There is another vigilante in town, who captures criminals and seems to keep them locked away. While Robin ponders if this makes crime-fighting easier, Batman points out that no one knows where the criminals went since they aren't in Arkham or jail. His instincts prove correct when Rumor goes after Catwoman, who is relatively harmless, and seems to have a personal vendetta.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Rumor was originally meant to be Hush, who assembled a Villain Team-Up for very selfish reasons and for revenge on Bruce Wayne. Mario here acts in revenge for his boss Paul Karon, whom the Joker paralyzed during an attack. He has no grudge against Bruce but rather Batman.
- Can't Get in Trouble for Nuthin': Penguin attempts to get himself arrested to avoid being taken by Rumor, but his attempts fall flat as Batman and Robin just stare and even Catwoman facepalms at his antics.
- Composite Character: Rumor takes elements from both Hush from the comics and Batman: The Animated Series Canon Immigrant Lock-Up.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: After the villains were released from their cells, Batman and Robin battled them. Surprisingly, they took them all down.
- Defiant Captive: All the villains refuse to beg for mercy from Rumor, with Dr. Strange in particular performing psychoanalysis.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite being bitter that Batman failed to save him from the Joker, Paul helps them find his bodyguard when they realize that Mario has to be Rumor. Even Paul thinks that his bodyguard went too far.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Batman and Robin's fight with Rumor leads to them accidentally freeing all the captive villains, who want a piece of Rumor and Batman.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Most of the villains aren't too happy that Joker's the reason Rumor exists. Joker on the other hand doesn't care. This falls flat, however, since the other villains have screwed with people too.
Catwoman: Should’ve known this was Joker’s fault...
Penguin: JUST HAD TO MAKE THE NUT-BALL ANGRY!- Mr. Freeze attempted to freeze Batman during the final showdown, but just ended up freezing half the assembled villains when Batman dodge his ice beam, evening the odds for his opponent.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Rumor is heartbroken when Batman and Robin reveal that Paul turned Mario in for kidnapping the criminals. He says that he did it for Paul.
- Prefer Jail to the Protagonist: Penguins begs Batman to send him to jail out of fear of Rumor coming to get him. Unfortunately, before Batman can do anything to protect Penguin or Catwoman, Rumor appears and grabs them both.
- Red Herring: Paul Karon, whose company developed the technology that Rumor is using and holds a grudge against Batman. He has an alibi the night Rumor did a kidnapping, which leads to Batman realizing that Mario is the real culprit.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Professor Strange summarizes that Rumor's only goal isn't to save Gotham but to make amends for failing to save his employer.
- Save the Villain: Batman and Robin save their past foes from Rumor. Once they're free, the heroes end up saving him from them.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Dr. Strange and Catwoman opt out of fighting Batman and Robin, with Catwoman cheerily telling Batman he's still scary.
- Secretly Selfish: Dr. Strange pegs Mario as this. He's not doing this necessarily to protect Paul: he's doing it because he feel guilty for failing his job as a bodyguard. Rumor tells him to shut up and saying that he's doing Gotham a favor getting rid of the villains.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rumor plans to execute every villain in Gotham, but he wants to make sure the Joker is caught as well. His delaying the execution and Motive Rant gives Batman enough time to stop the execution.
