Great White Shark (comics)
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| The Great White Shark | |
 The Great White Shark in Batman #654. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #1 |
| Created by | Dan Slott (writer) Ryan Sook (artist) |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Warren White |
| Notable aliases | The Great White Shark |
| Abilities | High level of intellect, organizational and negotiating skills |
The Great White Shark or simply Great White, formally Warren White, is a fictional comic book character owned by DC Comics who exists in that company's DC Universe. He first appeared in Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #1, and was created by Dan Slott and Ryan Sook.
[edit] Origin story
First appearing in Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, crooked financier Warren White, known as the "Great White Shark" for his ruthlessness, embezzles million from his company's pension fund and avoids prison by transferring his case to Gotham City and successfully pleading insanity.
White is sentenced to Arkham Asylum indefinitely instead of prison. There, he suffers great indignities as the new inmate, or "fish." His first cellmate is Death Rattle, a cult leader and mass murderer who plans to turn him into a human sacrifice. Early in his stay, Killer Croc slices a set of "gills" into White's neck with his claws, claiming the "fish" needs a set. Realizing his mistake in pleading insanity, White bribes his psychiatrist, Dr. Anne Carver, into having him transferred to a minimum security prison in exchange for $20 million. However, Dr. Carver is revealed to have been killed and replaced some months before by the villainess Jane Doe. Her boss, Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, orders all of Dr. Carver's papers filed by Jane Doe be destroyed, including the paperwork that would lead to White's transfer. Dr. Arkham's decision is heavily motivated by the loss of his own pension due to White's corrupt business practices.
To survive the harassment and violence in Arkham, White allies himself with Two-Face, becoming his "coin boy," but the relationship quickly ends when Death Rattle threatens him and Two-Face does nothing to help. White then befriends Humpty Dumpty, a child-like murderer and genius, who arranges for White to become his cellmate just in time to head off Death Rattle's murder attempt.
During a prison riot caused by the escape of a cadre of demons trapped underneath Arkham, White is assaulted and locked in Mr. Freeze's subzero cell by Jane Doe, who was attempting to claim his identity and stolen money and leave him for dead as she had done with Dr. Carver. His injuries, the result of horrific frostbite, leave White deformed: his skin turns a pale white and his nose, lips, hair, and several of his fingers fall off. These deformities, along with his set of "gills," leave him resembling a real great white shark.
Ironically, White, who had entered the asylum normal-looking and sane, is transformed into one of the "freaks" of Batman's rogues gallery. Driven partially mad, he now uses his business connections to serve as a liaison and fence for many of his fellow inmates.
[edit] Notable appearances
White next appears in the storyline "Face the Face," which ran through Detective Comics #817-820 and Batman #651-654, as part of the larger One Year Later storyline. In the storyline, the Great White Shark had, in the year since Batman and Robin disappeared, established himself as Gotham's reigning crime boss.
As part of a revenge plot against Two-Face for his earlier betrayal, he orders his chief enforcer, the Tally Man, to kill several criminals associated with the Penguin and to frame the newly rehabilitated Harvey Dent for the murders. Batman eventually uncovers the Great White Shark's involvement in these crimes, but not in time to prevent Dent, driven insane once again by paranoia, from disfiguring his own face once more and returning to a life of crime.
Despite his status as one of the city's most powerful criminals, the Great White Shark remains in Arkham, directing his empire from within his cell and using his imprisoned condition as a perfect alibi. He most recently appeared in Detective Comics #832, when Batman apprehends another villain who calls himself the Shark, a former member of the "Terrible Trio." When the Shark is sent to Arkham, the Great White Shark apparently plans to punish him for using the name White had claimed for himself.
