Bug-Eyed Bandit

Bug-Eyed Bandit is the name of two DC Comics supervillains.

Fictional character biography

Bertram Larvan

Bug-Eyed Bandit

The Bug-Eyed Bandit's debut, on the cover of Atom #26. Art by Gil Kane.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Atom #26 (August-September 1966)
Created by Gardner Fox (script)
Gil Kane (art)
In-story information
Alter ego Bertram Larvan
Team affiliations Black Lantern Corps
Abilities Control of insects

Bertram Larvan was an inventor who designed a mechanical insect to control insect pests. Unfortunately, he had no financial backing to support his invention. He resolved to steal money he needed for his invention. He later used his invention to steal more. Soon, he had an army of mechanical insects. Two of his many insects were stag beetles who could bite through steel and spiders with webs that could support the weight of a man. Bertram took the name of the Bug-Eyed Bandit. He was thwarted by the Atom.[1]

Later, he accidentally discovers Atom's identity of Ray Palmer and fought him on different occasions. When he was about to use an amnesiac gas he had invented on Atom, he accidentally uses it on himself. He remains in a state of amnesia for years. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, millions of Shadow Demons, servants of the Anti-Monitor, attack the Earth. Bertram is one of the many casualties.[2] Marv Wolfman has gone on record saying that he killed both the original Bug-Eyed Bandit and the Ten-Eyed Man because he “couldn’t be part of a company that would print [them].”

In Grant Morrison's Animal Man storyline "Deus Ex Machina", Psycho-Pirate, while in Arkham Asylum, recreated characters removed from continuity. The Bug-Eyed Bandit (or a Pre-Crisis version of him) was one of them. Presumably, this character vanished from existence when the Psycho-Pirate's episode of madness ended, along with his colleagues.[3]

A flashback concerning his death happens in Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins 2005.

Bertram Larvan has been identified as one of the deceased entombed below the Hall of Justice. He is revived as a member of the Black Lantern Corps.[4]

Son of the Bug-Eyed Bandit

Bug-Eyed Bandit
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Justice League America #43 (October 1990)
Created by Keith Giffen
J.M. DeMatteis
Adam Hughes
In-story information
Team affiliations Secret Society of Super Villains
Abilities Control of insects

The second Bug-Eyed Bandit is first presented as such in Adventures of Superman.[5] But his first appearances can be traced as far back as Justice League America #43 (1990), where a Bug-Eyed Bandit appeared even though the original was supposed to be dead at the time. The current one is the son of the original Bug-Eyed Bandit, but not very successful.

He recently reappeared in Villains United and Infinite Crisis as a member of Alexander Luthor, Jr.'s Society. His current whereabouts are unknown.[6]

Powers and abilities

The Bug-Eyed Bandit was proficient in the field of robotics and micro-circuitry and used this talent to create a horde of small robotic insects.

In other media

Television

References

  1. Atom #26 (August-September 1966)
  2. "Crisis On Infinite Earths" (1985)
  3. "Animal Man" #18-26 (1989-1990)
  4. "Blackest Night" #4 (2010)
  5. Adventures of Superman #608 (November 2002)
  6. "Infinite Crisis" (2005)
  7. "Emily Kinney Confirmed As The Bug-Eyed Bandit On The Flash". ComicBook.com. February 9, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2015.