These are a few "freaks" that came close to making the "monster" list!
THE CREEPER
Once he was simply Jack
Ryder, the no-nonsense
co-anchor of Summer
Gleeson's "Gotham Insider."
But the staid newsman's life
was changed forever after
an encounter with the Joker
and his lethal laughing
toxin. When Jack did an
expose on the history of the
"Clown Prince of Crime",
The Joker showed up and
threw Ryder into the same
vat of chemicals that
transformed him. The vat of
chemicals, mixed with the
Joker's laughing gas,
mutated him into a bizarre
super-human creature, the
living embodiment of the
wild personality he had kept
buried inside him for so
long. Dubbed The Creeper by a terrified onlooker, the insane
creature went on a wacky rampage which resulted in him
actually helping Batman to capture the Joker.
Though the wild imbalance of chemicals had caused a
permanent change in Ryder's body, Batman devised a
specially treated skin patch that, when worn, keeps the
Creeper subdued. But when there's extreme danger, Ryder
can remove the patch and let the zany, always unpredictable
Creeper out to join the fight.
LOCK-UP
When Lyle Bolton was fired from his job as security guard at Arkham for using unnecessary means to keep his prisoners in line, he became Lock-Up and used his vast knowledge of security, crime, and punishment to instill his "justice" upon those who do him wrong. Although Lock-Up is a bulking brute of a guy, he is sinply just a human being with a hot temper, not a monster.
THE PHANTASM
Batman was shocked to see that not only the person behind the mask of this sinister Grim Reaper look alike was a female, but it was also his ex-girlfriend, Andrea Beaumont. Andrea became the Phantasm to seek revenge on the Valestra Mob after they murdered her father. From seeing the Phantasm and hearing that low raspy voice, you would never guess that it was a woman. She certainly did a good job of fooling her victims! Although the Phantasm has that scary razor sharp hook and can disappear in a cloud of smoke, she still is not a "monster", seeings how that behind that freaky mask there hides a lovely lady.
JONAH HEX
Jonah Hex's life was one of misery and pain. His life as a child was one which was close to unbearable. He had an alcoholic father and a showgirl for a mother. Jonah Hex was sold by his father, while still in the western equivalent of diapers, to child workers to work in the mines. While working in the mines, he had his facial features savagely and deliberately deformed by said captors, in penance for a crime of which he was singularly innocent. Hex was able to escape and began to live on his own. He relied on his own wits and bleak outlook to survive from day to day. He soon discovered he had a natural talent for gun-slinging and decided to become a bounty hunter. Back in the 1800's Ra's Al Ghul had attempted to seize control of the US government but the one person standing in his way was this renegade bounty hunter.
EGYPTIAN SORCERESS
A mystic Egyptian scroll donated to the Gotham museum by Bruce Wayne was stolen by Ra's Al Ghul. Batman and Talia joined forces trying to prevent the power-mad Ra's from unlocking the scroll's secrets of life and death. Their quest takes them to a hidden temple deep beneath the Egyptian desert. Ra's summons the ancient sorceress who nearly sucks his life completely from him until Batman shows up and is forced into a terrying battle with the evil force. The sorceress may not be a "Gotham Monster" but she is a monster nonetheless
H.A.R.D.A.C.
H.A.R.D.A.C. was an Artificial Intelligence computer created by Karl Rossum that went awry an began making evil duplicates of some of Gotham's finest. Not a monster, more like a machine with a few bugs.
THE HUNCHBACK
More than the scenery is strange when Batman and Batgirl go to Paris on the trail of the League of Assassins. In the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral, they clash with this dark and grotesque gargoyle-like creature. A monster...yes, a Gotham Monster...no.
COPPERHEAD
A member of the Injustice Gang, Copperhead has battled the Justice League and taken down Batman with a venomous bite to the shoulder. Although Copperhead may be a force to be reckoned with, he's still just a man in snake costume.
