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Doctor Psycho
Cover to Wonder Woman (v2) #55 Art by George Pérez
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Wonder Woman #5
Created by	William Moulton Marston
In story information
Alter ego	Edgar Cizko
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Super Villains
Notable aliases	Carlo Montez, handsome assistant Captain Wonder
Abilities	Telepathy, mind control, ability to create illusions

Doctor Psycho is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. A villainous telepathic dwarf, Doctor Psycho has traditionally been presented as an adversary for Wonder Woman. First introduced to comics readers in the 1940s by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston, Doctor Psycho has undergone several minor updates over the years as comics continuities have shifted and evolved. Through this process, the character has retained several key features, such as a misogynistic obsession with (and hatred of) beautiful women, a psychiatric instability ranging from mild paranoia to full-on schizophrenia, and a diminutive stature. Image File history File links Question_book-new. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 393 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (395 × 602 pixel, file size: 585 KB, MIME type: image/png)Cover to Wonder Woman (v2) #55. ... For other uses, see Wonder Woman (disambiguation). ... New Teen Titans #1. ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... For other uses, see Wonder Woman (disambiguation). ... Dr. William Moulton Marston (May 9, 1893 – May 2, 1947) was a psychologist, feminist theorist, and comic book writer who created the Wonder Woman character with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston. ... The Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a group of comic book villains that exist in the DC Universe. ... Telepathy, from the Greek τῆλε, tele, remote; and πάθεια, patheia, to be effected by, describes the hypothetical transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses. ... Mind control (or thought control) has the premise that an outside source can control an individuals thinking, behavior or consciousness (either directly or more subtly). ... For other uses, see illusion (disambiguation). ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... This article is about the medical condition. ... For other uses, see Wonder Woman (disambiguation). ... Dr. William Moulton Marston (May 9, 1893 – May 2, 1947) was a psychologist, feminist theorist, and comic book writer who created the Wonder Woman character with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston. ...

Background

The character of Doctor Psycho was created by William Moulton Marston, creator of the character Wonder Woman and author of her original adventures. Marston, a psychologist, created Doctor Psycho as a murderous psychopath with an intense hatred of women. The character of Doctor Psycho was also one of several villains created for Wonder Woman who were deceptive occultists beguiling the masses for their own self-enriching purposes. This is a list of fictional characters from DC Comics who are or have been enemies of Wonder Woman. ...

As Wonder Woman's rogues and supporting cast were largely jettisoned during the period that Robert Kanigher wrote and edited the Wonder Woman comics, Doctor Psycho was one of the few villains to appear in the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age adventures. The character was also one of the few such villains to be modernized in the early issues of the post-Crisis Wonder Woman comic. This is a list of fictional characters from DC Comics who are or have been enemies of Wonder Woman. ... // Amazons Baroness Paula von Gunther Donna Troy Etta Candy Gen. ... Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue American comic book limited series (identified as a 12-part maxi-series) and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify their then-55-year-old continuity. ...

Fictional character history

Pre-Crisis

Doctor Psycho first appears as a colleague of the Duke of Deception. The God of War, enraged that women were gaining power in Earth society and potentially threatening his ability to engulf the world in war, ordered Deception to discredit women. Deception called upon Doctor Psycho to set about eliminating women from the war effort. Duke of Deception is a villain who battled Wonder Woman in the Golden Age and Silver Age. ... Ares is a DC Comics character based on the Greek god of the same name. ...

Doctor Psycho was revealed in flashback to have been a medical student who was frequently humiliated by his peers. He discovered that his fiancee Marva Jane Gray was in love with college athletic champion Ben Bradley. Bradley removed his rival for Marva's affections by staging a robbery of $125,000 worth of radium from the college lab and hunching down in disguise so that Marva would think she saw her diminutive fiance as the culprit.

Convicted on the basis of Marva's testimony, Psycho seethed behind bars for years, planning his revenge while developing a psychopathic hatred of all women. Upon his release, he tortured and killed Bradley, who falsely confessed that Marva was his willing accomplice. Psycho then kidnapped and tortured Marva, hypnotically compelling her to marry him, and then subjecting her to daily occult experiments.

Learning that he could use Marva as a medium for summoning ectoplasm he could use at will to fashion and animate human forms around his own misshapen body, he created a new career for himself as an occultist and sham psychic who developed a following of millions.

At Deception's urging, he used his fame as an occultist to campaign for eliminating women from the war effort by creating an ectoplasmic form purporting to be the spirit of George Washington, claiming that women were hindering the war effort. He also disguised himself as Colonel Darnell of military intelligence to frame female staff of military intelligence for espionage.

With the aid of Steve Trevor and the Holliday College girls, Wonder Woman disrupted his plot but was forced to let him go, unable to prove any of his crimes in a court of law. (Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #5.) Psycho fixated his pathological hatred of women into fantasies of revenge against Wonder Woman.

Freed from Psycho's influence, Marva joined the WAACs and helped Wonder Woman expose Nazi saboteur Stoffer, who had disguised himself as General Scott (Sensation Comics #20).

Psycho was eventually imprisoned but escaped by faking his own death, kidnapping Marva and then his former secretary, Joan White, to use as mediums for his ectoplasmic power. He attempted to court Etta Candy in a disguise, but his cover was blown by Etta's suitor Oscar Sweetgulper and he was returned to prison (Wonder Woman #18).

In the Golden Age, Psycho's brother Ironsides was a brilliant geologist who was also a villain. Ironsides is a fictional DC Comics villain who battled Wonder Woman in the Golden Age. ...

Psycho eventually realized that he could use Steve Trevor as a medium. Kidnapping Trevor, he fashioned an ectoplasmic dream of power from Trevor's unconscious mind and became the powerful Captain Wonder, who teamed up with the Silver Swan to destroy Wonder Woman. His powerful form was destroyed when Trevor awakened from his slumber. Captain Wonder is a villain who was created by combining Doctor Psycho and Steve Trevor. ... The Silver Swan are three fictional characters in the Wonder Woman stories. ...

When the Monitor was testing heroes and villains in the run-up to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, he set up Doctor Psycho to retrieve an ectoplasmic machinery from military intelligence and to fight with several of Wonder Woman's other rogues, but they were defeated by the combined might of Wonder Woman and Etta Candy, who used the ectoplasm machine to create a superpowerful version of herself patterned after Wonder Woman. (Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #323.) The Monitor was a character created by comic book writer Marv Wolfman and comics artist George Pérez as one of the main characters of DC Comics Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series. ... Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue American comic book limited series (identified as a 12-part maxi-series) and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify their then-55-year-old continuity. ... Etta Candy This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Post-Crisis

He is a telepath with the ability to enter and sometimes shape other people's dreams. Psycho was enlisted by Circe to create disturbing dreams for Wonder Woman's close friend, Vanessa Kapatelis with the result that Wonder Woman would be forced to separate herself from her closest allies. This was part of a plot intended to leave Wonder Woman isolated and create widespread public fear of her fellow Amazons. Telepathy, from the Greek τῆλε, tele, remote; and πάθεια, patheia, to be effected by, describes the hypothetical transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses. ... For other uses, see Dream (disambiguation). ... Circe is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, centered in the Wonder Woman title. ...

Dr. Psycho spends some time as a patient in a mental facillity, confined to a padded room and a straitjacket. Several members of the time-lost Legion of Super-Heroes were in telepathic range. When Saturn Girl mentally shouts for a lost member, this awakened Dr. Psycho enough for him to attack several staff members and flee. The call brought him to the Legion, whom he also attacks. LSH redirects here. ... Saturn Girl is a fictional character, a DC Comics superhero, a telepath and a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, an organization of teenage heroes that exists one thousand years in the future. ...

In the Villains United miniseries leading up to Infinite Crisis, Psycho has surfaced as a core member of Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super Villains. Working with Talia Al Ghul, he recruits many supervillains for the Society...and is rejected and successfully rebuffed by Catman. He threatens to have Catman kill himself. The presence of the man's loyal pack of lions convinces Psycho he might be eaten if he forces Catman to harm himself. This rejection angers him, causing much grumbling for some time afterwards. He also spends time working with Deathstroke in order to capture one of the Marvel Family of superheroes. Other members of the Society realize that Psycho is trying to mentally influence them. Unaffected, they brush it off as something to be expected. Villains United is a six-issue comic book limited series, written by Gail Simone with art by Dale Eaglesham and Wade von Grawbadger, published by DC Comics in 2005. ... Infinite Crisis was a seven-issue limited series of comic books published by DC Comics, beginning in October of 2005. ... Lex Luthor is a fictional DC Comics supervillain and the archenemy of the superhero Superman. ... The Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a group of comic book villains that exist in the DC Universe. ... This article is about the DC Comics character. ... The Marvel Family is a group of fictional characters, a team of superheroes in the Fawcett Comics and DC Comics universes. ...

After the events of the sixth issue of Infinite Crisis, Psycho travels with Warp to free Doomsday from captivity near the center of the Earth. He takes control of Doomsday, and uses him to spearhead a supervillain assault on Metropolis. The villains lose this battle. Infinite Crisis was a seven-issue limited series of comic books published by DC Comics, beginning in October of 2005. ... Warp is the name of a fictional DC Comics supervillain that has fought the Teen Titans on different occasions. ... Doomsday is a fictional character from a comic book in the DC Comics Universe, best known for its mutual fight to the death with Superman in the Death of Superman storyline published in 1993. ... The Battle of Metropolis is a fictional DC Comics event. ...

One Year Later

Trials of Manhunter

After the One Year Later gap, Psycho is arrested and put on trial with Kate Spencer (Manhunter) as his defense attorney. Following his arrest, he is abandoned by the Society. During the trial, he uses his mind controlling abilities to make Spencer dream of herself dressed as Wonder Woman in a scene reminiscent of a Roman Colosseum. Before the trial verdict could be revealed, his powers are returned to him as a result of his ties to the Society who had constructed the machine that was blocking them. He uses his telepathy to hold the people in courtroom hostage. 52 is the title of a comic book limited series published by DC Comics, which debuted on May 10, 2006, one week after the conclusion of the seven-issue Infinite Crisis. ... Manhunter is a fictional character, a superhero in publications from DC Comics. ... The Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a group of comic book villains that exist in the DC Universe. ...

This forces Spencer to try and put on her uniform but she instead reveals herself to Doctor Psycho as Manhunter. Psycho then makes Kate put on her suit, but drops his guard to sneak a kiss with her, resulting in him being stabbed in the stomach and head. This causes him to forget about Kate's alter-ego and lose his powers. Manhunter is the name given to several different DC Comics superheroes/antiheroes, as well as the Manhunters an entire race of androids created by the Guardians of the Universe, as a forerunner to the Green Lantern Corps. ...

Secret Six

Doctor Psycho has lately been shown still in a position of authority with the Society in the Secret Six mini-series. He has been working with former enemy Cheshire for Vandal Savage and hiring various villains to put out hits on other Secret Six members. In the final issue of Secret Six (December, 2006), he is stabbed repeatedly and seriously injured by the Mad Hatter. The Secret Six is the name of three distinct, fictional comic book teams in the DC Comics universe, plus an alternate universes fourth team. ... Cheshire, real name Jade Nguyen, is a DC Comics villain, one of the worlds top assassins and mercenaries. ... Vandal Savage is a fictional character and supervillain in the DC Comics universe. ... The Mad Hatter is a fictional character in the Batman comics, published by DC Comics. ...

Return of Wonder Woman

He has recently resurfaced with his powers restored and amplified by Circe in the current Wonder Woman series. He is assisting Cheetah and Giganta. Circe is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, centered in the Wonder Woman title. ... For other uses, see Wonder Woman (disambiguation). ... For the Marvel Comics character, see Cheetah (Marvel Comics). ... Giganta is a fictional character, a red-haired super-villainess appearing in DC Comics publications and related media. ...

On the cover of Justice League of America (vol. 2) #13, it shows Doctor Psycho as a member of the latest Injustice League. The original Injustice League was the brainchild of the interplanetary conqueror, Agamemno. ...

Powers and abilities

Psycho is a skilled telepath, and uses psionic powers to traumatize and terrify those who stand in his way. In his Pre-Crisis appearances, he was a hypnotist who used his victims to draw ectoplasm into the physical world, which he shaped into various beings and disguises. Crisis on Infinite Earths was a 12-issue American comic book limited series (identified as a 12-part maxi-series) and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify their then-55-year-old continuity. ... For other uses, see Hypnotized (song). ... A ghost, composed of electoplasm In parapsychology, ectoplasm is the name given to a hypothetical form of dense bio-energy liberated by living things which is claimed to make possible the materialisation of ghosts and psychokinesis. ...

See also

• List of Wonder Woman enemies