Times The Mad Hatter has used children and/or forced people to be Alice
This was originally meant to answer the question of "Where did Mad Hatter being a pedophile come from?" which was posed in a reblog I got but I ended up looking into most of his appearances (this means non-cameos according to LoCG) to see how often he does the whole Alice thing. I am only human so I probably missed something and would love to get any corrections or additions. I included screenshots for stories where Jervis doesn't have the mainest focus.
TLDR answer to the question (all of this is afaik):
First time he's portrayed as a pedophile is Arkham Asylum in 1989.
5 years later, the first time he kidnaps a child is also the first time he forces them to be Alice. It happens to Barbara in LotDK Halloween Special #2.
He doesn't really do child kidnapping or Alicing super frequently until Flashpoint gives him a new origin. I'd say his post-Flashpoint fixation on Alice is somewhat Humbert Humbert-esque, but he preys on adult women during that arc. Then Detective Comics #37-40 from 2015 strongly implies he's a pedophile.
There are generally big gaps between all of these stories. See below.
Arkham Asylum from 1989. I don't believe he kidnapped kids or anything before this story, and Morrison knew this was a very drastic change. The last screenshot is from the script.
In LotDK Halloween Special #2 (1994), he kidnaps Barbara to act as Alice and I believe this is the first time he makes someone Alice. The place he brings her to also serves as a home for runaway children. (Jeph Loeb)
Next is Robin: Year One #1 from 2000 where he's a child trafficker who dresses his victims like Alice. (Chuck Dixon)
In 'Tec #800 during War Games, Black Mask had him kidnap a little boy to serve as a pawn to taunt Batman with.
In Batman #642 he has a bunch of young girls mind controlled to make hats for him and he seems to enjoy watching them work. He's also very willing to feed them to Killer Croc. (Andersen Gabrych)
In Secret Six #6 from 2006, he gets poisoned and hallucinates Doctor Psycho making this jeer at him. (Gail Simone)
In Joker's Asylum: Mad Hatter from 2010, he's shown to have kidnapped multiple adult women to become Alices. (Landry Walker)
In Batman: Through The Looking Glass from 2012, there's an orphaned woman named Grace who ran away from home. Jervis took her in from a strip club when she was 18. She calls him "uncle" and says he's kind to her, but he treats her in a way that makes Batman accuse him of having "sugared thoughts" about her. Later in the story he does a 180 as far as she's concerned and forces her to be Alice. (The sexual overtones remain.) He also kidnaps and mind controls an older Dickbin. (Bruce Jones)
The following are all from 2013.
BTDK #16-21 has him kidnapping many, many people, including children. His new origin has him attached to an idealised version of his childhood crush named Alice and a perfect day he spent with her. All that kidnapping was for the sake of recreating that day. When he finds Alice, he's incredibly distraught by her having grown up and being less than the perfect highschool girl he remembers. The women he forces into playing the role of idealised Alice seem to be adult women. (Gregg Hurwitz)
He holds the mayor's son for ransom and makes him Alice in Batman: Black and White #4. (Michael Allred)
Nightwing #26-27 has him come back to haunt one of his "favourite" Alices, a young woman named Mali he kidnapped and broke the mind of. (Kyle Higgins)
2015's Tec #37-40 establishes that sometime in the past he got access to children from a child trafficker and "used [them] to act out all his sick fantasies," including one child named Alice. (Francis Manapul/Brian Buccellato)
These next ones are from 2021.
Black and White #6 mentions him kidnapping children among others. (Brandon Thomas)
In DC Pride, he tries to make the Kane sisters conform to his idea of Alice. (Same page twice for sizing purposes.) (James Tynion IV)
Peacekeeper-01 Secret Files has him hypnotize children to steal from a museum. (Ed Brisson + James Tynion IV)
He says this in 2024's Last Halloween #2. His kidnapping Barbara is also referenced. (Jeph Loeb)
And that is all as of August 2nd 2026. I don't think I'll be updating this. Thank you for your time.
I finished watching season 2 of caped crusader... spoilers:
I suppose I had my hopes too high for Hattie, but I didn't expect her to simply do nothing and then get killed off, its like they didnt even try to make her interesting ;( it's a shame, i was hoping she would become one of my favs 💔
The rest of the season was alright i guess, i liked episode 6 the most 🫠
I adore her design, she's adorable.. but that's about it
It was on me to let myself believe I would actually get pathetic desperate lesbian tetch who is also a genius inventor/neuro-scientist. That was foolish to hope for and I'm not getting that version outside of fanfictions(which I have yet to find wink wink)
Hattie was a great character on her own. Charming, brazen, cheeky, manipulative but not in a mind control way but rather by being cunning, two faced, etc...we got a few Alice in wonderland references as well and her design was great!
Just not a proper female version of Jervis Tetch, in my eyes. Or at the very least not what I had hoped for.
She's just too well put together :((( Give me a little pathetic behaviour...a little desperation...a little obsession...wonderland related or otherwise... please
On a similar note, get your eyes away from Gordon and focus on that crazy lady that tied ya up and you keep terrorising, I'm not giving up on the concept of lesbian hatter.
Also! Love the reference to the hatpin panic that took place during the early 20th century in the US, great Britain and Australia....my favourite little historical fun fact and love having it be referenced<3 all jervi should do so :)
