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Quote1 Hi! I'm Bat-Hound! I'm going to tell you a story! Sure... I know you're going to say, how can a dog talk? But if you strain your imagination, you'll find you're able to understand me. Quote2
Ace the Bat-Hound src

Ace the Bat-Hound was the canine companion of the Caped Crusader.

Origin

Ace was a German Shepherd dog originally owned by an engraver named John Wilker. He was found by Batman and Robin after his master was kidnapped by a gang of counterfeiters. Batman used Ace to try to locate Wilker. Because he had already placed a large number of "lost dog" announcements for Ace in his civilian identity of Bruce Wayne, he was concerned that anyone recognizing Ace (who had a prominent star-shaped marking on his forehead) might make the connection between Bruce Wayne and Batman. To forestall that problem, he hastily improvised a hood-like mask for the dog that incorporated the bat emblem as a dog tag dangling from Ace's collar. Ace was subsequently christened "The Bat-Hound" by a criminal he helped Batman to apprehend. Ace's adventures with the Dynamic Duo came to an early end as he was returned to his rightful owner.[1]

Batman and Robin would borrow Ace from his owner whenever they needed assistance to solve a case which involved stealth and tracking. However, after the case was solved with Ace's help, the dynamic duo would often return the dog to his owner.[2] When Wilker went travelling to Europe, Ace was left in the care of Batman and Robin and he was featured in their movie, where he assisted the Dynamic Duo capturing a fugitive[3] and later during a similar situation, Ace helped the Dynamic Duo by pretending to chase Batman, as a wanted fugitive.[4]

Member of the Bat-Family

John Wilker later took a new job that made it difficult for him to take care of Ace, so he left the dog to Bruce Wayne. Wilker was never aware that Ace was the Bat-Hound or that Bruce Wayne was Batman. On his first official mission as part of the Bat-Family, Ace's bat-collar was remotely activated by Batman. Knowing that his master was in danger, Ace went to Batwoman's place and then he followed the collar's signal, guiding her towards Batman and Robin. Afterwards, the trio captured a gang of crooks, but their leader managed to escape. Ace tracked the criminal and prevented him from escaping until Batman arrived and captured the crook.[5] Not long after this, Ace helped Batman capture a criminal known as "The Master of Weapons" by tracking the criminal to his hideout.[6] Unfortunately, Ace developed amnesia after he was struck by a bullet. Unable to recognize Batman and Robin, Ace ran away and helped several people as he wandered alone. At last, some crooks captured Ace and used him to lure Batman and Robin into a trap. When the crooks unmasked the heroes, they couldn't recognize their disguised faces, but Ace somehow remembered and helped the heroes defeat the thugs. Afterwards, Ace was fully recovered and returned to his rightful place in the Batcave.[7]

Ace the Bat-Hound Earth-One 002

Bat-Mite rides Ace

Soon, Ace was forced to help Bat-Mite as the imp tried to impress the Dynamic Duo, but instead he ended up shrinking them to the point where Ace became almost four times the size of the heroes. With the combined forces of the small heroes and Ace, the criminals were captured and Bat-Mite returned to his own dimension.[8] When Batman and Robin had to track down some mysterious criminals, they used Ace's tracking ability to reach the criminal's hideout. However, the crooks were prepared to flee and the heroes chased them to Europe, where they travelled across different countries in order to stop them. When the criminals were cornered, they tried to use a deadly explosive formula to stop the crime fighters, but Ace managed to retrieve the chemical vial from their hands, allowing Batman and Robin to capture the crooks for good.[9]

Shortly after this, Ace was able to rescue Batman and Robin from a deadly trap created by the criminal known as Cat-Man.[10] Then, Ace was granted super-powers by Bat-Mite, but a twist of fate made the Bat-Hound obedient to criminals until Bat-Mite reversed his spells' effect.[11]


Abilities


  • This version of Ace the Bat-Hound, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.

Related

Footnotes


Batman Allies
Batman Family member
DC Rebirth Logo

This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.

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