Name: Man-Bat
Universe: Earth-1
Alter Ego: Kirk Langstrom
Occupation: Zoologist, former Detective
Marital Status: Married
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Gotham City, formerly New York and Chicago
Known Relatives: Francine (wife), Rebecca Elizabeth (daughter), Britt (sister)
Height: 6 ft. 1 in.
Weight: 201 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
First Appearance: Detective Comics #400

History:
Dr. Kirk Langstrom was the resident authority on nocturnal mammals at the Gotham Museum of Natural History. Inspired by his admiration of Batman, Langstrom hoped to give himself a natural sonar power like a bat's by taking increasing doses of a compound he extracted from a certain gland in bats. Langstrom succeeded, but to his horror, the compound also turned him into a grotesque bat-like creature. In this form Langstrom fought Batman and turned increasingly insane. Finally, Langstrom forced his fiancee, Francine Lee, to let him turn her into a bat-like creature so they could mate. Batman succeeded in injecting both Langstrom and Lee with an antidote, restoring them to human form and sanity.

Later, after being bitten by a vampire bat, Francine would uncontrollably become a vampiric bat-like creature under a full moon. Eventually, however, Francine was apparently permanently cured, and she no longer changes into bat-like form.

Able to change back and forth between his human and bat forms, using serums, Langstrom became a crimefighter as Man-Bat, emulating his hero, Batman. Langstrom and Francine were married and had a daughter, Rebecca.

Rebecca became deathly ill, and what Langstrom thought was the only serum that could cure her was spilled in a fight between Batman and a criminal. Batman knew that the serum had been contaminated earlier, and Rebecca was later cured by other means. However, Unjustly believing Batman had nearly caused Rebecca's death, Langstrom sank into a severe depression. Accidentally taking an overdose of his bat-gland formula, Langstrom went insane upon next becoming Man-Bat. Batman restored Langstrom to normal, but by forgetting to take the antidote regularly, Langstrom reverted to being the insane Man-Bat again. Once more Batman restored him to human form.

Today Langstrom again appears to be in control of his transformations and remains sane when in his Man-Bat form.

Powers:
By taking his bat-gland formula, Kirk Langstrom can transform himself into a bat-like creature. He can return to human form by taking an antidote.

As Man-Bat, Langstrom possesses superhuman strength, super-sensitive hearing, and the ability to fly at great speed.

Like a bat, Man-Bat has natural sonar. He emits high-pitched sound waves and can hear the echoes they make when they bounce off nearby objects. Thus Man-Bat can navigate perfectly even in pitch blackness.