Dr. Bartholomew

Dr. Bartholomew was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum.

History[]

Dr. Bartholomew was assigned to Batman, who had been exposed to the Scarecrow's fear gas, when he was brought in after crashing the Batmobile outside of Arkham's gates. Believing him to be delusional, Bartholomew tried to "cure" Batman. What Bartholomew didn't know, and later found out, was that Batman was really telling the truth that Scarecrow was going to turn Gotham City into a pit of fear.^[1] He would later set up a review hearing about the chief of security Lyle Bolton. Bartholomew questioned Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, and Ventriloquist. At first they wouldn't reveal anything negative about Bolton out of fear, however, Bruce Wayne used reverse psychology to get the inmates to reveal Bolton's true nature. Bolton was promptly fired but returned months later as the vigilante Lock-Up and kidnapped Bartholomew, claiming he coddled the inmates at Arkham. He was later rescued by Batman.^[2]

Background information[]

• Dr. Bartholomew was possibly based on Dr. Bartholomew Wolper, Two-Face's and the Joker's psychiatrist from Frank Miller's acclaimed The Dark Knight Returns comic book miniseries. In the original material, Wolper managed to temporarily cure Two-Face, but the Joker deceived him pretending to be cured and Wolper was ultimately killed when one of the Joker's dolls broke his neck. Unlike Wolper, in the DCAU, Dr. Bartholomew never interacts with the Joker or Two-Face at least onscreen.
• Dr. Bartholomew's design was modeled on his voice actor, Richard Dysart.

Appearances[]

Batman: The Animated Series

• "Dreams in Darkness"
• "Joker's Wild" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Trial" ^(Cameo)
• "Harlequinade" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Lock-Up"

The New Batman Adventures

• "Mad Love" ^(Cameo)

References[]