It’s time to follow me down the rabbit-hole of cross-genre fiction as we look at the many characters who are, clearly, secretly Time Lords…

 

The Time Traveller

Only referred to as ‘The Time Traveller’ (there’s that mysterious name thing again), the enigmatic protagonist of HG Well’s The Time Machine fits into the romantic stereotype of the gentleman wanderer; a sort of frock-coated Eighth Doctor type.

He lands, saves a beautiful woman and, because that’s not showing off enough, then saves her entire species without ever stopping to hold out his hand and introduce himself.

The fact that he’s managed to cobble together a time machine in primitive surroundings means he’s of Time Lord level intellect and, if you read the book, you’ll see he has a nearly inexhaustible supply of matches. Infinity matches. That sounds like something a Time Lord would have to light their Mobius candle.

 

Bruce Wayne/Batman

When we asked you loyal CultBoxers who you thought might be a Time Lord, more than a few said Batman.

As a Bat-fan, I was sceptical: sure he has a ‘no killing’ policy, but so do many restaurants. And yes, in whatever guise he regenerates into – camp crusader, gothic Birdman, sore-throated vigilante – he’s a flamboyantly-dressed genius able to overcome any situation, but that’s not proof enough. I wasn’t convinced.

And then… flicking through comics for evidence, I found this, from Issue #1 of Grant Morrison’s JLA Classified…

Bottom right. Yes. Batman has a piece of Dalek in what he terms his ‘Sci-Fi Closet’. Presumably it comes from this true life encounter, where a Dalek talks smack to Batman in the corner of a starkly lit convention centre.

To see more of time-travelling Batman, check out Grant Morrison’s Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, as he zips across the ages, concocting a plan so complex it could only come from the genius mind of a man accustomed to temporal mechanics. It makes The Silence’s plot to kill The Doctor look like it was drawn on a napkin.

 

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Which other ones have we missed? Let us know below…