| “ | Lesson number one is: NO TALKING! Children are to be seen and not heard. We are the Underdwellers. We are the silent ones. We follow the invisible creed. | „ |
| ~ The Sewer King oppresively abusing his "Underdwellers". |
The Sewer King is a one-shot antagonist in Batman: The Animated Series, serving as the main antagonist of the Season 1 episode "The Underdwellers".
He is an enigmatic poor outcast from Gotham City who lives in the city's sewers, having several kids and preteens at his disposal. Ruling over them as their leader, the Sewer King sends his "Underdwellers" to steal any valuables from the rich outside, but his operations are soon threatened when Batman retrieves one of his children.
He was voiced by the late Michael Pataki.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Swayed poor children and preteens into living with him in Gotham City's sewers despite such place being an unhealthy place for a minor to live in, forcing them to work for him and treating them as his subjects the "Underdwellers" after convincing them that they were unwanted by society just like him and only he would be kind with them. In reality, the Sewer King would just exploit them in the following ways:
- Sent them to pickpocket and steal from the rich citizens of Gotham.
- Forced them to sew, either clothing for him or their own clothing.
- Made them work with shovels, despite such tools being dangerous for them.
- Threatened them with his crocodiles, often having them patrol the tunnels to prevent them from leaving him.
- Ordered them to not speak, due to his claims that children should be seen but not heard.
- By having his kids spend most of the time in the sewers and only coming out from them at night, it made them sensible to daylight and any lights in general.
- Plus, due to teaching all these kids to only steal, some of them could act like animals, didn't know good manners and knew how to use weapons, which means that by negligence, he denied them basic education.
- Punishes one of his "Underdwellers" by locking him up inside a chamber with artificial lights as punishment for a couple of hours due to such kid complaining to him.
- Gets furious when Frog, one of his "Underdwellers", disappears, leading him to waste the banquet the children got for him by throwing the table and food away and punishing them with no food until Frog was found, unaware that Frog had been discovered and taken by Batman.
- Sicks his crocodiles against Batman when he comes to free the "Underdwellers".
- Threatens to feed one of his crocodiles with one of the kids to threaten Batman into letting him go.
- Tricks Batman into falling through a pipe until he ends up hanging from some pipes for dear life with so many hungry crocodiles below, stomping on his fingers.
- While it's suggested through his dialogue that he was poor and shunned by the Gothamite society because of this, this doesn't excuse his horrendous treatment towards the kids.
- His actions were appalling enough to the point Batman actually considered to kill him then and there, making the Sewer King one of the two villains, the other being the Joker nonetheless, that provoked the Dark Knight into employing lethal force.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- Fails the Heinous Standards to Granny Goodness and David Wheeler, who abused minors far worse than him. However, the Sewer King has less resources than them, making this a minor prevention.
- Seems to actually care for his pet crocodiles, evidenced by how his crocodiles defend him from Batman and resort to rescue him when he falls into their pool instead of trying to devour him.
External Links[]
- Sewer King on the Villains Wiki
- Sewer King on the DC Animated Universe Wiki
- Sewer King on the Hate Sink Wiki
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 Near Pure Evils
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Comics Other Earths Theatrical Movies Direct-to-video Movies Television Novelizations Video Games See Also | ||
 Animated Universe Near Pure Evils
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Batman: The Animated Series: Scarecrow | Sewer King | Professor Milo | Thoth Khepera | Arkady Duvall | ||
