Master Jailer
The Master Jailer is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
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Biography
Pre-Crisis
Carl Draper was a male human born in the modern age where he was an overweight and introverted boy who grew up in Smallville. Infatuated with Lana Lang, he resented Superboy, with whom Lana was infamously obsessed. On one occasion, when Carl and his classmates were accidentally trapped in a cave, Carl discovered the way out after courageously exploring but was denied the credit for rescuing Lana and the others when Superboy arrived before he could get help. Nevertheless, this incident demonstrated Draper's innate knack for exposing the vulnerabilities in containment systems, which would serve Draper well in his future profession as a security consultant. (Superman v1 #331)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Carl Draper
After the arrest of Conduit, he had been moved to a new cell at S.T.A.R. Labs, where specialist Carl Draper assures Dr. Kitty Faulkner that he will have an unbreakable prison for the villain in 36 hours. (Adventures of Superman v1 #517)
Whilst in prison, he was secretly approached by U.S. President Lex Luthor who looked to enlist Draper's aid in targeting Superman. Alongside Neutron, the pair were to attack the White House in order to take hostage Vice President Ross and his wife as they were both friends of the Man of Steel. Using his technology, the Master Jailer was able to easily encase the White House in chains as well as deal with the Secret Service guards. It was then that Superman arrived where at first he was seemingly defeated by both the Master Jailer and Neutron. However, Superman managed to free himself and knock out both villains leading to their arrest as well as return to prison. Whilst in his cell, Draper was once more approached by Luthor who was continuing his plans against the Man of Steel by using the superpowered in-mates of the prison. (Superman v2 #186)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Carl Draper was the world's best locksmith and designed many security systems for private prisons and governments but due to his ICD he often found himself in trouble with the law and relegated to the backgrounds, never reaping the rewards for his genius. After discovering that there was a surgical procedure that could correct his ICD he developed a quick scheme to become rich and pay for the procedure, he would approach the families of unjustly incarcerated afro-americans and offer them to free their beloved for money, without telling them that he would simply teleport them in their homes to be arrested again. (Truth & Justice v1 #6) During this scheme he clashed with Superman who had taken interest in the story of a particular inmate and failed to assassinate him during his recapture. (Truth & Justice v1 #4) When Superman raided an Intergang safe house to interrogate Bruno Mannheim Draper ambushed Superman with Red Kryptonite chains and revealed to him his identity and plan as he could not resist the temptation to gloat due to his ICD. Superman noticed that the chains were only coated in Red Kryptonite and not made of the genuine stuff and freed himself, he then proceeded to overheat Master Jailer and destroy his weapons with heat vision in order to capture him and reveal his scheme to the public. (Truth & Justice v1 #6)
He joined the Suicide Squad to raid and sink Atlantis when it was raised to the surface. However, another member of their team, Lord Satanis double crossed them and attempted to use the Needlefish Bane, an Atlantean artifact to give him magical abilities. It was revealed that he didn't have any powers of his own, and was planning to nuke Atlantis to sink it. The Suicide Squad then formed an alliance with Aquaman to defeat Satanis. After they succeeded, Carl used his powers to mostly contain the blast, but was killed from the reduced blast. (Aquaman v8 #40)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In high school, the other children used to pick on Draper and gave him the nickname Moosie to mock him. Later on, he came to take the role of a masked supervillain where he began to call himself the Master Jailer. (Superman v1 #332) At another point, he was shown to had adopted the code name of Locksmith. (Action Comics v1 #739)
A combination of hurt, rage and self-hatred led to Draper changing himself as he looked to gain some self-respect. (Superman v1 #332)
Carl had said that he knew everything about prisons. (Adventures of Superman v1 #517)
It was shown that he came to be obsessed with the ultimate challenge of trapping Superman. (Adventures of Superman v1 #517)
He had claimed that he was not good in tests. (Checkmate v2 #17)
Draper had admitted that he was perhaps a control freak. (Superman v2 #186)
Draper has poor impulse control, making it all too easy for him to give in to his sadistic fantasies against his better judgement. Ever since being drafted into Checkmate, Draper has consented to a surgery to implant a computer interface into his brain to repress his unstable tendencies. (Checkmate v2 #17)
By adulthood, he came to have a daughter who was named Carla Draper who was much like him. (Adventures of Superman v1 #517)
Powers and abilities
During night courses, he came to learn that he had an aptitude and interest in architecture. Though his real obsession was in traps, locks, cages and other forms of confinement which led to him becoming a master locksmith. (Superman v1 #332)
Draper has poor impulse control, making it all too easy for him to give in to his sadistic fantasies against his better judgement. Ever since being drafted into Checkmate, Draper has consented to a surgery to implant a computer interface into his brain to repress his unstable tendencies. (Checkmate v2 #17)
As the Master Jailer, he wore a special costume for his villainous identity. The suit was capable of tapping into power packs that he had designed for his prison that used the prisoners own superpowers against them. Though able to contain prisoners, this energy could be harnessed by Draper’s suit allowing him to replicate their abilities for himself. Thus, he could combine the abilities of various super-powered beings and use them in combat against his enemies. (Superman v1 #331)
Draper’s scientific acumen and talent for building allowed him to create life-like robot duplicates of himself. Thus, he was able to use robotic doubles to pretend to be him whilst he himself operated as the Master Jailer. (Superman v1 #331)
He was shown to later make use of devices based on Apokolipsian technology which he gained from his time with Intergang. This was used to help him create 'smart technology' capable of learning and evolving from situations in order to better cope with their targets. It was shown to be capable of sensing an advantage held by an enemy and then targeting it to remove it from the field. (Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #43)
At one point, he built a sanctuary for himself in a cave within Mount Olympus that was the automated prison he built for super-criminals. (Superman v1 #332)
He once established his own security company that offered his advanced tech to people with this being Draper Security Technology. (Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #43)
Whilst working for Checkmate, he initially operated as a consultant but looked to gain the title of Castellan that was the callsign for the Castles head of physical security. (Checkmate v2 #17)
Notes
- The Master Jailer was created by Curt Swan and Martin Pasko where he made his first appearance in Superman v1 #331 (January, 1979).
In other media
Television
- In Supergirl, Master Jailer made an appearance in the live-action series as an antagonist in the episode "Truth, Justice and the American Way" and was portrayed by actor Jeff Branson. The Master Jailer is a former guard at Fort Rozz who hailed from the planet Trombus. Both his father and his grandfather worked as prison guards. After Fort Rozz crashed into the Earth, the prisoners escaped from their cells and killed all the guards, with the exception of the Master Jailer, who escaped using a small shuttle. He masqueraded as Carl Draper, a National City police detective, while hunting down and killing the Fort Rozz escapees who were disguising themselves as Earthlings. Using as base his shuttle, buried under his human house, he made use of advanced alien technology, including an armored suit that made him a match for Supergirl physically. After killing a few inmates, Supergirl caught on when he went after Alphonse Luzano. He trapped her in their fight in order to quickly escape with his target. Later, Hank Henshaw and Alex Danvers of the "F.B.I" had asked Carl and his partner at the police precinct. His partner answered the questions while making his own comments about alien life in National City. Meanwhile, Carl kept his cover. However, Carl and his partner were later confronted by Supergirl where she was taken captive after she guessed the wrong cop as the culprit of the murders. Carl took Supergirl into his secret base, and was about to execute Alphonse for his drug crimes before Alex Danvers broke in to Carl's ship to stop him. However, she could not stop him herself. Leading to her breaking the wood above to allow Supergirl to get free whereupon the D.E.O. agents later arrested him.
Appearances
- Superman v1: (1979)
- Superman v2:
- Checkmate v2:
External Links
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