Victor Zsasz

Victor Zsasz
File:Zsas.jpg Zsasz and his many self-inflicted scars.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (1992)
Created by	Alan Grant Norm Breyfogle
In-story information
Alter ego	Victor Zsasz
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Super Villains
Notable aliases	Mr. Zsasz
Abilities	Extreme cunning Biological strength and agility Unpredictability

Victor Zsasz is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He is a serial killer and is an enemy of Batman. He usually kills with a knife and carves a tally mark somewhere on himself for every victim.

History

Zsasz first appeared in Shadow of the Bat #1 (1992) as part of the Batman: The Last Arkham four-parter story arc, and his origin story was told in Batman Chronicles #3 (1996); both stories were written by Alan Grant and drawn by Norm Breyfogle. As revealed in the foreword to the TPB form of The Last Arkham, Zsasz's name is derived from that of psychiatrist Thomas Szasz; Grant saw the name while visiting a library.

Origin story

Zsasz was the head of his own intergovernmental company and had amassed a large personal fortune in addition to his family's wealth. At the age of 25 his parents died in a boating accident, sending him into a deep depression. He turned to gambling, losing money in competitions around the world. One night, he ended up in a Gotham City casino, where he gambled everything he owned and ended up losing it all to the Penguin; afterwards he saw that his life was empty, driven by desire, and there was no point to his existence. While he was attempting to commit suicide by jumping from Gotham Bridge, a homeless man tried to assault him with a knife after he refused to give him money. Instinctively grabbing the knife, Zsasz saw in the man's eyes that all life is meaningless and that nothing nor anyone matters. He then proceeded to stab the man to death as a "gift" for saving his life. From then on, he dedicated himself to "liberating" others from their pointless existence (Zsasz often refers to victims as "zombies"). He usually preys on young women, but has no qualms over whom he murders. He slits his victims' throats and leaves them in lifelike poses, adding a tally mark to himself each time. He has been diagnosed as insane and is regularly incarcerated in Arkham Asylum courtesy of Batman, breaking out on occasion to carry on killing.

Later story arcs

During his debut appearance in Shadow of the Bat's opening story arc, Batman: The Last Arkham, Zsasz bribes a contractor to include a secret passage leading out from his cell during the asylum's reconstruction under its new head, Jeremiah Arkham, who inherited the asylum from his uncle, Amadeus Arkham. Although Zsasz is restrained during the daytime when he is being treated personally by Jeremiah Arkham, he is brought back to his cell at night where he would leave the asylum through the secret passage, unbeknown to the night guards. After murders fitting his modus operandi begin surfacing, Batman and Commissioner James Gordon fake Batman's insanity in order to get him inside the asylum and investigate Zsasz. Jeremiah Arkham is exceptionally brutal towards Batman, who had supposedly murdered a police officer; over the course of the "treatment", Zsasz had warped Jeremiah's mind and turned him into a mere henchman. Due to these continuous conversations with Jeremiah Arkham, Zsasz realises Batman is a plant and subsequently murders both the contractor and another inmate at Arkham who knows of Zsasz's ploy. However, both Nightwing and Batman catch up to Zsasz when he tries to escape for the final time and put him back in Arkham.

Zsasz later appears in Part 3 and 4 of the Knightfall saga. In Part 3 of Knightfall, Zsasz takes an all girl's college hostage and holds the students at knife point until Batman arrives, briefly leaving to kill two police officers who were sent to arrest him. Though weakened both physically and mentally, Batman fights with Zsasz and tries to ignore the lunatic's mockery. He finally snaps, however, after Zsasz says that they are really one and the same, and administers a savage beating.

During the No Man´s Land storyline, Zsasz is a patient in Dr. Leslie Thomkins´ field hospital for a brief while, proving to be eminently deadly even when unconscious and strapped to a stretcher when he manages to open one of the arteries of a field orderly with his fingernails. Once he wakes up, he is confronted by Dr. Thomkins, whose utter selfless charity sharply contrasts with his total emptiness; she manages to make him give pause, but is finally repelled by his profound evil.

Zsasz later appears in Detective Comics #796, where he fights Stephanie Brown in her role as Robin. He attempts to slit her throat, but is distracted by her unexpected ferocity and falls back, where he attacks and attempts to kill Batman. However, Stephanie eventually defeats him.

Zsasz makes a brief appearance in Infinite Crisis #7. He is part of the Secret Society of Supervillains and is one of the many of their members sent to attack the city of Metropolis. The Society loses.

Zsasz is not seen in any major villainous role again until Detective Comics #815, released in March 2006, entitled "Victims". Before a quarterly psychiatric review, Zsasz kills his guards with metal poles attached to his neck bracket and escapes to kill again. Batman hunts for Zsasz, which proves unsuccessful until Zsasz gains access to a charity event (attended by Bruce Wayne) and stabs his beloved butler, Alfred Pennyworth, in the stomach. However, Wayne saves Alfred's life by driving him to a hospital. To lure Zsasz to him, Wayne holds a press conference in which he announces that Alfred is still alive. Having already made a scar for Alfred, Zsasz realises that his tally is off by one (Zsasz remarks: "My skin... it's crawling... every inch of it feels... wrong.") During the second part of "Victims" (Detective Comics #816), after a fight with Batman, Zsasz proceeds to the hospital to finish off Alfred. Batman catches him off-guard and knocks him unconscious, thus saving Alfred's life and sending Zsasz back to Arkham.

Zsasz is later seen again the Gotham Underground story arc where in issue 3 he appears in a disguised Batman's cell at Blackgate Prison and attempts to kill him with a knife. He ends up cutting Batman's arm just as he was waking up and the resulting fight ends with Zsasz being knocked unconscious and Batman being rushed to the hospital.

A naked, desperate and totally deranged Zsasz appeared in the first issue of Batman: Cacophony (2008), written by film director Kevin Smith, killing a young couple and threatening their children before Batman subdues him. His thoughts move so quickly that there are no spaces between the words. In the issue, Batman says that of all the criminals he fights, he hates Zsasz the most.

In the "Battle For The Cowl" storyline, Zsasz is recruited by a new Black Mask to a part of a group of villains that aiming to take over Gotham.

Other media

Film

File:Booth zsasz.PNG

Tim Booth as Zsasz in Batman Begins.

Zsasz appears in the 2005 film Batman Begins portrayed by Tim Booth (the vocalist of British band James). In the movie, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes states that Zsasz butchers citizens for the mob and is one of Carmine Falcone's thugs. He is sent to Arkham Asylum, but escapes during Ra's al Ghul's attack on Gotham. Zsasz is revealed to have remained at large in one of the promotional websites for The Dark Knight.

Video games

• Zsasz appears as a boss in the Batman: Dark Tomorrow game.

• Tim Booth reprises his role as Zsasz in the Batman Begins video game. Zsasz appears chained to a wall while Detective Arnold John Flass asks him what Dr. Jonathan Crane is planning. This Zsasz is portrayed as the sociopath he is in the comics, rather than an implied "hitman thug of Falcone". Zsasz later threatens Rachel, as in the movie, but she takes advantage of Batman's appearance to taser him while he is distracted. The game explains his trademark scars and says that he's "running out of room."

• Zsasz appears in Nintendo DS version of Lego Batman: The Video Game as an enemy bounty in the "Villain Hunt" minigame.

• Zsasz appears in Batman: Arkham Asylum voiced by Danny Jacobs. He appears twice in the game, both times he has a hostage and it is more or less a walkthrough on new abilities. When Batman arrives in the Pacification Room, he learns from staff member Zach Franklin that Zsasz has escaped and has captured one of the guards, threatening to shock the man to death with an electroshock therapy rig before Batman incapacitates him. Zsasz later holds Dr. Penny Young hostage in Warden Sharp's office. This time, Batman defeats Zsasz by knocking him out with a Batarang without being seen. This is the last time Zsasz is seen in the game until Scarecrow's final hallucination. In the re-run of the opening event, the roles are switched. Zsasz is now the one carrying Batman on the stroller while Joker and Harley and another thug follow (Harley being in Frank Boles place and Joker in Batman's). He is last seen as they encounter the Doctor who is now Scarecrow and the battle starts. It can be assumed that Zsasz was locked up for the remainder of the game.
• Mr. zsaz is an unlockable villain in the ds verson of lego batman

• Mr. Zsasz is set to appear in the upcoming video game DC Universe Online.

Novelization

The tie-in book for Batman Begins featuring the development art, and the visual guide to the film, also feature a shot of Booth in costume, referring to Zsasz as a serial killer. In the credits and script for the film, as well as all the books and the graphic novelisation, his name is spelled "Zsaz". Only the novelisation of Batman Begins, refers to him as "Victor Zsasz".

See also

• List of Batman Family enemies

References

• Breyfogle, N. & Grant, A. (1996). Batman: The Last Arkham. DC comics. ISBN 1563891905.