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Javaman

(62,533 posts)
Fri Jan 21, 2022, 09:07 AM Jan 2022

The origin of Super Villians: Gentleman Ghost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman_Ghost

Gentleman Ghost is a supervillain appearing in books published by DC Comics publications.[1] Created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert, the character first appeared in Flash Comics #88 (October 1947).[2]

Earth-Two
On Earth-Two, James Craddock is a criminal that used special tricks and gadgets to pretend to be a ghost where he operated as Ghost. Both times, he was thwarted by Hawkman and Hawkgirl.[3][4]

Post-Crisis
In Post-Crisis continuity, James Craddock is the son of an English gentleman who abandoned both Jim and his mother, forcing them into poverty. Craddock grew up to become a notorious highwayman and robber who terrorized England in the 19th century under the name "Gentleman Jim", after a prophecy from a gypsy said he would be a highwayman. He encountered the ghosts of other highwaymen and Dick Turpin left him a horse. He journeyed to the United States and encounters the gunslingers Nighthawk and Cinnamon. The hot-headed Nighthawk lynched Craddock after wrongly assuming that he sexually assaulted Cinnamon, but Craddock somehow eludes death to rise again as a ghost.[5]

The Gentleman Ghost learns he must wander the earth until the spirit of his killer moves on to the next plane of existence.[6] Nighthawk and Cinnamon turn out to be the reincarnations of Ancient Egyptian royalty Prince Khufu and Chay-Ara: their souls (due to their exposure to the Thanagarian Nth metal) can never truly pass on. Both are eventually resurrected as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and the Gentleman Ghost becomes their recurring nemesis during the 1940s.[7] Craddock has over the decades menaced other heroes, including Batman, The Atom, Flash, The New Teen Titans, Max Mercury and Stargirl, but the vengeful ghost always returns to his main foes, the Hawks, sometimes as a foe and sometimes as a friend.

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