Psycho-Pirate
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The Psycho-Pirate is the name of two DC comics supervillains, dating back to the Golden Age of Comics.
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[edit] Fictonal character history
[edit] Charles Halstead
Charles Halstead was a minor character who first appeared in All-Star Comics #23, created by Gardner Fox and Joe Gallagher. He was originally a linotyper for the Daily Courier, later becoming a criminal mastermind under the name Psycho-Pirate, who planned crimes based on emotions. He was eventually captured by the Justice Society of America and put in jail. He continued to research the mysticism of emotions until his death sometime in the 1960s.
[edit] Roger Hayden
Roger Hayden, first appeared as the second Psycho-Pirate in Showcase #56, created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Roger Hayden was a jailed gangster (later retconned into a young twenty-year-old who was sentenced to a year in prison for attacking his emotionally abusive psychiatrist father) who was a cellmate to Halstead. Halstead's dying wish to have a legacy prompted him to tell Hayden of a secret which he had divined in his jail years, the existence of the Medusa Mask. This golden mask bestows upon the wearer the power to project emotions onto others. Hayden found this mask and used its powers to become a supervillain. It became increasingly apparent that he was addicted to absorbing others' emotions, though it caused him pain. He was eventually imprisoned after a battle with Doctor Fate and Hourman.
Hayden returned to prominence when he insidiously began influencing prominent Gotham City citizens Bruce Wayne and Alan Scott, the former a wealthy businessman now commissioner of Gotham's police force, the latter the President of television station WXYZ. Initially, Scott was the most affected as he, in his Green Lantern persona, began exercising his frustrations upon humanity for the failures of his private life, such as the impending bankruptcy of his station. After creating a disturbance at Gotham International Airport, he was dealt with thanks to the intervention of his Justice Society comrades, who assists both Scott and teammate Flash who had also been under Hayden's control. The Society had to next battle a civil war within their membership instigated by Wayne, still under Hayden's control and determined to rid Gotham of all superheroes, ironically.
Hayden later joined the Secret Society of Super Villains, having been recruited by the Ultra-Humanite to defeat Hayden's old foe Hourman. While he was successful thanks to a device Ultra devised that amplified and projected Hayden's face and hence his control, ultimately both the Justice Society and the Justice League defeated Hayden and his teammates after their betrayal of fellow Secret Society members. The villains were deposited into an interdimensional rift known as limbo for lack of a better term.
From there, Ultra gained mental contact with his younger self from the 1940s, and the two Ultra's were able to pull the Secret Society, including Hayden, back to that era where they confronted and were defeated by the All-Star Squadron and the time lost Infinity Inc.
[edit] Crisis and madness
In the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, Hayden was recruited by the Monitor, but abducted by the Anti-Monitor. In exchange for an entire world to play with, Psycho-Pirate became an accomplice to the Anti-Monitor, manipulating a captive Barry Allen . After the resolution of the Crisis, Psycho-Pirate was one of the few to have full memories of the event. This drove him mad.
Hayden showed up again in Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man, releasing characters destroyed during the Crisis back into the world. After an intervention by Animal Man, Hayden faded away into nothingness (the strain from releasing all the forgotten characters removing him from reality), leaving James Highwater to wear his Medusa Mask to keep the forgotten worlds contained.
Psycho-Pirate would not appear again until 1995, when the character appeared out of nowhere as part of the 1995 crossover Underworld Unleashed. In the mini-series, Psycho-Pirate sells his soul to the demon Neron in exchange for more power. The process resulted in a costume change as Psycho-Pirate now was a leather clad, black jacket wearing villain with the Medusa Mask redesigned as an eye patch permanently bonded over his left eye. Now sane and making no mention of the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and the existence of the multiverse, Psycho-Pirate went on to fight the knife wielding mercenary incarnation of Doctor Fate several times before being arrested and sent to jail.
After his appearance in Fate, Psycho-Pirate made two brief appearances during the "Joker's Last Laugh" crossover event. He was first seen locked up in the maximum security prison called the "Slab" with the character once again insane and rambling of the existence of the multiverse. His costume redesign from Underworld Unleashed was abandoned and the character was shown with a mask that covered all but one eye with the narration mentioning how his hair and eyebrows had been shaved off to limit his ability to express emotion via his face. He was then seen once more having been infected with Joker's virus, yelling "fire!" in a movie theater.
[edit] Infinite Crisis
Psycho-Pirate reappeared in the initial story arc of JSA Classified (issues #1-#4, 2005). This arc dealt with the origin of Power Girl and her search for a definitive answer to where she came from. While attempting to figure out her origins, she encounters several unusual hallucinations which are revealed to be the work of the Psycho-Pirate, manifesting the power to create tangible illusions. Among the hallucinations he utilizes to torture Power Girl are the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, Garn Daanuth (brother to her once-supposed grandfather Arion), members of the Titans from the Titans of Tomorrow storyarc, Nightwing and Flamebird from the bottle city of Kandor, various Legion members and others.
Finally, in the final issue of the storyarc, Psycho-Pirate reveals that he and Power Girl are refugees from Earth-Two. Along with other individuals (such as Donna Troy, her evil alter ego Dark Angel, and several others), they were missed in the restructuring of the Multiverse into a Universe. Hence, Power Girl's original origin is her one true origin.
It is eventually revealed that the whole purpose of Psycho-Pirate's scheme is to weaken Power Girl mentally so that she could be captured as part of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s plot involving characters originally from different universes. Psycho-Pirate flees and vows to make Power Girl his love slave once Luthor is finished with her.
When Nightwing, Superboy, and Wonder Girl attack Luthor's base, they freed all the captive heroes, including Power Girl and Black Adam, who then confronted the Psycho-Pirate. Psycho-Pirate tries to instill feelings of fear in Black Adam, but he resists, saying "No more silly faces," and then proceeds to gouge out the Psycho-Pirate's eyes and pushes the Medusa Mask through his head, killing him. When Power Girl asked if that was necessary, Adam replied, "Absolutely". It's possible the Psycho-Pirate could return, since he once used the Medusa Mask to regenerate his body from blood.
[edit] One Year Later
Psycho-Pirate is mentioned in Justice League of America #1 as selling emotional states, such as "happy" and "ecstatic," much like a drug dealer. Among his reported clients are Signalman and Silver Ghost.
[edit] Powers
With the Medusa Mask, Psycho-Pirate is able to project emotions into people. Often, it seems to intensify emotions a person already feels, no matter how small. Hayden later showed the power to manifest DC multiverse characters that had been destroyed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Later, this power expanded to any multiverse character, including the still living. Psycho-Pirate has also shown some sort of regeneration of body control as he was able to reform after being crushed by Power Girl and also disguised himself as a Legion flight ring. It seems he must be aware of the attack since he was able to reform from Power Girl's blow instantaneously, but was essentially dead after Black Adam's swift attack.
During his 90s revamp, Psycho-Pirate was an 'emotional vampire,' able to drain emotions from people.
[edit] Trivia
In The Golden Age mini-series, Psycho-Pirate appeared wearing Hayden's costume. It is unclear if this is Hayden or if the writer and artist took creative licence in depicting Halstead.
[edit] In other media
In Justice League Unlimited, Psycho-Pirate makes a cameo appearance as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Legion of Doom. He has no lines and takes no significant action in any episode. He is also notably lacking the Medusa Mask.
