Cluemaster (Matsudaverse) (2024)

The Cluemaster is a villain in the TV animated series The Batman.

History[]

Arthur "Artie" Brown was a young child prodigy with a promising life ahead of him, accomplishing many things and earning awards in contests and commercial success, including one for the creation of a successful little person football team. Eventually, he competed on a game show called Think, Thank, Thunk and was the reigning champion for thirteen straight weeks until Yelena Klimanov defeated him. He threw a temper tantrum on live television, saying the show was rigged and prompted his mother to file a lawsuit against the show. However, the show's producer, Herbert Ziegler possesses a significant amount of wealth and extensive connections at the Gotham City Hall, causing the lawsuit being rejected, culminating in Arthur going into hiding in his house in shame and anger, becoming extremely fat and obese due to his lifetime supply of Kremelos, which was his consolation prize from the game. He turned his back on his future and devoted his life to revenge, obliviously wasting away both his talents andfuture all because of an old and forgotten game show.

In the episode , Cluemaster used his minions (his football team members) to capture Yelena, Ross Daren and Herbert Ziegler, making them all compete in a mockup version of Think, Thank, Thunk. He forced them to ask him questions; if he got them right he got a point, if he got them wrong, they got a point. 3 points won the game for that person; if they won, they were free, but if Cluemaster won, they got dunked in a pot of burning, boiling acid. Cluemaster, indulging in his above-average knowledge, was sure of victory and easily outwitted the three and prepared to drown them in acid. Eventually, Batman showed up, having tracked Artie to his headquarters, and challenged Artie to an 'all or nothing' round; one question of Batman's choice on any topic, with Artie releasing the hostages if he lost. Batman tried to reason with Artie, noting that his "rival",Yelena Klimanov, had gone on to achieve thing more productive or admirable, regardless of who was smartest. Refusing to let go, Artie demanded for Batman to ask a question, confident in his victory. Batman asked Artie he couldn't possibly know: "Name the true identity of the Batman." Artie was stumped at the question and angrily ordered Batman to ask another. Batman refuses stating, "You said I could ask anything." Cluemaster was so upset that he attacked Batman, again claiming that he had been cheated. He tried to expose Batman's identity, but was defeated when Batman tied up his legs, knocking Cluemaster out with his own weight. His three hostages were freed unharmed after Cluemaster was defeated.

He was later captured by the vigilante Rumor in the episode "Rumors" and accidentally frozen by Mr. Freeze. He then gets arrested along with the other villains plus Rumor himself.

Personality[]

Arthur is very smart knowledgeable man, both of which he very proud of, but this led him to being rather arrogant, deluding himself into believing he was better than everyone else and incapable of ever being wrong or losing. Due to his obsessive nature with wanting to be the best and refusing to admit to his limitation, facing a question he couldn't answer would throw him into a reckless rampage, stubbornly telling himself that he was cheated. Such a sore loser and never able to let go of a defeat, Arthur set himself up for a hard fall when he was younger, competing on a show he surely couldn't win forever. His obsessive nature led him to becoming very immature and irrational, abandoning school and his promising life altogether. He was also shown that he was spoiled by his mother, as she sued the game show after Arthur lost.

Appearances[]

The Batman[]

Season 1[]

• ""

Season 4[]

• "Rumors" (Cameo)

The Batman Strikes![]

• Issue #24 (His thugs only)
• Issue #32
• Issue #39 (Cameo)

Voiced by[]

• Glenn Shadix (English)
• Naomi Kusumi (Japanese)
• Oliviero Corbetta (Italian)
• Stefan Fredrich (German)

Trivia[]

• Cluemaster has got a very severe case of Peter Pan Syndrome.
• His origin is completely different from the comics.
• He is the largest character in the show.
• Near the end, Yelena asks Cluemaster about the exact value of Pi. Cluemaster, noting that it is non-terminating, is willing to recite "the first 50 - no, 100 digits... 3.14159265..." His next 86 digits are omitted as the Batman fights off his minions, but Cluemaster's "triumphant" final five digits were "46375." He declared himself the winner, then attempted to plunge Yelena and her fellow captives in a vat of acid, despite their pleas for mercy, only to be thwarted by the Batman. The problem is that, like Cluemaster's performance in the original "Think, Thank, Thunk" 30 years earlier, he was wrong. Digits 96-100 of Pi are, in fact, "17067," although had he rounded up from the 101st digit ("9") "17068" would likely have been acceptable. Do the digits "46375" appear in "Pi"? Actually, yes. Digits 1156-1160 of Pi are "46374" unrounded, and since the 1161st digit is "6" the rounded digits are indeed "46375." And the exact digits do appear in unrounded form eventually.
• Cluemaster claims that the show cheated him, but Jupiter's moon (Lysithea) was discovered by S. Nicholson in 1938, not 1937. This means that the game show was indeed right, and Artie really was wrong.
  • He's a really sore loser and won't accept the facts. His claim was also based on the fact that Yelena was given an easier question because the producers wanted him to lose to Yelena.
  • Error: Cluemaster got Herbert’s question right by saying Hercules is one of the 50 argonauts but it is actually Heracles, not Hercules. This means that Herbert and Artie were really both wrong.

Gallery[]