Batman and Robin could corral not only costumed crooks but also super-powered foes, and just about as easily.
The continued popularity of Superman likely contributed to the rise of super-powered criminals and beasts that plagued Gotham City in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The Dynamic Duo’s acrobatic abilities, intelligence and utility-belt arsenal proved equal to the challenge of such super-powered opponents as the ultra-brainy Barney Barrows (The Mental Giant of Gotham City!); the super-strong fugitive John Stannar (Batman’s Super-Enemy); the Bat-People (The Winged Bat-People!); the futuristic criminal Karko (Batman’s Invincible Foe); the energy being Dr. Double X (The Amazing Dr. Double X!); Zebra-Man (The Zebra Batman); Atomic-Man (The Menace of the Atomic Man); the incorporeal Phantom (The Phantom of Gotham City); Mr. Meke, a/k/a Thor (The Hammer of Thor); an ancient race of giants (Batman in the Bottle); a giant alien (The Creature from Planet X); the Crystal Creature (Menace of the Crystal Creature); a volcano-spawned monster (The Rainbow Creature); the Sky Creature (The Menace of the Sky Creature); Mr. Marvel (Robin’s New Boss); a robot Boy Wonder (Robin’s Robot); Mr. Zero, a/k/a Mr. Freeze (The Ice Crimes of Mr. Zero); Clayface II (The Menace of Clay-Face!); the Kraal (The Jigsaw Menace from Space); Steve Colan, the Titanic Man (The Man Who Became a Giant); Peter Dale, the Flame-Master (The Flame Master) and John Dolan, the Elemental Man (The Villain of 100 Elements).
In Detective Comics 294 (Aug. 1961), an energy leak from a Gotham City scientist’s experimental device drove Dolan insane while giving him the ability to change his molecular structure by using a control belt.
Dolan appears to be writer Bill Finger’s revamping of the concept of the earlier Atomic-Man. Electrical engineer Paul Strobe had altered the molecular structure of objects by staring at them through special goggles, while Dolan altered his molecular structure. Three years later, those same elemental transformation powers were reborn in a superhero, Metamorpho.
But Batman got ’em first. When a device designed to trap Dolan accidentally explodes, Batman gains the same powers and employs them in a plan to defeat the Elemental Man.
This became a typical pattern for these stories. When he encountered super-powered foes, the Masked Manhunter sometimes helpfully gained the same powers himself. That also happened with Zebra-Man and the Flame-Master.
Temporary superpowers were also bestowed on Robin (Robin, the Super Boy Wonder), Batwoman (The Super-Batwoman), a nd Bat-Hound (Ace — the Super Bat-Hound). Even Batman’s butler got in on the act, gaining powers and a costumed identity (Batman’s Super-Partner).
Beginning in 1959, Batman started getting an unwanted and inept assist from the super-powered extradimensional being Bat-Mite.
Although such super-powered foes weren’t common in Batman’s earliest stories, they did pop up from time to time. Even in 1939’s Detective Comics 31 and 32, Batman calmly hunted down a combined vampire-werewolf villain, the Monk.
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