MASTER VILLAIN

Real Name: None

Class: Mental construct

Occupation: Supervillain

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Central City

First Appearance: Flash I #248 (April, 1977)

Powers: Master Villain possessed superhuman strength, flight, short distance teleportation, and could take possession of other people's bodies. He could transform inanimate objects from being three-dimensional to two-dimensional. He can hurl thunderbolts from his hands, and can detach his hands from his body, using them as projectiles. When his hands are disembodied they can sap away the energy of an opponent. Master Villain was limited by his childish behavior and mind set, often throwing a temper tantrum when things didn't go his way.

History: (Flash I #248, 249) - Barney Sands, a neighbor of Barry Allen (Flash II), was a talented child artist who idolized superheroes and villains. Barney always thought Flash had a weak rogues gallery, so he created Master Villain, a fiend that he imagined would be Flash's greatest enemy. A bizarre alien life-form was roaming the neighborhood as Barney put the finishing touches on his drawing of Master Villain. This vaporous alien had the ability to cohabitate the forms of living beings as well as inanimate objects, but had decided all the inhabitants of Earth were boring. It contemplated sharing Barry Allen's body, but it's attention was turned to Barney. It found his imagination to be exhilarating and decided to bring life to his concept of Master Villain and share the existence of this mental construct. Master Villain sprang into existence with all the powers Barney envisioned him having as well as a mind and personality that reflected Barney's. Master Villain started tearing up the Central City precinct house until Flash came to the rescue. Master Villain fought Flash to a standstill, but flew away to hatch a new diabolical plan. Master Villain popped up twice more to make Flash's life miserable, but ran away each time because he deemed their fighting to be just fun and games. Flash finally recognized Master Villain's voice and speech patterns as being identical to his neighbor Barney, and paid the boy a visit. The boy mistakenly thought he had somehow brought Villain to life, and was in the process of drawing a new creation, Super-Hero, to stop the rogue. This gave Flash a sensational plan to defeat Master Villain, who was now attacking Central City Hall. Flash posed as Super-Hero, whose power concerned the use of voodoo dolls. He presented Master Villain with an effigy, and started pounding it. At the same time he used his super-speed to pummel Master Villain. The childish Villain was befuddled, believing he could not deal with the new threat and surrendered. The alien that created Master Villain decided sharing experiences with the evil-doer was no longer enjoyable, and caused Villain to vanish from existence. Soured by this experience, it immediately left Earth.

Comments: Created by Cary Bates and Irv Novick.

A statue of Master Villain was seen in the New Flash Museum in Flash II #208.

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