10 DC Supervillains That Vanished Without A Trace
Did you know about the Batman villain who was EVERYWHERE, and then just disappeared?
In Batman's first self-titled issue, the Dark Knight tangled with the Joker and Catwoman. 80 years later, these rogues are still hailed as among the most influential villains in DC history. An Oscar-nominated Joker film just came out a few months ago and Catwoman will appear in Matt Reeves' Batman reboot next year. It's staggering that these supervillains have stood the test of time and, even after eight decades, have never been more popular.
It cannot be denied that DC Comics have tons of great villains including Sinestro, Doomsday, Poison Ivy, the Court of Owls, Black Manta, and Penguin. Sadly, there are far more villains that have been lost in the shuffle. For every Lex Luthor or Riddler, there are a hundred dumb supervillains like Lord-Death Man, Bootface, Condiment King, or Gorilla Boss who simply didn't stand the test of time.
There are some supervillains who are so stupid, every DC fan has heard of them. Crazy Quilt, Kite Man, and Polka-Dot Man are so infamously silly, they still appear regularly in comics, video games, and cartoons.
But there are some villains that vanished into obscurity, never to be heard from again. Some of them only made a single appearance, making them the most elusive antagonists of all...
10. The Wringer
In the story, Stop Me Before I Kill Batman, Commissioner Gordon tells Bats that a hooded man called The Wringer jumped on stage at the Welles Theatre and wrung the neck of a marionette doll.
Soon after, this mysterious man enters a club and crushes the neck of the ventriloquist dummy on stage. Later that day, he throttles a walking, talking doll. Since the Wringer's "victims" seem to get progressively more human, Batman assumes he will attack an animatronic at the Bicentennial exhibit. Sure enough, he's right. Batman deduces that the hooded man's next victim will be a real person.
It turns out that the Wringer wants vengeance on a stockbroker whom he blames for losing money after making a bad investment. Luckily, Batman captures the Wringer before he strangles him.
Wait... why was the Wringer attacking dolls in the first place?
It turns out this was the Wringer's way of leaving clues so Batman could stop him because, deep down, he didn't want to commit the murder but felt compelled to do so. And I, deep down, still have no idea what murdering a stockbroker has to do with strangling dolls.
Unsurprisingly, the Wringer never appeared in a comic ever again.