Pied Piper (comics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This page is about the comic book character; for other definitions of The Pied Piper, see Pied Piper (disambiguation).
| Pied Piper | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Pied Piper is a fictional former supervillain in the DC Comics universe. He was first featured in the pages of The Flash in 1959.
Contents |
[edit] Character history
Hartley Rathaway was born deaf, but was eventually cured thanks to research funded by his wealthy father. He became obsessed with sound, and pursued little else in life; experimenting with sonic technology, Rathaway eventually invented a technique of hypnotism through music. Growing bored of his lifestyle, he turned to crime as the Pied Piper and frequently clashed with Barry Allen, the second Flash.
After Allen's death during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Hartley retired from crime to become a socialist champion of the poor and underprivileged. He also came out as one of DC’s first openly gay characters, and joked that this was ironic, as he was one of the few villains to have ever "gone straight". Rathaway remained a good friend of current Flash, Wally West, and his wife Linda, who he helps with scientific problems.
Some time later Piper was arrested for the murder of his parents. Wally was sure Piper couldn't have committed such an act, but Piper himself seemed to believe himself guilty. Wally eventually discovered that the true murderer was Mirror Master. Unaware of Wally's discovery Piper broke out of Iron Heights and struck a deal of some sort with former rogue and FBI agent, the Trickster. During this time, Flash asked the Spectre to erase everyone's memories of his secret identity, due to his wife suffering a miscarriage from an attack by Zoom.
It was later revealed that Barry Allen had had Zatanna tamper with the supervillain Top's mind, turning him into a hero (the Top had gone on a murderous rampage and Allen believed that this was the only way to stop him from causing more harm). As a hero, the Top went insane over the guilt of his earlier deeds. After Allen had died, Wally received a letter from him asking to restore Top's mind if he ever returned. After Wally had Zatanna restore the Top's mind, the Top revealed that when he had been a hero he had attempted to reprogram many of the other Rogues into heroes as well, including the Pied Piper.
When the 'good' Rogues went after the remaining 'bad', Top returned to undo his brainwashing on the redeemed Rogues. When the Piper battled the Flash, West unmasked himself, triggering a flood of memories of their friendship and causing the Piper to pass out as his mind repaired itself. When he awoke Piper appeared to be his old self again, coming to Linda’s aid. Piper remains the only Rogue to no longer be a villain save for Magenta. He later had all his charges for murder cleared.
[edit] Powers
A genius of sound-based sonic technology, Rathaway has crafted his own sophisticated flute capable of hypnotizing anyone within range of its sound. Initially this technique only worked on humans, but during his incarceration in Iron Heights, he has perfected it to work on rats as well, making him that much more like his legendary namesake. Rathaway also employs a number of devices that can generate or amplify sound for destructive purposes.
[edit] Other media
- The Pied Piper has appeared in the Justice League Unlimited episode Flash and Substance as a background character.
- An alternative version of the Pied Piper appeared in the television series Wonder Woman in the episode of the same name. In the episode a villain by the name of Hamlin Rule (played by actor Martin Mull) used a flute to hypnotize and take advantage of women to do his bidding.
[edit] External links
- Pied Piper profile
- Crimson Lightning, an online index to the comic book adventures of the Modern Age Flash.
- Gay League Profile
