Supervillain Origins: Toyman

for this supervillain crime is child’s
play literally welcome to watchmojo.com
and today we will explore the comic book
origins of the Toyman rain rain go away
little Johnny wants to play as with most
comic book characters they’re often
reimagining and different versions to a
character’s past we’ve chosen to
primarily follow the storyline which
unfolded in 1943’s Action Comics number
64 which was expanded upon in 1988
Superman vol 2 number 13 and 2008 Action
Comics number 865 as was common with
many of Superman’s early foes Toyman did
not receive a very detailed origin story
in his first appearance back in 1943
true of the era
Superman tales from the Golden Age were
often more about plot than backstory and
this story was no exception originally
the Toyman appeared as a kindly old man
who made remarkably realistic dolls and
toys for what appeared to be innocent
reasons however it soon became apparent
that this was a ruse while the Toyman
had built up a reputation as a harmless
eccentric he turned out to be using his
toys for diabolical crimes
these included gassing people to rob a
bank starting a fire to rob a penthouse
and destroying a bridge to rob an
armored truck
fortunately the Man of Steel was on hand
to foil his plans and save Lois from his
overly affectionate dolls whose touch
turned out to be deadly aside from a
desire for wealth and power little about
the Toyman was revealed until his past
was revived several decades later in
1988 Superman comic reboot series by
John Byrne in issue number 13 deadly toy
tanks and toy soldiers arrived in
Metropolis soon too did two british
intelligence agents though unnamed the
agents were clearly meant to be John
Steed and Emma Peel from the TV series
The Avengers it was then discovered that
the toys were made by W Percival Scott
formerly one of the most respected toy
makers in Britain he sought revenge on
the heads of his former corporation
following his dismissal and as a result
aimed to kill the owner Lex Luthor
naturally Superman intervened over the
years characters with the name Toyman
have
appeared who seemed to be unrelated to
the original Toyman these included a
masked man a young Japanese boy a living
puppet and a caped villain as was
revealed in 2008 these were all in fact
versions of the first toy man sort of in
this story Toyman escaped from Arkham
Asylum and kidnapped Jimmy Olsen so that
he might tell his true life story as he
related his tale he revealed that his
name was Winslow P Scott and that he and
his beloved wife Mary had once run a
remarkable toy store Winslow and Mary
shared a profound love of children when
a businessman named Don Hill offered to
buy his designs Mary advised him to keep
things simple and Winslow therefore
refused the offer but when his wife was
killed in a car accident Winslow
changed his mind unfortunately Don Hill
used the designs to create weapons not
toys in retaliation Scott killed Don
Hill and began his career as Toyman
along the way he also created amazingly
lifelike robots that he used in his
place and these were the alternate toy
men that had popped up over the years it
also turned out that his wife Mary had
been one of these amazingly realistic
dolls as well whatever his appearance
Toyman has been a recurring foe of
Superman he’s no Lex Luthor or Brainiac
but he can be surprisingly dangerous and
ruthless he’s also made numerous
appearances both animated and
live-action in various DC Universe TV
shows he’s definitely not a foe to be at
him toyed with read everything I’ve
written or you will die
Toyman says are you a fan of the Toyman
you so annoying for more comic book
origins be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com I don’t know who you are
but you’re interrupting my game I can’t
just go changing the rules for someone
who isn’t even playing this isn’t a game
it’s a man’s life no it is a game and
Toyman makes the rules now