What makes DC Comics' Kite Man the greatest character in all of fiction? Ok not actually all of fiction, but I do believe he's really cool twitter: / lexanderlennen insta: / alexlennen
Tom King is just good at writing and fleshing out characters which don’t really get much of a spotlight. Vision, Supergirl, Mister Miracle, goated fucking books
Even in the Harley Quinn show where he's a joke to almost everyone, Kite Man still takes it all on the chin and strives to be the best person he can be. He was born powerless while his parents have superpowers, but he still feels like he can be something and makes his own power. When he finds out that Ivy cheated on him with Harley, he stands up for himself and calls off the wedding, knowing that she wouldn't be happy with him, and that he deserves better than her. Then in the next season when they meet again, he holds no ill will towards her and even cheers up Harley when she's in a bad place. He even finds a new happy relationship with Golden Glider, and in her conversation with Ivy, we learn that Kite Man puts the needs of those he cares for in front of himself. There's a reason why he's the fan favorite of the show.
I love when writers take characters that are/were considered "joke characters" that spawned as a result of the comic era where creatives would just throw shit at the wall until something sticks, and give them some real depth and quality storytelling motives and a reason behind their gimmick. Hell yeah.
To be fair, strapping a bomb to your chest and telling you to take down batman and yourself, only for it turn out to be a dud, but having to go through the guilt of actually going through with it in the first place is really messed up
But at the same time... it's kind of funny, in a twisted way, isn't it? You've reached the end of your rope. You have double, triple, quadruple crossed every side in this damned war that's tearing apart your city. You have caused an unmitigated disaster in a situation where you were just trying to stop it all; you just wanted your son to be able to grow up, safe and happy! And so, your boss tells you that enough is enough. You strap a bomb to your chest of his design, and march yourself to the hero who everybody in the city is supposed to trust. The one who failed to stop this war. You are angry. You are sad. You are so, so incredibly tired. You are broken. You just want this war to end. You want your son to walk away from this- even if he thinks you're the worst, that you'll end up in hell when you die. You don't care. So long as he lives, you can make peace with that. You stand before the hero, accept your death, and hit the switch. "What goes 'Ha, ha, thump'? A man laughing his head off." You are alive. You will see your son again tomorrow. Your boss, renowned across the world- across continuities- for his wanton cruelty, for his callous disregard of life, for his insanity- has made you a joke of a suicide bomber. ...Personally, I think that's one of the greatest jokes that he's ever played.
Kiteman, Peacemaker, Vigilante, Ratcatcher, Poka-Dot man, Blue Beatle. DC has taken so many forgotten or minor characters these past decades and given them in depth and incredible stories making them memorable for the next few decades.
I remember hearing about Polka-Dot Man way back when, and I thought "this guy's a complete loser!" Then James Gunn changed my perspective by making Polka-Dot Man have a better backstory, better powers, and a personality that befits his experiences. You think that changing all that would make a different character, but it somehow feels like a Polka-Dot Man that I could see in a modern comic.
He probably says "Hell yeah" every time because in the slight chance that his son is in hell, he'll be there for him. So he keeps on saying that word to ensure that he goes to hell.
This is a lesson for any prospective storytellers. There's no such thing as dumb, unworkable ideas. If something you came up with is cringe, your challenge as a writer is to use your creativity skills to come up with a way to make it interesting, and perhaps even relatable. If Kite Man can become a compelling character, any character can with the right writer behind them.
5:28 "So if someone's trying to pressure you into doing something you don't wanna do, choose death over anything" "Come on, just one toke. You'll like it. Wait! What are yo-"
Kite-Man's given name is Charles Brown. He's literally Charlie Brown, flying his kite despite any kite-eating tree that life might throw in his path. That's why his relationship with Poison Ivy was doomed from the start: Ivy is the Kite-eating Tree and the Red-headed Girl all wrapped into one.
@@qualitycontent7854 oh right on top of publicly being ashamed to be with him as well, although they at the end of the same episode reconcile the episode after she basically goes with Harley They try to make you hate kite man but in the end we sympathize for him
@@LUCAS420BLZ It's unfortunate that she doesn't really grasp the situation. She's essentially swept up in his affection for her, and that human connection it represents. She never really loves him, but she's become so separated from her basic humanity that she doesn't realize the difference at first.
Riddler's failing was getting Joker to laugh by making a Kite Man the punchline. He should've chosen to make a Mail Man the punchline. _Because it's all in the delivery!_ Either way, it's for the best. Because we are now in a Second Renaissance (though an argument could be made there wasn't even a First Renaissance) for Kite Man. HeII yeah!
"If someone's trying to pressure you into doing something you don't wanna do, choose death over anything!" Next time my sister tries to make me go to a cousin's wedding, she's cleaning my brains off the wall. Thanks, Alex!
Kiteman was used as Plastic man's arch nemesis in the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon, and its honestly fitting considering that kiteman is an evil mirror of plastic man in a similar way to how Batman's rogues are to batman. He and Plastic man are both former goons who are taken as jokes despite being surprisingly dangerous characters, but where Plastic man had a change of heart and decided to become a hero, Kite man's determination was tainted by his own stubbornness and he instead turned evil.
Ironically fitting for plastic man to have his worst enemy to be kiteman of all people, the banter between these guys would be on doofenshmirts vs peter parker energy
The first half had me rolling my eyes and then the second half with the Ballad of Kiteman kicked in and I was like "okay, yeah, I see it now". Kite man. Hell yeah.
I want to add some extra war of Jokes and Riddles context because I think it makes Kite Man even better. At the end of the war its revealed that basically everything was planned by the Riddler (because comic book genius) from the beginning of the war to its ending with Kite Man defeating the Riddler (his reasons for this are weird but long story short Joker had stopped laughing and the Riddler took it as a challenge). This means that all of Kite Man's suffering, the death of his son and the creation of his new identity, was constructed by the Riddler with the purpose of making the Joker laugh. In the comic we even see this break Batman himself, the futility of all the violence and suffering prompting him to try to kill the Riddler (sidenote I know a lot of people dislike Tom King Batman but I love it and I think the War of Jokes and Riddles is absolutely worth a read). So does Kite Man break? Does he see that his new identity was constructed to make the Joker laugh? Does he fall when he realises his beloved son dies to make the Joker laugh? No. He takes the identity, he remains Kite Man. After the war (chronologically after, it happens in earlier comics in our world but the war is a flashback) he still runs around as Kite Man committing crimes with the catchphrase Hell Yeah. Maybe the Riddler did construct him as something so absurd the Joker would have to laugh, but he made the name and the catchphrase his.
Kite Man is my favorite DC villain because I relate to his struggles of feeling like a joke or not being good enough and the character proved to me no matter how silly a concept can be if given to a good writer they can craft an excellent character.
Deep down, we all love goofy villains. In my opinion, every villain started out as a ridiculous villain. Lex Luthor was just a bald evil scientist, but still, he was and is big blue's greatest rival, Magneto really started out as your generic villain who makes the stupidest decisions even though he has incredible power, and yet, we still got to a great villain, with believable and understandable motivations, but unjustifiable methods. Obviously there are villains who started out fearsome from day one, like the Joker as a ruthless killer or the Red Skull being... a German general from WWII, but I hope my point is understood. And on the other side of the spectrum, there are the goofy villains, who stay goofy. Maybe they're ridiculous villains and through that ridiculousness a tragic story is told, or maybe they're a villain who wants to be taken seriously but never quite gets around to it. The truth is, they are all valid as villains. From the fearsome Dr. Doom to Paste-Pote-Pete, and of course, Kite-Man, they all deserve to be considered villains, loved and feared alike. Edit: 616 likes lol
@@halfmettlealchemist8076 not exactly what you're asking for but "The color of Revenge" is a really good episode of Batman the brave and the bold, and it involves crazy quilt. It has a nice message, though crazy quilt himself isn't fleshed out.
You're the one dude who can tell stories in the way that for some reason makes me tear up when most films can't, you tell stories in such an emotional way I love it
After watching his character in the Harley Quinn animated series and reading some of his comic appearances, including his origin, I genuinely believe Kiteman might be one of my favourite DC villains.
i commend you for turning Kite Mans appearance in 52 from just a offscreen casualty to a message to never back down from your morals which is genuinely inspiring! Great video as always!
I was going to reply to this video with a joke comment, talking about waiting for a Kite-Man movie or something silly like that. Much like you could've done with this video. But no, instead, you chose to treat the character and his history with genuine respect and hindsight, and took away an honest lesson about overcoming your challenges no matter how traumatic, and learning to be happy with who you are. You took what could have been a silly concept and made it into a work of genius. Much like Kite-Man himself. And that's why you're the most based comic-book channel on the entirety of RU-vid, Alex, and don't you ever forget it.
I mean we could get a kiteman story if they animate the whole joker-riddler war into a movie Like it may not focused on him totally but what better way to represnt him while many of others don't know his character development in that war Expecting a character arc of Kiteman would come out of nowhere and make total sense
I want to see a Batfamily crossover where Riddler is the main antagonist, and it ends with Kite-Man defeating him and getting justice for his son. I want Kite-Man to fold that question-mark-looking twink like a paper airplane
@@viderevero1338 The answer to the Riddle must be "Hell Yeah" And given it's Riddler, it must also be so obvious he overlooks it in the search for deeper meaning
I remember reading a book when I was little, I think it was based on one of the many Batman tv shows, with Kite-man in it. I don’t really remember how it went, but somehow he ended up beating killer croc with Batman despite being a villain and I’ve always liked him since
I like to think "I Hate Everything" usage of Kite Man as a sidehost to his videos back in the day got to someone's attention in DC to reinvigorate life to the character. Excellent video mate. :]
I saw that Kite Man was getting his own spinoff series today and I immediately thought back to this video. Crazy how some things just seem to come full circle
Kite Man was a beautifully written character who started out as a joke but slowly developed into an absolutely amazing character I love him soo much and also your work thank you Alex
Potato man was a joke of a villain...the laughing stock of the criminal underworld. It was only when we learned about his tragic backstory that we truly began to see the nuances and complexities behind his Potato obsessed persona.
Fionn ‘Spud’ Murphy was once just a regular son of a lineage of farmers, who alongside his elder sister, Orla, wanted to pursue greater things in the city, coming to disagreements with their family over taking over the farm. Spud studied as an engineer while Orla went into botany. However, during the time they really got into their work, their family’s crop turned useless due to a plague. Despite disagreement, they of course, loved their family, and thus sent technology and modified seeds and advice to help them out. However, as years passed, their crop consistently could not be used, droughts, floods, the worst kept coming. Even worse, the government gave minimal, near useless help to assist them through these terrible times. Thrown into poverty, the family had to sell off the farm and struggle to look for employment in the current times, only subsidised by the two siblings. However, Orla came down with lung cancer, and due to the high medical bills, the family was thrown into greater destitution. But Fionn, saw everything, how the government didn’t care about his family, how the public and workplace elitism looked down on his farming family despite keeping the country fed, how the doctors and pharmacies drained his sister dry all while she tried to survive. His mind was fracturing, he couldn’t afford therapy, he had no available support network, and he broke. Desperate, he turned to crime, all to give his loved ones a life they deserved. A second layer to this villainy came in the form of his guilt at his past. Perhaps if he stayed behind, if he was with them, his family could have avoided poverty, he could have helped find help amongst his hometown better, but he didn’t. So to make up for that, he would dedicate his villainy to the main crop they grew, potatoes, to fight for the farmers crushed by government negligence in his own flawed way, and perhaps one day, he could denounce the suffering his fellow farming brethren have gone through. As Potato Man, he would one day bring the criminal empire under his command, even if he was a laughing stock. Perhaps, his small efforts could change the world.
I think the Harley Quinn show's version of Riddler is too much of a nice guy to do the dark stuff he does in Kite-Man's origin comic. He seems like the "put someone in an elaborate death-trap themed after Jeopardy" kind of evil, not the "straight-up murder a child and mastermind a gang war just to get Batman-senpai to notice him" kind of evil.
@@user-ug5xq7tx3g I haven't watched the show, but from what i've seen of Mr. Freeze, they pretty much treated the character with the utmost respect, as much as they could anyhow, and gave him a surprisingly quick yet somberly beautiful send-off, even though the comedy that followed afterwards kinda ruined it for me and from what i've seen of how Nora Fries is handled episodes later, eh, it could definitely have been better.
@@ggnkrsfkoqxbk5078 well Kite Man has been potrayed well in my opinion, he is well liked by the characters who got to know him, they've mentioned his good characteristics on many occasions. If anything, the show treats the main characters worse, not giving them any actual story, just a bunch of mediocre one liners and a bunch of walking around from location to location. First season was a-mazing though. Truly some lighthearted and fun DC series. They definitely fucked it up this season.
I really enjoy discovering these types of characters. Speedball, Kite Man, etc. At first started out as goofy characters but with the helm of some wild writers, they get turned into characters with depth, layers, and substance.
Hell yeah! Kite Man is the best supervillain. My favorite part about Kite Man is that during one of his heists, one of his henchmen actually ended up falling into an vat of mysterious chemicals, turning that guy into the best superhero, Plastic Man. Without Kite Man, their would be no Plastic Man. And that's only one of the reasons he is so great! (Also for those wondering, I got this information from "Batman: the Brave and the Bold". It was a show I watched when I was young and the Kite Man / Plastic Man thing is one of thw few things i remeber about it. If your curious look it up.).
Yeah I could imagine kite-man being a god, the "Cosmic Kite" even, maybe with the world repeating over and over again theres gotta be an Earth where Kite-Man trough his determination, growth and chance-takingness he is the one person who can go through all the trials and tragedies in order to become a god, he could take all the oppurtunities he gets to become stronger and eventually have more super-powers then there are atoms in the universe
I like how you bring up Kite Man's persistence from 3:20 to 4:55. Something I've noticed is that the portrayals of most villains (particularly Batman's) usually go from 0 to 60. Meanwhile, Kite Man learned and improved with each appearance, making his character in the New 52 feel more natural.
There's an appeal with these obscure, C-list villains. That being, you can re-invent them in a very interesting direction as there's little to go on beforehand. Kite Man is a perfect example of this
Alex while you're learning to deal with your trauma: "I hope you'll make it. Best of luck buddy, I believe in you." Alex after you've dealt with your trauma: "What, you think you're anything special? Screw you."
It's stories like Kite-Man's that really show just how shitty Batman's no kill rule can be sometimes. Like the last thing you want to hear after your son was murdered is the person who indirectly caused it say he'll catch the person who did it and lock them up, like that's gonna stop him from escaping again for the thousandth time.
Hey fun fact, Batman literally tried to kill Riddler for this by the end of this arc. Like, that's not a joke or anything - Batman was fully prepared to break his one rule, all for the sake of avenging Kite-Man's son. I just thought that was something you would like to know.
@@neevko267 It's his one moral that assures him that he is still doing the right thing, even when he isn't. A lot of people have something like that, that doesn't involve violence
While I find the Harley Quinn show to be fairly average and a bit too much of a try hard at times, Kite Man genuinely surprised me with how good they made his character there even without the backstory. The show itself has its moments of good and funny but me and my girlfriend both found Kite Man to be one of our favorite characters when we watched the show together. She was pretty sad that he didn't end up getting married to Ivy but it honestly solidified him as the best written character for me by the end of the second season so it's cool to see he even got good treatment in the comics as well. I really like when writers go back to older throwaway characters to flesh them out more
@@Shizkeb What? The show? Or going back to flesh out an old and underused character? If it's the latter then I vehemently disagree. Going back to improve a throwaway character and do it well is nowhere close to being creatively bankrupt. If anything it can be a test of how skilled a writer is if they can successfully improve upon forgotten or joke characters
Man watching how the quality og your videos, and songs have just gotten better and better and how every video brings a tear to my eye is fantastic keep it my guy these are fantastic
Ain't it ironic that poison kills his son and yet in the Harley Quinn show he is *literally* dating "Poison Ivy" - nice character development there, Kite Man... Hell yeah.
see here’s the thing about kite man: he could fight against the turbulence and winds of chaos that destroyed his life, but instead he chooses to build a big-ass kite and harness that wind, and isn’t that just beautiful?
Thanks to the fine folks behind the scenes of the Harley Quinn animated show, not only am I familiar with Kite-Man (Hell Yeah), but the love that version of him and after watching your Batman video... well, here I am. So, thank you! Also, I appreciate that the respect you put on Kite-Man's (Hell Yeah) name.
@@trashman3319 a hypocritical movie reviewer that is. In his review of suicide squad he said "if you love this movie with acknowledging its flaws then you have no idea what a good movie is". This implies that we should look into each objectively good and bad thing in a flick even if we enjoyed. However, in his review of the last jedi he turned 180 degrees saying that "what is art reallllyy? Everything is an opinion so whatever maaaan". When it's a film he hates we should be objective but when it's a film he loves we should be subjective???? I do agree that he was an absolute clown in his first days of youtube tho.
Kite Man really is a great villain, and I've been a firm believer of that since I first watched the Harley Quinn series. He's genuinely in my top 3 favorite characters in that show, and there are so many good characters in that show to compete with.
This is on the same level as saying Billy Stick-up, who did two years for trying to rob a Dollar Store, is a brilliant criminal mastermind because, when he finally got out on parole, he immediately went to rob that same Dollar Store again. And got arrested again. And then did it again.
0:35 Thank you for crediting your buddy and sending people his way. But more importantly, thanks for actually putting effort in by seeing somebody else’s video and thinking how to add more/your own views. These days, more and more communities seem to not link to another channel who made essentially the same video, or covered the same topic, and then when making the video they don’t add in more/new content. They only using their style/humor while repeating what others had said, hell it’s crazy even when they use the same examples. Just in a lot of communities now, when one topic is done by one person there’s essentially no point in watching anothers. So thanks for being different.
I found your channel literally 2 days ago and binged the crap out of literally every video. Good work, man! Im glad youve found your audience you deserve! Here's hoping for more great (and successful) videos!
Youre quickly become one of my favorite youtubers, its amazing how you can post such long, high quality, and funny videos at such a quick rate. Keep up the good work man!
I sure hope James Gunn gives this guy his due in live action someday. If there’s anyone that can make people be emotionally invested in Kite Man, it’s Gunn
I don't know if you already know this but almost everyone who knows his backstory are already emotionally invested on him. So all the movie procedures have to do is follow the source material.
@@trevormims7939 that everyone you’re talking about probably doesn’t include the wider mainstream audience yet so that’s what we’re talking about here, bringing him from a small portion of comic readers that already knew this C-lister to the larger market. A lotta folks would overlook this guy in a heartbeat for his ridiculous concept and the proper delivery on-screen would give him more chance at being noticed
