Mirror Master

Mirror Master is a supervillain in the DC Universe. He is a recurring foe of the Flash with considerable technical expertise and skills involving the use of mirrors. Four individuals have donned the guise of Mirror Master (with a couple being members of the Rogues at different times). In 2009, Mirror Master was ranked as IGN's 79th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.^[1]

Publication history

The Sam Scudder version of Mirror Master first appeared in The Flash #105 and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

The Evan McCulloch version of Mirror Master first appeared in Animal Man #8 and was created by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog.

Fictional character biography

Sam Scudder

Mirror Master (Scudder) in his first appearance. Cover of The Flash vol. 1, 105 (Feb-Mar 1959 DC Comics). Art by Carmine Infantino, pencils, and Joe Giella, inks.

Sam Scudder was a simple convict, but had the goal to learn how to get inside the reflection of a mirror. Stumbling into a hall of mirrors, he experimented and discovered a way to get in his own reflection. He used this power to become the criminal Mirror Master,^[2] and was a frequent foe of The Flash. Scudder died around the same time as Barry Allen, alongside the Icicle during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Later, Captain Boomerang briefly assumed Scudder's identity, becoming the second Mirror Master. He used this as an alternate identity with which to commit crimes, thus not alerting his teammates in Suicide Squad to his extracurricular activities. Pre-Crisis, he studied mirrors after someone's reflection was held inside a mirror he was working on in the prison workshop. He then learned how to create creatures of light.

In Blackest Night crossover, Sam Scudder has reanimated as an undead Black Lantern during the Blackest Night and is preparing an attack on The Rogues with the deceased members who are also reanimated.^[3]

The Rogues visit Sam Scudder's old hideout and unveil a giant mirror with the words In Case of Flash: Break Glass. It has been shown in several past incidents that something lives in the mirror universe that is deadly.^[4] The Rogues learn that the giant mirror is actually a slow acting poison.^[5]

In The New 52, a reboot of the DC Comics universe, Sam Scudder is the current Mirror Master. It's revealed that a year prior he, Captain Cold, Heatwave, and Weather Wizard underwent a procedure at an unknown facility that would merge them with their weapons, giving them superpowers. The procedure went awry, causing an explosion at the facility. Golden Glider, who was also at the facility, was caught in the explosion. The five were given superpowers but each in a twisted manner. Heat Wave gains pyrokinesis but at the cost of his body being burned, Weather Wizard becomes emotionally tied to his weather wand causing constant depression, Sam would be forever trapped in Mirror World, and Golden Glider becomes an astral projection of herself. It is implied that Sam is in a romantic relationship with her. The Rogues blame Captain Cold for this and have turned against him because of it.^[6]

Evan McCulloch

As a baby, Scottish^[7] mercenary Evan McCulloch is left on the doorstep of an orphanage run by a Mrs. McCulloch, with nothing but his first name and a photograph of his parents. He grows up fairly normal and around age 8, Evan is sexually assaulted by an older boy. Evan, in self-defense, drowns the boy in a creek. Never caught, Evan leaves the orphanage at 16 with his parents' photograph.

He settles in Glasgow, taking up a life that leads to crime and eventually takes up employment as an assassin. He becomes one of the most renowned mercenaries in the United Kingdom.

One day, he has two hits scheduled, and due to an eye injury is barely able to make out his second target. After firing his shot, he recognizes the target as his father. At the funeral, Evan sees his mother.

Over the next few days, he tries to work up the courage to see her, but visits her too late, discovering that she has committed suicide. Stricken with grief at the loss of both parents, Evan decides to turn himself in but is instead picked up by a consortium of U.S. government and big business interests, who offer him the costume and weapons of the original Mirror Master in exchange for his services.^[8]

His first assignment is to scare Animal Man into abandoning his animal-rights stance, a mission he fails thanks to the hero's wife. After he is fired and replaced for refusing to actually kill Animal Man's wife and children, McCulloch helps Animal Man track and fight the same men who gave McCulloch his weapons, but his heroism is short lived.^[9] He continued to work as a criminal and a supervillain-for-hire. On occasion, he has also worked out of costume as a mercenary in Britain^[10]

He moves to Keystone City and comes into conflict with Wally West, now the third Flash. He discovers a "Mirror Dimension" which enables him to travel through any reflective surface.^[11] During the events of Underworld Unleashed, the Rogues accept him as Scudder's successor. After being betrayed by Neron, McCulloch and four of the other Rogues die and go to Hell, only to return after a confrontation between Neron and the Flash.^[12] For a brief time, McCulloch is a member of Lex Luthor's initial Injustice Gang and fights the Justice League, but abandons the team when Batman offers to pay him twice what Luthor was offering.

During a brief team-up with Captain Cold, Mirror Master was contacted by Brother Grimm about a plan to permanently get rid of the Flash, but when Grimm betrayed Cold and McCulloch by trapping them in a pocket mirror universe in Linda Park's diamond ring, they joined forces with Wally to escape this dimension and confront Grimm's theft of Keystone City, Wally even briefly lending speed to the two Rogues so that they could ensure that Keystone's citizens were all in the city when it returned to Earth while Wally fought Grimm.

He works with Blacksmith in her takeover of Keystone and Central City. When her plan fails, he joins Captain Cold's gang and battles a cocaine addiction. He seems to sober up since the death of Captain Boomerang.

McCulloch joins Alexander Luthor's Secret Society after the Rogue War. He, Captain Boomerang and Captain Cold battle the Outsiders before Infinite Crisis. In Infinite Crisis #7, they all participate in the Battle of Metropolis being defeated by Martian Manhunter.

One Year Later, Evan is a member of the new Suicide Squad,^[13] using cocaine. He is seen taking incriminating photos of Sasha Bordeaux and Michael Holt together. The Rogues are then persuaded by Inertia, an enemy of Bart Allen, Flash IV, to kill the Flash. This makes all the Rogues angry for being tricked when they find out they murdered a kid.^[14]

Mirror Master is one of the exiled villains in the Salvation Run along with fellow Rogues: Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Weather Wizard, and Abra Kadabra.

After the villains escape, he joins Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains.

Evan teams with Doctor Light to recover Metron's chair, and are challenged but defeat the League of Titans, a Teen Titans spin-off team. Evan persuades the rapist Dr. Light not to sexually assault the unconscious heroines.^[15] Evan and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game, and take their revenge on Inertia.^[16]

Mirror Master and The Rogues visit his predecessor, Sam Scudder's old hideout and unveil a giant mirror with the words In Case of Flash: Break Glass written on it.^[17] Afterward, McCulloch is still on the run with The Rogues.^[18]

Powers and abilities

Mirror Master uses mirrors that produce fantastic effects such as hypnotism, invisibility, holograms, physical transformations, communications and travel into other dimensions (other parallel universes or planes of existence).

Evan McCulloch uses a laser pistol.

Other versions

Tangent Mirror Master

A Mirror Master featured in Tangent: Superman's Reign #1, had a body made of a glass-like substance, and was able to create portals to other worlds in the Multiverse.

League Busters Mirror Master

A fourth Mirror Master who wore a purple outfit briefly appeared as a member of the "League-Busters" in Justice League International v2, #65 (Jun 1994).

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Evan McCulloch is imprisoned in the mirrors called the mirrorverse. It is mostly assumed Citizen Cold killed him, and he cannot leave the mirrors or he will die. Anyone else entering the mirrors will die also. Mirror Master assembles the Rogues members: Weather Wizard, Tar Pit, and Fallout.^[19] Mirror Master then escapes from Iron Heights and pursues revenge against Citizen Cold for imprisoning him.^[20] Citizen Cold kills the Rogues members and then enters Mirror Master's mirrorverse without warning. Mirror Master attempts to kill him, but Citizen Cold pushs him out of the mirrorverse and he dies.^[21]

25th Century Mirror Master

A futuristic version Mirror Monarch is a heroic Mirror Master as part of the 25th Century cops known as The Renegades from Professor Zoom's future, but was found dead by Barry Allen in public by a shadowy figure in a Flash suit. The Monarch's allies, from a futuristic, heroic incarnation of the Rogues, arrest Barry.^[18] However, after witnessing Barry's selfless heroism when their attempt to arrest him is interrupted by Captain Boomerang, the future version of the Top explains that Barry will kill Mirror Monarch because he mistook him for Mirror Master; the 'In Case of Flash' mirror will release the powerful demons known as the Mirror Lords, one of which will possess Iris, with Barry being forced to kill Mirror Master in order to send the demons back into the mirror or face Iris being permanently possessed by the Mirror Lord, only to kill Mirror Monarch by accident.^[22] When the Flash enters the gateway of unveil a giant mirror, but there are no demons or Mirror Lords only for it to show him a vision of his mother and he is caught by the Renegades. The Flash learns that Top is actually framing him for a crime he committed.^[5] The Flash is taken to a 25th-century courtroom and tells them, despite the historical evidence that the Mirror Lords did not escape and travels back to the 21st century to fight the Top. The Top reveals that he killed Mirror Monarch prevent the Flash from finding out that the Top's ancestor was the real murderer case which would cost him his job. The Renegades then take the Top back to the 25th century to be tried and the Flash finds the real murderer.^[23]

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Mirror Master appears in Injustice: Gods Among Us comic, leading a team hired by the US government through several shell companies to kidnap Superman's parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent from their home in Smallville. Mirror Master kicks down the door to their bedroom, ordering them down on the floor. When they don't act fast enough, he shoves Martha down, prompting Jonathan to punch him despite McCulloch's warning. Jonathan is restrained on Mirror Master's orders and then smacked upside the head by Master's rifle, knocking him out. McCulloch orders his men to torch the house before he and his men retreat into his mirror dimension with the Kents in tow. When Superman arrives at his parents burning house Mirror Master greets him through a mirror, mocking Superman, unfazed by his threats. He tells Superman that he will never see his parents again but that they are safe, despite the fact Scudder had to rough up Superman's father. In a rage, Superman smashes the mirror, but Mirror Master is unaffected. He goes on, telling Superman a "Simple message: Stop what you're doing." He advises Superman to stay out of government business and that if he persists, they will start "Sending little pieces of one of them. Maybe we'll even let you choose which one." Mirror Master is the subject of a Justice League manhunt in Central City, with several of the Flash's Rogue gallery being interrogated by the League for McCulloch's location. It is ultimately Captain Cold who reveals where Mirror Master is: A bar in Keystone City. The Flash and Wonder Woman crash the bar and make for McCulloch sitting at the bar, but it is revealed that it's not Mirror Master but a projection from the nearby wall mirror. Mirror Master mocks Flash but the Speedster has the last laugh when Raven appears behind McCulloch and forces him out halfway from the mirror. Wonder Woman forces the location of Superman's parents out of Mirror Master with her Lasso of Truth and the threat of smashing the mirror he is only halfway out of. Mirror Master quickly reveals that the Kents are in Bolivia. Wonder Woman then orders Mirror Master to strip himself of his weapons so they can use his tech to free the Kents. Though he is not seen after this, he is most likely incarcerated. He then reappears in Year Five, where he is one of the thousands of villains released from Superman's prison by Plastic Man. He is next seen along his fellow Rogues as their new leader, due to Captain Cold going into hiding, as they meet with Batman, who offers them to help him take down Superman's Regime, due to the Rogues' code against killing, which Batman respects. Mirror Master, along with Weather Wizard, Heat Wave, and Golden Glider, attack several Regime buildings in a coordinated attack around the world. They then attack a Regime base in Central City, evacuating the soldiers first before they set to blow it up. Bizarro though shows up and attacks them. During the fight, McCulloch gets knocked unconscious, leaving Golden Glider to try to figure out how to use his belt to escape while Heat Wave and Weather Wizard distract Bizarro. But, when Weather Wizard calls Bizarro fake, an angry Bizarro lashes out and incinerates him and Heat Wave with his heat vision. Golden Glider though manages to escape through a mirror portal with McCulloch and they report about what happened to Batman as they mourn Rory and Mardon. They are then seen holding a memorial for Rory and Mardon at a bar, where it's revealed that McCulloch and Glider are in a relationship as they share a kiss. The Flash then visits the bar to pay his respects, but McCulloch and Glider angrily berate him, thinking he's come to brag and turn them in, but Flash reveals that he's always respected the Rogues and came by to pay his respects. He also agrees to not turn them in as he, McCulloch, and Glider share a beer together.

In other media

Television

• Mirror Master appeared in an episode of Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show entitled "Reflections in Crime," voiced by James Avery. Interestingly enough the Flash doesn't appear in this episode. In the episode, Mirror Master sets about trapping the Super Friends inside mirrors called the sixth dimension. The Super Friends managed to escape and trap Mirror Master in a House of Mirrors where he was apprehended upon being unable to find his way out.

Mirror Master as seen in The Flash (1990 TV series).

• An episode of the live action The Flash (1990) TV series, "Done with Mirrors", featured Samuel "Sam" Scudder (played by David Cassidy), a criminal nicknamed the Mirror Master, who used holograms projected by small mirrored disks to commit his heists.
• Mirror Master cameos in the Justice League episode, "Eclipsed". An actor is hired to play Mirror Master as a part of Flash's Lightspeed energy bar commercial, but he has no dialogue.

Mirror Master in Justice League Unlimited.

• Mirror Master next appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance" voiced by Alexis Denisof. The character seems to be a mix of Scudder and McColloch. He is clearly American and thus not the Scottish follow-up Mirror Master, as well as being a simple criminal and not a hitman; however, his mirror powers are tilted more towards the enhanced, almost supernatural McCulloch skills, including a Mirror Dimension. It was mentioned by Captain Boomerang that the Flash made Mirror Master eat his own "Laser-Kaleidoscope", though Mirror Master dismissed this as being false saying "That's a rumor! A complete exaggeration. Besides, it was a laser pistol". This incarnation seemed to act as the de facto leader of the Rogues, convincing the others to exact revenge upon the Flash for repeatedly thwarting their plots, joining forces with Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, and Trickster to attack Flash and later demolish the newly opened Flash Museum upon entering through Linda Park's compact mirror. In his battle with Flash, Batman, and Orion, Mirror Master ended up trapped in the broken shards of the mirror after Batman threw his Batarang at one of the mirrors that Mirror Master used. Forensics were shown collecting the pieces of the mirror. Mirror Master had a cameo as a member of the Secret Society in "The Great Brain Robbery."

Mirror Master with his assistant Smoke on The Batman.

• Mirror Master appeared in the fifth season of The Batman voiced by and modeled after John Larroquette. This Mirror Master is referred to as Dr. Sam Scudder, a brilliant but mad optical physicist. In "A Mirror Darkly," he employed mirror versions of Batman, Flash, and Robin to steal components for his Mirror Portal Ray. He used it to trap Gotham's citizens in any reflective surface--mirrors, windows, even a silver serving tray. On a side note, he has a female assistant named Smoke (voiced by Amanda Anka). In "Lost Heroes," he fights Flash and Green Arrow in a circus fun house only for Green Arrow to cut off his reflection by a slime-emitting arrow.
• Mirror Master appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by Tom Kenny. Judging by his accent, this Mirror Master is the Evan McCulloch version. He and Captain Cold are mentioned as having been recently defeated by Batman. He makes a non-speaking cameo in "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster" where he traps Batman and Barry Allen in a trap only for Batman to cut him and Allen out of the trap and then for Flash to redirect a beam back to Mirror Master, supposedly knocking him out. In the anthology only episode "Four Star Spectacular!" in the vignette "Double Trouble." He traps the Flash using a mirror maze and attacks him with a horde of mirror duplicates. Flash eventually realizes which of the images is the one real Mirror Master and knocks him out.
• Mirror Master appears in the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special, voiced by Breckin Meyer. He appears as a member of the Legion of Doom. In one segment, he and the Riddler pressure Sinestro to shave off his mustache in the bathroom, which leads to Sinestro gushing blood from his upper lip. Mirror Master escapes in a mirror in horror. He next appears in the final segment where he participates in the battle between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom.
• The Sam Scudder version of Mirror Master appears in the third season of The Flash (2014) portrayed by Grey Damon.^[24][25] This version is a metahuman with the ability to travel through mirrors and anything with reflective surfaces (similar to the New 52 version). He can also trap people inside such things. It was also mentioned in the same episode that the Evan McCulloch version of the character is the Mirror Master of Earth-2, and is said that he uses a mirror gun that warps dimensions. He briefly traps Barry in a window during a chase, but the team are able to free Barry by slowing down the molecules of the 'wormhole' Scudder creates in the mirrors so that Barry can vibrate through it. Barry subsequently isolates Scudder by trapping him in a circle of mirrors so that the only reflections he can escape to are those surrounding him, allowing Barry to knock him out until he can be moved to a cell with no reflective surfaces.

Film

• The Sam Scudder version of Mirror Master appears as the secondary antagonist in Justice League: Doom with Alexis Denisof reprising his role from the Justice League animated series. He is recruited into Vandal Savage's Legion of Doom before the events of the film begin. He sneaks into the Batcave using the rear view mirror of the Batmobile and steals Batman's contingency plans from the Batcomputer. He is chosen by Savage to kill The Flash. Mirror Master gets Flash's attention by robbing a moving train and taking everyone aboard hostage. Flash manages to destroy all of his holograms, but Mirror Master manages to plant a bomb through Flash's wrist as he is disabling a bomb inside a glass box containing an old woman (actually another hologram). The bomb would go off in 60 seconds should Flash do nothing, try to take it off, and, should he run, if he decelerates. Flash eventually escapes by vibrating molecules though an iceberg, leaving the bomb trapped in the iceberg before it explodes. He toasts Savage at their victory celebration and signs on for his true, genocidal plan. When the League storms the Hall of Doom he fight The Flash, taking the battle outside and forcing Flash to fight a multitude of solid holograms and new holograms that seem to be made of glass. Eventually Flash takes out all of his holograms and knocks out Mirror Master in one punch.
• Mirror Master appears in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox in a non-speaking role. In the beginning of the film he and the Rogues are attacking the Flash, but Professor Zoom betrays the Rogues and attaches bombs to them, which cannot be removed. The Justice League arrive and manage to dispose the bombs, Green Lantern takes Mirror Master to the upper limits of space where Green Lantern's ring is shielding while Batman uses his laser cutter to remove the bomb, which later drops in space from the bomb radius, and save Mirror Master's life. His appearance is notable because his physical body is noticeably bulkier than previous animated incarnations of Mirror Master; it is unknown whether this is due to muscle, bone structure, or body fat.
• In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, an alternate version of Lex Luthor mentions Mirror Master being head of the police.

Video games

• Mirror Master appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Brandon Young. Judging by the accent, it's the Evan McCulloch incarnation.
• Mirror Master makes a cameo appearance in Injustice: Gods Among Us. In Raven's ending, Mirror Master was seen holding Superman's parents hostage.

Music

• There is a reference to Mirror Master in the Ookla the Mok song "Stranger In The Mirror". He is referred to in the song lyrics as "the villain in issue 104 of The Flash," though Mirror Master actually debuted in issue 105.

Miscellaneous

• Mirror Master appeared in issue #23 of the Super Friends spin-off comic book.
• Mirror Master appeared in issue #12 of the Justice League Unlimited spin-off comic book.
• Mirror Master appeared in issue #16 of the Batman: The Brave and The Bold comic book.

References

External links

• Arrowverse entry for Mirror Master I
• Arrowverse entry for Mirror Master II
• Alan Kistler's Profile On: THE FLASH - A detailed analysis of the history of the Flash by comic book historian Alan Kistler. Covers information all the way from Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to today, as well as discussions on the various villains and Rogues who fought the Flash. Various art scans.