Batman: All 7 Mad Hatter actors ranked from worst to best

2. David Wayne

Appeared in: Batman (1966)

That brings us to the fanciest, the classiest, and perhaps the most ruthless of all the Mad Hatters: The 1966 version that made himself at home on the classic Batman TV series in a bid to steal the Caped Crusader's cowl. Veteran actor David Wayne was brought in to play the role and to say he understood the assignment just wouldn't encapsulate how much he nailed it.

Wayne committed to the role, refusing to phone it in and instead playing the goofy character as larger-than-life as he came across on the screen. This was a very different Mad Hatter, based on the Imposter Mad Hatter from the comics, and thus there were no tea parties, no technologically-advanced cards, no Alice In Wonderland; just a man obsessed with revenge... and hats.

His super instant mesmerizer would incapacitate his victims so that he could steal their hats, setting the stage for the ultimate showdowns with Batman. He wanted that cowl and my goodness he was willing to do anything to obtain it.

All of that lunacy came across in Wayne's performance. He highlighted the outlandishness of the character with his dramatic mannerisms, but he also knew when to keep things level. It never descended into parody; Jervis Tetch was a believable part of this unbelievable world, and Wayne's expert performance made a very unusual interpretation of the Mad Hatter stand the test of time as one of the very best.