These days, Batman villain Kite-Man has found unexpected fame among comic book readers thanks to his quirky kite-based theme, surprisingly tragic origin story, and popular catchphrase, “Kite-Man, hell yeah!” But when he was first introduced, Kite-Man was little more than a thinly-disguised parody of a bigger comic strip loser – Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame.
That’s right – although he might consider himself to be a major Gotham City criminal today, long-time fans of the high-flying villain know that Kite-Man’s real name is Charles “Chuck” Brown. Even sadder, Chuck’s whole modus operandi is likely based less on a psychotic need for power and more on a vain desire to finally outwit a certain kite-eating tree. Let’s take a closer look at the very early days of Kite-Man and see just where his villainy truly rose from.
The Many Origins of Kite-Man
Much like the Joker, Kite-Man is a villain with multiple backstories. In his most popular DC Rebirth origin, Charles Brown was a divorced father and alcoholic who heard his son Charles Brown Jr. utter the infamous phrase, “Kite-Man, hell yeah!” upon trying to fly a kite. He was subsequently recruited by the Joker to design the Jokermobile and later took on the identity of Kite-Man after the Riddler poisoned and killed his son.
A different story in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series reveals that Kite-Man was obsessed with Benjamin Franklin and tried to recreate his kite-flying experiment one dark and stormy night. However, he chose to fly his kite in a lightning storm while wearing metal braces and standing in a bucket of water. Thanks to these foolish choices, he was struck by lightning and psychologically traumatized into committing… “kite-centric” crimes (yes, really).
And in the adult animated series Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy simply postulates that Kite-Man was just some guy who bought a hand glider at a store one day and decided to become a supervillain.
The truth is, Kite-Man has always been a bit of an enigmatic figure in comics. Although he appeared as early as the 1960s in Batman #133, he was simply portrayed as another throwaway theme villain for Batman and Robin to beat up. He resurfaced years later in Batman #315 but was again portrayed as little more than a hand gliding villain with kite-shaped weapons (although Batman did start to wonder why certain kids never seemed to grow up and put away children’s toys like kites).
It wasn’t until Hawkman #4 that Kite-Man’s true persona began to show itself. In a battle against Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna, Kite-Man was referred to as “Chuck” by one of his cohorts. He later crashed into a tree thanks to one of Zatanna’s kite-nullifying spells and uttered the immortal line… “Rats!”
The line, a popular catchphrase of Peanuts character Charlie Brown finally clued readers into who Kite-Man really was. Although legal issues kept writers from spelling it out in painful detail, fans knew that Kite-Man was really Charlie Brown, somehow driven criminally insane after one too many encounters with the kite-eating tree.
How Becoming a Gotham City Criminal Made Charlie Brown’s Biggest Dream Come True
Tragic as this revelation was, what happened in the ensuing years proved even more tragic for Charlie Brown (aka Kite-Man). As if being considered a C-List villain wasn’t bad enough, poor Kite-Man experienced even more abuse in Gotham City than Charlie Brown ever did from the Peanuts gang. During Infinite Crisis, Deathstroke threw Kite-Man off of Wayne Tower – without his kite. Resilient as always, Charlie Brown somehow managed to survive and eke out some low-level notoriety in the Gotham City underworld. Sadly, he was later killed and eaten by Superman villain Bruno “Ugly” Mannheim.
Still, you can’t keep a good kite down, and Kite-Man was later rebooted to life in DC Rebirth, which finally gave him an origin with more pathos and a small amount of respect. Fans began to like Kite-Man enough to have him make more appearances in more media outlets than he had in years (including a brief cameo in The LEGO Batman Movie). Yet, surprisingly, Kite-Man’s most touching victory came in a very subtle way in recent episodes of the Harley Quinn adult animated series.
Longtime Peanuts fans know that Charlie Brown was always in love with the little Red-Haired Girl and regularly tried to impress her. Sadly, his perpetual bad luck and wishy-washiness always seemed to get in the way of befriending or even meeting her. Yet in Season One of Harley Quinn, Kite-Man inexplicably finds himself confidently flirting with the beautiful (and red-headed) Poison Ivy – who inexplicably finds herself attracted to the C-List supervillain. The two end up dating and while Ivy is initially embarrassed to be seen in public with her Charlie Brown, she eventually openly admits to being his girlfriend.
So, while it may have taken over fifty years and a descent into criminal psychosis, Charlie Brown finally managed to get together with his Little Red-Haired Girl. Few villains can say that years of being beaten up by Batman led them to their dream life, but we’re willing to bet that Kite-Man is one of the few exceptions.
Next: Poison Ivy’s New Costume Is Her Most Shocking Yet
