Ian Karkull 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 comic books published by

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 ...

. He first appeared in ''

More Fun Comics ''More Fun Comics'', originally titled ''New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine'',''New Fun'' #v1#1 (Feb. 1935 ...

'' #69 (August 1941) as a foe of the sorcerer

Doctor Fate Doctor Fate (also known as Fate) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version was originally created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, debuting in ''More Fun Comics' ...

. He later became a recurring foe of the

All-Star Squadron The All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in ''Justice League, Justice League of America'' #193 (August 1981) and was created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway. Although the team was introduced in the 1980s, its s ...

and the

Justice Society of America The Justice Society of America (JSA) is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It first appeared in '' ...

, beginning in ''All-Star Squadron Annual'' #3.

Publication history

Ian Karkull first appeared in ''

More Fun Comics ''More Fun Comics'', originally titled ''New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine'',''New Fun'' #v1#1 (Feb. 1935 ...

'' #69, and was created by

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

and Howard Sherman.

Fictional character biography

In the late 1930s, Ian Karkull is a scientist and archaeologist working in the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

Desert with partner Everett Dahlen to find Ragnor, a mystic city rumored to possess great wealth and a knowledge of dark powers. However, Dahlen betrays Karkull and leaves him for dead, during which he learns magic before being rescued by nomadic

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

. After returning to the United States, Karkull builds a machine that can transform men into intangible shadows. He kills Dahlen out of revenge, but attracts the attention of

. Karkull transforms into a shadow to evade him, but Fate destroys the machine that would return him to human form. For an undetermined period, Karkull wanders Earth, plotting his revenge. At some point, he is contacted by

Wotan (''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the . The compos ...

, another enemy of Doctor Fate, who is trapped underground and needs his help to escape. The two relocate to a hidden city in the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

, getting Fate's attention when they kill

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

scientists who come too close to their lair. After defeating the two, Fate leaves the city to burn to the ground. Karkull later manipulates

Obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

to gain access to the Shadowlands. The same story reveals that the Justice Society were exposed to Karkull's energy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, which slows their aging and enables them to remain healthy despite their advanced age. Eventually, Obsidian kills Karkull and uses his energy to expand the Shadowlands across the world.''JSA'' #7

Powers and abilities

Ian Karkull wields magic derived from Shadowlands energy, which enables him to manipulate darkness. He later transforms into a shadow entity, becoming intangible and no longer aging.

In other media

Karkull appears in the '' Superman: The Animated Series'' episode "The Hand of Fate", voiced by

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Jame Gumb (Buffalo Bill) in the film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series ''Monk'' (2002–2009 ...

. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version is a demon who Doctor Fate imprisoned in a tablet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karkull, Ian Comics characters introduced in 1941 DC Comics supervillains DC Comics metahumans DC Comics scientists Fictional archaeologists DC Comics characters who use magic Characters created by Gardner Fox Fictional characters who can manipulate darkness or shadows Fictional characters who can turn intangible Golden Age supervillains