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Arnold Wesker (also known as The Ventriloquist) is a villain from the Batman series. He is always seen with the puppet Scarface. Many people believe he is crazy and just puppeteering Scarface, but he genuinely believes that Scarface took possession of him. (It is more than likely some combination of both.)
Calling himself the Ventriloquist, Wesker became a powerful drug lord in Gotham City; although it was Scarface the official leader of the mob. They operated out of a trendy hotspot on Electric Street called the Ventriloquist Club. The bouncer of the club was an over-sized leg-breaker named Rhino. The Ventriloquist and Scarface made their marks in the Gotham underworld through the sale and distribution of a designer drug called Fever. This earned them the attention of the Batman, who eventually fought through the Ventriloquist's armed men and apprehended the drug lord and his puppet master.
Wesker was released from prison on a technicality; which allowed him to resume his activities in Scarface's master plans. However, their drug operation had been taken over by the street gang known as the Street Demonz. In the ensuing confrontation, the Scarface puppet was completely destroyed and Wesker was finally free from his mania. Wesker got drunk in celebration, but it didn't take long before his mania returned and he joined forces with Rhino to rebuild and repair Scarface. With a new puppet, Wesker gathered the members of his old gang and declared war on the Street Demonz, decimating their forces in a violent gang war and reclaiming back his lost empire.
The Ventriloquist reopened his night club and used it to learn secrets of the underworld. Upon learning that The Joker knew the location of 25 million dollars from a botched heist, Wesker and Scarface sprung The Joker out of Arkham and forced him to take them to the money. Due to unforeseen circumstances, their plan was foiled after which they were arrested and Wesker was sent to Arkham for psychological examination.
In Detective Comics #818, an issue later included in the trade paperback Batman: Face the Face, Wesker is murdered by an unseen assailant. The puppet Scarface is stepped on and its head crushed. The dying Wesker uses Scarface's hand to leave a clue regarding his murder, a street name. Later in the storyline, it is revealed that Tally Man, acting as an enforcer for the Great White Shark, is responsible for the murder.
During the Blackest Night crossover, Wesker is among the many deceased villains that received a Black Lantern power ring and is reanimated into a Black Lantern. Using his power ring, Wesker creates a construct of Scarface made of black energy. He is shown murdering many police officers.
In the New 52 continuity, Arnold Wesker is now living, his death apparently erased from reality in the DC Universe. He appears in Batman: The Dark Knight #2, in which he is implied to be in possession of the Venom steroid, and he clashes briefly with Nightwing.
During and after DC Rebirth, Arnold Wesker is recruited into Batman's temporary Suicide Squad to retrieve Psycho-Pirate from Peña Duro prison as he was the only person to be immune to villains emotion manipulation, due to his Scarface persona being the dominating side of his personality. It is later revealed that he was working for Bane in a plot to take control of Gotham City and then served as Flashpoint Batman's butler.
Scarface[]
Scarface is a villain from the Batman series. He is not a human, but a puppet. He is apparently being controlled by the Ventriloquist.
The Ventriloquist believes that the puppet controls him, because it is possessed by the souls that died beneath the tree from which he was made. Most people believe the Ventriloquist controls Scarface, and uses Scarface to commit his crimes.
Other Media[]
Batman: Arkham Asylum[]
Ventriloquist[]
The Ventriloquist doesn't appear in the game Batman: Arkham Asylum. One of the Riddler's riddles revolves around him.
He has an entry in the Character Bios. His profile states:
Arnold Wesker was a timid orphan whose deep repression erupted in a barroom brawl, resulting in him being send to Blackgate Prison. There he encountered the puppet Scarface, and promptly murdered the man who'd carved the puppet. The two are now inseparable, with Scarface directing a series of criminal activities. While most believe that Wesker is simply acting out a second personality through the puppet, Wesker sees himself as a reluctant lackey who merely does his puppet's bidding.
Scarface[]
Scarface is not an actual villain in the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum. He can only be seen in the closet in the warden's office, and on the televisions. One of The Riddler's riddles revolves around him. He has an entry in the Character bios. His profile states: Gotham's Blackgate Penitentiary once had a Gallows Tree from which 313 criminals with death sentence were hanged.
The wood from that tree was whittled by an inmate into the puppet Scarface, and that inmate was murdered by Arnold Wesker, a man who soon fell under Scarface's influence. While most believe that Scarface is simply a tool through which Wesker, as the criminal mastermind Ventriloquist, acts out a dark side to his personality, Wesker himself believes that Scarface is possessed by the souls who died beneath the Gallows Tree, and the puppet actually motivates him to commit the duo's many crimes.
Batman: The Telltale Series[]
Arnold Wesker appears in the fourth episode of Telltale's Batman series of games. He is shown as an inmate of Arkham Asylum who uses a sock pocket to represent Scarface.
Batman: The Animated Series[]
The Ventriloquist is portrayed as having dissociative identity disorder, with Scarface as his alternate personality. The series also provides him with a backstory: Arnold Wesker was born into a Mafia family, and witnessed the murder of his mother by his father's rivals. He developed the "Scarface" personality soon afterward to vent his anger over losing her. In the episode "Double Talk", however, he finally manages to stand up to and destroy Scarface with Scarface getting shredded into the giant fan, freeing him from his tyrannical alternate personality for good.
The Batman[]
The Batman makes a major departure for the character in that Scarface, rather than resembling a 1920s gangster, resembles Tony Montana from the film Scarface. In this series, he is voiced by Dan Castelleneta, who also voiced Megavolt in Darkwing Duck.
Titans[]
The Arnold Wesker incarnation of Ventriloquist makes a cameo appearance in the season finale of Titans, titled "Dick Grayson". Grayson is placed inside a dream world by Trigon which involves Batman going on a killing spree, which involves his rogues' gallery. Wesker is one of the victims, and is found lying dead on the ground next to his Ventriloquist dummy at Arkham Asylum. Whilst a cameo, this is the first live action incarnation of the Ventriloquist to appear onscreen.
The Ventriloquist appears in the television series Gotham, in which his identity is Oswald Cobblepot's accountant Arthur Penn. He was played by Andrew Sellon. He appears to be killed early on in Season 5, though he survives and reappears later in the season in which he has taken on the Ventriloquist identity and has his puppet Scarface in tow.
Originally Penn's role as the Ventriloquist in Season 5 was going to be cut due to the shortened season consisting of only ten episodes, but due to FOX extending the episode count to twelve, the original idea was used.
Trivia[]
The Ventriloquist and Scarface were created by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and the late Norm Breyfogle.
Ventriloquist is diagnosed with delusional schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder
Ventriloquist is obsessed with his puppet, Scarface, whom he puppeteers with unsettling skill
When teamed with Scarface, the two operate as a brilliant criminal mastermind
Puppet animated with eerie verisimilitude by the Ventriloquist
Frequently wields under-sized but lethal weaponry
When teamed with the Ventriloquist, acts as an old-style mob boss, with a sociopathic disregard for human life
He sometimes tries to kill the Ventriloquist despite the fact that killing the Ventriloquist will also kill Scarface himself.
Video Games Gotham Knights Court of Owls (Jacob Kane & Talon) | League of Shadows (Ra's al Ghul & Talia al Ghul) | Mr. Freeze | Clayface | Penguin | Man-Bat | Harley Quinn | Professor Pyg
Video Games Gotham Knights Court of Owls (Jacob Kane & Talon) | League of Shadows (Ra's al Ghul & Talia al Ghul) | Mr. Freeze | Clayface | Penguin | Man-Bat | Harley Quinn | Professor Pyg
Villains
