Cypher (DC Comics)

Cypher
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Detective Comics #657 (March 1993)
Created by Chuck Dixon
Michael Netzer
In-story information
Alter ego Avery Twombey
Abilities Hypnotism

Cypher is a supervillain created by Chuck Dixon and Michael Netzer, who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Cypher is primarily an adversary of Batman and Tim Drake.[1]

Publication history

The character made his debut in Detective Comics Vol. 1 #657 (March 1993) and was created by Chuck Dixon and Michael Netzer.

Fictional character biography

Avery Twombey is a corporate spy and mercenary with hypnotic abilities, though his actual past is unknown. When the government hired three separate companies, including Wayne Enterprises, to start working on different pieces of a secret military project, Cypher was hired to assassinate the three CEOs of the companies. After successfully killing two of the CEOs, he went after Wayne Enterprises' CEO Lucius Fox.[2] As he was about to force Lucius Fox to jump off a bridge via hypnotic suggestion, he was taken down by Robin (Tim Drake) as Fox was saved by Batman and Azrael. Cypher was sent to Blackgate Penitentiary.[3]

At Blackgate, Cypher formulated an escape plan with other inmates including Cluemaster, Electrocutioner, and the Baffler.[4] After a failed attempt to use his abilities on the other inmates, who evaded his hypnotism with earplugs, Cypher was shot and killed by Cluemaster.[5]

Powers and Abilities

As a professional corporate spy and mercenary, Cypher has the ability to hypnotize his victims into obeying his every command using his precise voice, an ability he often uses to force them to suicide. His voice can also be used to put his victims to sleep.

In other media

Cypher, as he appears in the Beware the Batman animated series

Cypher appears in the Beware the Batman episode "Control".[6][7][8] In the series, he is portrayed as a cyborg member of the League of Assassins with the ability to attach cables, which come out of his arms, onto the base of people's skulls, allowing him to take full control of them as if they were puppets. Because he lacks the ability to speak, his 'puppets' must speak for him. Cypher is sent by Lady Shiva to kidnap Jason Burr in an attempt to gain control of a device called the Ion Cortex. He is eventually defeated by Batman, but some of his programming is left in Burr's mind. In the episode "Fall", a Cypher-controlled Jason Burr delivers the Ion Cortex to the League himself. When Burr is able to snap out of Cypher's control, his soul is drained from his body by Lady Shiva who wields the mystic Soultaker Sword. Cypher himself returns in the episode "Reckoning," where he is recruited by Ra's al Ghul to take down Batman alongside other villains of the series.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Cypher", in Greenberger, Robert, The Essential Batman Encyclopedia, New York: Ballantine Books, p. 102, ISBN 0-345-50106-3, OCLC 178280528
  2. ↑ Detective Comics Vol. 1 #657
  3. ↑ Detective Comics #658
  4. ↑ Robin Vol. 4 #1
  5. ↑ Robin #2
  6. ↑ "Beware the Batman - Who Is Cypher?". IGN.
  7. ↑ "Beware the Batman: "Control" Review". IGN.
  8. ↑ "DC Nation - Beware The Batman - "Control" (clip 2)". DC Comics.
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