Dummy (DC Comics)

Dummy is the name of multiple characters in DC Comics. The original first appeared in Leading Comics #1, created by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin.

This character is distinct from Scarface, the ventriloquist dummy used by Arnold Wesker. The Dummy fought the Vigilante in six Golden Age stories, from Action Comics #58 (March 1943) through #96 (May 1946), after which he did not appear for many years. A second version, Danny the Dummy, debuted in Batman #134 (September 1960), created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff.

Original Dummy

The original Dummy is a longtime enemy of the Golden Age Vigilante and a skilled inventor of weapons. He leads a criminal gang by pretending to be a ventriloquist's dummy, with the gang believing a "true" leader speaks through him; they never realize he is actually in charge. His secret identity is never revealed, and it is unclear if he is human or a living dummy. He was part of a group of villains assembled by the Hand to commit crimes nationwide, leading to the Seven Soldiers of Victory's first case; the Vigilante stopped his efforts.

Later, he escaped prison with his large companion Bobo, and they robbed the Jeweler's Exchange by posing as a mechanical toy and using knock-out gas. The Vigilante and Stuff the Chinatown Kid defeated them. In another scheme, Dummy had his minion Flipper pose as a ventriloquist at high society shows, using a look-alike dummy while Dummy worked the crowd. Vigilante and Stuff again defeated them.

Dummy also shrank himself and his henchmen to rob a cargo train, but the Vigilante and Stuff turned the tables. The Dummy was responsible for Stuff's death. He appeared in All-Star Squadron, recruited for Mister Mind's Monster Society of Evil; he passed through Alan Scott's force field unimpeded, suggesting he is made of wood and is a living dummy. In modern times, he took over Injustice Unlimited to fight Infinity, Inc. After Crisis on Infinite Earths, Stuff was killed by mobster Bugsy Siegel instead, and Dummy died by falling onto a lit spotlight during a fight with the Vigilante.

A new version introduced in DC Rebirth is a Victorian man cursed into a wooden dummy by a wizard, imprisoned in the Monsterlands. Calling himself Exile #413, he directed Mister Mind and Doctor Sivana to a boat for the Dungeon of Eternity but could not go because wood cannot handle water. After the Monster Society was freed, Dummy felt betrayed by Mister Mind. Superboy-Prime offered to free him if Dummy removed a red sun outside Prime's prison; Dummy did so, but Prime attacked him with heat vision.

Danny the Dummy

Danny the Dummy is a small ventriloquist in a top hat and suit. His act features him playing the dummy to a normal-sized "ventriloquist" named Matt, who is revealed as the real dummy at each show's end. People calling Danny "the Dummy" enrages him, leading him to use dummies for crime to make fools of the law.

Television

The original Dummy is a skilled inventor and wields a cane that fires powerful force beams. He made minor non-speaking appearances in Justice League Unlimited as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society, a cameo in Justice League: The New Frontier, and appeared in Lego DC Shazam! Magic and Monsters voiced by James Arnold Taylor as a Monster Society member. He also appeared in a flashback in Earth-Prime issue #4.