Francis Grey is a minor villain in the TV show, The Batman. He is depicted as extremely clumsy and a bad-decision maker but a loving family man.
History
About seventeen years ago, his family, comprised of his wife, his one-year-old son and himself, was deep in debt. He worked as a repairman for a watch/clock shop in Gotham. One day, his boss left the shop giving Grey the opportunity to steal a golden watch on display, desperate to undo his debts. This caused a chain reaction that accidentally destroyed an entire street block. He was then arrested and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Whilst in prison, he was given the job of fixing the prison's clocks. His entire cell was soon covered with clocks where he was forced to watch every second of his life pass by slowly, which eventually made him insane. In his madness, he screamed "STOP", and he found time stood still for one second. He then realized that he had the ability to turn back time, but only for approximately 20 seconds when he wanted it to be years so he could undo his mistake. While he was in prison, his wife left him (it is unclear whether she divorced him or not) because he would never be able to see her or their son, although she could have visited him in prison. He then spent the rest of his sentence refining his powers.
When he was eventually released from prison, he decided to use his powers for revenge on all of Gotham for "taking away his life and his family". He stole certain mechanical parts to create a deadly apparatus that released a gas that was fatally toxic if inhaled. At precisely 12:00 on New Years Day, the machine would release the gas.
His, now 18 year-old, son Matthew, whom was found by Batgirl, rushed in and tried to stop him, but inhaled the gas and died. Francis was so heart-breakingly devastated at what he'd done, that his time-traveling power was boosted incredibly, which allowed him to go back in time nearly 18 years to the time when he was just about to steal the gold watch at the clock shop. Now knowing the consequences, he did not steal it and he turned over a new leaf. He apparently managed to repay his debts in a honest way. Seventeen years later, Francis and his son started a successful watch-and-clock repairing business, even coming to Bruce Wayne's mansion to fix his grandfather clock.
It is possible that Francis lost his time traveling powers, but that is unconfirmed.
Powers and abilities
Former powers
- Chronokinesis: Francis possessed a limited ability to control time. He was able to reverse time at will, but only for a few seconds to a few minutes. This allowed him to relive the immediate past as many times as he wished, preventing him from making mistakes and appearing to be a skilled fighter by memorizing the movements of his opponents. As Robin put it Francis' powers allowed him to treat life like a video game where he could reset it until he won. After he had unintentionally killed his son, Francis’s abilities were boosted to point that he turned back time by a whole 18 years. It is unknown whether or not he still has his time manipulating abilities.
- Hand-to-Hand Combat: While not exactly trained or skilled, Francis is capable of using hand-to-hand combat in conjunction with his powers, enabling him to dodge, block, or counter all of his opponent's moves, and strike at the opportune moment. This enabled him to take on Batman, Batgirl, and Robin all at once because, as he said, they'd had the same fight nine times over, and he knew every move they were going to make having already experienced them.
- Technical/Chemical Engineering: As a former clock repairman, Francis developed skills in technical engineering, enabling him to create a bomb. It's unknown where, but Francis also developed a skill in chemical engineering, which he used to combine several chemical components into a deadly poisonous gas.
Weaknesses
- Deja Vu: During his encounters with Francis, Batman gained a sense of deja vu. This allowed him to become less predictable to Francis, whose fighting style relied on future knowledge of what would happen.
Appearances
Season 4
- "Seconds"
Voiced by
- Dave Foley (English)
- Kiyonobu Suzuki (Japanese)
- Oliviero Corbetta (Italian)
- Marco Antonio Costa (Portuguese)
- Waldemar Barwinski (Polish)
Trivia
- Francis is very similar to the Clock King.
- He is one of the few villains in The Batman series to redeem themselves. The others are Everywhere Man, Man Bat, and Clayface.
- Francis is very similar to Andros Stark from Iron Man Armored Adventures, as they both manipulated time and killed their respective adversaries and changed things for the better at the end.