| “ | Tina McGee: You murdered people, innocent people! Carl Tanner: It had to be done, Tina. Tina McGee: But how could you use human beings as guinea pigs? Carl Tanner: Their lives are worthless, I know. My parents were just like... My real parents, they lived in a tenement in filth. Tina McGee: But I thought you... Carl Tanner: Oh, the privileged childhood, the big house on the coast? A lie. An invention to cover my shame. |
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| ~ Tina McGee and Carl Tanner, learning about the latter's "shameful and tragic" past. |
Dr. Carl Tanner is the main antagonist of the 1990 television series The Flash episode "Out of Control".
He is a renowed scientist with expertise on genetics that was friends with S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Christina "Tina" McGree and her husband David, being known for his attempts to use genetics to better mankind. However, sometime after David's death, Tanner becomes interested in the genetic serum that killed him, desiring to use it to ut any loose ends with his mysterious past.
He was portrayed by Stan Ivar. When mutated, he was portrayed by Sven-Ole Thorsen.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Grew up to resent Central City's homeless population due to him being poor with his parents during his childhood, leading him to lie about his background and claim to be rich to get into the scientific community, becoming an expert in genetics research. However, instead of helping everyone in the same situation as him, he resolved to exterminate all homeless people in the city due to them being "vermin" with "worthless" lives in his own words.
- While he never mentions what he feels about his parents, it's more than likely that he doesn't love or care for them and cut all ties with them while growing up, given how they would have reminded him of his homeless past and that his acquaintances didn't seem to be aware of their existences.
- Although he was friends with David and Christina "Tina" McGee, he actually desired to have Tina for himself, resenting David for taking her away from him.
- Kidnapped several homeless vagrants by paying them into letting him experiment a genetic serum of his own with them, horribly mutating and agonizingly killing them without any trace, just like it happened to Jack and Sam, allowing him to not be discovered by the authorities, taking advantage that the police would not be concerned for their disappearances.
- This in turn led to many homeless, led by Father Michael, to protest against the Central City Police Department, to the point of them took a gun and nearly got a cop killed out of desperation and fear for their insecurity.
- Takes the opportunity to suddenly kiss Tina without her consent after taking her home, which was really insensitive due to her losing her husband one year ago, proving that he didn't really care for David.
- Slips a drug into Tina's wine when she invites him to dinner just so he can make her fall sleep and scan her eye to get access to David's notes on genetics at S.T.A.R. Labs even though Tina doesn't want him to look at them due to David's experiments killing him.
- Knocks out Charlie Wright, a homeless man Barry Allen had gotten a security guard job for, while infiltrating S.T.A.R. Labs to steal David's research and locks him inside a glass cell.
- Tricks the Flash into entering the glass cell, closes it and leaves the Flash and Wright to slowly suffocate to death inside, only surviving due to the Flash opening the glass with his metallic badge.
- Mutates a test dog into a mutant with his new serum, sending it to roam the streets, nearly killing Officers Michael Murphy and Tony Bellows until the mutation kills it.
- He also likely planned to mutate all the test animals he had, including other dogs and rats.
- Threatens to blow his laboratory up to kill the Flash to make a distraction so he can inject himself his serum, mutating himself into a strong mutant and beating the Flash up.
- Tries to kill Murphy and Bellows by throwing their car around and attempting to crush them with a mailbox.
- Kidnaps Tina and tries to kill her with the serum despite that being the very same thing that killed her husband, subverting any love or care he had for her (assuming he did love her originally).
- Attempts to brutally kill any homeless vagrants he sees (including a preteen) as he goes into a homeless den, throwing people around, kicking them, beating them up, etc. before the Flash stops him with a chain-link fence.
- While he does give a homeless vagrant a dollar while walking with Tina, he only did so to make himself look good in front of her, and even then, he insulted the vagrant after he left by saying that he lacked any future.
Trivia[]
- Dr. Carl Tanner is, alongside Nicholas Pike, Beaugarde Lesko and The Trickster, one of the four villains of the 1990 The Flash television show to be Pure Evil.
- Tanner and Lesko, however, are the only Pure Evils of the show to appear in one episode.
External Links[]
- Dr. Carl Tanner on the Villains Wiki
- Dr. Carl Tanner on the Arrowverse Wiki
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 Pure Evils
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