LIZARD

Real Name: Unrevealed

Class: Human

Occupation: Criminal

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Gotham City, 1940s era

First Appearance: Green Lantern I #16 (Summer, 1945)

Powers: The Lizard wore an asbestos lizard suit and was armed with carved salamanders made of metallic sodium, which ignited on contact with water.

History: (Green Lantern I #16) - The Lizard was a racketeer who threatened businesses by threatening to burn them down on a rainy day if he wasn't paid. A factory owner didn't take his threat seriously, so Lizard arrived with what he claimed were mythological salamanders, but were actually carved pieces of metallic sodium, which ignited on contact with water. Green Lantern smothered the blaze by using his power ring to scoop up a vast amount of water from a nearby river. A shipyard owner had gotten a threat from the Lizard, and ran to pay him with Doiby and GL following close behind. They fought the Lizard and his gang, but they escaped when Lizard tossed his flaming salamanders at them. Soon after the Lizard made good his promise to burn the shipyard, and when GL and Doiby followed him into a darkened tropical fish store he used a movie projector to distract them, and knocked them out. He tied them up, and left them with his flaming pets, but GL smashed the glass containing the animals and used the glass to free himself and Doiby. They arrived at the Lyceum Theatre that Lizard was threatening to immolate. GL used asbestoses stage curtains to smother the flame and apprehended and unmasked the Lizard, revealing his salamanders as a gimmick.

Comments: Created by Alfred Bester & Martin Nodell.