Arthur Rankel

ARTHUR RANKEL

Real Name: Arthur Rankel

Class: Human

Occupation: Serial killer

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: unnamed uncle

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Gotham City

First Appearance: Batman: Joker’s Apprentice #1 (May, 1999)

Powers: Arthur Rankel was a methodical and brilliant serial killer. He was skilled with knives, but fell apart when confronted directly by someone who fought back.

History: (Batman: Joker’s Apprentice #1) - Arthur Rankle was a serial killer who raped and killed eighteen women before Batman took him down with a batarang to the head. As he was being arrested Rankel bellowed that Batman was a coward and should have confronted him face to face. The authorities couldn’t discern a M.O. from his killings, which targeted women of all ages and races, and he didn’t neatly fit any psychological profile, but was sent to Arkham Asylum anywya. Joker heard him fuming about Batman and said he’d taken an interest in the man, and knew what made him tick. He knew every woman Rankel killed was an authority figure of one type or another, and Rankel, despite being a conventional loser, couldn’t abide anyone having power over him. Arthur asked if Joker had ever taken an interest in anyone before, and Joker said it didn’t matter, because he was just a figment of his imagination. Joker said everyone except him and Batman weren’t real, they were just daydreams he and Batman dreamed into existence to populate their world. Joker spent months teaching everything he knew and every strategy he’d come up with to counter Batman to Arthur. Joker said Arthur would be free soon, and warned him never to confront Batman in the dark because it was his natural habitat. Joker alerted Scarecrow’s crew when their boss was scheduled for pickup for court and they agreed to bust out Rankel along with Scarecrow. Joker gave Arthur his diploma and bid him good luck. On the outside Arthur read his diploma, finding ways he could contact the Joker via a pay phone or e-mail, and keys to one of Joker’s hideouts, the former film studio of Slaphappy films. Arthur settled in, planning his big debut and his next kill. He started talking to a rat he named Lassie. He told the rat all his thoughts, how he was in control and the Joker was not, and how he chose to kill unlike Batman’s rogues gallery, and could stop himself at any time. He told Joker he’d need two men to help him carry out his big kill, and Joker sent him Dr. Thomas DeGeorge, a doctor who was locked up after it was discovered he was causing seizures in his patients so he could save them and seem a hero, and Calvin Marshall, a brute full of rage who killed a nun in broad daylight for rejecting his advances. He had DeGeorge knock on a woman’s door, in tears that his dog was lost, and when she let him in Calvin came close behind and brutally slaughtered her. Rankel filmed the incident, and mailed it to the police under the alias DeMille. The authorities, believing Calvin to be DeMille, saw how sloppy his methodology was, and were convinced he would easily be caught after making a mistake. Weeks later Rankel and his crew had killed 23 more women and Commissioner Gordon was frustrated that he didn’t have a single lead. He met with Batman and said he suspected they weren’t dealing with a simple madman, they were dealing with a lunatic with a purpose, and Gordon suspected he was after Batman. Rankle, Calvin and Thomas killed a celebrity in Gotham, and Harvey Bullock was assigned to investigate. He ended up butting heads with the FBI, who’d also been put on the case. Batman spent 4 days and nights going without sleep researching the case, and Alfred had to force him to eat, saying he was showing his own tendency towards madness by starving himself to death. Batman contacted Oracle, and after hours of research she came up blank, but planted the idea that Batman was looking for more than one unsub. Batman confirmed the hypothesis when he realized the fingerprints left behind at the crime scenes were identical except for their size, and knew the unsubs were using false fingerprints. Batman confronted Professor Milo, who connected Rankel with his associates, and he spilled his guts, but Joker had foreseen this and told Rankel to get ready to ambush Batman. Rankel locked the film studio once Batman was inside and Calvin and Thomas chased him through old film sets with guns and a flamethrower. Batman defeated Calkvin and Thomas, and when confronted Rankel went to pieces and curled in the fetal position. Rankel was returned to GCPD custody and Joker laughed his head off at the present he’d gotten Batman for their anniversary, 5 years from the day they first met.

Comments: Created by C.J. Henderson & Trevor von Eeden