“ | Check your shoes for what the cow left and check your money. Two solid rules. | „ |
~ Farmer Brown teaching his daughter Emmylou about how to avoid being tricked. |
Farmer Brown is a one-shot antagonist in The New Batman Adventures, serving as a mentioned character in the episode "The Ultimate Thrill" and as the main antagonist of the episode "Critters".
He is a farmer-turned-scientist who created enlarged animals by altering their hormones so he could provide more food for humanity and solve world hunger across the globe. However, after he was banned from marketing his product after a disastrous presentation, Brown and his daughter Emmylou decided to strike back against Gotham City one year later with their mutated animals.
He was voiced by the late Peter Breck.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Despite originally creating giant farm animals to solve the issue of world hunger, Enoch Brown turned to a life of crime after he was ordered by the authorities to shut down his experiments when during his product's demonstration, the sheep he and his daughter Emmylou brought grew irritated and alarmingly broke free, but rather than moving on, Brown decided to get back by targeting countless of innocents with his mutated animals.
- While one can say that his tragedy is genuine because he had invested his life savings on his research and that the Gothamite judge was too harsh on him and his daughter Emmylou, it should be noted that the Browns should have made sure that their giant sheep wouldn't pose a danger for the attendees of Gotham City's Agricultural ExpoOut.
- Unleashes his mutated animals over Gotham City for a couple of days, endangering several Gothamites due to the ferocity of the giant mantises, bulls, cows and flocks of chickens. Though Batman, Robin and Batgirl do their best to save everyone, it's likely that some Gothamites were killed by Brown's beasts, as Commissioner Gordon comments about "killer chickens".
- In respect to the mantises, Brown designs his mantises to self-destroy if they breathe any kind of venoms, leading a group of them that cornered Batman into inhaling the venom of the pesticide truck Batman tricked one into striking, causing all of them to lose their limbs and drop dead.
- Demands fifth million dollars in unmarked bills in exchange of not keep sending his giant bugs to attack Gotham City forever.
- Orders Emmylou to throw Detective Harvey Bullock into the pig pen to be devoured alive by his giant pig when Emmylou finds out that Bullock secretly followed them from the docks.
- Tries to stab Batman with his weaponized pitchfork and then to burn him with its electrical currents as he runs for cover across the simulated field.
- Locks Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Bullock inside a silo-like rocket with a hive of giant mantises (that would have devoured them upon breaking from their cocoons), planning to strike it into Gotham Park Lake so they can feed on all the Gothamites for not really paying him the ransom he demanded.
- The episode's ending implies that at least one killer chicken of Brown's survived his laboratory's destruction, which hints that such mutated beast may have endangered others afterwards.
- Although he seems to care for some of his farm animals, as he and Emmylou do take care of them in their simulated farm, given how he created giant mantises with a degenerative defect whome he tried to launch into Gotham City inside a rocket, it's likely that he just cares for them to ensure they don't turn against him and until they outlive their usefulness.
- While the DCAU's Heinous Standards are high and villains like the Joker, Mr. Freeze and Baby-Doll have likewise tried to blow Gotham City up, Farmer Brown arguably lacks resources due to his apparent poverty and his attempt to have all Gothamites devoured alive by his giant mantises is unique, as the mantis hive would kill all those citizens slowly and painfully, allowing Brown to stand out.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He clearly loves his daughter Emmylou, who stays by his side all the time and helps him in pursuing his vendetta against Gotham City. Even when he finds out that Emmylou was tricked by picking up fake money, rather than reprimanding her, Brown calmly advises his daughter so she doesn't repeat the same mistake again, showcasing that even if they are evil, their genuine care for each other is their sole redeemable quality.
Trivia[]
- In the DVD commentary for "Critters", the producers of The New Batman Adventures wonder why exactly Farmer Brown demanded a ransom from Gotham City, as despite him saying to the Gothamite judge that he invested his life savings on his research, he has a huge laboratory, lair and advanced technology like his electrical pitchfork and rocket that undoubtedly must have costed him lots of money. Due to how "The Ultimate Thrill" shows a truck full of normal chickens with his brand, it's possible that he still farmed normal animals. If it were confirmed that he was able to still have an stable income yet still chose to become a criminal out of pettiness, this would make Brown even worse.
- In retrospective, Glen Murakami and Alan Burnett thought that, rather than using Doctor Moon to replace Hugo Strange in Justice League Unlimited once the Bat-embargo prevented Strange from keep appearing, they should have brought Farmer Brown back as the Division Head of Project Cadmus who would torture the Question in the episode as expressed in the DVD commentary of the episode's home video release. Had Brown been used in the episode in Moon's place, it would have made Brown even worse.
External Links[]
- Farmer Brown on the Villains Wiki
- Farmer Brown on the DC Animated Universe Wiki
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Near Pure Evils | ||
Comics Other Earths Theatrical Movies Direct-to-video Movies Television Novelizations Video Games See Also |
Animated Universe Near Pure Evils | ||
Batman: The Animated Series: Scarecrow | Sewer King | Professor Milo | Thoth Khepera | Arkady Duvall |