Clock King
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| Clock King | |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | World's Finest Comics #111 (August 1960) |
| Created by | France Herron (writer) Lee Elias (artist) |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | William Tockman |
| Team affiliations | Injustice League Justice League Time Foes Suicide Squad |
| Notable aliases | King Clock |
| Abilities | absolute time sense uses clock-related gadgetry |
Clock King is a title used by two fictional characters, supervillains published by DC Comics. The first Clock King debuted in World's Finest Comics #111 (August 1960), and was created by France Herron and Lee Elias.
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[edit] Publication history
The first Clock King was originally an enemy of Green Arrow, but has become more identified by his appearances in Justice League International and Suicide Squad, and subsequent adaptations in Batman: The Animated Series. He has no super-powers or abilities other than an absolute sense of time and timing. Clock King is a master planner and sometimes uses clock-themed gadgetry. He wears a clock mask, a cape, and a blue suit with clock drawings on it.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] William Tockman
Born William Tockman, Clock King took dutiful care of his invalid sister, when one day he found out from a doctor's visit that he himself only had six months to live. Despairing for his sister's future, he watched the timing of a local bank's vault in order to rob it, hoping the money would provide for his sister after he was gone. His caper would have gone successfully, had he not tripped a silent alarm and was then caught by the Green Arrow.
While he was incarcerated, his sister died without him. In further hideous irony, Tockman discovered that he really wasn't ill and was not going to die in the next six months: his doctor had accidentally switched his papers with those of another patient. Infuriated, he escaped, later futilely attempting revenge on the Green Arrow.
The Clock King later went on to join Major Disaster's Injustice League, which became Justice League Antarctica. This JLA would include G'Nort, who ends up saving the lives of the entire team. Like his compatriots, Clock King became an ardent supporter of Maxwell Lord, partly due to the fact he was the only one willing to hire them. His group even guards Lord when he was incapacitated due to a bullet wound. Originally, they are not trusted by the authorities but the Martian Manhunter, spying, decides they are perfect bodyguards.
Later, Clock King would lead his own, separate team of villains in a mission. They consist of Radiant, Sharpe, Acidia and Crackle. They are not as well-organized as even the Injustice League. For example, Crackle still lives with his mother and they have to take the bus to their fight. It takes place at a Metropolist toy store. They end up fighting one of the many incarnations of the Teen Titans, the heroes Booster Gold & Firehawk and DEO agent Cameron Chase. An unclear super-effect from Chase ultimately neutralizes Clock's team and they are all imprisoned. Clock himself escapes on another bus.
[edit] Death
Later, Clock's friends are transformed into the new Suicide Squad. They were sent to a remote research facility where a genetic monstrosity was holding its creator hostage. Its main defense were spawned "children" that could explode. During the mission, most of the team were seemingly killed, including Clock King, who was shot repeatedly in a retreat attempt. He is seen still alive after his brutal wounds but in the end, Major Disaster believes he is the only one who survives. It turns out Cluemaster, shot in a similar manner as Clock King, survives, albeit with drastic scarring. (Suicide Squad (2nd series) #1).
Clock King was not seen for a period of time after Infinite Crisis. In an issue of 52, one character decided to kill all the time-travelers, and mentioned someone "ending up like Time Commander and Clock Queen". Whether or not Clock Queen is connected to Clock King is unknown.
[edit] Second Clock King
A new Clock King appears in Teen Titans #56 as the head of a team of legacy villains named the Terror Titans. In an interview with Teen Titans writer Sean McKeever, he described this Clock King as "...Very smart. He sees things differently than others."[1] It has not been confirmed if this Clock King has any relationship to any previous "Clock" iteration. His costume is similar to the suit worn by the Clock King seen in Batman: The Animated Series, although with clock faces on the tie and lapel as well as the lenses of his glasses. After his group defeats and captures Kid Devil, Clock King conditions the hero to be sold as a fighter to a group called "The Dark Side Club".
[edit] Powers and abilities
[edit] Original
- The original Clock King had no metahuman powers or abilities, although he is athletic and extraordinarily punctual. He also has no special weapons, using only his clock gimmick and elaborate costume to stand out.
- However, his animated incarnation, see below, made more use of his time skills. For example, he knew exactly how much time it took Batman to throw a punch thus allowing him to dodge a punch every time. Later, he used his skills as an efficiency expert to coordinate a successful raid on the Justice League Watchtower.
[edit] Current
- The new Clock King has the always-active ability to see what is about to happen approximately 4.6692 seconds into the future, allowing him to anticipate an opponent's every move.[2] He is also a technological genius, creating devices such as teleporters, communications jamming equipment, and even an anti-gravity platform, all of them modelled after timepieces.
[edit] Other media
[edit] Batman (1960s show)
The 1960s Batman TV series saw The Clock King portrayed by the late Walter Slezak in the Season two consecutive episodes, "The Clock King's Crazy Crimes" and "The Clock King Gets Crowned", aired on ABC October 12 and 13, 1966. He is considered by many Batman fans to be the best one-time villain.
The two-parter was written by Batman creator Bill Finger and Charles Sinclair and directed by James Neilson. In the episode, disguised as a pop artist, Clock King tries to rob a gallery of a time-related surrealist painting. The "Dynamic Duo" are stuffed into the bottom of an oversized hourglass, stripped of their utility belts, and left to be drowned in sand as Clock King plots to filch Bruce Wayne's collection of antique pocket watches (only for the duo to later escape the trap). Later in the episode, he starts his masterplan, to steal the atomic powered Cesium clock. He wore a black cape and a top-hat with a clock inside it. He had many weapons, "Super slick watch oil", "Knock out gas", "Super sonic sound".
[edit] Batman: The Animated Series
In Batman: The Animated Series the Clock King was recreated as Temple Fugate, the name being a play on the Latin phrase 'tempus fugit,' meaning 'time flies.' The character first appears in the episode "The Clock King" and later returns in the episode "Time Out of Joint". He was voiced by Alan Rachins.
In The Clock King, Temple Fugate is a head of a time and motion study consulting company who is being sued for everything. Fugate is an odd, lonely man obsessed with time and punctuality. His every waking moment is pre-planned, on a "to do" list broken down into precise blocks. When urged by a pre-mayor Hamilton Hill to take a coffee break later than usual, Fugate initially refuses, as he does not want to ruin his schedule. After insistence by Hill, Fugate takes the coffee break. During the break, just when Fugate starts to relax, everything that could go wrong does, as Fugate loses documents and is late for his court appointment. In return for being late, the judge throws the case out, Fugate unjustly loses the case with no trial, and loses millions in his company. Fugate swears revenge on Hamilton Hill and later finds out that Hill's firm was the plaintiff for the court date Fugate was late for (though Hill apparently had nothing to do with that case). However, Fugate later claims that the scar Hill left on him was making him late.
Seven years later, Fugate becomes the Clock King, using his keen knowledge of the element of time, he turns to a life of crime and revenge. His first attempt to kill Mayor Hill ends in a climatic battle with Batman inside the wheels of a clock tower, which Fugate accidentally jams with his clock-hand-like sword. The machinery collapses, Fugate disappears in the fray, and is presumed killed.
In Time Out of Joint, however, Fugate returns unharmed, now armed with a device he uses to travel at near-light speed (stolen from a scientist for whom he works as a butler by the name "Harold"). This time, Fugate plants a bomb at Mayor Hill's speech, planning to blow it up and kill dozens of people. But Batman and Robin, having learned Fugate's secret from the scientist, use a similar device to slow down the bomb's explosion while throwing it into the river. Fugate, his plans foiled, tries to escape, but Robin catches him and destroys the device, rendering him unable to flee. He is then arrested and sent to Arkham.
This Clock King commonly dresses in a three-piece suit and bowler hat, with a pocket watch and glasses resembling clock faces. Though lacking superpowers of his own, he proved to be a formidable opponent for Batman after having studied and learned his every move from news footage.
The Clock King also makes an appearance in a 2004 Batman Adventures comic. In the Batman Adventures comic, he got his revenge on Hill by rigging the mayoral election so that it seemed that Oswald C. Cobblepot (The Penguin) had won the election.
[edit] Justice League Unlimited
The Clock King (Fugate) also appeared in a Justice League Unlimited episode Task Force X where he served as a planner and tactician in the "Suicide Squad" who guided the team with strict clockwork efficiency. He was again voiced by Alan Rachins.
It's later implied (and confirmed by producers) in Epilogue that he remained a colleague of Amanda Waller's after the Suicide Squad incident and was hired by her for a specific job in ensuring Batman's legacy lived "beyond" Bruce's eventual retirement. Fugate only has a non-speaking cameo. He's nonetheless therefore responsible, in a second degree context, for Warren McGinnis' reproductive DNA being overwritten by Wayne's. This results in the future Batman, Terry McGinnis (in addition to his younger brother, Matt), genetically being the son of Bruce Wayne's.
[edit] References
- ^ Sean Mckeever On The Terror Titans - Newsarama
- ^ Teen Titans #59
- The Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe's biography for the Clock King
- The DC Database's article on the Clock King's debut
- Stupid Villain Showcase Satirical analysis of Clock King by Seanbaby
- Clock King on the Batman: The Animated Series official page
[edit] Footnotes
1. http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=144154
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