Hush

Gallery

Real Name

Thomas "Tommy" Elliot

Current Alias

Hush

Aliases

Bruce Wayne

Relatives

Roger Elliot (father, deceased), Marla Elliot (mother, deceased), Nora Reid (granddaughter)

Base Of Operations

Formerly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Gotham City

Status

Alignment

Bad

Identity

Secret Identity

Citizenship

American

Marital Status

Single

Occupation

Surgeon

Characteristics

Gender

Male

Height

6' 3"

Weight

220 lbs (100 kg)

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Red

Origin

Universe

New Earth

Place of Birth

Gotham City

Created by

Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee

First appearance

Batman #609
(January, 2003)

Ah, but we both know our play isn't over, Bruce. And ultimately I will emerge as the hero of our bitter comedy.

-- Tommy Elliot ^src

HistoryEdit

Born a child of wealth and privilege, young Thomas Elliot, later to become Hush, was close friends with Bruce Wayne. Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne, was happy to see the two bond, and felt that Bruce finally found a friend that he could relate to. Thomas and Bruce enjoyed playing games of strategy, Thomas always seemingly outmaneuvering the otherwise brilliant Bruce.^[1]

One day, Thomas Wayne took Bruce and Thomas with him on a business trip to Metropolis. They were instructed to stay in their hotel room, but they snuck out to see the big city whereupon they witnessed a battle between the formerly retired super-hero Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and his old nemesis the Icicle (Joar Mahkent).^[2]

A short time later, Bruce's parents met an untimely demise at the whim of mugger Joe Chill's two bullets. Thomas discovered that Bruce had inherited the entire Wayne family fortune. Jealous of his affluent friend, Thomas crafted a scheme to earn his own fortune. He severed the brake lines to his parents' car, sending the vehicle caroming off the side of the road. Thomas' father was instantly killed, but his mother survived. Thomas eventually came into possession of the fortune that he so desperately wanted, but had to wait years, watching his mother suffer and ultimately succumb to cancer. Twisted by his own greed, he inwardly blamed Bruce for his perceived good fortune – a mentality that one day fueled an elaborate plot to destroy him.

In their attempt to destroy Batman, Thomas, who now began called himself Hush, alongside the Riddler convinced and manipulated several other of Batman's Rogues Gallery to help. When Elliot finally revealed his plans to a physically and emotionally tired Batman, the Dark Knight was saved only by the intervention of Two-Face (Harvey Dent), whose Two-Face personality had been unwittingly removed by Elliot when he repaired his disfigured face. Dent shot Hush twice, throwing him off a bridge. Although Batman was sure that Hush indeed was Thomas Elliot, he was not able to unmask him, leaving him otherwise most likely concluding Elliot could have been him someone else playing a mind-game on him.

Heart of Hush

Hush reveals that his return was hastened when he began to hear whispers of the Black Glove's upcoming attack on Batman. Believing that it his right alone to kill Batman, Elliot sought to wipe the Black Glove. Hush performed routine plastic surgery on his own face, only later revealing the result was, to look nearly identical to Bruce Wayne.

Batman: Reborn

Hush notes how Gotham has fallen apart in Batman's absence, and ponders how to use this to his advantage. Elliot faked experiencing the spontaneous combustion of the public being caused by Firefly, and when Alfred Pennyworth arives at his cell to assist, overpowerd him and escapes. However, he re-emerged as Bruce Wayne to the shock of the city stating that he will donate a billion dollars a month until their financial crisis was over. By posing as Bruce Wayne, Elliot initially believes himself to be untouchable by Wayne's children, as he can now claim control of Wayne Enterprises, as well as knowing the true identities of the Batman Family. However, Elliot soon discovers himself to be underestimating them, as Dick and Damian along with the Outsiders and assorted other super-heroes explain to Elliot that he will forever be watched and controlled by them, and should he step out of a line, that there will always be someone ready to take him down. With no other option available, Elliot reluctantly agrees to be Grayson's puppet posing as Wayne preventing the public from realizing he was dead.

Though this has prevented Elliot's original plan of sapping the Wayne fortune, he has not allowed it to halt his scheming altogether. Hush notably appeared as a member of the Gotham Shield Committee, and around Gotham quite frequently, often attempting to make connections. When Ra's al Ghul arrived in Gotham, promising to ruin the Wayne family in retribution for Red Robin's actions against him, he immediately sought out Hush.^[3] Faced with the prospect of Elliot using Ra's al Ghul's support to turn on the Batman Family again, Red Robin (Tim Drake) activated a contingency plan set in place by Wayne to transfer control of Wayne Enterprises to Drake if something like Hush's case were to occur, leaving him with no official standing in the company.^[4]

House of Hush

Hush continuously attempted to push the boundaries of his new role as Wayne for the Batman Family - such as recommending that convicted criminals should be allowed back on the streets - while confident in the knowledge that, even if he provokes them to kill him, he could die knowing he left them with a permanent mark.^[5] However, this plan backfires when criminal Jane Doe - a woman who lost her face in an accident - became obsessed with Wayne after his role in her release, to the point that she infiltrated his life by taking the face of his new assistant, and subsequently cut off Elliot's new face with the intention of becoming Wayne herself, but when the true Wayne returned he finally ended both Doe and Hush's plans. With Wayne's public revelation that he has been Batman's financial backer for years rendering Hush's knowledge of Batman's identity irrelevant, he was sent to Arkham Asylum.

Sometime after the events of Batman: Gates of Gotham, Hush was freed from Arkham by a new villain named the Architect. As this is happening, Red Robin (Tim Drake), Dick Grayson, and Blackbat come to the realization that the Elliot family is connected to a series of bombings that destroyed three historical Gotham bridges.^[6]

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Abilities

• Genius-Level Intellect: Thomas Elliot, Hush, is a neurologist possessing a genius level intellect.

• Deception: Elliot is also a master strategist and manipulator, responsible for setting in motion a grandiose series of events aimed at confounding the Batman.
• Marksmanship: It also appears that Hush is an expert marksman. During his first physical encounter with Batman, he easily defends himself by shooting away Batarangs as they came sailing towards him.^[7]
• Medical Science: Although he specializes in brain surgery, Elliot is also a proficient plastic surgeon, having repaired the extensive scar tissue on the reformed villain known as Two-Face.
• Tactical Analysis
  

TriviaEdit

• The name Hush is derived from the popular lullaby Hush Little Baby.^[8]
  

Recommended ReadingEdit

• Batman: Hush
• Batman: Hush Returns
• Batman: Heart of Hush
• Batman: Hush Money
• Batman: House of Hush
• Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond

Related

• 90 Appearances of Thomas Elliot (New Earth)
• 52 Images featuring Thomas Elliot (New Earth)
• 8 Quotations by or about Thomas Elliot (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Thomas Elliot (New Earth)

LinksEdit

• Thomas Elliot (New Earth) at Wikipedia.org 
• Hush biography page at the Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe

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• Search this site for: Hush · Thomas Elliot (New Earth)
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Footnotes

Batman Villain(s) This character, team or organization, is or was 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."