Victor Zsasz

Mr. Zsasz ( /ˈʒæz/ or /ˈzæz/) is a fictional villain who appears in books published by DC Comics, usually as an enemy of Batman. He is a serial killer^[1] who usually kills with a knife and carves a tally mark somewhere on himself for every victim.

Fictional character biography

Zsasz first appeared in Shadow of the Bat #1 (1992) as part of the Batman: The Last Arkham four-part story arc, and his origin story was told in Batman Chronicles #3 (1996); both stories were written by Alan Grant and drawn by Norm Breyfogle. As revealed in the foreword to the TPB form of The Last Arkham, Zsasz's name is derived from that of psychiatrist Thomas Szasz; Grant saw the name while visiting a library.^[2]

Origin story

In Batman Chronicles #3, told by Zsasz himself, it is learned that Victor Zsasz was the head of his own international company and had amassed a large personal fortune in addition to his family's wealth. At the age of 25 his parents died in a boating accident, sending him into a deep depression. He turned to gambling, losing money in competitions around the world. One night, he ended up in a Gotham City casino, where he gambled everything he owned and ended up losing it all to the Penguin; afterwards he saw that his life was empty, driven by desire, and there was no point to his existence. While he was attempting to commit suicide by jumping from Gotham Bridge, a homeless man tried to assault him with a knife after he refused to give him money. Instinctively grabbing the knife, Zsasz saw in the man's eyes that all life is meaningless and that nothing nor anyone matters. He then proceeded to stab the man to death as a "gift" for saving his life. From then on, he dedicated himself to "liberating" others from their pointless existence (Zsasz often refers to victims as "zombies"). He usually preys on young women, but has no qualms over whom he murders. He slits his victims' throats and leaves them in lifelike poses, adding a tally mark to himself each time. He has been diagnosed as insane and is regularly incarcerated in Arkham Asylum courtesy of Batman, breaking out on occasion to carry on killing.

Later story arcs

During his debut appearance in Batman: Shadow of the Bat's opening story arc, Batman: The Last Arkham, Zsasz bribes a contractor to include a secret passage leading out from his cell during the asylum's reconstruction under its new head, Jeremiah Arkham, who inherited the asylum from his uncle, Amadeus Arkham. Although Zsasz is restrained during the daytime when he is being treated personally by Jeremiah Arkham, he is brought back to his cell at night where he would leave the asylum through the secret passage, unbeknownst to the night guards. After murders fitting his modus operandi begin surfacing, Batman and Commissioner James Gordon fake Batman's insanity in order to get him inside the asylum and investigate Zsasz. Jeremiah Arkham is exceptionally brutal towards Batman, who had supposedly murdered a police officer; over the course of the "treatment", Zsasz had warped Jeremiah's mind and turned him into a mere henchman. Due to these continuous conversations with Jeremiah Arkham, Zsasz realises Batman is a plant and subsequently murders both the contractor and another inmate at Arkham who knows of Zsasz's ploy. However, both Nightwing and Batman catch up to Zsasz when he tries to escape for the final time and put him back in Arkham.^[2]

Zsasz later appears in Part 3 and 4 of the Knightfall saga. In Part 3 of Knightfall, Zsasz takes an all girl's boarding school hostage and holds the students at knife point until Batman arrives, briefly leaving to kill two police officers who were sent to arrest him. Though weakened both physically and mentally, Batman fights with Zsasz and tries to ignore the lunatic's mockery. He finally snaps, however, after Zsasz says that they are really one and the same, and administers a savage beating.^[3][4] In part 4, Zsasz's appearance is a mere cameo, depicting him being led out of the boarding school by police and Harvey Bullock personally threatening him.

During the No Man's Land storyline, Zsasz is a patient in Dr. Leslie Thompkins´ field hospital for a brief while, proving to be eminently deadly even when unconscious and strapped to a stretcher when he manages to open one of the arteries of a field orderly with his fingernails. Once he wakes up, he is confronted by Dr. Thomkins, whose utter selfless charity sharply contrasts with his total emptiness; she briefly gives him pause, but is finally repelled by his profound evil.^[5]

Zsasz later appears in Detective Comics #796, where he fights Stephanie Brown in her role as Robin. He attempts to slit her throat, but is distracted by her unexpected ferocity and falls back, where he attacks and attempts to kill Batman. However, Stephanie eventually defeats him.

Zsasz makes a brief appearance in Infinite Crisis #7. He is part of the Secret Society of Supervillains and is one of the many of their members sent to attack the city of Metropolis. The Society loses.

Zsasz is not seen in any major villainous role again until Detective Comics #815, released in March 2006, entitled "Victims". Before a quarterly psychiatric review, Zsasz kills his guards with metal poles attached to his neck bracket and escapes to kill again. Batman hunts for Zsasz, which proves unsuccessful until Zsasz gains access to a charity event (attended by Bruce Wayne) and stabs his beloved butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the stomach. However, Wayne saves Alfred's life by driving him to a hospital. To lure Zsasz to him, Wayne holds a press conference in which he announces that Alfred is still alive. Having already made a scar for Alfred, Zsasz realises that his tally is off by one (Zsasz remarks: "My skin... it's crawling... every inch of it feels... wrong.") During the second part of "Victims" (Detective Comics #816), after a fight with Batman, Zsasz proceeds to the hospital to finish off Alfred. Batman catches him off-guard and knocks him unconscious, thus saving Alfred's life and sending Zsasz back to Arkham. Throughout this appearance, Cliff Chiang's artwork portrays Zsasz with visual elements commonly associated with the skinhead subculture, including work boots resembling Doc Martens, tight jeans, a white tank top, suspenders or "braces," and a close-cropped hairstyle. Additionally, Chiang's portrayal of Zsasz is more outwardly physically imposing than the gaunt, wiry physique created by Breyfogle and favored by most subsequent artists. No dialogue in the story arc references Zsasz being a skinhead nor does it explain his increased musculature, and it is likely these visual elements were the decision of the artist.

Zsasz is later seen again the Gotham Underground story arc where in issue 3 he appears in a disguised Batman's cell at Blackgate Prison and attempts to kill him with a knife. He ends up cutting Batman's arm just as he was waking up and the resulting fight ends with Zsasz being knocked unconscious and Batman being rushed to the hospital.

A naked, desperate and totally deranged Zsasz appeared in the first issue of Batman: Cacophony (2008), written by film director Kevin Smith, killing a young couple and threatening their children before Batman subdues him. His thoughts move so quickly that there are no spaces between the words. In the issue, Batman says that of all the criminals he fights, he hates Zsasz the most.

In the Battle For The Cowl storyline, Zsasz is recruited by a new Black Mask to a part of a group of villains that aiming to take over Gotham. This arrangement is elaborated more in a continuous story arc through the Streets of Gotham series, with Mask hiring Zsasz after he saved the former's life following a confrontation with former employee Firefly. Black Mask presents Zsasz with a briefcase filled with cash and advises him to finally live out his dream, knowing full well any 'dream' of Zsasz's would culminate in mass murder. Apprehensive at first on how to go about this, he eventually decides to take Mask up on his offer- dressing in Armani suits and purchasing a warehouse as his base of operations. During an investigation into the discovery of several murdered children by Humpty Dumpty, Damian Wayne is 'captured' by a man soliciting runaway kids with promise of a free meal and a place to stay. Damian discovers the man to be a close associate of Victor Zsasz, and that Zsasz has been slowly building a financial empire using runaway children and kidnapped orphans in a 'fight to the death' arena where people bet on the winners. The winning child faces a new contestant, and so on, until the last child left fights Zsasz one-on-one, with promise of freedom for winning (with it clearly evident none have won thus far). Having seen the horrors that Zsasz has left, as well as a haunting memory of seeing the dead bodies of children he killed, Damian questions why Bruce or Dick have allowed a man like Zsasz to be left alive- despite their moral code against murder. Damian manages to subdue Victor and attack him viciously with a sword, after which he falls into Gotham Harbor. Not wanting to defy his mentor and late father's beliefs, he promises Dick that the blow wasn't fatal since he "missed Zsasz's spine" but indicated that his survival was slim.

However, Zsasz was later seen in captivity in Detective Comics, after Black Mask's (Jeremiah Arkham) apprehension, in Arkham Asylum. While no reference is made to Zsasz's injury (nor does he appear to be injured), his presence in Arkham alongside Jeremiah strongly suggests the events of this issue take place subsequent to the injury, meaning he did survive the attack.

Powers and abilities

In addition to his wiry-yet-tall physique, Zsasz is an extremely agile and flexible man, able to go toe-to-toe with even Batman for brief bouts. Though he favors slitting his victims' throats with knives, he has no reservations about tossing blades at opponents if the occasion calls for it, and even carries several spare knives for this purpose.

Though he personally dislikes them for being "unreliable", Zsasz is known to occasionally carry guns in order to coerce his selected victims.

Even barehanded, Zsasz is a formidable opponent; as he is locked away in an enormous steel containment unit for sixteen hours a day, he has made a habit of practicing isometrics in the cramped space to strengthen his body.

Zsasz is an incredibly intelligent man, and is described as having "a brilliant criminal mind".^[6] He is constantly thinking quickly both while incarcerated and active, and some of his escapes have been a result of his cunning schemes.

Zsasz is completely unpredictable, having no qualms about who he kills, when and where. Thus, he is almost impossible to track, even if signs of his modus operandi appear evident, as there is no motive or clue trail to follow. Such unpredictability also renders him a danger to anyone and everyone who may encounter him.

During the Streets of Gotham story arc, it is learned that- as a possible effect of his insanity- Zsasz visually sees the world as red and everyone as a victim he has murdered. These visions hold no prejudice on who he sees, showing him envisioning both friend (Black Mask) and foe (Dick Grayson) as having been killed by his hand with their throats slashed- a play to his reference of victims as 'zombies'. During his battle with Damian, as Damian started gaining the upper hand, Zsasz begins to lose his composure when he can no longer see Damian Wayne as a 'murder victim' and now only sees him as a legitimate human being, believing that Damian would not only avoid becoming a victim but may invariably be the one to finally kill him.

Unlike most Batman villains, who commit other crimes such as theft and only kill if it suits their interest, Zsasz's only goal is body count and "liberating" as many people as possible.

Other versions

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Victor Zsasz is imprisoned in the military Doom prison.^[7] During the prison break, Zsasz is killed by arsonist Heat Wave.^[8]

In other media

Film

• Zsasz appears briefly in the 2005 film Batman Begins, portrayed by Tim Booth (the vocalist of British band James).^[9] In the movie, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes states that Zsasz butchers citizens for the mob and is one of Carmine Falcone's thugs. He is sent to Arkham Asylum, but escapes during Ra's al Ghul's attack on Gotham, and nearly attacks Dawes and a child she is protecting. Zsasz is revealed to have remained at large in one of the promotional websites for The Dark Knight.^[10] His last name is misspelled "Zsaz" in this continuity.

Video games

• Zsasz appears as a boss in the Batman: Dark Tomorrow game.
• Tim Booth reprises his role as Zsasz in the Batman Begins video game, in his original incarnation, rather than the hitman he's described as in the film. He first appears when Flass is attempting to interrogate him for information about Falcone's new 'partner', Batman releasing him from his chain in order to scare Flass into departing his cell so that he can be questioned. Zsasz later makes a brief appearance during the riots where he attempts to terrify Rachel Dawes, but she takes him out with her tazer while Zsasz is distracted.
• Zsasz appears in the Nintendo DS version of Lego Batman: The Video Game as an enemy bounty in the "Villain Hunt" minigame.
• Zsasz appears as one of the villains in Batman: Arkham Asylum voiced by Danny Jacobs. In both occasions, he has gained a hostage whom he will kill if he sees Batman approach forcing the player to take him by surprise to save the hostage. He is later seen in one of the Scarecrow's hallucinations as one of the villains escorting Batman into Arkham, similar to the guards who brought the Joker into Arkham Asylum at the start of the game. Later in the hand-to-hand combat challenge modes, Zsasz appears as a NPC that Batman must fight along with the thugs. He carries two knives, and must be stunned to attack.
• Zsasz appears in the sequel Batman: Arkham City. Batman must track him down and foil his murders in side missions. He explains his backstory over the course of the mission via phoning the player, eventually revealing he feels his only purpose in life is killing. Batman then tracks him down to his hideout and stops him before he kills two hostages. Batman then puts him in a cage where he had one of his prisoners. If the player goes to his hideout before figuring out where Zsasz is, a Penguin thug will come out and say that you are not welcome, but when players get to go into Zsasz's hideout, only Zsasz and his two prisoners are there. It is mentioned by Penguin that Zsasz has murdered over 100 men, women and children. It was also implied that he was captured by Penguin and put on display before escaping.

Books

• The tie-in book for Batman Begins featuring the development art, and the visual guide to the film, also feature a shot of Booth in costume, referring to Zsasz as a serial killer. In the credits and script for the film, as well as all the books and the graphic novelization, his name is spelled "Zsaz". The novelization of Batman Begins refers to him as "Victor Zsasz", as does the videogame.

Trivia

• Charles Victor Szasz (Later anglicized to Sage) was the birth name of the original DC comics hero named "The Question". That character was reinterpreted by Denny O'Neil, who also edited the Batman line of comics at the time for DC.
• Zsasz is known of practicing isometrics while incarcerated. Coincidentally, the man who invented isometric exercises is Russian wrestler Alexander Zass.

See also

• List of Batman Family enemies

References

• Breyfogle, N. & Grant, A. (1996). Batman: The Last Arkham. DC comics. ISBN 1-56389-190-5.