Despite being less famous than many other memorable villains, King Tut is one of Batman’s nemeses: an eminent Egyptology professor of Yale University (called William Omaha McElroy) who, when hit on his head, believes himself to be the incarnation of Tutankhamun. The character was created for the 1960s TV series and, in fact, is present in nine episodes of the three seasons. The episodes where King Tut makes his appearance are as follows:
- The Curse of Tut (S1xE27), 1966
- The Pharaoh’s in a Rut (S1xE28), 1966
- The Spell of Tut (S2xE7), 1966
- Tut’s Case is Shut (S2xE8), 1966
- King Tut’s Coup (S2xE53), 1967
- Batman’s Waterloo (S2xE54), 1967
- The Unkindest Tut of All (S3xE6), 1967
- I’ll be a Mummy’s Uncle (S3xE23), 1968
- The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra (S3xE25), 1968
All of these episodes are characterised by a multitude of elements that recall ancient Egypt - or, at least, that are presumed to bear a resemblance with ancient Egyptian elements.
One of the typical features of King Tut and his court is the massive presence of gold and gilded objects: starting from their very first appearance, for instance, King Tut’s henchmen are shown while driving a van entirely covered in golden foil, and a gigantic statue made of gold (which should represent a sphinx, but, in fact, shows a seated hybrid figure with human, canine, and bovine details) is the calling card of King Tut’s first crime.
Beside gold, this villain is depicted with other numerous clichés associated with ancient Egypt: he has scarabs and crocodiles as pets, hides in places called “Pyramid Club” or “Pyramid Building”, and always wears his nemes-like headdress (even when he is in disguise and is dressed up like a doctor - in that case, the nemes is not striped and is in the same colour of his surgeon’s coat). Of course, King Tut’s hideout is replete with Egyptian-like goods, and even his henchmen are considered members of the Theban court and dress as ancient Egyptians.
Obviously, since the TV show is a work of fiction, the vast majority of these motifs are not historically accurate or are misrepresented (e.g., the flail that King Tut sometimes holds recalls a horse whip, rather than the proper sceptre), and only aims to create the illusion of an ancient Egyptian setting.
In other cases, references are a bit confused: for instance, Tutankhamun is said to have ruled in the 14th Dynasty and Osorkon to be a god. Nonetheless, a few details are quite precise and specific, for example the use of some symbolic (and not so common) elements – as the smȝ tȝwy, which is engraved in one of King Tut’s thrones – or, even more peculiar, the image of the fishing scene from the tomb of Menna that is depicted on one of the walls of the room where the masquerade ball takes place in the episode King Tut’s Coup.
Essentially, by using the figure of King Tut, the TV series tries and creates a suggestion mostly based on a series of stereotypes related to ancient Egypt. Nonetheless, despite the poor accuracy of many of the references to the pharaonic time, Batman is a product of entertainment and the character of King Tut admirably achieved the goal of turning into a distinctive villain, since, after the TV series, he also became a character in comics and movies.

Author: Valentina Santini