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| This villain was proposed but was rejected by the community for not being heinous enough or lacks what is necessary to be a Pure Evil villain. Therefore, this villain shall be added to our "Never Again List", where proposed villains rejected by the community shall be placed to prevent future proposals of the same evil-doer. They can be proposed again (with the permission of an administrator) if new elements appear in their series that can change their status as non-PE villains. Any act of adding this villain to the Pure Evil category without a proposal or creating a proposal for this villain without the permission of an administrator will result in a ban. | ||
| “ | We must help these Germans win their war, and then when both sides are weak, we’ll destroy them all. | „ |
| ~ Halstead revealing his end goal. |
| “ | They’re going to destroy your home, my king. It’s best to destroy theirs first. | „ |
| ~ Halstead manipulating Aquaman to attack and destroy America. |
Charles Halstead, also known as the Advisor and later Psycho-Pirate, is the secondary antagonist of the Tomorrowverse.
He is an evil psychopathic metahuman pirate from Earth-2 who has the power to manipulate and brainwash people. He became the treacherous advisor of Aquaman, revealed to be a human in league with the Nazis, who brainwashed Aquaman into helping the Nazis win the war before planning on destroying both sides.
Years after World War II, Halstead traveled across the multiverse in order to conquer alternate universes and remake them in his image. On Earth-4, he became the supervillain known as Doctor Spectro and fought Ted Kord AKA Blue Beetle. In another universe, he became known as Roy G. Bivolo/the Rainbow Warrior.
He was recruited by Harbinger to help the Monitor save the multiverse from the Anti-Monitor, although he plans to help the Anti-Monitor into destroying the multiverse and get his own universe so he can rule it as a god. He is also the arch-nemesis of Blue Beetle and the Justice Society.
Portrayals[]
- He is voiced by Geoffrey Arend, who also voiced the Riddler in Batman: Hush.
- As Doctor Spectro, he was voiced by Tom Kenny, who also voiced Ice King in Adventure Time, Patches in The Powerpuff Girls, Randall Crawford in Paradise P.D., Mumbo Jumbo in Teen Titans, Dr. Two-Brains in WordGirl, Starscream in Transformers: Animated, Reverend Rosty in Brickleberry, Penguin in The Batman, Doctor Octopus in Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Commander Peepers and General McGuffin in Wander Over Yonder, Benito Mussolini in Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and King Jellybean in Rick and Morty.
History[]
Background[]
Charles Halstead was born to highly wealthy parents in England during the 1920's. His nascent empath powers unnerved his parents, so they sent him to a boarding school in Germany. He suffered intense bullying that actually aided the evolution and mastery of his powers.
When the Nazis overthrew and usurped the German government, he used the chaos to commandeer a Naval vessel, which he'd used to enact his fantasies of being a pirate by ambushing and destroying Allied ships. A shipwreck left him adrift at sea, but he accidentally summoned help from Atlanteans. He would use his powers to take control of the underwater empire and establish an alliance with Nazi Germany to conquer America, but with the ultimate goal of the whole world for himself. His defeat forced him to retreat, relying on a spell to jump into different universes, with Earths he'd temporarily conquer, but always be overthrown, thus forcing him to flee across the multiverse again.
He'd be reluctantly recruited by Harbinger at the behest of the Monitor, yet opportunity and circumstance would make him ally with and yet unwillingly betray the Anti-Monitor.
Justice Society: World War II[]
Charles Halstead was once a pirate and smuggler operating on the oceans until a storm came down that destroyed his ship. Luckily for him, he was saved from drowning by Aquaman and the Atlanteans. Halstead decided to exploit this opportunity by using his powers of mind control to brainwash Aquaman and become his advisor.
Halstead would proceed to ally with the Nazis during World War II and discovered that the U.S.A had a superpowered team known as the Justice Society that could tip the scales of the war in the Allies favor. Therefore, he sent an encoded message detailing the location of Atlantis as a trap to bait the Justice Society into retrieving the message from German forces and decoding it to travel to Atlantis. Upon their arrival, he put up a facade long enough for him to have Aquaman lead the Justice Society into a trap, imprisoning them all within a shield of Atlantean magic. Halstead revealed his true backstory to the Justice Society before leaving. He quickly reinforced his control on Aquaman when he was trying to break free and unveiled his true motives of helping the Nazis win the war only to exterminate both sides once they were weak from all the fighting, sending an Atlantean force with the Nazis to launch a surprise attack on the East Coast of the United States while going with Aquaman to unlock the deadly creature of the Trench.
Just as he was about to make Aquaman unlock the Trench, however, Earth-1 Flash and Wonder Woman arrived to stop them. Wonder Woman attacked him, but he brainwashed her into going into a violent frenzy. He then successfully made Aquaman open the Trench and escaped with the monster that was released from it.
As the first wave of the Atlantean attack on the East Coast was eventually foiled by Hawkman, Black Canary, and Earth-2 Flash, Halstead and Aquaman appeared with the gigantic Trench monster with Halstead goading Aquaman into using the monster to destroy America before they supposedly destroyed Atlantis and sending smaller monsters further into the coast. Hawkman was killed by one of Halstead’s monsters while saving Black Canary. Shortly after, Wonder Woman swiftly knocked Aquaman off the Trench monster. After Wonder Woman destroyed Aquaman’s trident, knocking him out of Halstead’s control, and he departed with the Trench monster back to the sea, Halstead appeared to mock Steve Trevor for thinking this meant they had won, revealing he had brought a Nazi bombing squadron that would do the job instead and while Steve was distracted in horror at the sight, Halstead stabbed him through the chest with the upper portion of Aquaman’s staff, mortally wounding him.
Although Superman is able to stop the bombings, Halstead disappeared in the chaos without a trace and is still currently at large.
DC Showcase: Blue Beetle[]
To Be Added
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One[]
For some reason, he was among the numerous heroes, within the Monitor's satellite, who were collected by Harbinger on behalf of the Monitor, in a gathering of intelligence, power, and speed to counter the antimatter wave that is erasing each universe. Halstead uses the fabricator - a machine that can analyse a person's mind and create a super-suit that befits their personality - he exits the machine now in an elaborate costume and eerie mask. When Batman explains that the genius-level scientists and superbeings are exactly compatible to cooperate in a manner to overcome the antimatter wave, Halstead is of dissenting opinion, however, he is ignored.
Flash spends decades in the Speed Force (during which time flowed normally for him, but stationary outside of it), with the extended time, he, with the help of Amazo, are able to complete, power, and activate the universal tuning fork, which vibrates every surviving Earth out of the path of the antimatter wave, which also prevents the antimatter spreading into each universe via Earth as it had done to the destroyed realities. Despite the apparent success, Halstead began to suffer agonising pain. An unknown number of people begin to disintegrate into flakes of ash, including all of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two[]
In a dungeon cell, the Psycho-Pirate narrates his life story to a seemingly comatose Kent Nelson. Charles Halstead was born the child of wealthy British parents of unknown occupations, but apparent membership in nobility. Young Halstead was enamoured with pirates, and enjoyed pirate stories like Treasure Island, and playing with pirate figures. Halstead admitted that he hated other children, although hated adults, too. His parents were having a heated argument one day, which caused Halstead immense pain as his empathic abilities became active; he involuntarily used his powers to make his parents angrier, which drove them into trying to kill each other. His parents survived, but evidently suspected their son as being a reason for their fight, if only aggravating usual parental unhappiness, thus they sent him to a boarding school in Bavaria.
Halstead was socially isolated and relentlessly bullied, physically and emotionally - the latter more from his powers forcing other people's emotions into him. Eventually, however, the torment helped Halstead understand how to use his emotional manipulation, as he drove one of his bullies to kill the main agitator with a pitchfork. Gradually, Halstead enslaved the entire school to his will. After the Nazis overthrew and replaced the German government, the school was sieged by the authorities due to it lacking contact to the outside world for months. Halstead had compelled the majority of students and the faculty to hang themselves to death. Perhaps using the remaining students as weapons, Halstead evaded capture.
Halstead compelled a Kriegsmarine to make him captain of his ship; their ship was disguised as a civilian freighter, and would feign distress to lure in Allied ships, afterwards the Nazi ship would reveal its artillery to destroy the attempted rescuers. Halstead noted that sometimes they would pillage from the Allies first before sinking them, but always sink them nonetheless; he'd use his powers to make the sailors happy that their ship was sinking, thereby they didn't try to prevent their drowning. Halstead finally felt content as he was living out his pirate fantasy. Although, it wouldn't last, as eventually their ship would sink, leaving him in a life boat with four other men, although he made them jump into the sea to save supplies for himself and to stop the boat sinking.
Near death, Halstead sent out a psychic plea for help, ensnaring a passing Atlantean squad. While he was able to easily enslave average Atlantean soldiers, Aquaman was resistant to his powers; while Aquaman fought back, Halstead gathered enough troops to hold the Sea King down, enabling him to win a war of attrition with his mind and emotions.
Back in the cell, Kent Nelson finally appears conscious, as he begins talking to Halstead; however, it is evident that a different sentience is possessing the malnourished man's body. Halstead cowers, as Kent dons the Helm of Fate, becoming Dr. Fate; Halstead grabs a fire poker as a weapon, but Fate makes it disappear. Fate declares that Halstead has been chosen, but Halstead cries that he doesn't want it; Fate utters an incantation, creating an astral ankh that fades in Halstead's chest. After a flash, Halstead readjusts to see that Kent Nelson is still in his weakened state, shackled to the chair; however, Halstead begs the guards to let him out of the cell.
After the failed invasion of manipulated Atlanteans in Justice Society: World War II, Halstead wakes from unconsciousness, and realises that his planned conquest had failed. Halstead hides in different alley ways, while the Flash searches the city for him. Upon being trapped in a dead end, Halstead utters the incantation bestowed him by the entity possessing Fate, which allows him to shift into an alternate universe.
Halstead would repeat his attempt to conquer the new world, but upon its failure, he'd jump into a new universe; he repeated this process dozens of times. When once again secluded in his manor of leadership, with a growing crowd of enraged revolutionaries outside his gates, Halstead opted to abandon this latest failure at dominance. Before he can leave, Harbinger manifests, which surprises him, but doesn't scare him. She reveals that the Monitor has sent her to gather heroes to fight an approaching crisis; Halstead , however, wonders why he was chosen, due to his constant acts of subjugation and cruelty. Harbinger acknowledges this, and notes that he has always failed to be a conqueror, but with his power of emotion control and ability to jump throughout the multiverse, his powers and knowledge could be useful. Halstead refuses, but when he tries to leap to another reality, he can't, which Harbinger explains that his current universe isn't close to any others anymore, as they had been destroyed by the crisis. Finding he had no choice, Charles agrees to go with her.
After Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One, Monitor recruits Halstead to be placed in an amplifier in the satellite that can allow him to transmit his empathic powers across the surviving multiverse, and thus has him project courage and compassion to better coordinate defense and maintenance of the cosmic tuning towers. The anti-matter wave turned out to be not a singular occurrence, but one of multiple more waves, thus various Earths must be periodically turned intangible to avoid destruction of their universe. Halstead admits to the Monitor he finds it hard to project positive emotions, and acts strained before asking Monitor for some of his power, albeit with fairly transparent deception that isn't detected due to the ancient man's predominantly underdeveloped emotional comprehension; Monitor activates his power transference device, endowing Halstead with a fraction of his power, albeit it is enough to vastly increase the deranged empath's abilities.
Walking around the satellite, Halstead is confronted by Blue Beetle, who recognises him as "Dr. Spectro," which was one of Halstead's various identities he took while traveling the multiverse to find a world to conquer. Blue Beetle states that he isn't fooled by Halstead's apparent assistance, and will expose him to the rest of the heroes. Halstead disagrees, saying he will changed Blue Beetle's mind, although the latter counters that Dr. Spectro's power never worked on him; Halstead notes that was the case, but now uses his Monitor-enhanced powers to influence the hero's mind into liking him. Before Halstead can finish the brainwashing, he is teleported away, leaving Blue Beetle confused, but admitting to himself that he really liked Halstead.
Halstead discovers himself in a tunnel of light, in the middle of an endless black void; he questions where he is, to which a presence answers "nowhere." Halstead asks for the entity's name, but it doesn't understand the concept of names; as Halstead explains it, he mentions an example of the Monitor, which angers the presence. Halstead nonchalantly describes the entity as anti-Monitor, however, it accepts the title, expressing satisfaction with "Anti-Monitor," as its name. The Anti-Monitor inquires why Halstead is helping the heroes, to which he spitefully answers about his lack of any other choice. The Anti-Monitor posits about the possibility of another option, offering that it could create a universe for Halstead with like-minded people, over which he'd be a god. Halstead accepts, then is sent back to the Monitor's satellite.
In a hallway, Halstead bumps into Supergirl, with her startled by his costume, light-heartedly labeling it as a "psychotic pirate" look, which Halstead reacts to with delight, feeling comfortable with "Psycho-Pirate." The Pirate preys on Supergirl's grief, twisting her resentment at Monitor's previous inaction into thinking that Monitor was the cause of her life's tragedies, from the destruction of Krypton to the erasure of her Legion friends and boyfriend.
Psycho-Pirate positions himself in the satellite as to impel his hatred across the multiverse, which causes numerous tower defenders into turning against each other, breaking into fights, while the shadow demons simply observe. The Monitor discovers Pirate, and demands to know why he is unleashing discord and threatening the lives of everyone, which Pirate responds with two answers, one being that he has found a different choice and the other citing Supergirl by her observation that he is a Psycho-Pirate.
Shortly after, Monitor is confronted by Supergirl, who believes the manipulations of Psycho-Pirate, thereby she wants revenge. Supergirl blasts her heat vision at the Monitor, and due to him sharing some of his power with her and him dropping his defenses out of guilt, she critically wounds him. With her vengeance gained, Supergirl breaks free from Pirate's thrall in shock, and embraces her scorched adopted father in regret.
Justice League: Crisis in Infinite Earths - Part Three[]
The Legion of Doom captured Psycho-Pirate, and he was kept imprisoned, and regularly tortured, in their headquarters so that Lex Luthor could periodically contact the Anti-Monitor; the purpose of the contact was to provide their location, thus allowing the Anti-Monitor to breach the Bleed to unleash an antimatter attack that destroyed an Earth, before he was pulled back into the universe proper. The main reason was so that Luthor could analyse the logistics, abilities, biology, and potential weaknesses that would allow the destruction of the Anti-Monitor, eventually finding that it is still weak against light.
During the preparations, Martian Manhunter visits Psycho-Pirate, asking that he unite the emotions of the surviving multiverse in order to power Warworld so that they can punch a hole into the Anti-Monitor's armor. Psycho-Pirate claimed he couldn't, but the Martian encouraged and insisted him to do it all the same. Psycho-Pirate transmits the feeling of hope across everyone left in existence, which powers Warworld to the point that its cannon blasts a large hole straight through the Anti-Monitor's torso; Supergirl flies into the cavity, and releases 52 stars of light that explodes the Anti-Monitor.
Despite the sacrifice and apparent triumph, it was revealed that the Anti-Monitor is only a white blood cell of the universe, which came to erase realities as the multitude of the ever expanding multiverse would eventually lead to the collapse of all existence. Thus, 10,000 additional Anti-Monitors appeared to complete the erasure of Earths to prevent the branching realities surpassing critical mass of the universe. Eventually, the remaining survivors had to create a singular monoverse, with everyone left from the multiverse would enter to combine with numerous variants to create a new singular self made of them all, but lacking the memories of their original realities.
As the survivors willing to be reborn finish passing through the veil, one of the last Earths is Earth-10, which has a withered Psycho-Pirate still in the Legion of Doom's prison cell. The Anti-Monitors surge their final wave of antimatter to erase the remaining multiverse; with every sentient life already erased, deceased, or gone to the nascent monoverse, Psycho-Pirate expresses a feeling of pure happiness - unlike other times, it wasn't from cruelty or malice, but rather the simple peace of being freed from the deluge of everyone's emotions that had enveloped him his entire life. Psycho-Pirate is erased in contentment.
Personality[]
Halstead is a manipulative and greedy opportunist who always seeks to come out on the winning side. He is also quite treacherous, having allied with the Nazis only as long as was convenient before planning on wiping them out along with the Allies. He also has an ungrateful side, admitting to the Justice Society that Aquaman and the Atlanteans saved him from drowning, only to repay that kindness by brainwashing Aquaman and taking control of Atlantis.
He is misanthropic, which may be due to his powers overwhelming him with emotions of others, or merely a trait he had from birth. While he could use his power in any way to gain allies, he instead always chooses to use hatred and fear; he claims that created or nurturing positive emotions is a greater difficulty, but he still forces people left to drown to celebrate their own deaths, thus showing he is capable of causing happiness, but only does it just to feed his deranged sadism - with the other exception being if he has no choice but to spread positivity.
While he is typically emotionless in peaceful situations, and never finding shock in the unexpected, when the unexpected is a danger, he cowers in fear and grovels for rescue, therefore showing his cowardly nature. Despite his cowardice, as a child, he was never afraid of his numerous bullies, nor the pain they inflicted upon him, rather in hindsight he was grateful for it as it helped him master his powers.
Halstead notably had the desire to be king of his own world, but jumped at the Anti-Monitor's offer to become a God who ruled a universe where everyone shared his emotions.
Just before antimatter disintegrated the remaining multiverse, Halstead was left completely alone on Earth-10, however, he displayed the first expression of happiness that was unrelated to evil, rather simple contentment; therefore, beneath his sadism and megalomania, it appeared that all he wanted was peace, since the flood of other people's emotions had evidently harmed him more than he claimed.
Quotes[]
| “ | It’s quiet.. it’s finally quiet… | „ |
| ~ Psycho-Pirate’s final words, now reduced into a broken man before being erased by the anti-Monitor’s wave. |
Gallery[]
Powers & Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Enhanced Empathy: He is able to determine a person's exact mood and even desires by reading their emotions.
- Emotion control: While a semantic difference, he explains it isn't mind control, but creating or exploiting someone's emotions into undertaking actions that he wanted. Halstead has the ability to take control of others and direct them to do his bidding as seen with Aquaman and Wonder Woman
- Multiversal Travel: A spell granted to him enables him to jump into parallel universes, although the destination seems random, and can only travel to realities directly adjacent to the point of departure; also, should he be in a universe that is no longer surrounded by others, he will be trapped in it.
Abilities[]
- Manipulation: Halstead is highly manipulative, weeding his way into becoming the royal advisor of Atlantis and tricking the Justice Society into coming to Atlantis.
- Charisma: As a part of his manipulative skills, Halstead is also charismatic and soft-spoken.
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 Tomorrowverse Villains
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 Villains
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