The Clock King · 4:50pm February 6th
Hello, everyone! Mr. J here!
Today, I’m gonna talk about one of the most underrated Batman villains within the DC universe: The Clock King. To give some background information about this guy, his title is the name of three supervillains who appear in comic books published by DC Comics: Temple Fugate, William Tockman, and Tem. His first appearance was in World’s Finest Comics #111 which came out in August 1960.
He was originally a Green Arrow villain who had a thing for telling time during his crime sprees. It wouldn’t be long until he would make a comeback as an opposer to the Dark Knight in future media.
Now here are my personal opinions on this character in every iteration I’ve seen of him: not too long ago, he randomly crossed my mind as I thought about every one of Batman’s rogue gallery; Clock King got my attention the most because his theme and his gimmicks seemed very interesting to me. So I decided to re-watch two particular episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” that featured him as the main antagonist—“The Clock King” and “Time Out of Joint”.
Temple Fugate is a very simplistic yet interesting villain because he is so obsessed with doing everything in a timely manner albeit painstakingly. He finds the idea of doing things off-schedule uncomfortable, and whenever someone doesn’t meet up to his timely expectations, he lashes out at them.
What set him off to a life of villainy was when Mayor Hill kindly recommended he takes a break from his schedule for a short time so he doesn’t end up stressed out. Unfortunately, it didn’t end well for him due to bad luck which resulted in him being late for his court hearing. Basically, his entire character can be summed up in this one line he said to Batman:
He did worse—he made me LATE!
In both episodes, he not only proved how intelligent he is but also how much of a threat he was to Batman and everyone else. Hell, he almost got Batman killed in a bank vault! He’s probably one of the few villains who were very close to offing Batman through the element of surprise.
Temple Fugate is definitely my favorite iteration of Clock King, and his design alone is very simple and elegant enough. I say this because most other versions actually dress up like a king but use a clock as some sort of mask…hence the name. The classic design just looks goofy, in my opinion, because he barely presents himself as a serious threat.
Also, his name alone is quite clever. Tempus Fugit is Latin for “time flies”; that perfectly explains why his personality and mindset are so time-oriented because for him, time is flying by and he doesn’t want to waste it on anything unimportant or meaningless.
It saddens me that he doesn’t appear that much in DC movies or shows. Hopefully, one day, he can be used as a main villain for Batman to fight against in a live-action movie.
As for the other versions of the character, I sadly don’t have any emotional connection with them. I haven’t seen Batman: The Brave and the Bold in its entirety yet, but from the clips I’ve seen of its Clock King, he…seems rather generic and lame. That’s all I got for him.
Additionally, a few months ago, I finally realized something in regards to The Batman season 4 episode 9 “Seconds”; Francis Grey was actually the show’s own take on The Clock King, and it actually surprised me they were this subtle about it. Looking back at the episode, I can somewhat appreciate their attempt to do something different with the character. He was never called The Clock King in the episode, but his time manipulation powers and ability to predict his opponent’s next moves are very…Clock Kingy.
Lastly, Clock King is a background character in the Harley Quinn show. From what I’ve noticed, he’s apparently gay and in a romantic relationship with The Riddler. I honestly don’t see Clock King as gay because it doesn’t fit his character whatsoever. If anything, I see him as more asexual or aromatic. But that’s just me.
That’s all I got for this guy. He’s deserves more spotlight and appreciation for who he is and what he can actually offer for future DC projects: animation and live-action. What do you guys think about this villain? Does he seem cool to you or do you think otherwise? Let me know in the comments below.
Peace!
Twilight Sparkle in an alternative timeline of “Lesson Zero.”
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Oohhhh boy... She would be, 'The Clock Queen', able to play time like a puppet.
If I may ask…
If Clock King was to officially make a return in a DC-based film or show, this time with a larger role, what performer do you think would be the perfect choice for voicing him?
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His original voice actor Alan Rachins, the same guy who voiced Norman Osborn in "The Spectacular Spider-Man".