D.A.V.E.
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D.A.V.E. is an original villain in The Batman. He is voiced by Jeff Bennett. He first appeared in Gotham's Ultimate Criminal Mastermind, Season 3 finale.
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[edit] Character History
D.A.V.E. (Digitally Advanced Villain Emulator) started out as an AI program created by Dr. Hugo Strange that included several villains' brainwaves: The Joker, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Riddler, Clayface, and even Strange's, though an AI so advanced, his creator claimed he didn't even realize he was a computer program, hinted to be under the pre-programmed notion that he was a human criminal genius whose mind was sentenced to life in a computer. However, D.A.V.E. went on a rampage, built a powerful, robotic body and broke from Arkham Asylum to create chaos.
D.A.V.E. hacked into Gotham City's computers and warned itself to the citizens, claiming to be the "Ultimate Criminal Mastermind". His warning messages began appearing on all of Gotham's lights and signs, including a countdown to the revelation of Batman's secret identity. Batman showed up and battled him, but he was too powerful. D.A.V.E. continued his criminal rampage by emptying all of the citizen's bank accounts by hacking the bank's main computer. Batman later discovers that Strange let D.A.V.E. loose on purpose to capture Batman.
When Batman returns home after visiting Strange, D.A.V.E. kidnaps Alfred Pennyworth and discovers his true identity. He offers Batman two choices: rescue Alfred and have D.A.V.E. reveal his identity to the public, or save his identity and lose Alfred. Batman chose neither, and battled D.A.V.E. in the Batcave. At the end, he tricks D.A.V.E. asking him about his own origin. D.A.V.E., confused by the other villain's origins, malfunctioned after learning that he doesn't have an origin or wasn't even human, and Batman crushed D.A.V.E. with a giant penny.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
D.A.V.E. has the brainwaves of several Batman villains, thus allowing him to guess correctly most of Batman's moves, and can imitate other villains', making him a tough opponent to battle hand-to-hand. His robotic body is light, resilient and flexible enough to take on Batman. Also, D.A.V.E. is as intelligent as Riddler and Hugo Strange, allowing him to have the psychological advantage. He can hack into any computer and control every machine he can.
However, because of his programming, D.A.V.E. also believes he is an actual criminal trapped inside a robotic body. It was ultimately this, his cliche and cheesy attitude, and his ego that brought him to his downfall.
[edit] Inspiration
Most obviously, D.A.V.E. is a parody of HAL 9000 and HAL's technician Dave, while the three-dot pattern in his face is similar to Brainiac, and the way D.A.V.E. figured Batman's true identity is similar to Ra's al Ghul or Bane. The voice actor for D.A.V.E. was Jeff Bennett, who also voiced H.A.R.D.A.C.. H.A.R.D.A.C. was very similar to D.A.V.E., which originally appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series. D.A.V.E's destruction also pays tribute to the closing scene in The Terminator. Both instances show the characters' electronic eye slowly blinking out, after he is crushed by a heavy object.
