The Spellbinder is the name of four fictional

supervillains 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 ...

who appear in

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s 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 ...

. Versions of the character have appeared on the animated series ''

Batman Beyond ''Batman Beyond'' (also known as ''Batman of the Future'' in Europe) is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, and serving as the sequel to both '' Batman: The Animated Series'' and '' The New Ba ...

'' and '' The Batman''.

Fictional character biography

Delbert Billings

The first Spellbinder, Delbert Billings, 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 ...

'' #358 (December 1966), and was created by John Broome and

Sheldon Moldoff Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff (; April 14, 1920 – February 29, 2012) was an Americans, American comics artist best known for his early work on the DC Comics characters Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and as one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" (unc ...

. He is a painter who uses optical illusions and hypnotic weapons to commit crimes. Throughout his appearances, Spellbinder battles

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 ...

and

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

before being killed by his girlfriend, Fay Moffit.

Real name unknown

A second, unidentified Spellbinder appears in ''

Justice League International Justice League International (JLI) is a fictional DC comics superhero team that succeeded the original Justice League from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. The team enjoyed several comic books runs, the first being written by Keith Giffen and ...

'' (vol. 2) #65 as a member of the government-sanctioned "League-Busters".

Fay Moffit

In ''

Underworld Unleashed ''Underworld Unleashed'' was a multi-title American comic book crossover event released by DC Comics in 1995. The main theme of ''Underworld Unleashed'' involved the new ruler of Hell, a demon-lord named Neron, offering first many of the DC Un ...

'', Delbert Billings' girlfriend Fay Moffit kills him and gains Neron's power. She becomes the third Spellbinder, also known as Lady Spellbinder, before being killed during ''

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, ...

''.

''The New 52''

A fourth Spellbinder, Viktor Mironov, is introduced in ''

The New 52 The New 52 was the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero American comic books, comic books. Following the conclusion of the "Flashpoint (comics), Flashpoint" Fictional crossover, cros ...

'' continuity reboot. He is a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

magician who assists

John Constantine John Constantine (), also known as Hellblazer, is an antihero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben, and first appeared in ''Swamp Thing'' #37 (June 1985). I ...

in combating the Cult of the Cold Flame before being killed in battle.

Infinite Frontier

A fifth Spellbinder, Charles Dante, is introduced in ''

Infinite Frontier Infinite Frontier is a 2021 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. It is the follow-up to the 2018 New Justice relaunch. The relaunch and event was shepherded by ...

''. He is an artist, psychiatrist, and former classmate of

Barbara Gordon Barbara Joan Gordon is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. The character was created by television producer William Dozier, editor Julius Schwartz, writer Ga ...

who seeks to free

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city in the Northeastern United States that serves as the primary city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List ...

's citizens from what he sees as brainwashing.

Powers and abilities

The original Spellbinder used a number of optical and aural devices of his own invention to hypnotize others. His fighting skills were minimal. The second unnamed Spellbinder had genuine mystical abilities. The third Spellbinder, also known as Lady Spellbinder, can create realistic illusions that cause real pain to the recipients. However, she is unable to use this ability if she is blinded or otherwise has restricted vision.

In other media

Television

* A futuristic incarnation of Spellbinder appears in ''

'', voiced by Jon Cypher. 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 Ira Billings, the school psychologist of Hamilton High who wears a suit featuring an orange-and-black swirl design and uses a large floating "eyeball" that allows him to project mental illusions via hypnosis and virtual technology. Additionally, he constructs the addictive VR Rooms, which creates the user's greatest fantasy and eventually renders them catatonic the more they use it, for use in his crimes. * The unnamed incarnation of Spellbinder appears in '' The Batman'', voiced by

Michael Massee Michael Groo Massee (September 1, 1952 – October 20, 2016) was an American actor. Active on screen during a three decade career, he frequently portrayed villainous characters. His film roles include Funboy in the dark fantasy ''The Crow'' (1994 ...

. This version has a

third eye The third eye (also called the mind's eye or inner eye) is an invisible eye, usually depicted as located on the forehead, supposed to provide perception beyond ordinary sight. In Hinduism, the third eye refers to the ajna (or brow) chakra. In bot ...

, which he acquired while meditating in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

and gives him the ability to induce hallucinations.

Video games

Spellbinder and Lady Spellbinder appear as character summons in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''.

Miscellaneous

Spellbinder makes a minor appearance in the novel '' Wayne of Gotham''.

References

External links

Cosmic Team profile
*
''The Batman'' profile
at World's Finest Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Spellbinder (Dc Comics) Characters created by John Broome Characters created by Chuck Dixon Characters created by Sheldon Moldoff Comics characters introduced in 1966 Comics characters introduced in 1994 Comics characters introduced in 1995 Comics characters introduced in 2022 Fictional Russian people DC Comics characters who use magic DC Comics female supervillains DC Comics male supervillains DC Comics metahumans Fictional artists Fictional hypnotists Fictional murderers Fictional psychologists