Michael Patten (New Earth)

The Answer
Mainstream Universe‎, 1986‎-2011‎
Gallery
Real Name	Michael Patten
Main Alias	The Answer
Relatives	unnamed wife and daughter (both deceased)
Base Of Operations	Gotham City
Status
Alignment	Bad
Identity	Secret Identity
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Widowed
Occupation	civil engineer
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6' 1"
Weight	200 lbs (91 kg)
Eyes	Brown
Hair	Brown
Origin
Universe	New Earth
Creators	Alan Grant · Mark Buckingham
First Appearance	Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 (October, 1998)
Last Appearance	Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1 (October, 1998)

The individual life is irrelevant When the survival of the species is at stake.

— The Answer

The Answer was an enemy of Batman.

History

Michael Patten was a civil engineer who was convinced that at some point in history there had been a great civilization on the planet Earth, which had been destroyed by a cataclysm of some kind.

Tragically, when a massive earthquake destroyed his hometown of Gotham City, Patten's wife and daughter were killed right before his eyes. This trauma apparently unhinged his mind, and he became obsessed with the idea that another cataclysm was due to destroy modern civilization. To force his deranged belief upon others, he became "The Answer", committing murder and other spectacular crimes to finance his further research into his theory.

Ultimately, Patten was stopped by Batman and Nightwing. Patten was then committed to Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

• Mechanical Engineering: He create several devices to help in his crimes, like the Telescopic Cane, various bomb types.
  

Paraphernalia

Weapons

• Telescopic Cane: One of Patten's inventions, its capabilities include flashlight, taser, and laser; 43 other capabilities not yet revealed.

Notes

• The Answer was one of the final Batman related characters created by writer Alan Grant, making his first and only appearance in one of the profile pages on the Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1, detailing his origin story. At the time, The Answer was apparently intended to play an important part in the aftermath of Cataclysm and Aftershock as one of the main villains. However, The Answer wouldn't make any further appearances, most likely because Alan Grant was quickly fired from the Batman comics after Cataclysm and none of the other writers or editors of the Batman comics had any use or interest in this new villain.

Related

• 1 Appearances of Michael Patten (New Earth)
• 1 Images featuring Michael Patten (New Earth)
• 2 Quotations by or about Michael Patten (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Michael Patten (New Earth)

Footnotes

Batman Villain(s) This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."