Fool

FOOL

Real Name: Unrevealed

Class: Human technology-user

Occupation: Criminal

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Gotham City, 1940s era

First Appearance: Green Lantern I #28 (October, 1947)

Powers: The Fool's imbecilic actions covered a wily strategic mind. He used a pipe that blew explosive soap bubbles, and bubbles he could float away on. He used deadly popguns and peashooters, extendable boxing gloves, and as rubber arrows that let him scale surfaces.

History: (Green Lantern I #28) - The Fool took his moniker because everyone who saw the unusual looking criminal was convinced he was feeble-minded, but although unhinged he was quite brilliant. He escaped prison by floating away on a soap bubble, and made a costume that included an dunce cap to play up his Fool identity. Green Lantern hosted the new radio program "Money for Nothing" where audience members would be awarded prizes for bringing in worthless items. The Fool interrupted the proceedings to steal a broken violin one women brought in, and GL thought he was a comedian, but realized he was serious when he knocked GL back with an exploding soap bubble. GL learned that the violin was a priceless Guarnieri thrown out by mistake, and he knew the Fool wasn't as ridiculous as he looked or acted. The Fool stole a merry-go-round horse, eluding GL again, and GL learned that the horse was a lost Godin sculpture. The Fool captured GL, tying him up to a rack of darts that would shoot if he moved, and he warned GL that one was poisoned. GL couldn't affect the darts, which were wooden, but managed to tear down the dartboard behind him to shield himself. GL attended a meeting of the Analysts, Gotham's amateur sleuth society, and they wanted to vote him out for having been humiliated by the Fool. GL knew how foolish it would be for his enemy to intend, and made the head of the Analysts reveal himself as a disguised Fool.

(Green Lantern I #31) - The Fool committed a rash of crimes stealing Pop-Jacks candy boxes, and when he spotted Doiby Dickles at the carnival he hit him with a wrench to snatch his box. GL and Doiby went to the Pop-Jacks factory to investigate, and the Fool shot them with an acid-filled water gun, saying he didn't know any better, before getting away. GL couldn't figure out what the Fool was up to until the president of Pop-Jacks told him he'd put diamond bracelets in five boxes as a promotion. Aspiring journalist Ann Martin followed the Fool back to his hideout, leaving behind a trail of Pop-Jacks to attract GL and Doiby. The Fool knocked out the heroes with extensible boxing gloves, and tied them to model train tracks. The trains had poison needles on their undersides, and the Fool told them he was off for a nice haircut before leaving. GL used his power ring to operate the model train switches, causing the trains to smash into each other, and he freed himself, Doiby and Ann. They found the Fool at the Carnival Queen Contest, where the winner was being awarded a pearl tiara. He somehow knew the tiara was a counterfeit, and stole a nearby paper bag, which contained the real tiara being hidden during the carnival for fear of robbers. He flew off in his model airplane, using a smokescreen to get away, but GL followed the smoke's trail and defeated the Fool, sending him back to jail.

Comments: Created by Alex Toth.

In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU the Fool lived on Earth-2.