Killer Croc
Killer Croc is a comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Waylon Jones was a male human said to had been born 35 years ago in a Tampa slum area near the 22nd Street causeway. It was said that he had no parents and lived with his aunt who was a deadbeat where he had a hideous skin disease. This resulted in him being called Croc by the time he was 10 years old by all the other children who would repeatedly bully him as a result. One such incident led to him attacking his bully and leaving him badly injured which resulted in his arrest. This occurred in the south around 20 years ago where they responded to Waylon Jones by beating him severely whilst in jail. Since that time, he went in and out of juvenile hall multiple times over the years. When he was 16 years old, he committed his first adult crime where whilst in prison he was finishing a 3-year sentence for robbery when some new prisoner made a joke about his face. In response, Waylon killed the man where it took six guards to restrain the berserk Jones and he received the death penalty. Before the sentence was carried out, the supreme court declared the verdict unconstitutional and intense Croc was commuted to life imprisonment. (Batman v1 #359) Croc soon realized that there was more money to be made in crime, so he set out to become Gotham's most powerful underground figure. To accomplish this, Croc first murdered Squid who was a rising crimelord and then attempted to seize control of the Tobacconists' Club. (Batman v1 #358) His criminal activities made him a target of Gotham's vigilante, Batman. (Detective Comics v1 #552)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Waylon Jones was a mutant born with scaly skin and a reptilian appearance. His mother died in childbirth, and after his father rejected him he was raised by his aunt. Growing up an outcast he took the name Killer Croc, and turned to crime. (Joker's Asylum: Killer Croc v1 #1)
Going into the undercity, he came to make a home deep underground which he opened up to people who were homeless. Whilst there, he helped steal and provide supplies to them as the community came to rely on his protection. One day, he was in the sewers on an errand and upon his return he found Batman at the shelter. This saw Killer Croc attack the Dark Knight where he warned the people under his protection to not trust the vigilante. The Caped Crusader warned though that the new water tunnels were opening up that night which threatened to flood the entire region. As the walls were light, it meant that they could not offer protection to the people residing there. It was then that the water began to gush through the tunnels with Croc attempting to hold up the walls giving the homeless community enough time to evacuate with Batman. The walls then broke where the waters drew Killer Croc away and it was believed that he was killed. (Batman v1 #471)
Croc survived, however, and six months later had taken to living in the alleys of Gotham City. He was tormented by visions of his past, in which his peers would routinely comment on his physical features. In combination with his natural, instinctive rage, Croc's emotional state erupted into a wave of violence and he began going berserk throughout the city streets. News crews captured his latest rampage, as he began terrorizing the district known as Eden Park. An aspiring foreign crime lord known as Bane witnessed Croc's rampage, and determined that defeating him would be a stepping stone on his personal path towards destroying Batman. Before Bane could catch up with him though, Croc found himself facing neophyte vigilante Jean-Paul Valley who was masquerading in a Batman costume at the time, as well Batman's young sidekick Robin. Bane interrupted the fight and demonstrated his raw power by breaking both of Croc's arms. (Batman v1 #489) Croc was sent back to Arkham Asylum, where he spent a very short period of time. A few weeks later, Bane attacked Arkham and unleashed all the inmates including Croc. (Batman v1 #491) As he wandered the sewers of Gotham, the only thought in Croc's mind was getting revenge against Bane. His opportunity came when he discovered Bane had captured Robin and taken him to the sewers. Croc fought Bane and destroyed the venom pumping machine, but Bane broke his arm again.[10] They were dragged by the water to the river outside and Croc was left unconscious after the fight. (Batman v1 #494)
Croc soon healed and returned to Gotham in an effort to re-establish himself in the criminal underworld. He went on a brutal murder spree that claimed the lives of several members of the Paretti crime family operating out of Gotham's waterfront district. At this point in time, Bruce Wayne had relinquished the role of Batman to his first ward Dick Grayson. As the new Batman, and aided by Robin (Tim Drake), Dick fought with Croc at a warehouse. Surviving members of the Paretti gang were present and opened fire on Croc severely wounding him. Croc survived once again however and evaded capture. (Batman v1 #512) Years later, Killer Croc was summoned by some strange paranormal force to break out of Arkham Asylum and make his way to the Louisiana swamps. Batman followed him there only to find that the mysterious force was actually the Swamp Thing. He offered Croc a place in the swampland where he could finally give in to his animal side and live free from human persecution. There he stayed, and Batman returned to Gotham City. (Batman v1 #522)
Whilst in police custody, he was treated by a doctor named Maria Belleza who was responsible for helping him return back to his 'normal' appearance. (Detective Comics v1 #808)
Killer Croc set off an incendiary device in midtown Gotham, killing 30, and Batman responded. After a hard-fought battle Batman brought Croc to Arkham, throwing him through the office window of Dr. R. Huntoon. Croc revived and made another go at the Caped Crusader, threatening to eat him, but Batman responded with a nerve gas spray that left Croc crippled. (Swamp Thing v2 #66)
Killer Croc argued with his doctors, saying there was no reason for him to be strapped into a wheelchair, and complaining that he didn't belong in Arkham Asylum because he wasn't crazy, he just couldn't control his anger. Klarion, the Witch Boy, wanted revenge on Etrigan and began assembling a gang to confront the demon. He broke into Arkham to fin Etrigan's old foe Tenzin Wyatt, waking him from his catatonic state by producing an illusory version of Etrigan. Wyatt responded, using his mystic powers to create a rage tulpa. The tulpa crashed through a wall chasing the illusion, and engaged in a brawl with Killer Croc, allowing Klarion time to put Wyatt in a wheelchair and wheel him out of the asylum. (Demon v3 #11)
Croc fought Batman atop a convenience store. When Batman heard gunshots within the store he quickly dispatched Croc so that he could attend to the shooting victim inside. (Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #3) The Key locked every door in Arkham, including those in the kitchen, and the inmates were in danger of starving. Killer Croc and the Ventriloquist managed to find a few scraps of food that lasted them until Batman defeated the Key. (Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #5)
When Wonder Woman's lasso, the embodiment of truth, broke because she doubted it, the truth became subjective, altering the world. Croc was arrested after a brutal cannibal murder, but when he denied his obvious guilt the judge took him at his word and released him. (JLA v1 #63)
Killer Croc escaped his cell, and bit off the hand of guard Aaron Cash before being restrained. (Arkham Asylum: Living Hell v1 #4) Crooked businessman Walter "Great White Shark" played the system, and was found not guilty by reason of insanity after a trial for defrauding people out of their life's savings. Shark found that he was a little fish in Arkham, and the inmates delighted in tormenting him. Croc slashed his face, saying he could use a set of gills. Jane Doe, in the identity of Arkham guard Wrigley, helped free her fellow inmates. Killer Croc confronted Aaron Cash, who was still terrified of him, and told him he was going to finish eating him. Jeremiah Arkham put down Croc with a tranquilizer gun. (Arkham Asylum: Living Hell v1 #1) Doodlebug unleashed the Skarva, demons trapped under Arkham, and built a flame pit to open a gate to Hell. Aaron Cash tried to fight the Skarva, who turned Killer Croc and other inmates into monstrous versions of themselves to fight him. Cash finally got over his fear of Croc, ripping off a chunk of his body with his prosthetic hand, and later making it into a wallet. The demons returned to hell with the help of Demon Etrigan and Great White, and Croc and the others were restored to normal. (Arkham Asylum: Living Hell v1 #6)
Croc fought Batman atop a convenience store. When Batman heard gunshots within the store he quickly dispatched Croc so that he could attend to the shooting victim inside. (Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #3) The Key locked every door in Arkham, including those in the kitchen, and the inmates were in danger of starving. Killer Croc and the Ventriloquist managed to find a few scraps of food that lasted them until Batman defeated the Key. (Batman: Gotham Knights v1 #5)
Killer Croc brooded in his Arkham cell while his new psychologist Dr. Cross tried to converse with him. Cross had noticed the regression of his human characteristics, and asked him about his childhood. Cross suggested that he had never properly grieved for his mother, who died during childbirth, and this enraged Croc to the point where he ripped his own hands off to escape his manacles. Croc ripped the doctor to shreds, broke out of Arkham, and fled into the sewers, but the loss of blood from his wrist stumps caused him to pass out. Criminal Edgar Mason found him and brought him home, promising that if they worked together they could be big shots in the underworld. Edgar's wife Juliette tended to Croc for two weeks while he regrew his hands. With Crocs help murdering his rivals Edgar became crimelord of the Little Orphan Alley families. Edgar had a suspicion that Juliette was cheating on him, so he reassigned Croc from being his muscle to babysitting his wife. Juliette convinced him that Edgar was using both of them, and he allowed her to leave Edgar's house unsupervised. Edgar learned where her lover lived, and sent Croc to kill him, but once Croc got there he had a change of heart and turned around. Juliette had her lover hit her, and played on the connection she had with Croc to convince him that Edgar was responsible and that he was planning on killing them both now that he had no more need of them. Croc killed Edgar for her, but she betrayed him and had her lover shoot him in the stomach. She wanted her lover to be Orphan Alley's new crimelord, and wanted Edgar and Croc gone. Croc recovered and beheaded her lover. Juliette pleaded with him to let her live, telling him he wasn't the monster people made him out to be, but her plea fell on deaf ears, and he murdered her. Batman arrived at the scene of the crime, and Croc asked to be taken back to Arkham, stating that the people outside the asylum were monsters, not him. Joker welcomed Croc back at Arkham, and having heard what happened to him, he recounted the traumatic events in exquisite detail and told Croc to learn to laugh at himself. (Joker's Asylum: Killer Croc v1 #1)
He was among a number of supervillains that included Mr. Freeze that worked to take back Gotham from Intergang. (Batman and the Outsiders v2 #13)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Waylon Jones was raised by his Auntie Flowers in Gotham City before becoming the monster he would grow up to be one day. Cursed with an incurable birth defect that made him gradually become more reptilian in appearance, Jones was ridiculed as a child. During one of these ridiculing sessions a policeman born missing an arm called Hoolihan sat down next to him asking what was wrong. Waylon replied that he was a freak and that it hurt. Hoolihan told him that he's not a freak and he may grow up to be a President or a king. As he grew into a young adult, Jones seemed to embrace what he had become. Becoming a professional carnival wrestler at Haley's Circus, Jones adopted the name Killer Croc. However, tired of people treating him like a monster because he looked different, Jones became bitter with the world and began to turn to violence, such as biting off his wrestling manager's hand when the man verbally abused him. (Batman and Robin v2 #23.4) He would watch the Flying Graysons with envy because he could see how happy they were together while he suffered alone and envied their superstardom as the circus' main attraction. He left when Dick Grayson was little but remembered him during his early career as Robin, seeking revenge against him. (Robin & Batman v1 #3)
During the War of Jokes and Riddlers, Waylon came to side with the Riddler's crew who fought against the Jokers side in a gang conflict that engulfed Gotham. At first, Batman targeted both groups but came to look to end the carnage leading to him allying with Nigma's group. This saw the Riddler's gang corner the Joker at which point Batman betrayed them leading to Croc along with the others being apprehended using Kiteman's kites. (Batman v3 #31)
In the aftermath, the city was devastated as a result of the Joker War with Waylon's neighbourhood being devastated as a result. This led to him becoming tired of denying his animalistic side and he decided to go into the sewers where he could lead his own community of people that would seek shelter within the sewers. During this time, a group of people took shelter in an abandoned section underground where they had hoped to escape the Joker War. At this time, damage to the Ace Chemicals plant caused mutagenic chemicals to go into the sewers. This flooded the section where the people were holed up and exposed them to the chemicals. Killer Croc was able to save those people from drowning but the encounter transformed them giving them hybrid animal features. These people thus became the first citizens of Killer Croc's underground town and he decided to start abducting people from the surface and force them to be exposed to the chemicals thus making more citizens for his new monstertown. This drew the attention of Batman where he knocked out Killer Croc's transformed followers whereupon Waylon made a bet over the abducted people. Batman ultimately defeated Croc where work began on finding a treatment to transform Waylon's followers back to normal with the Dark Knight having a word with Waylon over his recent actions. (Detective Comics v1 #1026)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Seeking to be the head of the Gotham mobs, he looked to become known as King Croc. (Batman v1 #359) He had said that his friends came to call him Waylon. (Batman v1 #471)
It was said that he was alienated from others on account of his hideous skin condition. (Batman v1 #359)
He would claim that there was no one as good as him. (Batman v1 #359) Croc had claimed that he did not feel pain. (Batman v1 #471)
According to him, he never knew his father and that his mother died the day he was born. Instead, he came to be raised by his aunt who was always drunk. (Batman v1 #471)
Waylon had said that he never had any friends as people hated him cause he was different. They had thought that because he had a skin disease that he was a monster. (Batman v1 #471)
Powers and abilities
Batman had said that he could not stand against Croc's strength. (Batman v1 #471)
Notes
- Killer Croc was created by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan where he made a cameo appearance in Detective Comics v1 #523 (February, 1983) before making his first appearance in Detective Comics v1 #524 (March, 1983).
Alternate Versions
- In The Batman of Arkham v1 #1 (2000), an alternate version of Killer Croc appeared in an unknown reality within the Multiverse. Waylon Jones had a skin condition that gave him a reptilian appearance and became a violent criminal in adulthood because of being ostracized by everyone else. Some time after being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, Waylon was sent to Arkham Asylum, where Bruce Wayne interviewed him to try and help him. Waylon Jones revealed that he killed people out of fear that they would kill him first and acknowledged that it is wrong to kill people. When Jonathan Crane took over control of Arkham after Bruce was driven mad by The Joker's toxin, Waylon was the only inmate who dared to stand up to him, only to be beaten by the orderlies. After being chained up, Waylon broke free of his chains and visited Bruce Wayne's cell, telling him that he has to snap out of his madness and put an end to Crane's abuse.
- In Flashpoint: Batman - Knight of Vengeance v1 #1 (2011), an alternate version of Killer Croc appeared in the Flashpoint reality located in the Multiverse. In this timeline Killer Croc's life is more or less the same. Croc had been kidnapping the people of Gotham City and imprisoning them in the sewer. Batman Thomas Wayne then arrived and attacked Croc. Killer Croc strikes back at Batman, but he was stabbed in the head with his own machete. Batman rescued the people that Croc had imprisoned.
- In Batman: Reptilian v1 (2021), an alternate version of Killer Croc appeared in the unknown reality located within the Multiverse. In this version, he was revealed to be the result of a human mother who was exposed to an alien mutagen. He has continued to mutate over the course of his life and was now an unusual kind of hermaphrodite, having given birth to a child who was seeking out and attacking all of Gotham’s other villains.
- In Absolute Batman v1 #1 (2024), an alternate version of Waylon Jones appeared in the Absolute DC reality in a reality within the Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In the DC Animated Universe, Killer Croc made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
- In Batman: The Animated Series, "Killer Croc" Morgan first appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Aron Kincaid.
- In The Batman, Killer Croc appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Ron Perlman. This version is a crime boss who resembles an anthropomorphic crocodile, speaks with a Cajun accent, and possesses greater intellect than traditional interpretations of the character. Additionally, his origins are unknown, though rumors have spread that he is a genetic experiment gone awry who then turned mercenary, someone who dealt with voodoo magic, or simply a circus freak.
- In Beware the Batman, Killer Croc appeared in the setting of the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Wade Williams. This version speaks with a Cajun accent, is implied to be a cannibal, and led a group of Blackgate Penitentiary prisoners while incarcerated there.
- In Harley Quinn, Killer Croc appeared in the DC Universe animated television series where he was voiced by actor Matt Oberg.
Films
- In Batman: Gotham Knight, Killer Croc appeared in the setting of the animated film in the "In Darkness Dwells" segment. This version was a cannibalistic serial killer who is rumored to have been born with epidermolytic hyperkeratosis and abandoned in Gotham City's sewers. As an adult, he filed his teeth into sharpened points, became a circus sideshow performer, and went on a killing spree that eventually got him incarcerated at Arkham Asylum, where Jonathan Crane experimented on Croc for his fear aversion program, worsening his homicidal impulses. Croc subsequently escaped and fled into the sewers, but Crane injected him with his fear toxin, giving Croc a fear of bats and the ability to transfer the toxin to others via his bite.
- In Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Killer Croc appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor John DiMaggio.
- In Suicide Squad, Killer Croc appeared in the 2016 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. This version previously lived in Gotham City and fought Batman before he was imprisoned at Belle Reve. He is recruited into Task Force X and accompanies a SEAL scuba team to recover a bomb that was lost in a flooded tunnel to kill the Enchantress. Following the Enchantress' defeat, Croc was returned to prison and given a reduced sentence and improved cell conditions as a reward for his work.
Video games
- In Injustice 2, Killer Croc made a cameo appearance as a non-playable character in the setting of the fighting video game.
Appearances
- Detective Comics v1: (1983)
- Batman v1:
- Suicide Squad:
- Batman Eternal v1:
- Gotham City Monsters v1:
- Detective Comics v1:
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