Kite Man: The Star Of Max's New Show Is A Joke - But His Past Will Make You Cry
Though he's mostly treated as a laughingstock in the "Harley Quinn" animated series, Kite Man (voiced by Matt Oberg), is about to take flight in his very own spin-off show, "Kite Man: Hell Yeah!" But while Kite Man, aka Charles Brown (yes, seriously), is often played as the comic relief in the DC universe, his recently reimagined comic book origins are possibly too twisted even for "Harley Quinn."
Like many Silver Age comic book villains, Kite Man was little more than a novelty villain of the week when he made his debut in "Batman" #133 back in 1960. The character would sporadically reappear in DC Comics over the years, often as the butt of a joke, before writer Tom King gave him a tragic new origin story in 2017 during DC's "Rebirth" event. In this reboot, Brown is a reluctant Joker henchman who finds himself caught in the middle of a gang war between Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime and the Riddler. When Riddler senses Chuck is plotting against him, he kills Brown's son by lacing his kite's string with poison.
The loss is enough to send Brown over the edge, leading him to design his now-signature suit and join the ranks of Joker's army. As if this new origin story weren't tragic enough, Batman is actually the one who encourages Brown to further involve himself in the Joker-Riddler war, searching for more information. Without realizing it, Batman puts into motion a series of events that leads to Brown's son being killed, and subsequentially the origin of Kite Man.
Kite Man isn't all laughs
It's hard to deny that a kite-based supervillain is a silly concept, and DC Comics definitely leaned into the absurdity of Kite Man until King came along to provide an updated and darker take on the wind-dependent baddie. His choice to inject more pathos into the character was a deliberate one. "The history of taking old ideas seriously, that's what comics is about," King told Polygon in 2017. "This character that everyone's laughing at is actually a character that everyone's crying at."
Judging by the teaser trailer, "Kite Man: Hell Yeah!" will contain even more of the irreverent, excessive comedy, violence, and action seen in "Harley Quinn." There's no telling if the show will explore this particularly dark take on such a silly character, but "Harley Quinn" has already incorporated obscure and overlooked comic book characters and storylines, so it stands to reason that its spinoff may continue to do the same.
Whether or not we see this specific origin of Kite Man in his solo series, the history of Charles Brown is a lot darker than casual fans may realize.