Name: The Grasshopper
Other Names: The Grasshopper Gang
Classification:
villains
group
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Detective Comics (vol. 1) #334 (Dec. 1964): "The Man Who Stole from Batman!"
Creators: Gardner F. Fox, Sheldon Moldoff, Joe Giella
Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes
Number of Appearances: 3
Employer: The Outsider (Alfred)
Type of Organization/Group: thief
Gender: male
Note: twin brothers posed as the Grasshopper
The Grasshopper is actually a pair of twins, both of whom wear a Grasshopper costume. Because there were two of them, they were able to fool Batman into believing that they could leap far farther and move faster than they really could.
The Grasshopper was the featured villain in the character's inaugural appearance in Detective Comics #334 (Dec. 1964). In this story, the Grasshopper stole Batman's Batmobile. This theft by the Grasshopper was later referenced in Detective Comics #341 (July 1965) when the Joker tries unsuccessfully to steal the Batmobile.
In panel 5 on page 15 of the Batman story in Detective Comics #334 Batman says, "What the Joker didn't know was that after having the Batmobile stolen by a crook*, Robin and I installed a special alarm -- to prevent it ever happening again!"
The asterisk in this dialogue box refers to an editor's note appearing in the same panel. This note reads: "Editor's Note: See 'The Man Who Stole from Batman!' December 1964 issue of Detective Comics."
Detective Comics
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- http://darkmark6.tripod.com/batmanind2.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Pennyworth
- https://www.comics.org/issue/18830/
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=62235