Ten-Eyed Man
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Ten-Eyed Man is a DC Comics supervillain and Batman foe created by Frank Robbins, Irv Novick, and Dick Giordano.
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[edit] History
Philip Reardon served as a veteran in the U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam until he was honorably discharged after a grenade fragment hit him between the eyes. He returned to civilian life as a warehouse guard and was knocked out by thieves who plant a bomb to blow up the warehouse. When Batman arrived at the scene, Reardon recovered and his vision was blurred, mistaking Batman as one of the thieves and battled him. When he recognized Batman, the warehouse exploded and Reardon's retinas were burned, which impacted his war injury and blinded him permanently in both eyes.
A brilliant doctor named Dr. Engstrom reconnected his optic nerves to his fingertips, enabling him to see through them. He blames Batman for what happened and takes his revenge on him under the identity of the Ten-Eyed Man, and because of his indisputedly unique abilities was employed by persons unknown as the only villain worthy to attack Man-Bat.
He fought Batman on two occasions and came up short both times, and could only be kept in a jail cell by keeping his hands locked in a special box that kept him blind all day and night, because with his eyes on his fingers, "escape would be child's play for him," although precisely how this would be the case was not elaborated upon.
He was killed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, reportedly at the specific request of Marv Wolfman, among a list of characters he wanted to kill first. His only appearance after that was in Animal Man #23 along with other characters who were wiped out by the Crisis.
[edit] Ten-Eyed Men of the Empty Quarter
In issue 30 of DC's year-long 52 limited series, an entirely new take on the Ten-Eyed Man was introduced. The Ten-Eyed Men of the Empty Quarter are a nomadic tribe that inhabit the "Empty Quarter" of an unspecified Middle Eastern desert (though "the Empty Quarter" is the name of a region in Saudi Arabia) and are dedicated to hunting demons. They wear blindfolds and loose-fitting robes with turbans, and seem to have eyes on their fingertips similar to the original Ten-Eyed Man. Whether these eyes are functional or merely painted on is not apparent.
During the issue, Bruce Wayne wanders the desert in search of them, defeats one of their number in hand-to-hand combat, and asks for them to exorcise his personal demons. When Robin catches up to him, Bruce tells him that they have "cut out all the dark, fearful, paranoid urges that I've allowed to corrupt my life" and that "Batman is gone."
[edit] Bibliography
- Batman #226 (November 1970)
- Batman #231 (May 1971)
- Man-Bat #2 (March 1976)
- Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (March 1986)
- Who's Who in the DC Universe #23 (January 1987)
- Animal Man #23 (May 1990)
- 52 #30 (November 2006)
