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 Commissioner Gordon, Angela Chen, or Max Gibson.
This time, it’s the Ms. 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.
Machiste
Voiced by Phil LaMarr (Uncredited)
The wandering king of Kiro, Machiste and Travis Morgan became close friends and allies during a gladiator revolt against Deimos. His right hand has been replaced by a mace.
The Mad Hatter
Voiced by Roddy McDowall
A brilliant—but painfully shy—man with an obsession for the works of British author Lewis Carroll, Jervis Tetch worked as a neuroscientist at Wayne Enterprises, where he was tasked with using microchips to increase the brain’s potential. However, he secretly pursued his passion project: perfecting a form of mind control using electrodes to project his mental commands onto others. Eager to test his new circuitry cards on human subjects, he considered using one on Alice Pleasance—a young secretary in his office that he had unrequited feelings for—but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. However, upon hearing that her boyfriend had broken up with her, he decided to show Alice a good time, using his technology to enthrall others to impress her. And, in an act that can only be described as whimsical, he elected to dress up for the occasion as the Mad Hatter.
That night he took Alice about town, where he used his circuitry cards to compel others to treat him like royalty, allowing them to eat for free at one of Gotham’s finest restaurants and get a private evening at Storybook Land, a fairytale-themed amusement park. They also encountered a pair of muggers, but Tetch—through sleight of hand—tagged them with his technology and “encouraged” them to jump in the river, which they attempted to do by climbing to the top of the Gotham Bridge. Fortunately for them, they encountered Batman, who managed to rescue them from their forced suicide attempt.
Emboldened after a wonderful evening, Jervis (still dressed in his Mad Hatter costume) arrived at work prepared to reveal his feelings to Alice, only to find that she had reconciled with her boyfriend, who had also proposed to her. Enraged, he considered his options, but when his boss arrived—furious because Bruce Wayne requested his presence—the Mad Hatter silenced her with one of his cards and began to hatch a plan.
Using his technology, Jervis forced her fiancé, Billy, to break up with her again, and then he confronted Alice in her apartment, but the moment was interrupted by Batman. Anticipating this encounter, he attacked him with thralls dressed as the Walrus and the Carpenter, and then he absconded with Alice, who he tagged with his cards, reducing her to another puppet. Defeating his mind-controlled henchmen and tracking Tetch to Storybook Land, Batman confronted the Mad Hatter, who now—in his mania—blamed the Dark Knight for trying to take his love away from him. Nearly crushed during their confrontation by a life-sized replica of the Jabberwock, he was arrested and taken to Arkham Asylum.
A brilliant scientist, the Mad Hatter would return multiple times to bedevil Batman with his technology over the years, using it to brainwash the wealthy into giving him their money, to overcome the asylum staff in preparation for a jailbreak, and—in one notable encounter—trap the Dark Knight in a simulation designed to grant him his heart’s desire. However, Batman would overcome his Wonderland-inspired foe every time, returning him to custody … among the other mad people.
Mad Harriet
Voiced by Andrea Martin
First Appearance: Mister Miracle #6 (February 1972)
The most unpredictable member of the Female Furies, Mad Harriet utilizes her “Power Spikes,” a pair of razor sharp claws, in battle. Like the other members of her team, she sided with Granny Goodness in Apokolips’ civil war.
Mad Stan
Voiced by Henry Rollins
First Appearance: “Rats” (November 20, 1999)
An anarchist radical enraged by the system, Stanley “Mad Stan” Labowski became convinced that bureaucracy, technology, and information overload was destroying Neo-Gotham, and his plan to combat this was to blow everything up. A frequent foe of the second Batman, Mad Stan is incredibly strong and an expert with explosives.
Major Disaster
First Appearance: Green Lantern #43 (March 1966)
Originally little more than a petty crook, Paul Booker hired a group of criminal scientists to create devices that would enable him to cause natural disasters. Using his newfound might, the newly dubbed Major Disaster took on both Green Lantern and the Flash, but in the end he lost the battle and appeared to be destroyed in an explosion of his own creation. However, one of his discoveries recreated his body and, over time, it began to internalize the abilities of his machines. Now able to cause floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes with but a thought, Major Disaster now uses these abilities either solo or with the Legion of Doom. Although he sided with Grodd during the mutiny, Major Disaster was not singled out for punishment by Luthor. However, it appears that he died in the Hall of Doom’s destruction in deep space.
Mala
Leslie Easterbrook (“Blasts from the Past”), Sarah Douglas (“Absolute Power”)
First Appearance: Action Comics #471 (Faora Hu-Ul, May 1977), “Blasts from the Past, Part 1” (September 8, 1997)
Long ago, before Krypton’s destruction, Lieutenant Mala was second-in-command of her world’s planetary defenses, serving under General Jax-Ur. However, when his calls for a stronger, more aggressive military was rejected by the isolationist High Council, Mala supported Jax-Ur’s attempted takeover of the planetary government. However, their military junta was short-lived, as the scientist Jor-El discovered the plot and aided in their overthrow. Found guilty of insurrection against the council, they decided to show leniency to Mala, whom they determined was only following orders, and she was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in the Phantom Zone, an interdimensional limbo utilized by Kryptonians as a form of punishment.
Later, following Krypton’s destruction, Superman and Professor Emil Hamilton discovered a Phantom Zone projector hidden in the rocket that brought the Man of Steel to Earth. Through it, they were able to communicate with Mala and, as her sentence had been served, they released her, and Superman helped the Kryptonian woman acclimate to her new world, as well as her now-developing super powers. However, when she proved to also possess a lust for power commensurate with her former superior officer, Superman and Hamilton discussed their options, which included potentially returning her to the Phantom Zone. However, Mala heard them, and in a rage she grabbed the projector and freed Jax-Ur from his imprisonment. Together, they nearly seized control of the planet before Superman successfully returned both of them to the zone.
However, there are other ways to escape the Phantom Zone without the use of a projector as, years later, a meteor collision near a black hole tore open a temporary rift, allowing Jax-Ur and Mala to escape their imprisonment. Rescued from the vacuum of space by a nearby science vessel, the duo took advantage of their planet’s yellow sun and conquered their world. Renaming it New Krypton, Jax-Ur fashioned the “primitive” society into a fascist stratocracy designed to become the crown jewel in a new galactic empire. However, one year into their rule, scientific inquiry about the black hole drew Superman into the conflict between Jax-Ur’s military and the resistance dedicated to its destruction. Upon learning that the first target of Jax-Ur’s armada would be Earth, Superman aided the resistance in overthrowing Jax-Ur and Mala. Their warship caught in the gravity well during their conflict, Mala and her partner were sucked into the black hole, resulting in the spaghettification of their bodies and, presumably, their deaths.
Man-Bat
Voiced by Marc Singer
First Appearance: Detective Comics #400 (June 1970)
A zoologist with an interest in genetic engineering, Dr. Kirk Langstrom was a contemporary of Dr. Emile Dorian, the creator of T-99, a mutagen used in the creation of animal hybrids. Working briefly with the mad scientist, Langstrom watched as Dorian used his chemical compound to splice feline and primate DNA into creatures neither fully cat nor ape. Eventually parting ways, the doctor remained interested in the prospects of genetic splicing, even as he took a job at the Gotham Zoo, where he worked with Dr. March, an expert in Chiroptera, and his daughter, Dr. Francine March, whom Langstrom would eventually marry.
An eccentric genius, Dr. March was convinced that bats possessed the necessary genetic characteristics to survive the next evolutionary cataclysm, whereas humans did not. Believing that humanity’s only chance of survival lay with adopting certain bat attributes into their genome, Dr. March and Dr. Langstrom worked on a formula to splice fruit bat DNA into a human host. However, while successful, Dr. March was afraid to test the formula, but Langstrom was not, and the resulting serum transformed him into an enormous, flying monster—the Man-Bat.
Possessing the powers of flight, enhanced strength, and echolocation, the Man-Bat began targeting pharmaceutical companies to steal chemicals to perfect the formula, allowing it to usurp Langstrom’s body. However, when witnesses mistook the monster for the fledgling vigilante Batman, the Dark Knight began investigating the series of robberies, resulting in an aerial confrontation across the Gotham skyline. However, Batman successfully incapacitated the Man-Bat, allowing him to cure Dr. Langstrom in his Bat Cave.
However, this would not be the end of the Man-Bat, as Dr. March would later resume work on the formula unbeknownst to either Dr. Langstrom. Completing the formula, his daughter, Francine, interrupted him, and she inadvertently became dosed with the formula thanks to a broken vial. Now unknowingly transforming into a bat hybrid herself, she suspected her husband of taking the formula again, leading to their estrangement. However, with Batman’s help, the truth was uncovered, Francine was cured, and the couple reconciled.
The Manhunters
Voiced by James Remar
First Appearance: Justice League of America #140 (March 1977)
Forged over three billion years ago, the Manhunters were an early attempt by the Guardians of the Universe to create an intergalactic police force. Constructed to resemble the native Oans in physical form (as they appeared at the time), the androids drew their energy from the Central Power Battery, an energy source powered by the Guardians themselves. At first, they were excellent troops—bringing their authority to the lawless sectors of the universe—but, over time, flaws began to settle into their programming, such as their inability to comprehend the subtleties between good and evil … as well as the fact that they began to believe that they were superior to their creators. This belief soon festered into a bitter resentment, which led to their open rebellion against the Guardians.
The war between Guardian and Manhunter raged until the machines attacked Oa directly in an attempt to take control of the Power Battery, which they believed to be theirs by birthright. At first successful, their victory proved to be their undoing when the energies proved too powerful to harness directly—an attempt to recharge directly from the Battery caused a chain reaction that destroyed their weapons and personal batteries. Banished from Oa, disconnected from the Battery, and reprogrammed for lesser duties; the Manhunters excelled in their new roles, but they never forgot their mistreatment and swore vengeance against the Guardians and their successors, the Green Lantern Corps.
Centuries later, the Manhunters plotted a conspiracy to draw the Guardians away from Oa by framing one of their finest Green Lantern officers—John Stewart—for the destruction of the planet Ajuris 4, thus forcing them to come to his defense to protect the Corps against developing anti-Green Lantern sentiment in the galaxy. This would allow the Manhunters to make another attempt to claim the Central Power Battery for themselves. While initially successful, Stewart’s allies in the Justice League successfully proved that Ajuris 4 was not destroyed but masked by a hologram, making it appear destroyed. With Green Lantern acquitted, the League was free to defend Oa, alongside a squadron of Corps members, from an onslaught of Manhunters.
In the end, the Manhunters were destroyed in battle, but battalions of these red-and-blue automatons may still exist out in space, awaiting the day when they will attack again, with their power staffs and their battle cry, “No man escapes the Manhunters.”
Mantis
Voiced by J.K. Simmons (Uncredited)
First Appearance: Forever People #2 (June 1971)
Second only to Darkseid in terms of power on Apokolips, Mantis is the leader of a colony of bugs that migrated from New Genesis. While initially travelling to Earth in an attempt to conquer, he later sided with Vundabar in his conquest of their home world.
Maxie Zeus
Voiced by Steve Susskind
First Appearance: Detective Comics #483 (May 1979)
The CEO of Maximilian Shipping Lines in Gotham City, Maximilian “Maxie” Zeus was a titan of industry, but when his business began to falter he began handling cargo for Gotham’s crime families and selling shipping schedules to hijackers. Over time, the constant stress and tension of his criminal ties got to Maxie, and he had a mental breakdown. Long an admirer of Greek mythology, he began to believe that his luck in his criminal enterprises was, in fact, due to his inherent divinity. For he was not Maximilian Zeus, as he was the God of Thunder himself, and in his madness he redesigned his office building to be a recreation of Mount Olympus and created a lightning bolt-shaped energy staff that could fire bolts of electricity.
Seeking to claim Gotham City as his own, Maxie Zeus stole a military prototype—the Electron Discharge Cannon, an energy weapon capable of mass destruction—and had it installed on the roof of his building, and when his employee, Yanni Stavros, attempted to broker a deal with Commissioner Gordon in exchange for leniency, he nearly killed him with his lightning bolt staff. Investigating the attempted murder, Batman came into conflict with Zeus, whom he saw as Hades, his underworld counterpart and a challenger for his rule over Olympus. During a confrontation where Zeus used the E.D.C. to shoot down one of the police department’s dirigibles, the Dark Knight succeeded in taking down the false god.
Declared insane by the criminal courts, Maxie Zeus was committed to Arkham Asylum where, in his madness, he interpreted the mental institution to be the true Mount Olympus and the rest of Batman’s Rogues’ Gallery to be his pantheon. At long last, he had found peace among his people.
Maxima
Voiced by Sharon Lawrence
First Appearance: Action Comics #645 (September 1989)
The spoiled, yet formidable, warrior queen of the Royal House of Almerac, Maxima was obsessed with finding an appropriate mate with which to perpetuate her family’s bloodline. However, such a consort needed to best her in battle first, and her single-minded pursuit for such a mate came at the expense of actually governing her planet. Following a string of unsuccessful suitors, Maxima learned of Superman, and she immediately left for Earth to challenge him, allowing De’Cine (a previous paramour) and Sazu (her majordomo) to stage a coup d’état in her absence.
Literally dragging the Man of Steel back to her home world, Maxima was shocked to find De’Cine on the throne, and the usurper wasted no time in throwing Maxima, Superman, and Sazu into the catacombs. Eventually breaking free and arresting the criminal, Superman attempted to let her down easy, as well as impart upon her a civics lesson in regard to ruling a population. It remains to be seen, however, if this lesson will stick.
Mercy Graves
Voiced by Lisa Edelstein
First Appearance: “A Little Piece of Home” (September 14, 1996), Superman Adventures #1 (November 1996), Detective Comics #735 (August 1999)
The product of a checkered background, Mercy Graves grew up on the streets of Metropolis living, as she herself once put it, as “a stray dog.” It was there that she developed her cunning, stealth, and prowess; which led to her assuming leadership of a gang of thieves. However, her life was to change forever the day she dared to steal the briefcase of Lex Luthor. Rather than have her killed, Luthor—impressed by her skill and bravado—decided to offer her a job. Accepting Luthor’s offer, Mercy was trained in multiple forms of weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, after which she became his personal bodyguard, chauffer, and assassin.
Originally fiercely loyal (and somewhat attracted) to her employer, her opinion of Luthor began to waver when, during an attack staged by Brainiac, he decided to leave her for dead rather than help her escape. Still, working for him had its benefits, as he handpicked her to be chief executive of LexCorp following his arrest, imprisonment, and subsequent stint as a supervillain. In his absence, however, she realizes the toxic influence that he had on her life, and she now seeks to reinvent herself as her own person.
Merlyn
First Appearance: Justice League of America #94 (November 1971)
Originally a member of the League of Assassins, the dark archer known only as Merlyn soon operated as a freelance killer. Deadly accurate with a bow and arrow, this mercenary was second only to Green Arrow in terms of accuracy and skill. Although he sided with Grodd during the mutiny, Merlyn was not singled out for punishment by Luthor. However, it appears that he died in the Hall of Doom’s destruction.
Metallo
Voiced by Malcolm McDowell (STAS, JLU), Corey Burton (Justice League)
First Appearance: Action Comics #252 (May 1959)
A professional mercenary, hit man, and fugitive in at least five countries; John Corbin was well-known in underworld circles as a man who could get results. Intelligent and handsome, he was also a man of expensive tastes, appreciating fine art, fine food, and fine, female companionship. This all changed, however, with the debut of Superman, sending Corbin on a course that would transform him, both in mind and body.
Corbin first encountered the Man of Steel at the beginning of his superhero career, when the criminal was serving as a soldier in the employ of the regent of Kasnia. Presumably seizing power from King Gustav during a period of political unrest, the regent employed a team of mercenaries to eliminate his political enemies, which led to an embargo imposed by the United States. Meanwhile, munitions manufacturer Lex Luthor unveiled the Lexo-Skel 5000, a piloted suit of armor the size of a tank, and the regent wanted one, but such a sale was impossible under the embargo. Therefore, Luthor secretly negotiated for the regent’s agents to steal the weapon during a press conference, thus allowing his “buyer” to claim the item while also ensuring that the U.S. military would award a new contract to build another. However, Superman unraveled the deception as reporter Clark Kent, and then he confronted Corbin, who was piloting the Lexo-Skel 5000 at Hob’s Bay, in Metropolis’ harbor. Superman was victorious, destroying the armor and, in doing so, gaining the animosity of both Luthor and Corbin that day.
Sent to Stryker’s Island Penitentiary, Corbin kept his mouth shut, and Luthor repaid him by ensuring that he was comfortable in prison, with plush furnishings and gourmet food. This was, however, part of one of Luthor’s master plans, as Corbin’s prison doctor, Emmett Vale, laced his food with Orozco’s retrovirus, a rare disease indigenous only to a single South American island. Once he discovered his illness, Luthor and Dr. Vale arranged for Corbin to escape prison to receive treatment. Luthor’s treatment plan: to remove Corbin’s brain from his dying body and install it into a robotic one manufactured from metallo, a nearly indestructible metal alloy, and powered by a piece of kryptonite. Reluctantly, Corbin agreed, and Luthor’s doctors performed the surgery.
Upon waking, Corbin was delighted to feel healthy and discover that he now possessed super-strength on par with Superman. However, he felt … off. He could control his hands, but it felt like he was doing so remotely, and even then he couldn’t feel the sensation of touch with those hands. He had no desire to eat or drink. He couldn’t smell roses, and he couldn’t feel a kiss when he attempted to force himself on Lois Lane. Later, upon confronting the doctor who performed the operation, he learned that—while he was invulnerable to injury, sickness, and pain—he was now unable to experience pleasure or the sensations of touch, smell, and taste … and for an amoral hedonist like Corbin, it drove him mad. Tearing the artificial skin off his metal frame, he rechristened himself Metallo.
Initially seeking revenge on Luthor, he was talked town by his benefactor, as he claimed that he had people working on Corbin’s problem. However, that desire for payback returned when Superman revealed that Luthor was the one who authorized the doctor to poison him in order to use him for his anti-Superman experiment. Attempting to infect Luthor on his private yacht with that same virus, Metallo was caught off guard when Superman ignited some gas cannisters below deck, causing the ship to explode. In the end, Luthor got away, and the non-buoyant Metallo sank into the ocean.
One year later, Metallo resurfaced, having walked along the bottom of the ocean until he reached dry land, on the volcanic island of Raknaveek. His clothing and artificial skin washed away, the cyborg suffered from amnesia, as his time in dark, senseless isolation damaged his psyche. His memory returned, however, when he was reminded of Superman. Encountering the Man of Steel once reports of his return reached Metropolis, he nearly smothered him under molten lava until Superman, in a moment of desperation, tore the kryptonite from his body and threw it into the lava flow. Desperately attempting to retrieve it, he became submerged in the lava, and his body powered down. Trapped in soundless darkness, with his body presumably providing minimal life support for his brain, he forced himself to remember that he was Metallo until his body could be reactivated.
One of Superman’s most powerful foes, his strongest asset is the kryptonite rock that powers his body, which he can use offensively by opening a panel on his chest or by projecting concentrated energy blasts from his chest cavity or eyes. However, while his new body makes him nearly invulnerable to damage and functionally immortal, Corbin is a mind stuck in a perpetual state of sensory deprivation. All he has is his hatred of Superman.
Later retrieved by Intergang and restored to working order, he has made the most of his new career as a supervillain. Recently, Metallo has begun joining supervillain teams, such as the Superman Revenge Squad and, later, the Legion of Doom. Presumably allying himself with Grodd with the promise of improving his condition, he was first sent to Skartaris to broker a weapons deal with the high priest Deimos in exchange for what they referred to as the “Great Stone,” a massive rock of kryptonite. Unfortunately for him, the Justice League intervened and, following the warlord’s defeat, Metallo’s brain shorted out under interrogation, undoubtedly a failsafe installed by Grodd. As of this writing, it is unknown whether Corbin’s brain was destroyed, or whether Metallo is merely back in custody.
Metamorpho
Voiced by Tom Sizemore
First Appearance: The Brave and the Bold #57 (January 1965)
Chosen to be a guinea pig by industrialist Simon Stagg, Rex Mason was transformed into a Metamorpho, Stagg’s prototype for a worker able to survive harsh climates and dangerous conditions. Now able to shape shift and transform his body into any element (or combination of elements), Mason chooses to use his powers for the benefit of humanity as Metamorpho, the Element Man.
Metron
Voiced by Daniel Dae Kim
A passive observer in the ongoing conflict between New Genesis and Apokolips, Metron is a seeker of knowledge who claims no allegiance to either world, though he does lean more towards New Genesis, as he fears that being an instrument of Darkseid would impede his mission. Riding his Mobius Chair, he is able to transverse all of time and space in his pursuit of wisdom.
Recognizing that Lex Luthor’s plans would resurrect Darkseid following his demise, his attempts to persuade him to alter his course fell on deaf ears. However, he would later transport Luthor to the Source Wall to obtain the Anti-Life Equation for Darkseid, as it was the only thing that would end his attack on Earth.
Micron
Voiced by Wayne Brady
First Appearance: “The Call, Part 1” (November 11, 2000)
Fifty years into the Justice League’s future, an unnamed legacy hero serves as a counterpart to Ray Palmer, the Atom. Taking the identity of Micron, the hero uses his abilities of flight and size manipulation in service to the Justice League Unlimited.
Mighty Mom
Voiced by Andrea Martin
First Appearance: “Make ‘Em Laugh” (November 5, 1994)
Originally Lisa Lorraine, a standup comic with a hit television series, she had the unfortunate luck to run afoul of the Joker during the annual Gotham Laugh-Off Comedy Competition. Disguised as “Smilin’ Shecky Rimshot,” the Clown Prince of Crime attempted to win the prize with stale jokes and a missed registration date. Dragged offstage, he swore revenge on Lorraine and her fellow judges, Buddy Standler and Harry Loomis.
One year later, she was abducted by the Joker and dosed with one of the Mad Hatter’s mind control chips. Dressed up as the Mighty Mom—a costumed extremist using a broom as a bow staff, as well as a surprising display of gymnastics—the hapless Lorraine aided the Joker when he crashed the contest the following year. Freed from the Joker’s mind control by Robin after a brief confrontation, she was presumably set free following the clown’s arrest.
Mirror Master
Voiced by Alexis Denisof
While serving a prison sentence, criminal Sam Scudder was working in the prison machine shop when he accidentally discovered a means of creating mirrors that possessed unique properties. Using these mirrors to escape, Scudder continued to experiment and refine his discovery, eventually using these new mirrors to embark on a career as a costumed criminal. Operating under the identity of the Mirror Master, Scudder now possesses mirrors that enable him to travel through reflective surfaces, project holograms or illusions, hypnotize others, capture people in reflections, or travel to other dimensions.
A member of Grodd’s Legion of Doom, it is possible that he was responsible for freeing Tala from her mirror prison.
Miss Martian
Voiced by Daniela Bobadilla
First Appearance: Teen Titans #37 (August 2006)
A Martian who somehow survived the Imperium’s invasion, young M’gann M’orzz wished to join the Justice League as J’onn J’onzz did. Paired with Batman during their battle with the Fatal Five, she successfully proved her valor and was accepted into the League.
Mister Element
A previous identity held by Albert Desmond (the current Doctor Alchemy), it appears that a new, as-yet unnamed figure has adopted his old persona.
Mister Freeze
Voiced by Michael Ansara
First Appearance: Batman #121 (Mister Zero, February 1959), Detective Comics #373 (Mister Freeze, March 1968)
The sad tale of Victor Fries began in his childhood, where he was raised by a pair of wealthy, abusive parents obsessed with priming their son to become a genius. Unfortunately, the constant stress and pressure placed upon him led him to seek ways to control his world, which led to him “experimenting” with insects by freezing them in ice cubes, thus allowing them to be “safe and beautiful forever.” Not willing to put up with behavior that they deemed aberrant, his parents shipped him off to a strict boarding school after finding him one night attempting to freeze his pet lab rat, Nikki. Effectively abandoning him there year-round, young Victor grew up feeling as an eternal outsider, a lonely observer of a world that he would be forever separate of.
Years later, while finishing his graduate degree, he met the only person who actually cared for him: Nora Smithy, the university’s most promising athlete. Meeting as she was ice skating on a frozen lake, it was love at first sight as the young woman attempted to teach him how to skate, effectively pulling him out of his isolationist shell. They married one year later on a snowy Christmas Eve, and the young couple relocated upstate, where Dr. Fries found a job at a small university teaching science. Over time, Fries began studying cryogenics, turning his childhood “deviancy” into scientific achievement. For the first time, Victor Fries was happy, but it was not to last, as—less than a year later—Nora was diagnosed with a rare, but treatable, form of cancer. Needing more money to help his wife than a struggling academic could afford, Fries left teaching to find a high-paying job with a large corporation. Unfortunately, the only company willing to pay what he needed was GothCorp.
Laboring under the auspices of the company’s president, Ferris Boyle, Fries created a prototype cryogenic chamber that was meant for mass production, but as the company’s accountants ran the numbers he received word that Nora’s condition had worsened. With only hours left to live, Victor returned to GothCorp with his dying wife and placed her in the cryo-chamber. Vowing never to leave her side, he camped out in the GothCorp building with her for a month until Boyle—who had decided to scrap Fries’ project—discovered that it was still active and went in with security to shut it down. A fight ensued, and Boyle knocked Fries into a table of chemicals, bathing the room in coolant. As a result of the accident, Victor Fries’ body was transformed into one that required subzero temperatures in order to survive. Building a refrigerated suit and a cold gun designed to transform the water molecules in the air into solid ice, Victor renamed himself Mister Freeze, and he went about seeking his revenge.
Hiring a crew, Mister Freeze began a series of daring raids on GothCorp facilities, stealing a number of items that, when assembled together, created a massive version of his handheld cold gun, and he used it in an attempt to freeze the GothCorp building solid on the night that Ferris Boyle was to receive an award for humanitarian of the year. However, he ran afoul of Batman, who defeated the villain but also handed over evidence to the media of Boyle’s crimes.
Imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, Fries remained in custody until the day a robot built by the fascist, aging entrepreneur Grant Walker abducted him, bringing him to Oceania, a domed, aquatic city constructed under the guise of being a theme park. Seeking his aid in becoming a frozen immortal like Fries himself, Walker asked him to recreate the conditions of the accident to transform him as well, and in exchange he would hand over the still intact, yet cryogenically frozen, body of his wife, Nora, who had survived the GothCorp incident. While initially complicit in helping Walker—who sought to induce a planetary ice age using a freeze ray of his own—he later aided Batman and Robin once he realized the full scope of the visionary’s plans. Destroying Oceania, both Fries and his wife’s cryo-chamber found themselves frozen into a glacier.
Resurfacing in the Arctic, Fries took full advantage of the subzero environment, shedding his cryo-suit and—along with his pet polar bears and adopted surrogate son, the Inuit boy Koonak—establishing a home in the frozen frontier with his still-frozen wife. Unfortunately for him, a submarine surfaced in the cave he was living in, which destroyed Nora’s cryo-chamber. Murdering the submarine’s crew in retaliation, Fries returned to Gotham City and, with the aid of Dr. Gregory Belson—a former colleague and cryogenics expert—he attempted to save Nora Fries’ life by way of an organ transplant from a viable donor. Unfortunately, the only available donor was the still-living Barbara Gordon, who Mister Freeze abducted and brought to an abandoned oil rig off the coast of Gotham. Once again, Batman and Robin intervened, and while they were able to save both Barbara and Nora, they lost Fries, who appeared to be lost at sea. However, he survived, and he later discovered that a Wayne Enterprise subsidiary was able to successfully cure Nora of her ailment, allowing her to resume a normal life. Overcome with joy, Fries returned to the Arctic with his polar bears.
Unfortunately, his exile was short-lived, as his body began to deteriorate via an unknown means. Returning to Gotham City, he abducted a number of doctors who were able to stop the cellular damage, but their attempts reduced Fries to a frozen, bodiless head. Unable to face Nora—who had waited for Fries, but reluctantly moved on—he turned his rage upon Gotham. Possibly afflicted with brain damage due to the deterioration, he now sought to make others feel his emptiness by destroying anything that they valued most—thereby destroying their hope—which culminated in his attempt to destroy the city using a “reverse fusion bomb” in an attempt to destroy Batman. However, while defeated, his head disappeared following their conflict.
Forty to fifty years later, through unknown events, the head of Victor Fries resurfaced in the custody of Wayne-Powers. Recently transformed into a radioactive monster called Blight, Derek Powers sought a cure for his affliction, which Dr. Stephanie Lake—a recent hire at his company—believed was possible via using his baseline DNA to clone a new body, which she could then transfer his neural patterns into. Seeking a guinea pig to test the process, they chose Victor Fries to be their test subject.
Waking from the experiment in a newly cloned body, Fries was amazed to see that he was now able to experience normal temperature without dying. Awakening to a brave new world, he attempted to create a new life for himself in Neo Gotham, and he even created a charity to help those he hurt during his time as Mister Freeze. Unfortunately for him, he began to feel the effects of heat once more, only to find that his new body was reverting to its original, frozen state. Seeking to biopsy his organs, Dr. Lake attempted to kill Fries to study his remains. However, he escaped from his enclosure, fleeing into the snowy night.
Returning to Wayne-Powers in a cryo-suit he kept in “cold storage,” he attempted to kill both Powers and Lake by freezing them to death, and then—seeking his own demise—he planned to destroy the whole Wayne-Powers campus by bringing it down upon himself. However, using his own radioactive heat, Powers freed himself and mortally wounded Fries with the energies he generated, and he would have administered the killing blow had the second Batman—Terry McGinnis—not intervened. Following a vicious three-way fight where Fries succeeded in removing Blight from the facility via a blast of freeze energy, he chose to remain in the compromised building, waiting for the roof to collapse under the weight of the ice. Brushing off the new Batman’s attempt to save him, Fries—a man routinely hurt by nearly everyone in his extended, frozen life—acknowledged before his presumed death that the Tomorrow Knight—like his beloved wife, Nora—was the only one who cared what happened to him.
Mister Miracle
Voiced by Ioan Gruffudd
First Appearance: Mister Miracle #1 (April 1971)
The son of Highfather, the ruler of New Genesis, and his wife, Avia, he became a pawn of intergalactic politics when, as an infant, he was traded to Darkseid, warlord of Apokolips, in exchange for his own infant son, Orion. This was done as part of a nonaggression pact between their worlds, as Highfather sought to end the violence of their eternal war. Disinterested in the child obtained by this trade, he handed the infant to Granny Goodness to raise in one of her “orphanages,” presumably to turn him into one of his Hunger Dogs.
Naming him Scott Free in mockery, Granny did everything in her power to ensure that the child—who had no knowledge of his heritage—had a torturous upbringing designed to break his spirit. However, it failed, as Scott resisted her brainwashing techniques, and he made good on his name by his frequent escape attempts from the facility where he was raised, the X-Pit. Eventually, after multiple failed attempts, he escaped the facility and eventually made his way to Earth. Darkseid, aware of his desertion, was unfazed, and he used this as a pretense to void the treaty and resume his war with New Genesis.
Aside from his abilities inherent to him as a New God—immortality, superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, among others—Scott Free has, due to his experiences on Apokolips, become a master escape artist, which he uses today as a performer, alongside his wife, Big Barda, and his manager and friend, Oberon. And while not a member of the Justice League, he is open to working with them, should the need arise.
Mister Mxyzptlk
Voiced by Gilbert Gottfried
One of the most powerful beings in existence, the mischievous trickster known as Mister Mxyzptlk hails from the fifth dimensional land of Zrfff. Originally appearing to humanity in the form of supernatural entities like genies, imps, and leprechauns, he began to grow bored with the inhabitants of Earth until the arrival of Superman. Seeing him as the ultimate challenge, he shows up roughly every ninety days to stir up trouble for the Man of Steel, and the only way to return him to the fifth dimension is to trick him into saying, spelling, or otherwise revealing his name backwards. Somehow, Superman regularly manages to defeat the imp and banish him back to his home, much to Mxy’s perpetual chagrin.
However, what Superman does not know is that Mister Mxyzptlk is, in fact, a singular entity who’s an opponent of every incarnation of Superman across the multiverse, meaning that, once defeated, it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to another dimension to spar with that reality’s version of the Man of Steel. Somehow, despite his busy schedule, he still manages to spend time with his long-suffering girlfriend, the equally powerful entity Gsptlsnz.
Mister Terrific
Voiced by Michael Beach (JLU), Kevin Michael Richardson (Justice League vs. The Fatal Five)
First Appearance: Sensation Comics #1 (Golden Age, January 1942), Spectre #54 (Michael Holt, June 1997)
Incredibly successful in all his ventures, Michael Holt was an Olympic decathlon winner and independently wealthy from selling his cybernetics company to Wayne Enterprises. However, his lucky streak met an end when his wife was killed in an automobile accident. Wracked with grief and near suicide, Hold was inspired by the Spectre to take on the identity of Mister Terrific, a mystery man who operated in the 1940s. Adopting the costumed identity and the motto “Fair Play,” Holt now tries to make the world better, both locally in inner city neighborhoods and globally with the Justice League. It is worth noting, in regard to the latter, that Holt was promoted to official coordinator of the League’s activities during J’onn J’onzz’s sabbatical.
Mongul
Voiced by Eric Roberts
First Appearance: DC Comics Presents #27 (November 1980)
As cruel as he is powerful, the dreaded tyrant Mongul is native to the Warzoons, a civilization dedicated to conflict and warfare. Using his superior strength and cunning, he conquered a planet and installed himself as ruler. Caring little for the welfare of his people, Mongul recognized that the key to ruling this world was distraction—providing entertainment to the mob to make them forget their poverty and oppression. With that in mind, he established ongoing matches of gladiatorial combat, which he presented to the masses with the zeal of a fight promoter. Surprisingly, the distraction worked, and Mongul took the throne of his planet, which he called War World.
Over time, he cemented his power base, and any detractors—such as the popular gladiator Draaga—were blackmailed into compliance. However, his reign came to an end when he brought the Kryptonian Superman to his world to have him fight in the arena. Stronger than the tyrant both in power and charisma, the Man of Steel helped Draaga depose Mongul, defeating him in the arena in front of his subjects. Humiliated, Mongul left War World seeking a new kingdom to rule, as well as a means to get revenge on Superman.
Travelling to the Tangled Zones, Mongul discovered the perfect weapon for his revenge on the planet Ater Clementia: the Black Mercy. A creature somewhat between a plant and a fungus, the Black Mercy attaches itself to its victim in a form of symbiosis—it feeds off of the victim’s bio-aura and, in exchange, the plant telepathically reads their mind and traps them in a dream-like state that gives them their heart’s desire. Arriving on Earth in time for Superman’s birthday, he successfully infected the Man of Steel with the plant in his Fortress of Solitude, trapping him in a fantasy where Krypton never exploded and he had a family. Tragically, he was roused from his dream by Batman, who pried the Black Mercy from his chest and, along with Wonder Woman, successfully infected Mongul with the plant, leaving him paralyzed with dreams of unending galactic conquest.
The Monocle
First Appearance: Flash Comics #64 (April 1945)
The owner of an optical shop that had been in his family for three generations, Jonathan Cheval had, over the years, learned how to create unusual lenses that could focus and project various types of radiation. Content to tinker, he turned to crime when the crooked bankers who owned Cheval’s mortgage foreclosed illegally on the property, using the money to pay of their debts. Seeking revenge, Cheval used his special lenses to kill five of the six members of the board, but an intervention by Hawkman prevented him from killing the sixth. Cheval went to jail, but later began a life of crime under the identity of the Monocle.
Although he sided with Grodd during the mutiny, the Monocle was not singled out for punishment by Luthor. However, it appears that he died in the Hall of Doom’s destruction in deep space.
Morgaine Le Fay and Mordred
Voiced by Olivia d’Abo and Soren Fulton
First Appearance: The Demon #1 (September 1972) and “A Knight of Shadows, Part 1” (September 20, 2002)
Centuries ago, during the age of Camelot, Morgaine Le Fay—a powerful sorceress and half-sister to King Arthur—vowed to conquer his kingdom and place their child, the dreaded Mordred, on the throne. To do so, she seduced the knight Jason Blood and coerced him into opening the gates during her army’s invasion. He did as she asked, only to be poisoned by her kiss moments later. Dying on the castle floor, he was punished by Merlin and bound to the wizard’s half-brother, the demon Etrigan, and cursed to walk the Earth until his deeds were atoned for. On that day, Camelot fell, but neither did Le Fay successfully conquer it—most likely due to Etrigan’s intervention—and the witch and her son fled.
In the years that followed, Le Fay and Mordred have travelled the world—always pursed by Etrigan the Demon—searching for the Philosopher’s Stone, a powerful artifact that would allow her to resurrect Camelot and grant her incredible power. Wishing her son to be young when he takes the throne, Le Fay cast a spell to ensure that her son would remain immortal and eternally young. As a result, Mordred has been forced to spend centuries locked into the form of a prepubescent boy. And, as for Le Fay, it appears that the spell prematurely ages the sorceress, forcing her to periodically drain the life force of others to sustain herself. Unfortunately for them, the Philosopher’s Stone was destroyed by Justice League member J’onn J’onzz when she attempted to seduce him the same way she did Blood centuries before.
Later, seeking an alternate power source, Le Fay and Mordred located the Amulet of First Magic, a talisman that was the original source of all magic on Earth. However, once obtaining it, Mordred betrayed his mother and banished anyone older than him to limbo, leaving him to rule a world of children. To right this wrong, Le Fay made a deal with the Justice League, sending Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern back to Earth as children to defeat him. In the end, young Batman tricked him into aging himself to adulthood, thus banishing himself to limbo and breaking the eternal youth component of his mother’s spell. The crisis averted, the world returned to normalcy, and—as of current writing—Mordred is now merely immortal, trapped in an aged body over 1,500-years-old, and being cared for by his doting mother.
Mordru the Merciless
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #369 (June 1968)
The most powerful and prominent Lord of Chaos, Mordru the Merciless is an ageless sorcerer said to have no beginning or end. His attack of Metropolis was classified as an Omega Level threat by the Justice League.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, DC Comics, and Roseanne Barr.