The First & Second Wrath (Elliot Caldwell)
If there was someone who would beat out Jason Todd as the ultimate “anti-Batman”, you’d be hard-pressed to find a contender that can beat Wrath. The mantle of Wrath was adopted by two criminal-vigilantes – the former’s identity was never known while the latter was the former sidekick of the original named Elliot Caldwell.
Wrath is the ultimate “anti-Batman” considering that he’s simultaneously similar yet antithetical to the Dark Knight. The original Wrath was the son of two criminal parents who died at the hands of Jim Gordon during a shoot-out on the same night Bruce’s parents were killed. Wrath was forever scarred by these events and became a sociopath. Inspired by Batman, the original Wrath created a twisted parody of the vigilante persona that hunted down cops.
Elliot Caldwell, the second Wrath, would become Wrath after the death of the first. He served to be an even closer foil to Bruce Wayne by also being a man of wealth, having years of worldly training, and having access to incredibly advanced and lethal tech. Not only did he despise cops, he also swore revenge on Batman – as all were agents of “justice.” Within the Arkham series, it would not be difficult to adapt the character either. Perhaps the parents of Elliot Caldwell, as criminals, were incarcerated and later killed under Hugo Strange in Arkham City, driving him mad and swearing vengeance on the city, its cops, and the Dark Knight himself.
