Hush (character)

Hush (Thomas Elliot) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee, the character first appeared in Batman #609 in January 2003 as part of the twelve-issue storyline Batman: Hush. Hush's background is parallel to the superhero Batman, and he serves as a criminal foil to him, as an example of what Batman could have been if he came from an abusive family and had used his abilities and resources for malice. Hush belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues' gallery.

Thomas "Tommy" Elliot was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne who attempts to murder his own parents and inherit their massive fortune. His plan fails when Bruce's father, Dr. Thomas Wayne, saves his mother's life, beginning his grudge against the Waynes. Tommy grows up to become a gifted neurosurgeon and, out of jealous resentment, allies with the Riddler to ruin Bruce's life upon discovering that he is Batman. Wrapping his face in bandages to conceal his identity, Tommy becomes a manipulative criminal mastermind called "Hush" to seek revenge against his former friend.

The character has been adapted from the comics into numerous forms of media, having been portrayed in live-action television by Cole Vallis and Gordon Winarick in Gotham, and by Gabriel Mann and Warren Christie in Batwoman. Kevin Conroy voiced Hush in the Batman: Arkham video game series.

Hush resurfaced in Batman: Gotham Knights, and later in Detective Comics and Batman: Streets of Gotham. He had a considerable role in Batman Eternal, and was the feature villain of Hush 2 which started in Batman v.2 #158.

Thomas "Tommy" Elliot was a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne, and was also born into a wealthy family. The two boys often played a Stratego-esque minifigure game together, and Tommy taught Bruce to think like his opponents and to use their abilities against them to win, which proved useful years later when he became Batman. Thus, as a child, Tommy exhibits a genius level intellect due to his capability to think and plan strategically. Tommy despised both his abusive father and his frail, submissive mother, who came from poverty and willingly endured every abuse dealt to her and her son to keep her lavish lifestyle. For all their failings, however, Tommy's parents made sure he was well-educated. In particular, his mother taught him about the philosophy of Aristotle, attempting to use it as a way to passively deal with his father's abuse without accepting it. Tommy would often quote Aristotle as an adult.

Driven by his desire for independence and wealth, Tommy severed the brake line of his parents' car, causing a crash that killed his father and injured his mother; his mother, however, was saved in an emergency operation by Thomas Wayne, which enraged young Elliot. While at a summer camp with Bruce, Tommy attacked a boy and ended up in a psychiatric ward; he blamed Bruce and his mother for his outburst. He is released by an intern named Jonathan Crane, who becomes the villain Scarecrow.

During the next few years, Tommy tended to his mother. When Bruce's parents were murdered, Tommy resented him for inheriting the Wayne family fortune, just as he had hoped to do with his parents' money. Shortly before Bruce returned to Gotham City, Tommy befriended a young woman named Peyton Riley (who would later become the second Ventriloquist) – a relationship of which his mother never approved. When Tommy's mother recovered from cancer, she disowned him, subsequently cutting him off from the Elliot family fortune in retaliation for his continuing relationship with Peyton. As a result, Tommy murdered her by smothering her with a pillow, while Peyton killed their lawyer and destroyed Mrs. Elliot's new will. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, his mother had died of a household accident.

Finally the sole recipient of his family's fortune, Tommy abandoned Peyton and began traveling the world, as Bruce had. Although he went on to Harvard University and became a successful surgeon, Tommy continued to harbor an irrational grudge towards his childhood friend.