Batman (species)

The Batmen were a species of bat-like humanoids from an asteroid in hyperspace.

History
Sometime prior to 2065, the prison ship Black Maria 9 was struck by a meteorite shower and crashed on the asteroid, leaving one survivor in the form of a human gangster. Valeen and the other Batmen attempted to care for him during the day. However, they returned at night to find that he had apparently turned into one of them, though he had actually made skin and an oxygen kit in order to fool them.

By January 2065, the man had become the leader of the Batmen and, despite their originally peaceful ways, had begun using them as a way to continue his gangster work. This resulted in the hijacking of a space freighter in Area 4 of Sector 25, which drew the attention of the World Space Patrol and Fireball XL5. The Batmen put Steve Zodiac into a "frozen sleep" before escaping with the freighter, though he soon recovered and Fireball was able to pursue the Batmen back to the asteroid. The XL5 crew began search the asteroid on jetmobiles but the Batmen captured first Venus and then Steve and Professor Matic. The Batmen's leader then threatened to kill Venus by dropping her into a deadly lake if Steve did not disarm Robert the Robot and surrender Fireball to the Batmen. Steve agreed to save Venus, (COMIC: The Batmen) news which reached the front page of TV Century 21 on 13 February. Space City was said to be "stunned" that Steve had done this, spawning "utmost concern for the safety of all space freighters and passenger flights throughout the Universe" and resulting in Space City's combat ships being placed on Emergency Red. (PROSE: Fireball Surrenders!)

The leader took Fireball on a test-flight but, as he celebrated his victory upon his return, Steve was able to use Robert to expose him as a human wearing a spacesuit. (COMIC: The Batmen) Although Space City officials were concerned about potential retaliations for Robert's attack, this fear (COMIC: Power Play) proved to be misplaced. The Batmen realised they had been tricked, with Steve asking them if they wanted to risk an attack from the World Space Patrol for the sake of an impostor. Some Batmen called for the death of their former leader but Valeen forbade this by pointing out that they used to be peaceful and instead asked that Steve take him back to Earth and leave them in peace. Valeen also showed Steve to where they had been keeping the crew of the freighter, after which both the freighter and Fireball took off from the asteroid, with Steve jovially requesting that Valeen call Space City the next time he found someone in space, something Valeen said he would remember. (COMIC: The Batmen)