The Wrath is the name of two fictional supervillains published by DC Comics. The original Wrath debuted in Batman Special #1 (1984), and was created by Mike W. Barr and Michael Golden, who served as a criminal foil personality to the superhero Batman, after the creation of Killer Moth (in 1951) and prior to the creations of the villains Prometheus (in 1998) and Hush (in 2003), all serving the same purpose. The second Wrath debuted in Batman Confidential #13 (March 2008), and was created by Tony Bedard and Rags Morales. Publication history The Wrath's debut story was titled "The Player on the Other Side", published in Batman Special #1 (1984). The title was based on the essay "A Liberal Education and Where to Find It" by Thomas Henry Huxley (although mistakenly attributed to Aldous Huxley by Bruce Wayne). It is also a reference to the Ellery Queen novel of the same name, as the story's author, Mike W. Barr, is a renowned Queen enthusiast. A Post-Infinite Crisis legacy version of the Wrath debuted in the pages of Batman Confidential #13 in a story arc written by Tony Bedard, with Elliott Caldwell, the 'student' of the original Wrath, taking on his mentor's mantle. Fictional character biography The original Wrath The first Wrath was an enemy of Batman, described by him as his "opposite number". The Wrath's appearance and motivation are reminiscent of Batman's, but with notable differences. The Wrath (like Batman) is distinguished by perfectionism and obsession with what he does. His costume is also very similar to Batman's (though colored in crimson and purple with a W-insignia on the chest and cowl; the W on his cowl, when seen in the right light and at the right angle, looks like the ears of the Batman's cowl). Wrath's parents were a couple of burglars like Joe Chill, the man who shot and killed Batman's parents. They were killed in a shootout with a police officer coincidentally the same day that Batman's parents were gunned down in Crime Alley. Due to this, the Wrath dedicated his life to a campaign of revenge against law and law-enforcers. Independently of one another, Batman and the Wrath adopted strikingly similar costumes and skill-sets, although they used them for opposite purposes. When the Wrath finally returns to Gotham City, he comes to kill the man who had shot his parents. The Wrath's target turns out to