Lord Death Man

LORD DEATH MAN

Real Name: Unrevealed

Class: Human

Occupation: Professional criminal

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Tokyo, Japan, formerly Gotham City

First Appearance: Batman I #180 (May, 1966)

Powers: Death-Man relied on gimmicks that made him appear to cheat death. He later gained the power to regenerate from virtually any injury, making him truly unkillable.

History: (Batman I #180) - Death-Man mastered yogi techniques that controlled his breathing and allowed himself to appear dead. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson attended a penthouse gem showing when Death-Man and his gang arrived, saying he'd take the goods because while the living couldn't take their wealth with them after death he was already dead. Bruce and dick changed into Batman and Robin as Death-Man fled the penthouse, shooting down the security guards. The Dynamic duo nabbed him, but he gloated that he was the specter of death, beyond their grip. Death-Man was sentenced to death, but told the judge he was beyond human judgment, and seemingly dropped dead in the courtroom. Batman was haunted by the grim villain, and his macabre claims, so he insisted the GCPD dig up his grave, and found Death-Man lying there. A news report soon came in that Death-Man reappeared on the scene, and had robbed and killed again. Batman and Robin caught up with him fleeing in a funeral hearse, and cornered him in a junkyard. After a drawn out battle Death-Man again told them they had no power over him, and dropped dead again. Bruce attended a socialite event where a yogi was buried alive, but unearthed unharmed because he used meditation techniques to put himself in suspended animation. Having tumbled onto the same trick Death-Man used he dug up his grave again, only to find it empty. Death-Man and his gang were waiting for the heroes, shooting at them, and promising he'd bury Batman in the grave he once lied in. Death-Man and Batman struggled over the grave when a bolt of lightning hit Death-Man, killing him, and he tumbled into the grave. Batman thought it ironic that a freak accident carried out the state's death sentence.

Comments: Created by Robert Kanigher & Sheldon Moldoff.