Batman: Castle of the Bat is a DC Comics series published under the Elseworlds imprint in 1994 that retells the story of Frankenstein with the cast of Batman.
A mysterious Bat-Man has been sighted targeting highwaymen and thieves, and he may or may not be the result of experiments conducted by Dr. Bruce Wayne.
Compare with The Superman Monster, another story consisting of a retelling of Frankenstein that uses a famous DC superhero as the monster.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Name Change: In addition to most of the characters being esentially Frankenstein characters with the names of Batman characters ("Julia Lavenza" is an unusual example in that she keeps Elizabeth's surname, presumably because "Madison" doesn't fit the setting) the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents is named Mr. Van Klooster instead of Joe Chill.
- Big Bad: Dr. Seltsam turns out to be behind the conflict, as he had hired Mr. Van Klooser to kill Bruce's parents and intends to kill everyone he can to obtain more body parts to preserve.
- Decomposite Character: Bruce Wayne plays the part of Victor Frankenstein, with his father Thomas Wayne being the monster as well as this continuity's Batman.
- For Science!: Dr. Seltsam sees murdering people and preserving their body parts as justified by the sake of scientific progress.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Bruce Wayne creates the Bat-Man by putting his father's brain in a body sewn together from preserved body parts, with the monster later having his head become like that of a bat as the result of an attempt to help the monster overcome his fear of the night.
- The Igor: Alfred Pennyworth's counterpart is a hunchbacked assistant to Bruce Wayne named Alfredo.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: One of Bruce's experiments is a dog with the head of a bat, a nod to Ace the Bat-Hound.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Hippocratic Oath plays a part in the story, with Bruce eventually realizing that he can't kill his parents' killer without violating this oath.
- You're Insane!: Bruce Wayne calls Dr. Seltsam insane for not valuing human life and only seeing people as cadavers waiting to be cut up and preserved.
