Bat Men
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Not to be confused with Bat Man.
The Bat Men (人間コウモリ Ningen Kōmori, lit. Human Bats) are humanoid bat kaijin that first appeared in the 1969 Toho film, Latitude Zero.
Creations of the mad genius Malic, the Bat Men served as guardians of his base on Blood Rock. Malic used the Bat Men to hold Dr. Okada and his daughter Tsuruko hostage with the intention of drawing his nemesis Craig McKenzie to the island. The Bat Men held Okada and Tsuruko still and forced them to watch Malic perform the gruesome surgery to create the Griffon. When McKenzie and his allies breached Malic's lab, he ordered the Bat Men to attack them, though McKenzie and the others were able to kill them all.
Name
The Bat Men are given a multitude of different Japanese names across several publications, including Human Bats (人間コウモリ Ningen Kōmori), Bat Humans (コウモリ人間 Kōmori Ningen), and Bat People (コウモリ人 Kōmori Jin). Although rarely given English names, the 2005 Japanese book Godzilla Toho Giant Monster Pictorial Book confirms their English names as "Bat Men". Merchandise of the creatures was also later released in 2008, giving them a peculiar alternate name of Blood Rock Keepers, referencing their protection of Blood Rock within the film.
Development
Two Bat Men suits were made for Latitude Zero, though the film used editing and compositing to create the effect of five different Bat Men. The heads of the suits were modeled by Teizo Toshimitsu, while their bodies were modeled by Yasuei Yagi. The Bat Men suits were worn at different points by Haruo Nakajima, Haruyoshi Nakamura, Hiroshi Sekita, and Susumu Utsumi.[3] One of the Bat Man suits was modified by Tsuburaya Productions and used to portray the kaiju Alien Mechara in the show Chibira-kun,[4] while the other was used to portray Bat Man in Go! Godman.
Design
All of the Bat Men are nearly identical in appearance, all looking like giant bipedal bats. Some have large pointed ears, while others possess smaller, curved ears.
Personality
The Bat Men were portrayed as extremely animalistic, constantly roaring and snarling after Malic revealed them to Dr. Okada and his daughter Tsuruko. Even after Malic left, the Bat Men continued to roar at the captive duo, causing Tsuruko to faint out of fear. They did display some signs of intellect, responding to the commands of Lucretia and Malic. One of them would consistently raise its wings high and roar to intimidate Okada and his daughter into staying still. When Tsuruko attempted to look away from Kroiga's surgery, one of the Bat Men grabbed her and forced her to continue watching.
Origins
The Bat Men are creations of Malic. They may have been normal humans that were transformed into their current forms by Malic's twisted experiments, since the villain also threatened to turn Tsuruko Okada into a similar creature.
History
- Latitude Zero (1969)
Showa era
Latitude Zero
The Bat Men were among Malic's many terrible creations, used to guard his fortress on Blood Rock. When Malic abducted Dr. Okada and his daughter Tsuruko, he attempted to persuade Okada into giving him the information he discovered about a radiation immunity serum. When Okada refused, Lucretia pressed a button that opened a pair of doors revealing two Bat Men housed inside of a cage. Malic threatened to turn Tsuruko into one of them if Okada did not give up the information in 12 hours, and used the Bat Men to guard the doctor and his daughter. After destroying the homing device on Okada, Lucretia released the Bat Men from their cage and ordered them to bring the doctor and his daughter along with her. They arrived in a surgery chamber, with one Bat Men wheeling in Kroiga while the other forced them to watch as Malic performed surgery on her in order to create the Griffon. After witnessing a lion and condor being gassed, Tsuruko attempted to look away, but Malic ordered the Bat Man watching them to hold her and make her watch. After Malic ordered the Griffon fly to towards Captain McKenzie's group, he had two Bat Men restrain Okada and Tsuruko to prepare them for surgery next. When McKenzie and his crew breached Malic's lab, Malic ordered the Bat Men to attack them as he continued to attempt to cut open Okada's head. Using their various glove-mounted weapons, McKenzie and his crew were able to defeat the Bat Men and rescue Okada and his daughter.
Abilities
Physical abilities
The Bat Men have human-level strength, with one of them shoving Dr. Okada to the ground after he attempted to help his daughter fight off the humanoid bat. When Tsuruko attempted to get up from her chair, the Bat Man watching over her pushed her back down and held her shoulders down. After the Griffon's surgery was complete, two Bat Men restrained Okada and Tsuruko, with one of them carrying and strapping down Okada to Malic's surgery table. While fighting the crew of the Alpha, one of the Bat Men strangled a crew member, while other Bat Men swiped at them with their wings.
Flight
After Captain McKenzie broke into Malic's base, one of the Bat Men flew in to stop him and his crew. Another flew in to stop two of the Alpha crew members from going any further. One of them sprung off the ground with its legs before flying, while others naturally used their wings. Three Bat Men attempted to ram into Craig McKenzie by flying before being shot down.
Intelligence
Despite their animalistic nature, the Bat Men responded to the commands of Lucretia and Malic to herd, intimidate, and restrain Dr. Okada and his daughter Tsuruko.
Weaknesses
One of the Bat Men was shot out of the air by a laser from the glove-mounted weapons on Craig McKenzie's suit, burning its wing. Another accidentally flew into the cavern wall after being shot in the chest with the ray, while a third simply plummeted to the ground after a shot to the chest.
Comics
- The Godzilla Comic (1990) ["Monster Warrior Godzilla"]
The Godzilla Comic
A Bat Man appeared in the "Monster Warrior Godzilla" story, where he was one of many kaiju who lived on their own planet. He was part of a group who sought out Godzilla's help after humanity invaded their world, slaughtering any kaiju who stood in their way.
Roar
The Bat Men use heavily altered Varan roars mixed with deep growls from the Ultra Series kaiju Mummy Man. These roars would later be sped up and used for other Ultra Series villains: Draculas, Black Satan, and Jumbo King.
Gallery
- Main article: Bat Men/Gallery.
References
This is a list of references for Bat Men. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
|
Comments
Showing 36 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.
|
|
|
|
