Reaper (DC)
The Reaper is a comic character who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Benjamin Gruener
After losing his wife to a robber in the streets, an event similar to the one Bruce Wayne experienced as a child, he became The Reaper, who prowled Gotham City during the 1950s, murdering juvenile delinquents in vicious manners by impaling them with his scythe weapons. His activities prompted Alan Scott to briefly emerge from retirement to confront him as Green Lantern. Vastly overpowered during an encounter between the two, the Reaper lashed out in a panic with his nunchaku and, by happenstance, struck Green Lantern, whose force-field was vulnerable to the wooden weapons. The Reaper subsequently moved to Europe for unknown reasons.
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Judson Caspian was a man who married and had two children with one being his older son Julian Caspian and he had a daughter in Rachel Caspian. When his son was a teenager, he had left home leaving his new born sister alone in the care of his parents. He cared for his family where he became a close friend of the Wayne's in Gotham City. At some point, Judson's wife was killed and he swore vengeance leading to adopt the identity of the Reaper that murdered criminals in Gotham. He came to be known as a lethal murdering protector that haunted the streets of the city with Thomas Wayne telling his son Bruce about the masked killer. He stopped in this role for a while for years only to return to it by the time Bruce Wayne was operating as Batman. This brought him into conflict with the Dark Knight where his true identity was exposed though he ultimately decided to leave the city with his daughter for Europe. Judson spent years there before returning to Gotham City where once more he took the identity of the Reaper and began murdering criminals. This led to a new confrontation with Batman as Judson had become as murderous as the criminals he fought and ultimately he perished in the encounter. Her fathers death deeply affected Rachel Caspian and she departed Gotham with Batman recording these events in his Black Casebook. Years later, his son Julian decided to continue the mantle of the Reaper but rather than personally take on the persona he decided to enlist various agents to become an army of such killers that targeted criminals globally. (Detective Comics Annual v1 #2019)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
As the Reaper, Caspian wears a large hooded black cloak with heavily armored red leather or cuir bouilli, which prevents bullets and punches from affecting him in any way. The knees and elbows of the red leather armor are tipped with spikes that add more power to blows Caspian inflicts. Caspian also wears a skull-shaped mask with hooks on the mouth to cover up the lower part of the face and red glowing eyes. The Reaper also wields two scythe-shaped weapons, with various other lethal implements contained in the spiked shafts of both weapons. The haft contains a very powerful handgun and smoke pellets to help give to the illusion that the Reaper is in fact an incarnation of death. The scythes are stored in two inverted sheaths located on his back, under his cloak.
Notes
- The concept of the Reaper was created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams where he made his first appearance in Batman v1 #237 (December, 1971).
- The concept of a vigilante who kills criminals along with the grim reaper style imagery is similar to the DC Animated Universe character Phantasm.
Appearances
- Batman v1: (1971)
- Detective Comics Annual v1:
External Link
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