{"id":452518,"date":"2025-12-17T05:18:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T05:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/452518\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T05:18:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T05:18:17","slug":"after-24-years-one-of-batmans-most-underrated-villains-is-back-and-deadlier-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/452518\/","title":{"rendered":"After 24 Years, One of Batman\u2019s Most Underrated Villains Is Back and Deadlier Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Batman<\/a>\u2019s rogues gallery is often said to be the strongest one in comics. The Joker alone is one of the most popular and instantly recognizable villains to ever exist, and even beyond him, characters like Mister Freeze and Poison Ivy stand out as incredible villains in their own right. From the Penguin to Ra\u2019s al Ghul, there is no shortage of absolutely iconic villains for the Dark Knight to clash with. However, while the most popular villains always take the headlines, the less memorable Batman villains can still steal the show. In fact, there\u2019s one Batman villain who was once one of his A-list threats, and while he hasn\u2019t been the main villain in nearly twenty-five year<\/a>s, he\u2019s finally back and deadlier than ever.<\/p>\n

The Ventriloquist appears to be a meek man, but he has the potential to be a criminal mastermind, which manifests through the classic gangster personality, Scarface, who speaks through a puppet. He used to be one of Batman\u2019s most recurring villains and a ruler of the criminal underworld. While he nearly always took a backseat to other criminals like the Penguin, he was a major threat. Yet, he hasn\u2019t led a major storyline since the \u201cClose Before Striking\u201d storyline in 2001. Now, however, he\u2019s back, and the Ventriloquist is dealier than ever.<\/p>\n

Scars With An All-New Face<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Courtesy of DC Comics<\/p>\n

Batman and Robin (2023)\u2019s \u201cThe Quiet Man\u201d<\/a> storyline started with a mysterious, quiet man being released from prison with nothing but revenge on his mind. Cyrus Mercer was once an elite soldier and attempted to sell the crime boss Falcone a large sum of silver. Penguin, Two-Face, and the Ventriloquist all tried to intercept the transfer, but while the first two worked together to make their hit surgical, the Ventriloquist went in guns blazing. The result was Mercer taking the fall and, blaming the criminal for his son\u2019s death, he swore revenge.<\/p>\n

After being freed from prison, Mercer went on a warpath through the Penguin and Two-Face\u2019s men, looking for the Ventriloquist. Unfortunately for him, Wesker had actually been released from Arkham Tower, apparently cured from his mania and an amnesiac. To protect him from people like Mercer seeking revenge, Batman placed him under the care of his ally, Blair, and hid them in Gotham. Issue #28 saw Mercer finally learn where Batman had stashed the two of them, with Two-Face and Penguin trapping the Ventriloquist inside the building to make sure he didn\u2019t get away. By the time Mercer arrived, Blair had inspired Wesker to make a break for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t actually Blair. When Batman went to check in on Wesker, he found Blair\u2019s body. She\u2019d been dead for at least a week, meaning that the person Wesker saw wasn\u2019t Blair, but the newest evolution of his delusion. As Wesker raced through the streets, the hallucination of Blair spoke in Scarface\u2019s signature accent, promising a \u201cgig surprise\u201d for the criminal, clearly returning to his roots.<\/p>\n

Scarface Freed and Deadlier<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Courtesy of DC Comics<\/p>\n

Scareface has always been the representation of Arnold Wesker\u2019s darkest and most dangerous thoughts. However, he was also his biggest weakness, as taking away the puppet rendered the Ventriloquist nothing more than a blathering old man. He could never pull off any of his schemes without the puppet to project onto, but this newest iteration of the character has changed everything. While Scarface could only exist if Wesker had a physical doll to imagine him as, now the villainous identity has taken the form of a woman whom Wesker trusts and can speak to him freely<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ventriloquist no longer has an Achilles\u2019 heel because Scarface has been given a voice and body that live entirely inside of Wesker\u2019s head, making him untouchable. Without the one silver bullet that always shuts the criminal down without much of a fight, the Ventriloquist is effectively able to operate independently, and thus doesn\u2019t have to rely on anything. He\u2019s unbound, meaning he can fully commit to any villainous schemes he has cooking up without delay and without any way to take away this darkness. Now, the Ventriloquist has to be stopped the same way as any other normal villain, and that makes him just as dangerous as someone like Two-Face. Heck, with how unhinged he\u2019s clearly become, likely moreso.<\/p>\n

Batman and Robin #23 is on sale now!<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Batman\u2019s rogues gallery is often said to be the strongest one in comics. The Joker alone is one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":452519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7792,2681,171,53,2469,67,132,68,207623],"class_list":{"0":"post-452518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-batman","9":"tag-dc-comics","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-regular-feature","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-ventriloquist-dc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115733221564595929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}