The Green Hornet vs Batman villians

[greenhornet66]

Hi fellow GH fans. Ive been tossing around some off the wall thoughts. We all know about the more famous villians from Batman, and the Green Hornet always fought local "real" criminals. If the Green Hornet had to fight any of the Batman villians, who would you like to see them fight? Here are my picks:
1. THE RIDDLER - ( The Riddler wears a green outfit, and does the crime, and the Green Hornet gets the blame).
2. The Joker - The Joker is a long time former newspaper publisher who competed against Britt's father, he killed Britt's father in a printing plant, and a chemical solution for newpapers is why he looks the way he does.
3. Catwoman - She has an interest in Britt from college. He broke off their relationship during college, now she wants him in a revengful way.

[elmrgraham]

The Sea Hag,a Scuba Diving Villainess from the 1966 Batman Topps Cards series by Norman Saunders,would be an excellent adversary for The Green Hornet.She is wily,sexy,beautiful,and EVIL.

[BilltheBat]

Just seems wrong for what the Hornet was written to be- by Trendle and Striker. The original idea wasn't for colorful fantasy villains, but a hero who stood up for the average citizen against criminals and racketeers the law couldn't touch because of their power or taking advantage of the limits of the law.

The Bat villains from the rogues gallery were more in the style of Dick Tracy's crooks- they matched the over-the-top theatricality of a man dressed like a bat with their own melodramatic gimmicks and appearance.

Britt Reid isn't a "super" hero in the normal sense. He's more the bandit sleuth or noir detective type- his "power" is his brains more than the gadgetry. Same goes for Kato- his engineering makes the Hornet's planning possible. Their fighting skills are the icing on the cake.

The Hornet's real adversaries were corruption and abuse of power like the audience was reading about in their morning paper.

[The Green Hornet]

I agree with the last post here that "The Green Hornet" always fought against realistic organized crime situations that were beyond the reach of the law itself that is why The Hornet disguised himself as a sophisticated classy stylish criminal so he could always infiltrate on the crimes of the real criminals and defeat them before the law ever got in the way."The Green Hornet" was NEVER meant to be like the light hearted "batman" of the 1966-1968 t.v.series which was a campy spoof comedy done for kids.

[svl]

The original concept for The Batman was never one of colorful super-villains or camp either. I think the OP is simply voicing an idea that he would have enjoyed (and was looking for others to share in with their own colorful "what ifs"), and I agree that the same "revamp" Batman went through absolutely could have worked for the Hornet commercially (may have even made for a more "popular" show, Nielsen-wise).

Not saying I personally would have enjoyed it as much as the classic Hornet, but I could see it happening and see the general public buying into it.

That stated, my pick of "Villain of the Week" for the Hornet's campy style series would be Falseface (gee, who'da thunk it). Could have seen some really interesting plot twists there with 'Face imitating Scanlon, Mike and even Kato! Plus, Falseface (being the most "serious" of Batman episodes) would have fit the original GH mold just a might bit better.

[High C]

I know it wouldn't fly with GH 'purists,' and I respect that, but to build on svl's idea, it could have helped the ratings if once every 4 or 5 shows they mixed in a more Batman-esque villain(ess). Just a thought. Conversely, I've always believed Batman would've been better-served had they mixed in a 'regular' villain(ess) about as often. (Think Louie the Lilac without the flower schtick, for instance.)

[BATWINGED HORNET]

I know it wouldn't fly with GH 'purists,' and I respect that, but to build on svl's idea, it could have helped the ratings if once every 4 or 5 shows they mixed in a more Batman-esque villain(ess). Just a thought. Conversely, I've always believed Batman would've been better-served had they mixed in a 'regular' villain(ess) about as often. (Think Louie the Lilac without the flower schtick, for instance.)

I agree..as long as the characterization leans toward the serious side. On that note, i've always thought 1st appearance Catwoman (cracking the whip, confident, fairly heartless), Sanders' Mr. Freeze and early Joker (semi-sinister, choking Batman, etc.) would have been great guest villains on TGH, and not rob the series of its style at all.

More than Dr. Mabuse, the Bat villains were fantastic, but not another super-madman-threatens-with-bomb type, which--by 1967--had been used by nearly every spy or adventure production.

[High C]

I know it wouldn't fly with GH 'purists,' and I respect that, but to build on svl's idea, it could have helped the ratings if once every 4 or 5 shows they mixed in a more Batman-esque villain(ess). Just a thought. Conversely, I've always believed Batman would've been better-served had they mixed in a 'regular' villain(ess) about as often. (Think Louie the Lilac without the flower schtick, for instance.)

I agree..as long as the characterization leans toward the serious side. On that note, i've always thought 1st appearance Catwoman (cracking the whip, confident, fairly heartless), Sanders' Mr. Freeze and early Joker (semi-sinister, choking Batman, etc.) would have been great guest villains on TGH, and not rob the series of its style at all.

Well-said. I totally agree. The S1 Catwoman was so ruthless that she gassed a henchman rather than have to split the loot with him. Can't see the lovestruck S2 CW doing that.

[dell]

I know it wouldn't fly with GH 'purists,' and I respect that, but to build on svl's idea, it could have helped the ratings if once every 4 or 5 shows they mixed in a more Batman-esque villain(ess). Just a thought. Conversely, I've always believed Batman would've been better-served had they mixed in a 'regular' villain(ess) about as often. (Think Louie the Lilac without the flower schtick, for instance.)

I always thought that the Zelda the Great character was played as a mostly serious villian; and she appeared as the 5th villian (9th and 10th episodes) to go up against Batman. After her the show stayed with really over the top villains until you get to Chandell.

[High C]

That stated, my pick of "Villain of the Week" for the Hornet's campy style series would be Falseface (gee, who'da thunk it). Could have seen some really interesting plot twists there with 'Face imitating Scanlon, Mike and even Kato! Plus, Falseface (being the most "serious" of Batman episodes) would have fit the original GH mold just a might bit better.

That could've worked quite well. Good call.

[BilltheBat]

Who would the Green Hornet go after from another show? Heisenberg. The Hornet would go after Heisenberg.

[Progress Pigment]

The first season of Batman wasn't just "a campy spoof for kids"! Anymore than the Green Hornet was just "Dragnet in masks" as I read someplace. The Hornet was rooted in the radio & pulps (ala The Shadow) and Batman as done by Finger & Kane was a superhero Zorro blended with, again The Shadow. Really, without the legendary Bruce Lee and the Batman tie-in, the Hornet series would probably get very little attention. But it was an enjoyable series. I watched & recoded them back in the early days of the FX channel! I've seen the old screen tests, and wonder if perhaps a more mature actor might've worked better as the character. Van Williams seemed occasionally a bit boyish. Of the Batman villains, I guess I can only image Louie the Lilac, written a bit more seriously as a Hornet villain.

http://greenhornetv184.tripod.com/id6.html

[The Boss]

The original concept for The Batman was never one of colorful super-villains or camp either.

He certainly was. Maybe not camp so much but, definitely colorful over the top super-villains The whole idea behind the Batman concept was to take the Dual personality of Superman and combine it with the over-the-top colorful villains of Dick Tracy. Batman was never supposed to be a ninja or the ultimate killer as younger fans perceive him today. Like Dick Tracy he was supposed to be a detective with colorful high tech gadgetry to help him find clues and solve cases.

His sole "dark" aspect was originally not so much the fact that his parents died but, more so the way that he dressed as a bat to strike fear into the hearts of criminals as a way of getting information out of them. That's why he was known as, "The Dark Knight Detective".

[Bat Tom]

Maybe they could get Van Williams to be in the next Batman animated movie.

[Lou Szabo]

Can you imagine a "death of Kato" crossover - something significant like that?