make his own name in this game!

CONS: The dial isn't half bad, but it doesn't QUITE live up to the hype that is created by the amazing sculpt. You see this thing on the board and you think that you're in trouble...and it's probably not totally the case. He's good...he's also relatively cheap to play with...however...his fangs could stand to be a bit sharper. I STILL don't know how he hasn't merited at least opening Toughness on his dial. His stats aren't really much to write home about either. While he does have the Steal Energy to help him stay on the board, he's relying completely on his Blades/Claws/Fangs to do the damage necessary to heal him if he needs it. He's one Outwit away from being a nearly useless 55 point figure. I do actually have one problem with him sculpturally...while he is gorgeous to look at on the board, he is one heck of a cumbersome piece...He takes up at least two squares worth of space for a single based figure. It's a cross that I'm willing to bare, though...it's not often that we get such stellar sculpts and I would hate to actually complain about something so pretty.

THEME: He has a high enough damage potential and purpose to play him without needing to play him on teams with the Batman enemy ability that I would feel comfortable paying 55 points for him without getting the use out of his Team Ability or Trait, so this time around I will use him for an Animal team. If you've never played one, animal theme teams can be the most fun you've ever had. With as many bats as there are on this sculpt, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it...maybe add some "Flock of Bats" figures from the first Batman set. Make that bat cloud large and unruly!



PROS: While this is the most expensive Man-Bat that we've ever had in the game, you'll find the points WELL spent because this guy is just BONKERS good. I knew about a lot of what he could do based on watching some people play him at my store's pre-release and Summer WKO, but I didn't fully appreciate him until I saw my friend Kurt use him in one of our HeroClix League matches. I just found myself saying "Wait, he can do WHAT?" a lot. Once it was confirmed to me that he could indeed do all the fun things that he can do, he would then pull yet ANOTHER magic trick out of his hat. Just the very tip of the iceberg stuff is great, even. His movement special power gives him both Hypersonic Speed AND Stealth, but the rest of the power says: "if the attack total is 2 or higher than the target's defense value, after resolutions you may place a hit character of the same size or smaller in any square Man-Bat moved through after the attack. If the character is placed in a square of lower elevation than the square it was in, deal that character 2 damage."
You can theoretically fly up to somebody, attack them, and then drag them off of elevated terrain to splatter them on the sidewalk! That's Amazing! The tip of the iceberg on his defense special power gives him both Toughness (Finally, opening dial Toughness!) and Super Senses. The kicker here is that he gets +1 to his D6 roll for Super Senses for each action token on his attacker. This would allow him to roll for his Shape Change to try to get out of an attack, and if that failed, he would possibly get a 66.6% chance of dodging the attack with Super Senses! He is HARD to pin down and even harder to hit! For good measure they also gave him three solid clicks of Charge and Blades/Claws/Fangs, The Batman Enemy Team Ability, and...oh, yeah...INDOMITABLE. The sculpt, while not the impressive feat that was the Joker's Wild sculpt, is still PERFECT and looks exactly like an animated Man-Bat should. Has anybody in this game been perfectly sculpted as many times as this guy, or what?!

CONS: I'm just not really seeing anything to pick apart here. I'm REALLY satisfied with this dial. The points are right. He's not OVER-powered, he's not UNDER-powered, his sculpt is really fun and accurate (Though it looks like he's dabbing earning him the nickname Man-Dab at my venue)...he's not the PERFECT figure, but he may just be the perfect Man-Bat.

THEME: Because Kurt used him in a very effective Monster team, it's only fitting that I use him on the same. Dr. Frankenstein from the Undead set is almost an absolute necessity when playing him. Who doesn't like free Support and a Perplexer for only 30 points? Kurt also used Jeanette from the Harley Quinn set on his team, and if that isn't a terrifying trio, I don't know what is...Perplex, Support, and Telekinesis to back up this amazing piece? I'm lucky my dice were hot that day I played Kurt or else that team would have flayed me alive. The scariest thing about these monsters is that this is only slightly over half of a 300 point team...

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM

Now that we have had a little glimpse into the aspects of all the different versions of this figure, let's take a quick look at their keywords and I will tell you my number one picks to use for each keyword theme available (Named keywords are bolded):

Animal: btas057 Man-Bat
Gotham City: jw055 Man-Bat
Monster: btas057 Man-Bat
Scientist: btas057 Man-Bat
Arkham Asylum: btas057 Man-Bat

WHO NEEDS KEYWORDS?!

In this section, I'm going to list some possible theme teams that you could play this figure on that are definitely comic accurate but don't require keywords and provides links using Comic Vine and/or Wikipedia to tell you more about them. Unfortunately, using these teams mean you are going to forego keyword bonuses, but every once in a while Judges might let you slip by with one of these teams:

Creature Commandos
Justice League Dark
Justifiers (Final Crisis)
Man-Bat Commandos
One-Earth Regime (Injustice)
S.H.A.D.E.
Secret Society of Super-Villains
Suicide Squad
The Network

This wraps it up for this edition of Deep Dish Themes! Thank you for taking time out of your day to read it! Feel free to post what you think about the article and feel free to nominate a character for an upcoming edition of Deep Dish Themes. Join me next time when I take a look at the swashbuckling Swordsman As nominated by ToadKillerDog!

Solution to JW Man-Bat's underwhelmingness? Forget about him and sculptswap with the new one :P

Great article.

I used to use the starter man-bat all the time too. He was one of my favourite figures to use and an absolute must play for Batman enemy teams. Him and Arkham Asylum SR Joker were always a fun combo to play.

Haven't tried the animated series man-bat yet but I aim to do so soon!

Thanks again!

Good choice of subject and a well-done article. When Joker's Wild came out, I had fun pairing that Man-Bat with the Clayface from the same set. Used JLTW FF Owlman to make them a Gotham City Underworld theme team and they were more effective than they might look on paper.

Man-Bat flies Clayface into adjacency, Clayface ties up and starts handing out the Mud marker, Man-Bat lends his attack so Clayface can use Steal Energy (which is actually better with the new rules, in this situation; Clayface can use it to heal back to his top dial the same turn he pushes).

Of course, if they break away from Clayface, Man-Bat's utter lack of defensive powers makes him easy pickings. So. Y'know. :-/

The new one is awesome, but I do really love the Joker's Wild one too. He needs to be used in a very specific way-- to charge in with a Batman Enemy with a high AV-- but if you do, he's golden.

Agreed. JW by himself is barely worth 55 points. Have him join a Bat Enemy Force (TA) and especially with Calculator, and his ability to deliver Steal Energy to an ally and hit with high attack values makes him worth for more than 55 points.

The formation you mentioned in the Vet Hypertime fig. I nick-named that the "V formation" i used it a lot when I had a flying running shot fig with range, and a bystander.

The Jokers Wild Man-Bat is absolutely gorgeous, but I love the Animated dial. If all heroclix dials were as indicative of the characters they are based as this one I don't think any of us would have any complaints........except for keywords of course!

Of course there's no good reason not to run the Jokers Wild Man-Bat and the Animated Man-Bat together. Remember Langstrom's wife Francine had her own little run as She-Bat!

A silly aside, but I need to track down some Man Bat Assassins to make my League of Shadows a bit more air-mobile. "Faster Ubu, KILL KILL"

I didn't hate JW Man-bat when he came out, but now that you can no longer "chain" Batman Enemy he's definitely lost a step. Giving Steal Energy out is great, but if I'm using the Batman Enemy TA I want to borrow something better than a 9 or 10.

Btas Man-Bat is just incredible for the cost.

JW Man-Bat can replace his attack with an adjacent friendly attack value then share it back to give Steal Energy.

I had Man-Bat and Grundy adjacent and so Man-Bat replaced his attack with Grundy's 11 and Grundy used Man-Bat's Steal Energy while using Man-Bat's "11" attack.

Not anymore he can't

BATMAN ENEMY - When this character makes an attack, you may replace its attack value with the printed attack value of an adjacent friendly character that can use this team ability.

What about when Calculator is involved?

I think it wouldn't work because if Man-Bat borrows a printed value he then can transfer that attack value to another character b/c it's not HIS printed value.

Monster Theme

Btas Man-Bat. 75 plus 6pts for Symbiote
Jeanette. 50
Dr. Frank. 30
Jacob Marley. 35
Rat King. 100

That is 296. If you get the Symbiote roll and use both perplexes then you have a 13 attack on the first click for 4 damage and 12 movement. Jeanette is there for to distance. Rat King is so mobile he may allow for a prob roll andaybe mind control for positioning. Jacob is to ensure that whoever Man-Bat drops won't retaliate that easily with -2 to attack.

Great write-up. The Icons was my Man-bat for the longest time.

What troubles me about Man-Bat is that he is always a Super Rare, like, everytime now.

That JW sculpt is incredible, pretty sure it's my #1 sculpt ever, however, I never invested in this one because that dial never really fully lived up to Man-Bat and when he was selling for £45+, the utility and play he'd see were nowhere near his worth.

I did purchase BTAS Kurt but haven't had the opportunity to play him yet.
Another good sculpt, I love that he's in the Animated Batman pose but can't get Bat-Dab out of my mind now!