Curaré (Batman Beyond)

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Curare

Curaré ("voiced" by Melissa Disney and credited as such, although the character never utters a single spoken word in any of her appearances) was a female villain appearing as a foe of Terry McGinnis in the animated television series Batman Beyond. She was a highly regarded member of the Society of Assassins in that series, and in her first appearance was hired to kill Samuel Young, Gotham City District Attorney and the husband of Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon. She was foiled in this attempt by the combined efforts of Batman and Gordon, and because of this failure became a target of the Society of Assassins. Despite this, she made one further appearance in the series, trying to get revenge on Batman and was thwarted again, this time by the joint forces of Batman and his friend Max Gibson.

In the episode "Final Cut", Curaré managed to turn the tide against the Society of Assassins and started killing them off one by one. Curaré used a special gas that somehow biologically neutralized her subjects brain activity. The target would become coma-tose, or as one of Gotham's officers put it: "The lights are on, but nobody's home". Curaré's last target, Mutro Botha (voiced by Tim Curry) forced Batman into helping him fight off Curaré by placing a bomb in Gotham's arms museum. Eventually Max Gibson was attacked by Curaré while investigating Botha's apartment. When Curaré realized Botha was not there, she tracked him in the park after Batman abandoned him to rescue Max. Botha was brain fried and Curaré planned to complete her revenge by attacking Batman in the arms museum while he and Max were trying to disarm the bomb. Eventually they did and Curaré was captured.

Despite the origin of her name, Curaré rarely deals in poisons. Instead, she prefers the use of a special sword which can cut through nearly anything, its edge being sharpened to only a molecule in thickness. She has blue skin, but hides her face constantly behind a headdress resembling a white niqab. She loses it once in her appearances on the show, although quickly recovers it, and in this time Terry McGinnis becomes the only person ever to have seen her face (the audience only witnesses her face for 3 frames; it is only glimpsed by the viewer but is apparently so hideous that it makes even Batman momentarily recoil in horror) (A Touch of Curare: 9 minutes, 57 seconds)