Captain Stingaree (Karl Courtney) is a

supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

in the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

universe, and a minor foe of

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

. He first appeared in ''

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...

'' #460 (June 1976), and was created by Bob Rozakis, Michael Uslan and

Ernie Chan Ernesto Chan (July 27, 1940 – May 16, 2012), born and sometimes credited as Ernie Chua, was a Filipinos, Filipino-Americans, American comics artist, known for work published by Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including many Marvel issues of series ...

Name

In his memoir ''The Boy Who Loved Batman'', Uslan says that he and Rozakis were excited to create a pirate-themed villain for Batman, but disappointed by the name that editor

Julius Schwartz Julius "Julie" Schwartz ( ; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he ...

gave the character: "Bob said it was the name of some old movie about a notorious highwayman played by

Richard Dix Richard Dix (born Ernst Carlton Brimmer; July 18, 1893 – September 20, 1949) was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent film, silent and sound film. His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and sta ...

Fort Dix Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Fo ...

or some old actor. I hated the name Stingaree. Bob hated the name Stingaree. But Julie liked it, and so it came to pass".

Fictional character biography

Born one of a set of quadruplets, Karl Courtney was always the black sheep of the family. Donning a cutlass and pirate outfit, Karl becomes Captain Stingaree. In his first outing, Captain Stingaree attempts to uncover

's secret identity. Somehow Stingaree has become convinced that his three brothers are actually Batman. Batman approaches the Courtney brothers, asking them to pose as Batman and act as bait for Stingaree. This allows the real Batman and the Flash to capture Captain Stingaree. In ''Secret Society of Super-Villains'' #6 (April 1977), Captain Stingaree joins the

Society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

. Teaming up with

Captain Cold Captain Cold (Leonard Snart) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, the character first appeared in '' Showcase'' #8 (June 1957). In his comic book appearances, ...

and Captain Boomerang I, the three captains went on a crime spree kidnapping other captains to show supremacy over air, land and sea, before they are taken down by

Captain Comet Captain Comet (Adam Blake) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, created by editor Julius Schwartz, writer John Broome (writer), John Broome, and artist Carmine Infantino. Once a minor character in the DC Comics ...

and Black Canary II. In ''Detective Comics'' #526, Captain Stingaree meets at an old theater with other Bat-Villains. Talia is branded a traitor. While Talia escapes, Captain Stingaree is accidentally frozen by Mr. Freeze. This is his last pre-Crisis appearance.

Post-Crisis

In ''Justice League of America'' #2 (November 2006), it is revealed that Captain Stingaree is gay, and is in a secret relationship with the

Cavalier The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of England and his son Charles II of England, Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum (England), Int ...

(Mortimer Drake). Black Lightning uses this fact to leverage information out of the closeted Cavalier. Both Captain Stingaree and Cavalier are killed during a fight with the Secret Six (although Cavalier, whose back was broken by Bane, may have survived).

DC Rebirth

In the

DC Rebirth DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using the end of The New 52 (2011–2016) initiative in May 2016 as its launching point ...

reboot, Karl is played as somewhat of a joke villain. He is portrayed as a man who assumes the identity of Stingaree when not under the influence of his

medication Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmaco ...

. He attempts to murder several people who clearly know him and are dressed as the Batman. They plead with him to go back on his medication, but he says that they will not "deceive him again". He is stopped by the real Batman and "Gotham Girl" before anyone is seriously injured.''Batman'' (vol. 3) #6 (2016)

Powers and abilities

Captain Stingaree has no superpowers but is a skilled swordsman.

In other media

he appeared in a comic book that is in the Wonder woman 1970s TV show universe universe appeared in Wonder Woman '77 Special #3

References

External links

Cosmic Teams: Captain Stingaree
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stingaree, Captain DC Comics LGBTQ supervillains DC Comics supervillains Fictional pirate captains Fictional swordfighters in comics Fictional gay men Comics characters introduced in 1976