Mr. Camera is a supervillain in the Batman universe who wears a helmet that resembles an old camera. Through the lens we can see his strange face and his creepy eyes, which are considered to be some of the scariest eyes in the Batman universe.
He uses this camera as a camera gimmick, to become a crime boss and commit crimes in Gotham City. His style is very comical and is often underrated. This is because Mr. Camera has that special touch of Batman villains that makes him go unnoticed. When you live in a world where theme villains roam the streets every day, what better way to be understated than to appear as a simple theme villain. Mr. Camera almost unmasked Batman and Robin, something that many have tried and failed in the attempt, so, although it does not seem like a great threat to Batman and Robin, they could be very easily unmasked by this villain thanks to his way of perpetuating the crimes.
First apparition
Mr. Camera's first appearance was in Batman #81 - Two-Face Strikes Again! February 1954, and his last known appearance was in issue #14 of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold comic called "Captured by Mr. Camera".
In this first appearance Mr. Camera appears committing multiple robberies in Gotham City from which he gets away with it because, although Batman and Robin try to stop him, the villain is more skilled and manages to mislead them.
These crimes gave Batman clues about the plans that Mr. Camera wanted to carry out. After an exhaustive investigation, Batman deduced that Mr. Camera would steal a new state-of-the-art camera, which would show him and his identity in a movie theater during intermission of the film.
Realizing the plan, Batman and Robin attempt to ambush and capture Mr. Camera and his henchmen, but are unsuccessful and the bad guys run off again helplessly. However, Batman and Robin track down Mr. Camera and find him in his hideout, which is completely filled with cameras and photography equipment, including a giant 20-foot-tall movie projector. There is also a wall labeled "Crime Gallery", which is filled with crime scene photos of him.
Batman and Robin fight again against Mr. Camera and his thugs. During the battle, Mr. Camera attempts to defeat Batman with an extra hot lightbulb, however this is useless and Batman punches him in the face. After being beaten up by Batman, Mr. Camera is defeated, captured and arrested by the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD).
With this outcome you might think that this is the end of Mr. Camera, but luckily for the villain, he hides an ace up his sleeve. After meeting Batman and Robin, Mr. Camera managed to take a picture of them without his masks. Although he was arrested, Mr. Camera intended to use his photograph to blackmail the Dynamic Duo. This makes them nervous as the end of their privacy is near, but, after further investigation, Batman and Robin realized the images were too blurry to be of any use to the supervillain, so they just got out of being. publicly exposed due to the quality of the evidence available to Mr. Camera.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
The character resurfaced in 2010 for a couple of cameos in the Batman series and appeared in issue #14 of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold comic, where he was given a new costume that featured a goofy face inside the lens.
In this version, Mr. Camera has updated his camera helmet to make it modern for the 21st century. Thanks to this change, he can use his camera helmet to see any digital signal anywhere in the world. Traffic cameras, mobile phones, webcams, department store security cameras, etc. They are all at his disposal.
This helps him to have greater control of everything around him and thus make more perfect plans, but this control of the cameras ends up giving him an insane obsession with Huntress. On multiple occasions Mr. Camera is seen observing the superhero Huntress. Mr. Camera falls in love with her to the point of being completely obsessed with her and controlling her every move with her camera. But that's not all, he wants to have her for himself, so he later uses her helmet camera abilities to discover that Huntress's secret identity is Helena Bertinelli.
Taking advantage of this new information, Mr. Camera would attack Helena in her office at Gotham University using a hypnotic flash bulb to temporarily paralyze her. After her plan succeeds, Helena is left at her mercy so Mr. Camera takes advantage of her decision and immediately gets down on one knee and proposes, asking her to marry him. Before Helena can respond while she is still mesmerized, Batman interferes by crashing through the window and starting a fight with the villain. In the end, Mr. Camera is defeated and ends up being arrested by the authorities.
This was not the end of Mr. Camera, he also appears in the episode "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!" where he uses his helmet to take a picture of the Joker, but it doesn't have as much weight in the story as in the brave and the bold.
Anecdotally, Mr. Camera also appeared in the episode "A Bat Divided" and even appeared in an episode of Scooby Doo! This character is so striking that they decided to incorporate him in a cameo in the successful television series.
As we have seen, at first glance, Mr. Camera does not seem so threatening. He is a villain that dates back to the Golden Age, but is rarely used in our modern age.
So, with a little creative effort, this goofy Golden Age villain could come to represent some of the scariest aspects of technology in the 21st century.
Mr. Camera is expected to return with a revamped version of the 21st century character. Because face it, cameras are much more threatening in our modern world than they were in the 50s and 60s, but until we get to see the evolution of this charismatic character we're left with his funny story and his weird attacks.
Remember that BMG has its own Mr. Camera miniature, discover his abilities on his character card included in the app: Batman Miniature Game, and include this incredible character in your crew!
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