| “ | How sad life is -- How terribly sad! | „ |
| ~ The Weeper's catchphrase. |
The Weeper is a supervillain in the DC Comics universe. Weeper (Mortimer Gloom) is the archenemy of Bulletman and Bulletgirl and later Bulletdog. In the TV show, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he is also an enemy of Batman. The second Weeper is an enemy of Bulletgirl, Mary Marvel, the Justice League of America, and the Justice Society of America.
History[]
Mortimer Gloom[]
Weeper makes his first appearance at a circus and gets fired for his dishonesty from his work as a circus performer (he was formerly known during that time as "Crying Clown" or "Weeping Willie"). Vengeful, he commits several acts of revenge and would later officially refer to himself as the Weeper. He would start his criminal operations by sending letters and visits several families informing them of tragic news. One family is told by him that their son died in WWII. Another family is told by Weeper that their father is fired from his job despite working there for several years without any problems. The last family that is shown, the husband is told by Weeper that his business has burned to the ground. Eventually though, the families would find out that the Weeper had lied to them. Weeper did this in order to rob their homes or so they could lead him to where they secretly stored their personal valuable possessions.
The Weeper would continue his criminal acts by putting an ad in the paper that sought out men who felt that their lives had given them great tribulations. Several men reply to this ad and Weeper interviews them all, picking ten of the saddest men of the group to join his gang and referring to them as his Bittermen. Weeper and his goons then go out to make other people very unhappy. They start this by riding in a hearse through a parade and toss tear gas into the crowd. This results in a massive stampede and kills a large number of people. Weeper drives on through the street that is full of several dead bodies and disturbingly weeps at the tragedy that previously occurred. Weeper and his henchmen would continue causing multiple crimes and eventually capture Bulletgirl. However, Bulletman arrives and saves her which results in the Weeper seemingly drowning to his death.
The Weeper would later be revealed that he survived the previous fight with Bulletman and Bulletgirl. He returns trying to find his old gang and wants to get them back together again. One of the members refuses, however, saying that he now makes enough money to choke a horse and is very happy than he was in the past. Weeper replies back saying that he hates to hear that people are happy. Subsequently, it is implied that the former henchman gets killed by the Weeper when he is discovered to be dead after being choked to death on his wad of money. Weeper then shows to the other Bittermen the newspaper account on what happened. They then join his group again out of fear that he'll kill them all if they refuse his offer. However, Weeper and his Bittermen get betrayed by one of their members and are eventually defeated (that member would also be the one who narrates the story).
The Weeper would return, this time being a founding member of the Revenge Syndicate. It is started by Murder Prophet and would be joined by the Weeper and the Black Rat. They start out at odds with each other, each one wanting to be the leader of the group. Weeper comes up with an idea that each one will roll dice to see who becomes in charge, with the person that has the highest roll would go first, the person with the second highest roll would go second, and the person with the third highest roll would go third.
Murder Prophet wins the first roll and plans to rob an art museum. He pretends to be a visitor, while Black Rat assists emerging from the sewer with a machine gun. Their plan gets thwarted by Bulletman and Bulletgirl, but they escape. The Weeper then goes second and plans for Murder Prophet to portray as a psychic at a carnival after kidnapping the real psychic. Murder Prophet tells a rich woman to get her money moved so that it doesn't get stolen. The group of criminals plan on taking the money while it gets moved. Their is plain is foiled though yet again by Bulletman and Bulletgirl after they find out their scheme. The two lift the car that the villains are in and throw it in a lake. Black Rat, who was also thrown in the lake, rescues Murder Prophet and Weeper.
All three of them eventually figure out Bulletman has always stopped their evil plans and that they need to kill him if they ever want to be successful on their later crimes. In order to solve this problem, Black Rat meets with several criminals, who agree to pay $100,000 if he gets rid of Bulletman. The Black Rat then goes third and his plan is to send out a radio broadcast in order to get Bulletman into a trap in an abandoned shack. They set up a dummy of the Black Rat and as expected, Bulletman and Bulletgirl enter the shack. The Revenge Syndicate then goes inside and beats up Bulletman. However, much to their surprise, Bulletman planned ahead and has set up a dummy of his own. Bulletman and Bulletgirl fight them and a fire is started when the radio short circuits.
All three of the villains are trapped and apparently die in the fire. Weeper survived the fire though and comes back a couple months later on Thanksgiving Day. He gets captured by Bulletman, Bulletgirl, and their new ally Bulletdog. Weeper would perish later between the years of 1942 and 1946.
Second Weeper[]
During the point when the original Weeper dies, he gets replaced by his son and becomes the second Weeper. The second Weeper personally quotes, "My father, the true Weeper, is dead -- Sob! But I am carrying on with his name!" During the year 1946, Bulletgirl and Mary Marvel battle the second Weeper and Dr. Riddle. The criminal duo try to hang Bulletgirl while she is still posing in her civilian identity of Susan Kent after surprising her. They pull her up with the noose and Weeper tries to stab her but is stopped by Mary Marvel due to being with her when the villains attacked. Despite their setback, they escape while Mary frees Susan from the noose and she changes to Bulletgirl. However, the criminals leave a riddle behind that lets the two superheroines track the villains to an abandoned asylum on the outskirts of town. The Weeper sees Bulletgirl outside, but Dr. Riddle states that was part of his plan. As part of their plan, the Weeper goes into another room with a straitjacket while Dr. Riddle waits for Bulletgirl. Bulletgirl knocked Dr. Riddle over, not noticing the Weeper moving towards her. The Weeper placed the straitjacket on her from behind just after she decided to look for him. Then with Dr. Riddle's assistance she gets tied to a chair and gagged.
The two villains then let Bulletgirl know that Mary is also present in the asylum. Mary was lured in when she decided to look for Bulletgirl and stopped from speaking, in order to go into her superhero form, with a hose. While binding and gagging her, the Weeper talked about how he wept for Mary. The two villains carried the two superheroines into a cell which they made airtight, and left. Bulletgirl was able to remove Mary's gag with her helmet, allowing her to transform into Mary Marvel, free Bulletgirl, and break open a cell wall. The two superheroines later discovered a riddle in the asylum and deciphered it. It reveals that the two were planning to rob a plane carrying gold bullion, and one of them would wait on the ground as the gold would be dropped. Mary Marvel flies after the plane after Dr. Riddle has knocked out the two pilots. Dr. Riddle is able to escape from the plane by parachute as Mary saves the plane, and knock out Bulletgirl by landing on her just as she has encountered Weeper. However their plan goes south as Mary Marvel then captures him and Bulletgirl apprehends the Weeper. They are then arrested and taken to jail.
The second Weeper would later team up with the Earth-Two version of the Joker during King Kull's plan to wipe out humanity on three Earths. Members of Earth-One's Justice League and Earth-Two's Justice Society of America travel to Earth-S and meet Shazam's Squadron of Justice - Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Mister Scarlet, Pinky the Whiz Kid, Ibis the Invincible, and the Spy Smasher. The Joker teaches Weeper his own style of committing crimes on Earth-S, by stealing jewels and transforming people into different materials, with his trademark grin, although the Weeper can't understand why the Joker laughs about crime. They are then stopped by the Earth-Two Batman, the Earth-Two Robin, Mister Scarlet, and Pinky, who follow a trail left by jewels on the pavement. During the battle, Robin is unaffected by the Weeper's tear gas because he is wearing contact lenses and the villains are defeated and get imprisoned.
In Other Media[]
Television History[]
- The Mortimer Gloom version of Weeper appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!", who was voiced by the late Tim Conway. Joker sees him in a Gotham City bar where low caliber costumed villains hang out. It is revealed that the Weeper was the first villain to use a signature motif in all his crimes and was Joker's inspiration for becoming a supervillain. Joker learns how Weeper tried to destroy Fawcett City over thirty years prior only to be defeated by Bulletman (who used Weeper's soft-heartedness to his advantage). When Batman unveils the Bat-Probe to thwart the criminals of Gotham City, Joker proposes a partnership with Weeper, who agrees to help Joker. After Joker works with Weeper to regain Weeper's villainous touch, the two of them attack S.T.A.R. Labs where Batman has the upper hand on them until their fight is brought to the outside of S.T.A.R. Labs. However, Weeper can't bring himself to kill Batman causing Joker to fire a missile that Batman dodges, destroying the abandoned pizza restaurant serving as their lair. Weeper ends up leaving Joker, claiming to never have what it takes to be a great villain. With the Bat-Probe operational, Weeper sees how tough life has become for his fellow villains, and returns to help Joker get to the Bat-Probe. Weeper ends up fighting Batman and sprays him with tear gas before disabling the Bat-Probe. Weeper then turns on Joker in order to become the new King of Crime only for Batman to defeat both of them. When Joker starts crying in the police van due to Batman fouling up Weeper's chance to become the crime king of Gotham and fulfill his destiny, Weeper ends up laughing at this as the van drives off in the distance taking the two to prison.
- A metahuman nicknamed "The Weeper" appears in The Flash episode "Girls' Night Out". Unlike the comics, this version is not a supervillain. He was one of the twelve passengers that became metahumans after the bus they were on was directly struck by dark matter flowing out of the Speed Force when Barry Allen / The Flash emerged from it after being trapped inside for six months. Amunet Black (also known as Blacksmith) captures him after discovering that he can now produce tears that can be used as a "love drug". After Blacksmith was defeated and forced to retreat by Caitlin Snow (also known as Killer Frost), Iris and Felicity helps him escape, but at the end of the episode, while wandering through the city alone, he is confronted by the Thinker, who captures him.
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