BTAS concept/idea that just came to mind. Humor me.
What if...there was a character who was semi-aware of the fourth wall? Not Deadpool level, but just self-aware enough to take advantage of how the series is written?
Okay, so there’s some rando in Arkham. One of the many nameless background characters to fill space, right? He’s just sitting in his cell one day, watching the doctors transport The Riddler or someone back to their cell after being brought back by Batman. That’s when he suddenly makes a realization.
Looking at all the people in the cells along the hall, he notices a very specific detail. Everyone labelled as a ‘supervillain’, everyone who dresses in costumes and commits crimes under an alias, they all inexplicably end up being given the ability to escape multiple times.
The guy decides to test this out after managing to get out of Arkham in one way or another. He gets a bunch of materials together and makes himself a make-shift costume, then picks an alias and goes out to commit a crime. (Let’s say for the sake of simplicity that he chooses a plague doctor theme, and, let’s just call him ‘Plague Rat’.) Sure enough, Batman shows up.
One thing leads to another and suddenly, he finds himself developing powers after the Batman encounter. (Idk, maybe he can communicate with pests, like rats?) Then is sent back to Arkham.
He notices that his appearance has suddenly changed. He looks a little less normal, a bit more...’iconic’? Then, the next thing he knows, he’s given an inexplicable opportunity to escape with a bunch of other rogues gallery characters.
He notices that each and every ‘supervillain’ is connected to Batman in some way, thus, he ends up coming up with a theory that he tests as well. He goes out to commit another crime at the same time as another villain, sure enough, Batman shows up and manages against the clock to stop them both.
This makes Plague rat realize that Batman is basically the protagonist of the story. This encounter also makes him realize that he’s suddenly impossibly lucky, able to just walk into dangerous situations and walking away with barely a scratch. Thus, he ends up taking up the habit of just throwing himself at danger haphazardly in his plans, as well as growing the balls to piss off other stronger baddies without fear. Even going so far as to outright bet other inmates on things that seem stupidly dangerous. (”I’ll bet you that I can go punch Killer Croc in the face right now and I’ll be fine.” He does, and right before Croc can attack him, a guard suddenly appears and breaks them up.)
This behavior would probably catch the attention of two people in particular: The Joker and Scarecrow.
Joker would be interested, as his careless and chaotic behavior meshes with his well. Scarecrow would be interested purely because of just... how is he so careless? It’s like he’s completely incapable of feeling fear?
Scarecrow at one point sprays him with fear toxin, after a few seconds of silent horror, he’s surprised to find Plague Rat laughing? He just starts yelling in hysterical laughter: “None of you can see it! None of you! I’m untouchable! Send as many demons, monsters, and serial killers as you like! Do your worst! It won’t help!” (Laughing mostly to cover how much he is actually afraid, but he’s still confident in the pattern.)
The entire rogues gallery just ends up being conflicted on how they feel about him. On one hand, they kind of trust him, because his predictions are usually correct, but on the other, he’s so eager to just throw himself at certain death. But on the other other hand, he always manages to get out of those situations perfectly fine? Arkham’s inmates just end up spreading a rumor that he can somehow see the future.
Maybe in his fights with Batman, he even starts saying stuff like: “-But before you foil my plans and take me to jail, why don’t we make this more interesting for the audience? After all, the hero always needs to face some peril in a good story, right?” Or “Please, this plan of yours is just going to fail anyway. Why are you taking it so seriously?” Or even, “My backstory? Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about, a good story always trims the fat if it isn’t important, after all.” Or how about, “Trust me (Rogue name), just jump out with me! ...Yes, I get we’re in a blimp, but we’ll be fine! We’re both main characters!”
Basically: He’s a Batman villain who can see his own Plot armor, and he’s just having fun with it.
Idk, I just had this idea and I wanted to share it, because I thought the idea was at least somewhat interesting.