Back when I started collecting comic books, one of my favorite series was Who’s Who: The Definite Directory of the DC Universe. Published between 1984 and 1987, it was a sort of companion to Crisis on Infinite Earths, the twelve issue maxiseries designed to streamline the DC Universe and eliminate any problems in continuity. The character biographies contained inside were my introduction to the DC Universe at large, and they proved useful as I began my scholarship of the DCAU.
While character bios of the characters from Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, and other related shows exist, I found many of them to be lacking in depth, content, and quality. Therefore, I’ve taken it upon myself to create character bios for the characters of the DCAU based upon existing information from Series Bibles, the episodes themselves, material from the comic books, and information from the creative teams. Many of these began as bios written for my character profiles on The Justice League Watchtower. Also, the bios I’m writing are limited to characters that I consider key, so no bios for Ubu, Ron Troupe, or the Mad Bomber.
This time, it’s the Ts. Again, everyone noteworthy from that section of the dictionary will be included, along with voice actor information, the date and location of their first appearance, and accompanying images.
Tala
Voiced by Juliet Landau
First Appearance: Phantom Stranger #4 (December 1969)
Little is known about the sorceress Tala, save for whispers and uncorroborated rumors. Some dismiss her as merely a supervillain groupie who is drawn to powerful male criminals and is willing to do anything to help them carry out their nefarious deeds. However, there are still others who say she is actually a demon, a queen of the underworld dedicated to the corruption of souls and the spread of malevolent forces across creation. All that can be certain is that where she goes, chaos follows.
This much we know to be true: Tala initially served as the apprentice and sexual partner to archeologist and sorcerer Felix Faust. Later dismissed by Faust as merely a “gifted student,” it is worth noting that she successfully entered Tartarus to retrieve his mortal remains following his disastrous partnership with the Greek god Hades without alerting the deity to her presence. Later, following her recruitment for Project: Cadmus as their supernatural expert, she aided Amanda Waller in successfully acquiring the Annihilator armor—built by the Greek god Hephaestus—from the Justice League’s possession, but then allowed Faust’s spirit to commandeer it, trap her in a magic mirror, and then use the armor to get revenge on Hades. Was this an accident, or merely a ploy to spread chaos among the magical community and overthrow the ruler of another underworld?
Later, following her dismissal from Cadmus, Tala was freed from the mirror by Gorilla Grodd, and she gladly joined the Legion of Doom as his magic expert and lover, enabling the ape to carry out his nefarious plans. Her allegiances shifted, however, following Lex Luthor’s mutiny and usurpation of the team’s leadership.
Initially attracted to the cunning strategist, Tala grew frustrated with Luthor over his constant rejection and his obsession over salvaging Brainiac’s artificial intelligence. Freeing Grodd from his brig, they rallied their loyalists in an attempt to regain control of their headquarters, which Luthor had reconfigured into a starship and launched into space. A bloody conflict ensued, ending with Grodd jettisoned out an airlock and his supporters eliminated. As for Tala, Luthor used her magical energies as a power source for a device meant to reconfigure Brainiac from debris left behind from his destroyed central database. Painfully draining Tala of her energies, the machine succeeded in bringing back a figure from the void, but, unfortunately for Luthor, that figure was Darkseid, who also died in that explosion. Following his resurrection, Darkseid destroyed the Legion of Doom’s headquarters and returned to Apokolips to wage war on both Earth and New Genesis. Again, was this coincidental, or an intentional act by the sorceress?
As we are uncertain as to Tala’s true nature, we can only speculate on her fate. If she was indeed mortal, she would have died in the explosion (assuming, of course, that the strain of Luthor’s machine had not killed her first), but if she is truly a demon, one can speculate that she returned to her Hell successful in her mission, and she currently seeks new ways of tempting humanity and sowing disorder.
Talia al Ghul
Voiced by Helen Slater (BTAS), Olivia Hussey (TNBA)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #411 (May 1971)
The daughter of the immortal terrorist Ra’s al Ghul, she serves as the right hand of her father in his international organization, the Society of Shadows. An expert martial artist and physical combatant, she shares his vision of a more environmentally secure world but does not agree with his methods, which often include a death toll in the millions. To further complicate her loyalties, she finds herself drawn to Batman, the only man who could be considered her father’s equal, but who stands in opposition of his ultimate mission.
Task Force X
First Appearance: The Brave and the Bold #25 (Silver Age, September 1959), Legends #3 (January 1987)
With the rise of metahuman criminals, Amanda Waller proposed to her government superiors the creation of Task Force X—a secret program that recruits supervillains to perform extremely dangerous black ops missions on behalf of the U.S. government in exchange for reduction of jail time. Volunteers are fed explosive nanites that will detonate should the convict refuse orders or attempt to escape. Colonel Rick Flag, Jr. serves as field commander of the team, with Waller serving as the team’s administrator. While officially referred to as Task Force X, it was also unofficially known by its more popular name: the Suicide Squad.
In addition to Col. Flag, the team’s most recent roster included Temple Fugate, the Clock King; George “Digger” Harkness, Captain Boomerang; Floyd Lawton, Deadshot; and Bette Sans Souci, Plastique. Their mission: to infiltrate the Justice League’s Watchtower satellite and steal the Annihilator armor on behalf of Project: Cadmus.
EPISODE APPEARANCE:
“Task Force X”: Colonel Rick Flag, Clock King, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Plastique
The Tattooed Man
First Appearance: Green Lantern #23 (September 1963)
A former seaman-turned burglar, Abel Tarrant accidentally exposed himself to a concoction of mysterious chemicals during a botched robbery. Upon discovering that the chemicals responded to his thoughts, allowing him to create any objects that the chemicals were shaped into, Tarrant used the chemicals as ink to create a series of tattoos across his body. Now capable of creating whatever weapons or creatures with but a touch to a specific tattoo, Tarrant resumed his criminal career, only now as the Tattooed Man.
As he was unseen during the Hall of Doom’s launch into space, it is possible that the Tattooed Man survived the headquarters’ destruction.
The Terrific Trio
First Appearance: “Heroes” (February 20, 1999)
Working at the Bay Ridge Research Center, physicist Dr. Mike Morgan—along with his lab assistant, Stuart Lowe, and his fiancé, Mary Michaels—found himself exposed to dangerous levels of radiation during a particle-fusion experiment. As a result of the radiation, the trio found themselves transformed into metahumans. Initially recruited by the U.S. military and sold to the public as a new superhero group called the Terrific Trio—with their friend, Dr. Howard Hodges, acting as a liaison—they were later attacked by that same military when it was discovered that their bodies and minds were in danger of becoming unstable due to the radiation.
Upon discovering their fates, the Terrific Trio escaped and confronted Howard Hodges, who confessed that he tampered with the experiment to murder Morgan in an attempt to take Mary for himself. Returning to the research center, they attempted to reenact the experiment, which would kill them all and reduce Neo Gotham to a hot zone. Fortunately, they were defeated by the second Batman, and it appears that the Terrific Trio perished in the battle.
Members of the Terrific Trio included the following:
Magma
Voiced by Robert Davi
First Appearance: “Heroes” (February 20, 1999)
Bathed in radiation, Dr. Mike Morgan was transformed into a rock-like being with lava for blood. Now super-strong and exuding temperatures that could melt steel, he was sold to the public as the superhero Magma.
Freon
Voiced by Laura San Giacomo
First Appearance: “Heroes” (February 20, 1999)
Following the accident, Mary Michaels’ body was transformed into a cloud of icy vapor. Capable of projecting intense cold, she became the hero Freon.
The 2-D Man
Voiced by Jeff Bennett
First Appearance: “Heroes” (February 20, 1999)
Transformed by the radiation, lab assistant Stuart Lowe’s body became elastic and malleable, but at a cost, as while he kept his height and length, he lost his depth. Now as flat as a piece of paper, he was christened the 2-D Man.
The Thanagarians
First Appearance: The Brave and the Bold #34 (Shayera Hol, March 1961)
A warlike civilization of winged humanoids, the Thanagarians are an aggressive, militaristic people fueled by conquest. Their home world—Thanagar, orbiting the star Polaris—served as the seat of the Thanagarian Empire, a collection of planets and star systems occupied by the Thanagarians before their defeat in their war against the Gordanians.
Thousands of years prior, The ancient Thanagarians were a primitive culture on a harsh and unforgiving planet rich in transuranic iron. Seeking stability, they began worshipping The Old Ones—alien monstrosities from another dimension—and their leader, Great Icthultu. In exchange for ritual sacrifice, the eldritch horror provided them knowledge of agriculture, mathematics, and philosophy—the foundations of their culture. However, as time passed, the Thanagarians outgrew their dark benefactor, realizing that the cost of Its patronage was too high. Presumably mining the transuranic iron ore and refining it into Nth metal, they created magic-negating weaponry that they used to oust The Old Ones from Thanagar. Rid of Its influence, the Thanagarian people vowed to never again bow to another higher power.
Sometime later, a pair of Thanagarian law officers went off course and crash landed on Earth in 6600 B.C.E. (local time). Setting down in Egypt and unable to return home, the law officers—the married Katar and Chay-Ara Hol—decided to use their technology and wisdom to create a paradise, a utopian society 3,000 years before the rise of the Pharaohs. Worshipped as gods by their subjects—much to their chagrin, considering their track record with deities—their civilization lasted for decades before they died by poison. Without them, the society collapsed within twenty years, and their bodies, weaponry, and star ship were entombed together in a crypt, where they remained for eight thousand years until they were discovered by the archeologist Joseph Gardner.
A great admirer of birds and other flying animals, the Thanagarians used their Nth metal to manufacture winged, flying harnesses allowing them to soar and glide, technology that they have used for thousands of years. This practice continued until several hundred years ago, as their science advanced to the point where they were able to successfully genetically engineer themselves to have natural, organic wings, which all modern Thanagarians currently enjoy.
For the past several decades, the Thanagarian Empire has been engaged in a war with the aforementioned Gordanians, a hostile reptilian race from the Vega star system. On the verge of defeat, a plot was hatched to use Earth as a means to strike the Gordanian home world, Karna. Under the pretense of determining the planet’s strengths and weaknesses should their enemies attack, the Thanagarian military sent Lt. Shayera Hol to Earth as a scout to prepare for their arrival. Then, when she gathered the necessary data under the superhero guise of Hawkgirl, they arrived.
After staging an attack with a previously captured Gordanian Class 7 Cruiser, a Thanagarian armada entered Earth’s atmosphere over Washington, D.C., making short work of the cruiser, and General Hro Talak made his introductions to the stunned Justice League. Introducing themselves as a friendly civilization attempting to safeguard Earth from the Gordanian menace, the world’s governments agreed to their proposal of building a planetary force field to protect them from invasion. However, following an investigation by Batman, the League realized that the introduction was a false flag operation to ingratiate themselves with the population. Their true plan was to build a Hyperspace Bypass Generator on Earth—along with presumably several other planets—to open a series of wormholes allowing the Thanagarian fleet to get past the Gordanians’ fortified defensive line and made a direct assault on their home world. However, the wormhole would destroy the Earth. Learning of the plot, Shayera Hol betrayed the Thanagarian military and informed the Justice League of their plans, and with her help the generator was destroyed.
With their mission a failure and further occupation pointless, the Thanagarian armada left Earth and returned to Thanagar, only to find that the Gordanians had successfully defeated and conquered the planet. Currently under Gordanian authority, what remains of the Thanagarian military is now engaged in guerilla warfare against the occupying force, save for a small squadron that left to seek revenge on Shayera Hol.
EPISODE APPEARANCE:
“Starcrossed”: General Hro Talak, Lieutenant Kragger, Lieutenant Paran Dul
“Hunter’s Moon”: General Hro Talak (Flashback), Lieutenant Kragger, Lieutenant Paran Dul
“Shadow of the Hawk”: Katar Hol (Flashback), Chay-Ara Hol (Flashback)
“Ancient History”: Katar Hol (Flashback), Chay-Ara Hol (Flashback)
The Thinker
An embittered former attorney, Clifford DeVoe turned to crime when he realized crime can, in fact, pay. Recognizing that most criminals had skill, but not the brains to plan their crimes, he set himself up in a career as a fixer, planning flawless criminal acts for the highest bidder. Later, DeVoe augmented his acumen with his “Thinking Cap,” a device that, when worn, raises his intellect to genius levels, as well as allowing him various psionic powers, such as telekinesis, mind control, and projected hallucinations. Stolen from its inventor, Professor Hartwell Jackson, DeVoe uses it as a basis to develop for himself a costumed identity in the form of the Thinker.
A frequent foe of the Flash, the Thinker also served Grodd as a member of the Legion of Doom, presumably as a planner and consultant. As he was unseen during the Hall of Doom’s launch into space, it is possible that the Thinker survived the headquarters’ destruction.
Titano
Voiced by Frank Welker
A chimpanzee used by NASA in the mid-1970s, Titano—named after the rocket he was to be launched in, the Titan 0—became fast friends with an eight-year-old Lois Lane, whose father—Col. Sam Lane—temporarily housed the ape prior to the mission. Unfortunately, upon launch, the rocket misfired, and Lois watched as Titano’s capsule was lost in space.
Twenty years later, during an expedition to protect a space station from a meteor storm, Superman discovered the capsule embedded in a meteorite, which surprisingly contained a very alive Titano. Bringing the chimp to S.T.A.R. Labs for study, the lethargic Titano brightened up upon seeing his old friend Lois, who was now a reporter for The Daily Planet. However, they soon discovered that the gas pockets in the meteor, when combined with Earth’s atmosphere, caused incredible growth, resulting in the chimpanzee enlarging to King Kong-levels.
Following the obligatory rampage through downtown Metropolis and a brawl with the Man of Steel, S.T.A.R. Labs succeeded in stopping Titano’s growth spurts, and Superman found him a new home on a tropical, monkey-filled island where he could live in peace.
Tobias Manning
Voiced by Ed O’Ross
A notorious western outlaw, Tobias Manning had the good fortune to rob time traveler David Clinton when he arrived in 1879 Oklahoma. Using his device to travel into the future to steal technology and weaponry, Manning would return to the past and force Clinton to teach him and his men how to use it. With an arsenal of future tech, he took over the mining town of Elkhorn, OK; ousting Sherriff Ohiyesa Smith and enslaving the townsfolk.
Returning six months later with help—both from fellow old west heroes and Justice League members from the 21st century—Ohiyesa Smith and his allies successfully invaded his heavily fortified compound, bested his mechanical dinosaurs and giant robots, and defeated Manning, removing the time belt from him and taking him into custody. However, following some additional time jumps and paradoxes, this event was erased from the history books, and only Batman and Green Lantern have any memory of this incident occurring.
Tomar-Re
First Appearance: Green Lantern #6 (June 1961)
Originally a scientist from the planet Xudar, Tomar-Re went on to become one of the most celebrated Green Lanterns in the Corps. During his tenure, he served as prosecutor in the trial of Sinestro and led a division of Green Lanterns against the forces of Nekron, Lord of the Unliving. However, Tomar-Re is still haunted by one incident from early in his career: the inability to save the inhabitants of Krypton.
The Top
Fascinated by tops in his youth, Roscoe Dillon decided in his later life to incorporate that love into his criminal career. Capable of spinning at great speeds that can deflect bullets, the Top is a constant thorn in the side of the Flash. As he was unseen during the Hall of Doom’s launch into space, it is possible that the Top survived the headquarters’ destruction.
Toyman
Voiced by Bud Cort, (STAS, JLU), Corey Burton (Justice League)
First Appearance: Action Comics #64 (September 1943)
The story of Toyman began years ago, with an old toymaker named Winslow Schott and his son, who was also named Winslow. The elder Winslow wished to build a larger toy factory but had no money to do so until one day, when he was approached by Bruno Manheim, the head of Intergang—Metropolis’ criminal syndicate. The gangster offered to pay for the toy factory on the condition that it also be used as a front for a numbers racket. Schott agreed, but—in reality—Manheim played him for a patsy, and when the police broke up the numbers ring only the toymaker was convicted and sent to prison, where he later died before becoming eligible for parole. With his father gone, Winslow Schott, Jr. was placed in the foster care system, where he was moved from home to home like “the little toy that nobody wanted.” Turning hateful and bitter, the younger Schott vowed to get revenge on Manheim.
Years later, the now-adult Schott, Jr.—who was still very much in a childlike state of arrested development—returned to Metropolis as the Toyman. Dressed as a Jerry Mahoney-esque ventriloquist dummy with an unchanging doll mask, the brilliant toymaker, inventor, and munitions expert began targeting Manheim’s operations and appearances, attacking him with weaponized model airplanes and rubber ducks armed with surface-to-air missiles. Capturing Manheim and reporter Lois Lane, Toyman would have killed them had it not been for the intervention of Superman. Escaping capture by blowing up his “play house,” Toyman’s quest for vengeance stalled when Manheim relocated to Apokolips, putting him out of the supervillain’s reach.
Unable to kill Manheim, Toyman later found distraction with the construction of a companion. Remembering the Barbie-like Darci doll of his youth, he created a life-sized one utilizing advanced robotics and A.I. technologies. However, once completed, the fembot resented being kept in Schott’s play room, and she eventually fled. Wanting to see the world, she took the name Darci Mason and started her own life as a professional model. However, Toyman tracked her down, and Darci, who was becoming unhinged, fought back and escaped.
(They would later encounter each other again in Dakota City, where she posed as a teacher, Ms. Moore. Darci wanted a more human-like body, which Toyman was able to create using nanites. However, following a double cross, Toyman regretfully activated a fail-safe and allowed her to self-destruct.)
Later, no doubt responding to the creation of the Justice League, Toyman joined the Superman Revenge Squad—where he inadvertently created an energized tachyon beam that transported Superman 30,000 years into the future—and the Legion of Doom. Siding with Lex Luthor during Gorilla Grodd’s attempted mutiny, Toyman was one of the few survivors following the Hall of Doom’s destruction in deep space.
The Trickster
Voiced by Mark Hamill
A delusional man suffering from a serious mental disorder, James Jesse reverts to his “supervillain” persona of the Trickster when off his medication. Tolerated by the other Rogues, he utilizes gag-based weaponry similar to the Joker, but coarser, such as a Snot Gun that shoots a greenish-yellow acid.
Tsukuri
Voiced by Karen Maruyama
First Appearance: The Brave and the Bold #200 (Katana, July 1983), “Fury, Part 1” (Tsukuri, April 7, 2002)
A mysterious, unnamed assassin who is trained in various martial arts, Tsukuri’s specialty is the katana blade, which she wields with deadly accuracy. Initially part of the second incarnation of the Injustice Gang, she aided the terrorist Aresia in her quest to purge the planet of the male gender. Following the Amazon’s disappearance, she joined the Legion of Doom.
As she was unseen during the Hall of Doom’s launch into space, it is possible that Tsukuri survived the headquarters’ destruction.
Turtle Man
First Appearance: All-Flash #21 (Winter 1945)
Wearing a shell that functions as body armor as well as a device that can make people move slower, the unnamed criminal is one of the Flash’s earliest villains.
Two-Face
Voiced by Richard Moll (BTAS, TNBA), Bruce Timm (Justice League vs. The Fatal Five)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #66 (August 1942)
Originally Gotham City’s brilliant up-and-coming district attorney, Harvey Dent was a man at war with two enemies: mob boss Rupert Thorne and Dent’s submerged, second personality, “Big Bad Harv.” Originating from a traumatic childhood incident, this figure embodied all of Dent’s repressed anger and rage. This malevolent identity would surface from time to time, and Dent would have no memory of it later. Already stressed and up for reelection, he began seeing a psychiatrist, who recommended committing him to a psychiatric ward, but settled for increased sessions and reduced campaigning. However, Thorne became aware of Dent’s dissociative identity disorder, and he stole his medical files and attempted to blackmail him for “a few favors from the D.A.’s office.” Unfortunately for Thorne, the stress of the situation awakened Big Bad Harv, and he attacked both him and his men. Aided by Batman, who followed Dent to Thorne’s location, Dent attempted to chase after Thorne, who had fled with his medical file, and one of Thorne’s goons opened fire on the district attorney. Batman attempted to stop him, but the shots went wild, triggering an accident that caught Dent in a massive explosion that mutilated 50% of his body.
Lying in his hospital bed, it is unknown how his mind grappled with the injuries sustained. Perhaps the two personalities clashed until an accord was reached. Perhaps a third personality arose to become an arbitrator for Dent and Big Bad Harv. At any rate, the creature that woke up and escaped that hospital room that night was no longer Harvey Dent, but Two-Face.
In the months that followed, Two-Face started his own gang and began targeting Thorne’s criminal operations, using his double-headed silver dollar—one side pristine, one side scratched and marred—to decide whether or not to strike. For Two-Face, the concepts of life and death, good and evil, and black and white were entirely up to chance and, in his case, decidable by a coin flip. Unable to get his vengeance against Rupert Thorne due to the intervention of the Caped Crusader, he elected to take him down as a rival Gotham crime boss.
In the years that followed, Two-Face became a regular menace to Batman and Gotham City, made all the more dangerous due to the fact that Harvey Dent was, at one time, best friends with the Dark Knight’s alter ego, Bruce Wayne. In addition to his crimes, there was also a period where another personality surfaced, manifesting in the alternate costumed identity of the Judge, a vigilante seeking to eliminate the criminal element that he was unknowingly a part of.
While not a regular foe of the Justice League, the League did encounter a lobotomized variant of Harvey Dent in the Justice Lords’ universe, and—during their encounter with the Fatal Five—Two-Face took new fish Thomas Kallor under his wing when he was institutionalized at Arkham Asylum, not realizing that he was Legion of Super Heroes’ team member Star Boy.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and DC Comics.
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