Mirror Man is the name of three different characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.
Fictional character biography edit
Floyd Ventris edit
| Mirror Man | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Detective Comics #213 (November 1954) |
| Created by | Bill Finger (writer) Sheldon Moldoff (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Floyd Ventrix |
| Species | Human |
| Abilities | Genius-level intellect |
Floyd Ventris is a criminal who was detained at Gotham State Penitentiary. Using broken mirror shards, he distracts the guards long enough to escape from prison. Inspired by the mirrors, he becomes Mirror Man.[1] Upon creating a machine that would enable him to see through objects, Mirror Man began targeting Batman so that he can find out his secret identity. He was able to see under Batman's cowl and discover his identity of Bruce Wayne.[2] Batman writes a letter to the Gotham Gazette about the times they thought he was falsely exposed as Bruce Wayne. This causes Mirror Man to try to get a similar image of Batman which fails as Mirror Man is defeated. When Mirror Man is incarcerated at Gotham State Penitentiary, Batman revealed that he used a special cowl made of mirrors which was the reason why Mirror Man failed to get another image of Batman's identity.[3][4]
Mirror Man later escapes from prison and begins another plan to expose Bruce Wayne as the true identity of Batman.[5] Bruce Wayne outwits Mirror Man's thugs at the Gotham Museum which is witnessed by Vicki Vale. Despite Batwoman's efforts to stop them, Mirror Man and his thugs escape. By Mirror Man's next attack, Vicki Vale hires an actor to pose as Bruce Wayne in order to keep Batman's identity a secret even though she was unaware that Bruce had asked Alfred Pennyworth to impersonate Batman. When one of Mirror Man's thugs finds out about Vicki's hoax, Mirror Man and his thugs are defeated by Batman and taken to GCPD Headquarters. Wayne appears at the police department causing Mirror Man's theory to be dropped.[6]
Following the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" storyline, Mirror Man is among the villains that were sprung from Gotham State Penitentiary by Ra's al Ghul. However, Ventris was one of the freed villains who chose not to take part in the mass attack on Batman staged by Ra's and instead went into hiding, and has not been seen since.[7]
His criminal mantra was --"Mirror,Mirror, on the wall....who is the smartest crook of all?"
Mirror Man II edit
In the three-part miniseries Arkham Reborn, a different Mirror Man appeared. This person has an obsession with mirrors and has also used the alias of "Narcissus". Nothing else was known about him other than the fact that he was first seen walking out of a forest in Haiti, the intelligible words that he spoke were repeated by him like an echo, and he had a human appearance.[8] Mirror Man is one of the Arkham Asylum inmates alongside No-Face and the Hamburger Lady that are labeled as Jeremiah Arkham's "special subjects" that nobody knows about.[9]
Mirror Man III edit
The third Mirror Man appears during the "Gotham Underground" storyline. He is an unnamed African-American man who is a part of the New Rogues which were assembled by the Penguin. As this group is modeled after the Rogues, Mirror Man is modeled after the Mirror Master.[10]
During the Final Crisis storyline, Mirror Man and the New Rogues are enlisted by Libra to get the Rogues back into the Secret Society of Super Villains. He fought the Mirror Master, who was able to use his mirrors to blind Mirror Man and then strangle him with one of the Trickster's springs.[11]
Powers and abilities edit
The Floyd Ventris version of Mirror Man has genius-level intellect and uses devices that are themed with mirrors.
The New Rogues version of Mirror Man uses Mirror Master's special mirrors in battle.
In other media edit
- A variation of Mirror Man, Lloyd Ventrix, appears in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "See No Evil", voiced by Michael Gross. This version is an ex-criminal and lab assistant who became divorced from Helen Ventrix and lost custody of their daughter Kimberly. Using an invisibility suit acquired from his workplace, Lloyd poses as Kimberly's imaginary friend Mojo, learning that she and Helen intend to move away from Gotham. Using the suit, he starts stealing to acquire money and prevent the move, coming into conflict with Batman. Lloyd is gradually driven insane by the suit and kidnaps Kimberly, but is defeated by Batman.
- Mirror Man makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "A Bat Divided!".
References edit
- ^ Fleisher, Michael L. (1976). The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume 1: Batman. Macmillan Publishing Co. pp. 276–277. ISBN 0-02-538700-6. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 258–259. ISBN 9780345501066.
- ^ Detective Comics #213. DC Comics.
- ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 221. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
- ^ Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 123. ISBN 978-1605490458.
- ^ Batman #157. DC Comics.
- ^ Batman #400. DC Comics.
- ^ Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum #1. DC Comics.
- ^ Arkham Reborn #1-3. DC Comics.
- ^ Gotham Underground #3. DC Comics.
- ^ Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #2. DC Comics.
External links edit
- Mirror Man (Floyd Ventris) at DC Comics Wiki
- Mirror Man (New Rogues version) at DC Comics Wiki