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The New 52 came out of the Flashpoint event. In September, 2011, DC Comics consolidated and relaunched their comic lines, discontinuing some series, and introducing yet other series, resulting in 52 titles, each with a new #1. The New 52 branding ended after the completion of the "Convergence" storyline in May 2015, although the continuity of The New 52 continued. The "Convergence" revived every Earth from before Crisis, and New Earth from before Flashpoint.

• (2012, March) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 #5: "Handful of Dust."

Technically his first appearance in this universe, but he's a one-panel, non-speaking fear toxin hallucination, in a crowd of the rest of Batman's rogue gallery.

• (2012, April.) Resurrection Man Vol 2 #6: "Locked In."

First real appearance. Non-speaking cameo in crowd during an attempted Arkham mass breakout.

• (2012, June.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 8: "The Madness."

First speaking appearance. Batman meets with Commissioner Gordon at the West Harlow subway station, where all of the passengers on a train car have murdered each other. Batman goes to check the station's nearly disused tunnels and passages for whatever could have had such an effect on the train passengers, and soon finds a hidden tunnel which has been blasted open by Tweedledum and Tweedledee—the cousins Dumpson and Deever Tweed, who are fueled more by rage than usual. The Tweeds try to run away, but Batman knows that following henchmen usually leads to their boss. Outside the tunels, now on a rooftop, Batman discovers that the Tweeds have partnered with The Mad Hatter, and are moving a huge antenna for him.

"This way, Dum-dum! You're narrowing the frequency coverage!"

"It’s Tweedledum, boss—and we've got bigger problems!"

As Batman makes his entrance by kicking Jervis in the face, the antenna they were using begins broadcasting its signal again, and affects him long enough for Dum and Dee to grab him.

"You're no different, Batman! Gotham is filled with the slovenly and the weak!" He notices a GCPD helicopter approaching. "Ah! And so our tale begins its final act..." He pulls out a harpoon gun. "You are correct, Batman. I know full well how these encounters of ours tend to end. But I've already shown this city how weak and simple and easily given to its worst demons it truly is... once you push the right buttons."

Hatter aims his antenna at the helicopter, and the signal affects the pilot, making him lose control.

His device seems to be projecting his own madness onto others. I can hold my own, dampeners in the cowl keep the signal from burrowing too deep.

Batman throws Tweedledee at his cousin and the antenna, short-circuiting it. Angrily, the Hatter prepares to fire at the chopper, but Batman knocks him off the roof of the building.

Note 1: White Rabit was on the cover, but not the actual story. However, her influence can be inferred. In Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 #1 she injected Arkham patients with a drug that caused them to be fearless and more aggressive (and also suddenly more muscular, for some reason), a storyline that was ongoing as Batman hunted down the infected Arkham escapees. It is possible Mad Hatter’s aggressiveness (which he is broadcasting to others with the antenna) and "everyone else is weak and I'll prove it" motivation (which was a common a sentiment expressed by the other affected Arkham escapees) was due to White Rabit having injected him with her drug.

Note 2: Prime Earth Jervis seems not to share Earth-2 Jervis' distaste for working with the Tweeds, though that doesn't mean he's fond of them.

• (2012, October.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 #12: "Mirror Mirror."

Non-speaking one-panel cameo in a flashback of Batman beating him.

• (2012, October.) Detective Comics Vol 2 Annual 1: "The Abyss." (This issue was reprinted in Detective Comics: Scare Tactics.) Note: "Detective Comics Volume 2" was an ongoing comic series in the New 52 initiative. It was published for fifty-two issues before it was ended, and the original Detective Comics (Volume 1) resumed as part of DC Rebirth in 2016. Yeah, it's confusing.

Since the attack by the Court of Owls on Arkham (see Detective Comics Vol 2 #9), Black Mask escaped. (In this continuity, Black Mask is able to link to people's minds and use mind-control by means of his mask.) Batman figures out that Black Mask left Edgar Dempsey, an underling he trusted, to dismantle the False Face Society and hide their masks if Sionis was ever caught. However, somebody wants the same mind-control technology that Black Mask uses: the Mad Hatter. Batman tracks down Tweedledum and Tweedledee and demands to know what their boss has been up to. Meanwhile, Black Mask finds that he can't influence Dempsey's mind, but Dempsey promises to take Black Mask and the False Face Society to the masks if they don’t kill him. Dempsey leads Black Mask to the Gotham Museum of Natural History, and shows him that the masks have been included in one of the exhibits, but they have been changed by someone. Black Mask tries to kill Dempsey, but he is protected from mental attacks by the Mad Hatter, who explains that there can only be one mind-controller in Gotham City. Batman crashes in. Mad Hatter and Black Mask have a mind-control fight of hat vs mask. Batman slams into them, cracking the mask with a kick. The mask begins to radiate white light, and everyone collapses.

Later, Batman meets with Gordon, and reveals that he has no memory of what happened since the white light, but at least the mask is in police custody. Everyone but Roman Sionis (Black Mask) escaped.

• (2013, January.) Legends of the Dark Knight Vol 1 #2 (printed version) or #3–#6 (digital version): "Crisis in Identity."

Joker kidnaps a string of men from Gotham's high society, and has an also kidnapped Mad Hatter hypnotize them into believing they are Batman. This naturally leads to each rich guy dying, the latest one having Killer Croc bite his head off.

The reluctant assistant tied to a chair throughout this, the Mad Hatter, uses a... fidget-spinner/fan thingy (it looks too flat to be a pinwheel) on the front of his hat to aid his hypnotism. Mad Hatter tries to plead with a henchman to set him free at one point, but the henchman replies that Hatter sucks at persuasiveness without his hypnotic hat.

"Now, you just stay here and keep the Hatter company. And don't remove those contact lenses. His magic hat can't beat that prescription," says the Joker as he leaves with the fake Batman.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he?" says the henchman.

"He's going to kill us all, you moron," snaps Mad Hatter. "Why do you people keep signing up to work with this maniac? Let me go and we'll deal with him together."

"Well, I ain't seen the Joker chew nobody's legs off and leave them lying on a subway platform. I saw Croc do that when I worked for him. Anyway, why should I throw in with the guy who's tied to a chair?"

"Listen, you fool. Let me go. You can go wherever you want. I'll—I'll pay you. In cash. Or—well, in bonds. I'm a little short on cash these days. Wait—I'll cut you in on my next job. Hm—"

"Man. Without your spinning hat, you're a really rotten negotiator, you know that?"

Eventually, Joker kidnaps Bruce Wayne and has Hatter do the thing. Task failed successfully: Hatter ends up hypnotizing him into believing he is Bruce Wayne pretending to be Batman, which disorients him for a bit. Then, Killer Croc breaks into The Jester's Cap (perfect name for a shared Joker and Mad Hatter lair, isn't it?) to complain—with his many, many, very sharp teeth—about Joker sending fake Batmans to harass him. Fight breaks out. Bruce gets his thinking straight, whispers a plan to Hatter, and restrains Croc so Hatter can hypnotize Croc to sleep. Joker got injuried in the struggle with Killer Croc, Hatter is still tied to a chair, and sirens sound outside.

• (2013, March.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 16: "Touch of Crazy."

Over the last week, several riots have errupted all over Gotham because of the panic caused by a rash of kidnappings. Batman is frustrated at the lack of any discernable pattern nor linking factor between the victims.

After rescuing one victim from a kidnapping raid on a Chinatown sweatshop (and lamenting that other vans with yet more kidnapping victims got away), Bruce Wayne returns to Wayne Manor to find his girlfriend Natalya Trusevich (an Ukrainian concert pianist) waiting for him. When she confonts him about his bruised face, Bruce claims he had a car accident thanks to the mist on the roads. Natalya scoffs that she's smarter than she looks and she looks quite smart. She begins to play a piano, explaining that Bruce is a selfish man but that selfishness fuels people like them. She notes that she l shared a private part of herself with him when she had told him of her painful childhood in Kiev, but he had never opened up to her. She warns that their relationship will be over if he leaves now because she can't handle the secrets. Predictably, Bruce leaves.

Batman pays a visit to the Penguin at his Iceberg Casino. He states that he knows Cobblepot is responsible for the kidnappings, listing the high tech weaponry, the size of the operation, and the bowler hats that the kidnappers wore as evidence. Calmly looking up from his accounting book, Penguin responds that if Batman were actually sure it was him, he would have crashed through the window, and adds he is not the only player in Gotham with a fondness for hats.

Returning to the scene of the crime, Batman retrieves a discarded wig from a downed kidnapper, and discovers a transmitter inside it.

Meanwhile, in his hideout, the Mad Hatter watches several screens showing footage from around Gotham.

"How 'bout him, boss?" asks Tweedledee (or Tweedledum).

"Nnh nhn," replies Mad Hatter.

"Dis guy, then? With the nose?"

"No, no, no. He just won't do."

"How 'bout her? For the other part?"

"No. We need him first."

"There then. Lookit dis one. He's perfect."

"No, Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle-dumber. You don't get it. You don't get what I'm looking for."

"I don't think anyone does, boss. It's your vision."

"There! Him! Him there! That's him! Look at him. He's perfect."

"I'll go get him then."

"Slip him something. It has to be fast and quiet. We can't have a scene here. Give me the signal when he's ready. I'll be waiting."

"Want me to fix you a real drink, boss?"

"Oh, that's okay... The tea's just fine."

The Hatter wants his kidnapped victims to play out a particular set of roles, but when they don’t perform up to his standards he shoots them dead and has the Tweeds clean it up.

"Look, uh, 'scuse me, Mad Hatter—er, Mr. Hatter?" says a man (wearing a tiny hat) who was working on the sets. "For me and—and some of the others, it's getting a little outta hand. I mean, look around. This is madness."

There is a pause, where we get our first close up of the Hatter's face and can see that his right eye is lazy.

"Fetch my ladder," Hatter orders one of the Tweeds as he takes off his coat to hand it off to the other one.

"Yes, Boss."

"Place it there." Hatter points at a spot in front of the man wearing the tiny hat for his henchman to set down the small ladder.

Climbing to the top step—and thanks to his platform boots—Hatter rises to equal height with the man, and then plunges his thumbs into the man's eye sockets, killing him.
• (2013, April.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 17: "Sweet Obsession."

At the Gotham Goliaths baseball stadium, Jervis Tetch (out of his Mad Hatter outfit, I mean) sells hats with hidden mind-controlling microchips from his Krazy Hats stand. This is demonstrated when he uses a remote control under the counter to make a boy who was rude to Jervis hit himself while the boy's mom was distracted paying for his new baseball cap.

Meanwhile, Batman has been data-mining ("Bata-mining," to Alfred's mild annoyance) for wire-transfers from Jervis Tetch's accounts before he last disappeared. The money is filtered through a number of offshore accounts and shell companies, ending up in the forms of donations, bribes, and investments in various locations in Gotham. The Mad Hatter is using his influence to "shop" for people to kidnap.

Batman reports his findings to Commissioner Gordon, explaining that they can't follow his money-trail, or they'll just be chasing themselves around in circles. The Hatter isn't doing anything yet, all of the kidnappings have been performed by others who he has controlled with his microchipped hats. However, Hatter's One Size, Inc. will be sponsoring a picnic dinner at Gotham Pediatric Hospital tomorrow, and Gordon agrees to place some unmarked cars in the vicinity and some undercover cops on the scene.

Meanwhile, Hatter is still "casting" his victims.

"He was no good," he says after shooting yet another one. "Let's try a woman. Next!"

"The line is, 'There you are, sir. Can I get you anything else?'" explains the Tweed dragging her in front of where Hatter sits on a director's chair.

"Wait--just, wait. Please. Where am I? Let go of me!"

"Want me to get a hat for her, boss?"

"I'd prefer to see her natural line reading."

"Help me! Help me! God, oh god, please someone help me!" she cries out.

"Put her outta her misery?"

"No! Wait! She's perfect for this part. Say it again," says Hatter.

"S-say what?"

"'Help me. Help me.' Like you mean it!"

"Help me! Help me!"

"Good. Send her to costuming."

"It's amazing how you see it all so perfectly, boss... I just don't know where you get your inspiration," says a Tweed.

We flashback to Jervis' childhood. Alice Dee was a girl he knew in school, and when another boy tried to bully Jervis, Alice and the group of boys she was friends with looked out for him and included him in their games. At TETCH AND SON HABERDASHERY, Jervis tells his father about Alice.

"So, there's a girl—" says Mr. Tetch.

"Not just any girl—"

"Of course not."

"Alice Dee is, like, a really cool girl."

"Let's put this really cool girl on hold a minute so we can form up this cone into a proper hat."

"It's so tall!"

"Well, we're gonna have to shrink it up. But we have to be sure to form it as we go or we can get poor felt. Nobody buys poor felt, and even they did, we wouldn't sell it at Tetch and son, would we?"

"No, sir! This felt is so smooth!"

"You know what they used for curing felt back in the day? Mercurous nitrate. No one knew it then, but exposure to the vapors could poison a hatter. Those poor fellows got all kinds of ailments. Dementia. Trembling hands. Hallucinations. I bet you've heard the phrase—"

"Mad as a hatter!"

"That's right. But we've figured out how to do all that safely now. And still make the finest hats around. Making hats, it's like building character, Jervis. It takes a steady hand. Consistency and care. There are no shortcuts. You can't cheat the process or you wind up with a bad product. Perfection might be impossible, but it sure helps to strive for it."

"Alice is perfect."

"I'm sure she seems that way, son. But be careful about putting people up on a pedestal. Any which way they move, they fall off."

"Yes, sir."

"Now, about this Alice, I might have an idea..."

The next day, Jervis invited Alice to the opening of a new park his parents were taking him to, and she accepted.

Note: We never see the faces of Mr. and Mrs. Tetch on this or any of the flashbacks that are shown in this arc. Mrs. Tetch didn’t get as many lines as her husband, but both of them were shown to be loving parents to Jervis.

In the present, the Tweeds single out a small boy at the charity picnic, and lead him away to an abandoned rotunda. While their backs are turned, Batman swoops down and rescues the child before returning to beat them up. Even so, he lets them get away, having placed a tracker on the back of their van.

At his lair, Jervis addresses the people he kidnapped. They sit at a long table, with teacups laid out for everyone.

"I'm sorry you didn't understand. Really. I apologize. I've been known to lose my cool. But there are certain standards that have to be upheld. There are no shortcuts, see. You can't cheat the process or you wind up with a bad product. No, that just wouldn't do. We can't have a bad product. But if you drink the tea, I promise you'll feel all better. It's a very special tea... It'll take you to your happy place."

We flashback to a young Jervis and Alice having a wonderful time at an Alice in Wonderland theme park. They shared a funnel cake, and afterwards, Alice admitted that though she wasn't sure she'd have fun, but she was glad that she agreed to come with him, and held his hand.

Note: one of the stands next to the funnel cake's is labelled "Bunnies," with a sign that reads "Win your very own white rabbit!" And after the day is over we get a panel of young Jervis in his room, where a (too small!) cage containing a white rabbit sits on his nightstand. A blue, first place ribbon hangs on the cage. The implication is that he won it at the park... I pressume this is like the rabbit equivalent of a puppy mill crossed with win a goldfish carnival games. Appalling.

We return to the present by a Tweed warning Jervis that Batman has arrived. We can now see that everyone seated at the table with Jervis is dead, murdered in various ways. Above the lair, Batman stands by the abandoned van Tweedledum and Tweedledee left behind. Batman has Alfred scan for lifeforms and heat signatures, but he cannot detect anything.

"Thank god for reinforced concrete," says one of the Tweeds as they watch a frustrated Batman through the lair's security cameras.

"And when I told you I wanted to move operations to an abandoned missile silo... You all said I was crazy."

"Sorry dey didn't deliver the boy, boss."

"We sold a thousand hats today to kids all over Gotham. Tomorrow, I'll pick one little brat and have him walk himself right to us. See, the Batman wants to throw his cowl into the game. But the thing he doesn't realize is—for us...?" He reaches into a cupboard stocked with boxes labelled special tea rain, special tea rage, and special tea moon. "Every day just gets easier." He takes a tea bag of special tea moon and grabs a chipped tea cup that reads drink me. He heads for a ladder that will take him out of the silo. "It's time for me to be alone now. First one of you to disturb me... Gets skinned." His lazy right eye focuses in a glare when he delivers the threat. He carefully opens the hatch, watching the retreating Batplane. "See you soon, then, my foe."

Once the coast is clear, he sits on the ground and sips his tea. Singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat," he descends into psychedelic hallucinations.

• (2013, May) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 18: "Devil's Bargain."

Alfred discovered that the land where Batman found abandoned van the night before is owned by one of the many sub corporations owned ostensibly by the Mad Hatter. However, the subsidiary that owns that land also owns a stake in a night club in Devil's Square called the Wild Hare.

Batman breaks into the club after hours, where he finds Tweedledee, the manager, counting cash. Batman palms Tweedledee's cellphone, but Tweedledee managed to remotely to wipe it before Batman could learn anymore than that its GPS had been near a cell-tower next to an abandoned factory. After ambushing the workers there, he discovers some high-power weapons, and tea. Analysis finds that the tea contains a number of hallucinogenics, poisons, and mood enhancers, which, if ingested could cause preternatural strength, heightened pain tolerance, violent hallucinations, and increased aggressiveness. Bstman figures the Hatter mixes and matches certain teas in order to suit his mood or needs, arming him with various mental and physical tools. Mad Hatter sneaks up behind Batman and clocks him upside the head with a steel pipe, escaping while Batman is stunned. Batman resolves to have the warehouse scoured by the GCPD.

Meanwhile, Mad Hatter checks in on the progress of his plans. The sets are painted, the costumes made, and casting is completed. All that remains to be done is to find the woman for the most important role: Alice.

We flashback to Jervis' youth. A school dance was approaching, and Jervis was worried that the fact that his friends were outgrowing him quickly was going to make him undesirable. His father attempted to help by suggesting platform shoes and a top hat to wear, but Jervis decided that he would have faith in his friends' ability to accept him as he was. However, when he asked Alice to the dance, she responded that they would all be going together as a group. Feeling rejected, he begged his parents to take him to a doctor to see if something could be done about his height. The doctor explained that his stature was in part caused by a "testosterone deficiency", and after some prodding, he agreed to test some "experimental testosterone enhancers" on Jervis, but it might not work. Worse, it might have "permanent negative effects on mental stability".

Note: Side effects commonly described for androgenic drugs used for long periods include erythrocytosis (blood having too many red blood cells in relation to plasma), irritability, acne, persistent erections, and gynaecomastia (the abnormal non-cancerous enlargement of one or both breasts in males as a result of a hormone imbalance) due to aromatisation to oestrogens. [I guess we shall have to classify this made up drug's side effect of "makes you evil and mentally unstable" as falling under the umbrella of "irritability".] One particular concern in paediatric ages is the potential acceleration of bone age, which compromises adult height. In men, oestrogen is primarily created by it being aromatised (converted) from testosterone via the aromatase enzyme. Therefore, higher testosterone = higher oestrogen in men. Oestrogen is the hormone that closes growth plates. The spiking of oestrogen levels in the body is what fuses growth plates during puberty. Growth following growth plate closure is next to impossible. Meaning that having high testosterone is likely to make a man shorter, and having low testosterone is likely to make a man taller. Teenagers who have been castrated or have any genetic defect that leads to low testosterone or low oestrogen often grow to be very tall (for example, one of the symptoms of Klinefelter syndrome is growing to above average height). Neither the writer nor the editor could be bothered to at least type "growth disorder" in a search bar, I guess.

Anyway, young Jervis insisted on getting this treatment for a condition he does not have, and that night, his father took him aside to ask that he think long and hard about the decision, reminding that he and Jervis' mother loved him for who he was, not how tall he was. Jervis promises his father that he will consider things.

Later, at the Junior High dance, Jervis approached Alice and tried to hold her hand, but she pulled it away, explaining that she didn't like him in that way, and he spent the dance moping alone.

In the present, flower bouquet in hand, Jervis walks up to the house where a now middle-aged Alice Dee lives. He gives her jaded husband $100 for the opportunity to speak with her alone, and the man runs off with their three small children.

Jervis finds her in the living room, wearing a bathrobe and smoking while she irons a shirt. Jervis reminds her that, once upon a time, she was perfect. She responds that that was until she grew up—everyone did, except him.

Jervis goes to her sink to pour water into a mug so he can have one of his teas.

"What do you want, anyways?" Alice asks.

"I want you. But how you were. Not how you are. I want... I want that perfect day back," says Mad Hatter.

"Yeah, well, no one gets anything back. We don't get do-overs in the real world. Haven't ya learned?"

"Don't worry, Alice. I won't leave you like this... I'll put you out of your misery."

He beats her to death with the clothes iron.

Bruce, meanwhile, has gone to visit Natalya because he wants to show her who he really is. He drags her to the window, and leaps out onto the waiting Batplane. He takes her to the Batcave.

In his lair, Mad Hatter holds auditions for the part of Alice, but finds them all wrong, and has them shot.

We end with a flashback of younger Jervis struggling with whether or not to risk mental instability (by taking the wrong kind of experimental drugs to cure a condition the writer didn't bother to Google). In tears, he takes the first pill.

• (2013, June.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 19: "Pool of Tears."

With the GCPD on the paper trail of One Size, Inc., the Mad Hatter is concerned that while they will arrive too late, the Batman won't. Preemptively, he orders Tweedledee and Tweedledum to find and kill the vigilante using the network of mind-control victims who are wearing his company's hats.

We flashback to young Jervis. Initially, the drug worked well, but it was soon he began to suffer from alopecia (hair loss), which made him a target for bullying. In an attempt to compensate for his rapidly worsening baldness, he began to wear a top hat. [A top hat. To an American public school. Jervis, please, they are gonna bully you harder. Your dad runs a hat shop, pick something less conspicuous.] Despite that and his parents' worries, he continued to take the drug.

Note: "There are a lot of myths out there about balding men. One of them is that men with Male Pattern Baldness are more virile and have higher levels of testosterone. This isn’t necessarily the case. Men with Male Pattern Baldness may actually have lower circulating levels of testosterone but higher levels of the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Alternately, you may simply have genes that give you hair follicles that are highly sensitive to testosterone or DHT." Though, to be fair, some medicines or a huge "shock to the system" can cause alopecia.

In the flashback, he confronted young Alice Dee.

"But you liked me! You held my hand! You weren't sure you'd have fun with me at the park, but you did! You were glad you said yes. Say it! Say 'I'm really glad I said yes!'"

"N-no."

"Leave her alone! What's wrong with you, Jervis?" one of Alice's friends cuts in.

"It’s not fair! It was taken from me! It was all taken from me! You told me. You told me you were glad you said yes."

Locked in his room, he took more and more of the drug, as his parents lovingly but futilely attempted to get through to him. Their pleading and the sound of his pet rabbit thumping in its cage got on his nerves. He ended up killing the rabbit with his bare hands, and was shocked about it after, wondering what was happening to him.

His parents, heartbroken and sobbing, committed him to the Arkham Detention Facility for Youth—which apparently only exists in this story arc and Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 Annual 1.

In the present, Natalya manages to drag Bruce away from the Batcave to the bedroom. When she rolls over, she sees the time and realizes that she is just minutes away from her performance time for her piano solo with the symphony. Batman flies her to the conservatory in the Batplane. A janitor under the thrall of the Hatter witnessed this, and the Tweeds alert the Hatter to what they saw. The Hatter takes a look at her for himself, and is surprised by how perfect he finds her.

In the Batcave, Bruce watches a monitor showing the signal from a tracker he had secretly implanted in Natalya, feeling relief that it shows Natalya has made it home alright.

Pleased to have finally found his Alice, the Hatter decides to hold a rehearsal, creating a stand-in for Natalya by stapling a blonde wig to one of his thrall's scalps. He recreates the Alice in Wonderland themed park that he had attended with Alice Dee as a boy. As he walks through it, he offers criticisms and direction to his actors, trying to get things just right. However, when he reaches the moment at which Alice had told him that she'd had a good time, he becomes annoyed with the lack of accuracy, and orders all of his actors to drown themselves.

Batman meets with Commissioner Gordon, and learns that the previous night, hundreds of people went missing from their homes. They can only guess what the Hatter is doing with them all. Before they have even parted ways, Gordon receives the call that informs him hundreds of corpses have floated up onto the shores of the Gotham Bay.

• (2013, July.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 20: "Down, Down, Down."

After having discovered the corpses of hundreds of Gothamites floating in Gotham Bay, Batman enters the system of underground tunnels beneath the city, hoping to find the source. Though he doesn't find it, he does emerge near the location in Kane County where he spotted a van on the night that he was tracking the Mad Hatter. Alfred determines that the land was probably government-owned, but any documents relating to it have been redacted, requiring him to hack into their system to find out what was hidden—but this will take time.

Despite the Gotham City Police Department's thwarting the Hatter's plans to bring an audience of mind-controlled citizens to watch his final production, he is still confident that he can bring his plan to fruition since he discovered his new Alice, Natalya. He collects her at her home, smashing through the window, and kidnapping her.

The Hatter drags Natalya through his recreation of the Wonderland-themed park he visited as a boy, explaining her role to her. She refuses to cooperate, though, and rakes her nails across his face. Angrily, he realizes that she must not be his Alice, and decides to have her killed—but first, she will tell him who the Batman is.

Natalya takes a beating as Hatter tries to torture her into revealing Batman's identity. The Hatter gives her a final chance to give up the Batman, but when she refuses, he throws her out the open door of the helicopter they have been hovering over the city in.

Batman locks onto Natalya's signal, and he speeds toward her. He arrives at the GCPD Headquarters just in time to see her make impact, crashing to her death into the Bat-Signal.

• (2013, August.) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 21: "Mad."

For a moment, Bruce nearly cries, but instead, steels himself through anger, and demands of Alfred the most likely location of the Hatter's hideout.

He gets there and calls out for the Hatter to open the hatch and let him in. The hatch opens automatically, and Batman leaps down into the Hatter's underground lair. Soon, he is attacked by a horde of Gothamites under the Hatter's control. They overwhelm him quickly, but he spots a railing above on which to grapple, and pulls himself out of their reach. Up there, he encounters Tweedledum, who begs to be left alone. Instead, Batman subdues him and deactivates the mind-controlling device he had.

Elsewhere, the Hatter prepares for his inevitable encounter with the Batman by drinking special tea psycho. Soon, Batman catches up to him, and at the moment of their coming face to face, the Hatter blows a hallucinogenic dust (the content of a bag of special tea psycho) into Batman face.

Batman recoils and begins to lose grip on reality. Struggling to regain control, he focuses all of his horror and confusion into something he is more comfortable with: rage. At the first opportunity, Batman fights back against the next nightmare, unwittingly unhinging Tweedledee's jaw.

The Hatter challenges Batman to take him on. After taking just one hit, the Hatter begins screaming for help, but receives none. Bleeding, he attempts to crawl away, only to find himself cornered again. Even as the Hatter sobs and coughs for Batman to stop, Bruce punches him into a pool of water, ready to leave the unconscious Tetch to drown.

Desperately, Alfred pleads with Bruce over the comms to turn around and pull Tetch out of the water; to save him. Hesitating, Bruce's resolve crumbles, and he turns around to retrieve the Hatter's limp body from the water.

• (2013, July) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 Annual 1: "Once Upon a Midnight Dreary."

One Halloween, the Mad Hatter recives a letter inviting to the Arkham Detention Facility for Youth by Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, to discuss business. He walks around, uncomfortably remembering his youth in the facility. He arrives to find what seems to be his old room, with Wonderland inspired scribbles on the walls, which causes him to remember his teenage years in a straightjacket, slamming himself on the walls of this facility. This angers him to the point he threatens to skin Penguin alive, but Penguin arrives at that moment, with a letter signed by Jervis inviting Penguin to discuss business.

As a flash of lightning reveals the silhouette of the Scarecrow in a facing window, the pair rush out to confront him, only to find a stuffed dummy in his stead. Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, is sitting on a nearby bench, having received a letter from the Hatter and Penguin both.

Another flash of lightning. A swarm of bats fly by, sending the three villains into a panic, and they run inside.

This panic is heightened when a particularly indignant thump of the Penguin's umbrella brings down a chandelier on them, and they narrowly dodge it.

"What say you watch your indignant umbrella thumping from here on out, Ozzy?" says Mad Hatter.

"Oh, I was supposed to know there was a rigged chandelier?"

"Rigged?"

"Of course. By him."

"Now why do I have trouble picturing that? Him in all his kevlar-suited glory, cape aflutter as he...What? Files down a link in a chandelier?"

"Snicker all you want. You are well aware he's capable of anything."

"I would kill for some hot water right about now..." Hatter holds a teacup and a bag of special tea calm.

"You know what I like...?" Scarecrow says. "No skylights here. No stained glass windows. You know how he does that crashing-through thing?"

"I hate the crashing-through thing," says Penguin.

"There's probably not an intact stained glass window in all of Gotham by now," adds Hatter.

"Hey—that's what we should do... Open a stained glass window repair business. We'd make a mint," says Penguin. "Know what else I loathe? Those batarangs."

"Where does he come up with these names?" Scarecrow says. "How about the deep voice from the shadows? You have a bead on him—"

"And then he's behind you," agrees Hatter.

"And always so talkative," adds Penguin sarcastically.

"Ha! Can barely get a complete sentence out of him. It's like he pays by the syllable," says Scarecrow.

"Would it kill him to have a normal conversation just once? 'How was your day?' and then the right hook," says Mad Hatter.

"He does it—all of it—to scare us," Scarecrow points out.

"We know this..." agrees Penguin.

"...And yet it works anyway," complains Mad Hatter.

Daring to make an escape by sneaking outside, the trio find themselves lost in a hedge maze, and separated. Ominously, a music box that was tipped over in their escape attempt begins loudly playing the song "Three Blind Mice" as they stumble through the maze in a panic. Eventually, they come across a dummy in a Batman costume and, believing they've been set up by the real one, decide to run back inside.

Defeated, back at the staircase where the chandelier fell, Penguin and Scarecrow start to argue. Suddenly, the room fills with fear toxin (not by Scarecrow, but by a trap either automatic or triggered in some way). The Hatter hallucinates about his youth in the facility, yelling at the doctors to leave him alone, and about a nightmarish version of Alice. (Penguin and Scarecrow are hallucinating about their mother and father, respectively). They wander about and, in their confusion, each of them falls down the stairs and gets knocked out.

Sunrise wakes them. They shuffle out shamefully, not making eye contact, agreeing to never speak of this.

We cut to Bruce Wayne who has just woken up from a full night of sleep, and learn that he only delivered the invitations and it isn’t specified how much of what the villains experienced was rigged by him. [I'd say the Batman dummy and the fear gas darts are safe bets, but everything else is up for interpretation.]

• (2013, September — Part of the "Batman: Zero Year" event.) Batman Vol 2 Annual 2: "Cages." (This issue was reprinted in Batman: Graveyard Shift.)

Cameo in his cell. He seems to be happily hallucinating colorful butterflies.

• (2013, September.) Justice League of America Vol 3 6: "Trinity War, Chapter Two."

Cameo. In a photograph only.

• (2013, October.) Justice League Vol 2 23: "Trinity War, Chapter Six: Conclusion."

Flashback cameo. In a photograph only.

• (2013, October) Batman: The Dark Knight Vol 2 23: "Rampant."

At Arkham Asylum, Batman angrily questions the Mad Hatter, who is talking to himself in his cell, as to who he told about Natalya Trusevich's relationship with him, because somehow Clayface had found out about it.

"And then dad says, 'You have a very important responsibility today. And that's to have as much fun as possible.' And she says, 'Thank you so much, Mr. Tetch.' Just like that. With a little smile because she's happy, so happy to be there with me. And then momma says, 'Jervis, honey, I'm gonna give you some money. You're to treat your guest to whatever she'd like.' And she's leaning over a little, opening her purse, and—"

"Who did you tell?"

"Wha--?"

"You alone knew that Natalya Trusevich knew me. And yet somehow Clayface found out."

"Clay-who?"

"Who did you tell?"

"You're not really here. It's just my head talking to me. There is no bat in here. There is no bat in here. There is no—"

He's not going to talk. At least to anyone but himself. Another approach is in order. I won't focus on who he told... But on who he had the opportunity to tell.

The visitors' log reveals one of Penguin's henchmen visited Hatter, so Batman surmises that Penguin must have informed Clayface. The crews Clayface is using in his crime spree are the Penguin's rivals, and Clayface kills them mid-job.

• (2013, October.) Batwoman Vol 2 23: "This Blood Is Thick: Veins." (This issue is reprinted in Batwoman: This Blood is Thick.)

Non-speaking one-panel cameo with Bane, Riddler, the Tweedles, and Poison Ivy as they are released by the DEO (Department of Extranormal Operations) director Bones in order to bait Batman.

• (2013, December.) Batwoman Vol 2 24: "This Blood Is Thick: Plots." (This issue is reprinted in Batwoman: This Blood is Thick.)

Non-speaking cameo. He is terrorizing the city while driving a giant teacup through the streets and throwing explosive hats. The Birds of Prey show up to confront him.Note: The version of the Birds of Prey that appears in this issue is not current with continuity at the time of publication. At the time of the issue's release, Starling and Katana had both left the team, but here are depicted as members.

Later, when Batman confronts Bane, he mentions that working in tandem with Mad Hatter and the Tweedles is beneath Bane, as evidence for his deduction that someone else orchestrated this.

• (2013, November.) Batman Black and White 1: "Batman Zombie."

Bruce Wayne has a nightmare concerning the contemporary injustices where Batman shows up as an ineffective zombie. He can't help a mother who is being evicted because of a bank's clerical errors, shambling away despite her pleading for his help. He briefly returns to an unzombified state to stop Mad Hatter, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, and Joker from merrily robbing an armored truck. Then he sees a man running by clutching a bag, and chases him. He re-zombifies after realizing the man wasn't involved with the villains, he is between jobs and living with his children in his car. Zombie Batman shambles through jail, where his villains merrily walk out of their cells.

"Finish buttoning up my spats," says probably Penguin, as he is the one drawn wearing spats.

"Hold still," replies probably Hatter.

"This time I'm really gonna sue," probably Penguin replies back.

"You sue, they'll throw you back in jail. Then how do you prove you're crazy?" says someone, unseen, from another cell.

"Yeah, if you're crazy you don't get in Arkham," adds someone else, from another cell.

"Ah, yes. I forgot. Jolly old Arkham. Looney park. And all the comforts of home," says Mad Hatter as he exits the cell he was sharing with Penguin.

Zombie Batman helplessly watches them go, while people who did trivial crimes like shoplifting or possession of marijuana stay to serve long sentences.

After Bruce wakes, he has Alfred schedule meetings with every lawyer they know or have access to, all day.

• (2013, November — Part of the “Forever Evil” event.) Aquaman Vol 7 23.1: “Black Manta.”

Non-speaking cameo in crowd.

• (2013, November.) Forever Evil 1: “Nightfall.”

Non-speaking cameo in crowd.

• (2013, December.) Forever Evil 2: “Rats.”

Non-speaking cameo in crowd.

• (2013, December.) Forever Evil: Arkham War #1

Alluded to: One of the labels on Penguin's Gotham city model marks Mad Hatter’s territory, next to Zsasz's.

• (2014, January.) Forever Evil: Arkham War 2

Non-speaking cameo in crowd as the Arkhamites break into Blackgate to steal cryogenically frozen Talons (assassins from the Court of Owls).

• (2014, February.) Forever Evil: Arkham War 3

“Here comes another one! Hurry, Mr. Freeze!”

“This one is stable too, Mad Hatter. Get it down below.”

“We're missing one. I was told there'd be eight.”

“That's the last one,” Killer Croc cuts in.

“What?! Scarecrow's plan hinges completely on our having a small army of these super-powered Talons!” Mad Hatter says.

“Scarecrow and Langstrom were stopped at Blackgate by Bane. You still have your army minus only one,” Killer Croc says.

“I am reluctant to revive these cretinous zombies to begin with, considering their dubious origins. If doing so doesn't even guarantee our victory, I hardly see a reason to—” Mr. Freeze starts.

“We've had enough of your yapping, Freeze!” Mad Hatter snaps. “We are at war! You hate the Court of Owls for stealing your research to use on these Talons. Duly noted! But now, you face defeat and death at the hands of Bane and his army! That should be all the reason you need to take your hate and shove it down his drugged-up throat!”

• (2014, March.) Forever Evil: Arkham War 4

“Firefly! I need your flaming fists here! These Blackgatians have Bane-trained backup! And I loaned all my best mind-control tech to Scarecrow!”

“For God's sake, Hatter—you're useless. The rest of us have to spend half our time protecting you! If you want to secure your sector, you're gonna need more than crazy hats! You're going to need to get more—” says Firefly.

“Deadly!" says Ripper as he stabs Firefly.

• (2014, April.) Forever Evil: Arkham War 5

Non-speaking background cameo during Scarecrow’s toast. Scarecrow infects the Arkhamites (including himself) with Venom so they can try to beat Bane at his own game.

• (2014, May.) Forever Evil: Arkham War 6

Affected by Venom, he fights alongside the others Arkhamites against Bane. Bane wins.

• (2014, February.) Nightwing Vol 3 26: "Some Strings Attached."

Mali the Mimic, AKA Marionette, who was introduced in Nightwing Vol 3 #19, has been stealing a drug called Kanium Carbonate from various hospitals in Chicago (where Nightwing was living at the time).

Michael Pearson (Dick's roommate) and Detective Maxwell Morgan stakeout the supply center for the drug, Drexler Chemical. Unfortunately, Marionette still manages to get inside—but Nightwing is already waiting for her. Just as he makes himself known, both Michael and Morgan receive phone calls. When they answer their phones, they enter a sudden trance that renders them immobile.

Nightwing tries to reason with Marionette, but she is unmoved.

In the last page, the Mad Hatter enters the scene flanked by a handful of men wearing his hats to explain that only he can help his favorite Alice, Mali.

• (2014, March.) Nightwing Vol 3 27: "Curiouser and Curiouser."

"Mali, Mali, my dear. Oh, dear. That wardrobe simply won't do. Not for my favorite Alice. Everyone! Gather 'round for direction! We're going to save her. And we're going to kill him."

Reluctantly, Nightwing and Marionette call a truce to ally themselves against the Hatter. After checking on Michael, though, Nightwing learns that he isn't wearing one of the Hatter's trademark hats. The Hatter quickly realizes that his thralls are outmatched, and uses a machine gun to cover a wider area. Michael's phone is damaged in the chaos, and the control over him fades, prompting Nightwing to deduce that the cellphones were the means of control. Mali spots a phone that has an open call, and she grabs it and Detective Maxwell as she and Nightwing escape through a skylight. By the time Michael and Maxwell realize where they are, Nightwing and Marionette are gone.

Alone with Nightwing, Mali explains how her memories are only brief images of how the Mad Hatter kidnapped her, and tried to make her into his Alice with sick experiments and mind control. When she failed to satisfy, he shot her, and left her for dead in the gutter. The experience messed with her mind, giving her a condition her doctors call "personality slipping". She also developed the ability to mimic the behaviour of others. Having seen several doctors of different kinds, all they could agree on was that the Hatter broke something in her, and she believes that he is the only one who can put her back together. In the meantime, she has been taking Kanium Carbonate in order to stay "baseline". Unfortunately, it's a controlled substance, and she has to steal it to get it.

Meanwhile, at Drexler Chemical...

"I'm just... A little worried. Eight workers in the hospital? Two of them shot? Not to mention the police shut down the warehouse," says the CEO.

"Yes. It was an... Unfortunate sequence of events. But there's nothing officially linking me to Drexler. We needn't worry," says Mad Hatter.

"That's easy for you to say. You're not the CEO."

"Your choice of tea, sir?" A maid wheels in a serving cart for Hatter.

"Ahh, we'll go with 'Tranquility' today. Always a favorite. The jasmine really complements the ketamine."

"Look, Jervis—you being here isn't part of the deal. The deal was for the chemicals and—"

"Then I'm changing the deal! Don't you understand? I want my Alice back! And I'm not leaving until I get her."

Nightwing and Mali break into Drexler Chemical. The plan, as far as Dick knows, is to do a simple snatch-and-grab job, but within moments of entering the building, Mali kicks him in the face, and triggers the alarm. As she speeds ahead, leaving Nightwing to face security alone, he figures that she intends to kill the Hatter.

By the time Dick arrives at the CEO's office, he is surprised and confused to find the Hatter alive.

"I've been robbed! Robbed! I'll slice her throat and drain the tea out of her! Every last bag!" The threat is stymied by the fact Hatter is currently hanging off the wall, pinned by a knife in the scruff of his coat. Like a kitten picked up by the scruff; his feet don't touch the floor.

"She stole your tea? Okay, I'm officially confused." Sniffing one of the Hatter's teacups, Nightwing recognizes the odour of the Kanium Carbonate.

"Ohhh, wait a second. I know that face. Did she tell you how much she wanted it to stop? How terrible I'd been to her? Oh, that clever girl. That's my Mali... That's my Alice."

I wait around just long enough to see the police pull Hatter off the wall. I'll be curious to see whether the C.P.D. can make any charges stick. Turns out, he's been using Drexler for years, to supply chemicals for his teas. Lysergic Acid, Ketamine... Kanium.

He never mistreated her, he just had Kanium. Now, while Nightwing is sure that she wants a cure, he can't trust anything else Mali told him. [Which is just as well, because apparently she never appeared in any other comics, as far as I can tell.]

• (2014, October) Batgirl Vol 4 34

Non-speaking background cameo in crowd.

• (2015, February.) Detective Comics Vol 2 37: Anarky, Part 1.
• (2015, March.) Detective Comics Vol 2 38: Anarky, Part 2.
• (2015, April.) Detective Comics Vol 2 39: Anarky, Part 3.
• (2015, May.) Detective Comics Vol 2 40: Anarky, Conclusion.
• (2015, March.) Batman Eternal 41: "The Swarm." This issue is reprinted in Batman Eternal Vol. 3.
• (2015, March). Batman Eternal 42: "Black & Blue." This issue is reprinted in Batman Eternal Vol. 3.
• (2015, December) Detective Comics Vol 2 45: "Of Giants and Men."

DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch of DC's entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using the end of The New 52 (2011–2016) initiative in May 2016 as its launching point, DC Rebirth restored the DC Universe to a form much like that prior to the 2011 "Flashpoint" storyline while still incorporating numerous elements of The New 52, including its continuity. It also saw many of its titles move to a twice-monthly release schedule.

(Cameo)

Doomsday Clock altered Prime Earth, though thankfully not rebooting it entirely. Instead, a new Earth was created: Earth-52. This Earth is essentially Prime Earth before Doomsday Clock. Prime Earth post Doomsday Clock would resemble New Earth more. Doomsday Clock explains that Prime Earth is actually a “Metaverse”, the entire Multiverse is ebbed from it, and reacts to it, specifically when and where Superman’s rocket lands. This is to explain the various reboots that DC has undergone and will continue to undergo.

Cameo.

2018 relaunch of DC Comics' entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles, using the end of Dark Nights: Metal as its launching point, followed by the Year of the Villain event.

(Cameo)

Cameo.

Cameo.

Flashback cameo.

Infinite Frontier is a 2021 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. It is the follow-up to the 2018 New Justice relaunch. The relaunch and event was shepherded by writer Joshua Williamson. The continuity and repercussions established by Infinite Frontier continue into the 2023 Dawn of DC relaunch.Infinite Frontier begins after the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, Generations, and Future State. The DC Multiverse has expanded into a larger "Omniverse" where everything is canon.

Cameo.

Flashback only.

Flashback only.

Cameo.

Flashback only.

Cameo.

Cameo.

Flashback cameo.

Following the events of the 2022 crossover events Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and Lazarus Planet, DC Comics started the Dawn of DC line in January 2023 with Action Comics #1051 and concluded with Absolute Power #4.

Cameo.

Cameo.

Flashback Cameo.

Cameo.

In dream sequence only.

In dream sequence only.

Cameo.

Cameo.