Gruel, The Black Witch

GRUEL, THE BLACK WITCH

Real Name: Gruel

Class: Parallel Earth (Earth-2) memetic construct

Occupation: Witch

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Fairyland, 1940s era, Earth-2

First Appearance: Batman I #5 (Spring, 1941)

Powers: The Black Witch was a skilled sorceress. She rode on a flying broomstick, possessed the ability to shape shift into various animals, and could summon elemental monsters.

History: (Batman I #5) - Professor Anderson invented a machine that could physically transport a person into any story they were reading. He’d sent his daughter Enid into “Anthology of Fairy Tales,” and she hadn’t returned after days. She’d been captured by Gruel, The Black Witch, a terror of Fairyland that abducted fairytales and boiled them up in her cauldron. Anderson sent Batman and Robin to Fairyland to save Enid, and after a number of setbacks they made their way to Gruel’s castle. She sent them to her dungeon, but they escaped and learned from her prisoners that she could be defeated if Batman outwrestled her as she shapeshifted into various animals. Batman grappled her, and after she lost she hurled herself from the parapet of her castle to her death.

Due to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Gruel's existence was erased from DC continuity.

Comments: Created by Bill Finger & Bob Kane.