Ventriloquist (character) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ventriloquist |
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Arnold Wesker with his dummy, Scarface
Art by Norm Breyfogle |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Wesker: Detective Comics #583 (February 1988) Riley: Detective Comics #827 (March 2007) Belzer: Batgirl #20 (July 2013) |
| Created by | Wesker: John Wagner (writer) Alan Grant (writer) Norm Breyfogle (artist) Riley: Paul Dini (writer) Don Kramer (artist) Belzer: Gail Simone (writer) Fernando Pasarin (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Arnold Wesker Peyton Riley Shauna Belzer |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | Wesker: Secret Society of Super Villains Black Lantern Corps Justice League of Arkham |
| Abilities |
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The Ventriloquist is the name of multiple supervillains appearing in American comic books and other media published by DC Comics. All of the Ventriloquist's versions are enemies of Batman, belonging to the collective of adversaries that make up Batman's rogues gallery.
The character has been featured in various media adaptations, such as feature films, television series and video games. Andrew Sellon portrays a new version of the character in the television series Gotham. In the fifth season, he finds the dummy Scarface and becomes the Ventriloquist.
Publication history
There are currently three incarnations of the Ventriloquist: the first and original incarnation, Arnold Wesker, first appeared in Detective Comics #583 (February 1988) and was created by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Norm Breyfogle; the second Ventriloquist, Peyton Riley, was introduced in Detective Comics #827 (March 2007) by Paul Dini and Don Kramer; in September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity and, in this new timeline, the third and final incarnation of the character was introduced, Shauna Belzer, first appearing in Batgirl #20 (July 2013), as created by Gail Simone and Fernando Pasarin.
In other media
Television
- The Arnold Wesker incarnation of the Ventriloquist and Scarface appear in The Batman, both voiced by Dan Castellaneta.
- An original incarnation of the Ventriloquist appears in Gotham, portrayed by real-life ventriloquist Andrew Sellon.
- The Arnold Wesker incarnation of the Ventriloquist and Scarface make cameo appearances in Titans, portrayed by an uncredited stunt double.
DC Animated Universe
The Arnold Wesker incarnation of the Ventriloquist and Scarface appear in media set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), both voiced by George Dzundza. The series' version of the former is a master ventriloquist who can pronounce every sound perfectly as Scarface, a decision series co-creator Bruce Timm fought for even though DC Comics wanted to maintain Scarface's speech impediment. Their henchmen, Rhino (voiced by Earl Boen) and Mugsy (voiced by Joe Piscopo in Batman: The Animated Series and Townsend Coleman in The New Batman Adventures) also appear throughout the franchise.
- The Ventriloquist and Scarface first appear in Batman: The Animated Series. In the DVD commentary for their introductory episode "Read My Lips", Timm stated that the Fox Kids censors allowed the recurring destruction of Scarface because he was not a "living" character, which allowed the production staff to vent their darker impulses by finding a more gruesome way of destroying him each time, culminating in grinding him to sawdust in industrial fans in a later episode.
- The Ventriloquist and Scarface appear in The New Batman Adventures episode "Double Talk".
- Alternate universe incarnations of the Ventriloquist and Scarface make a cameo appearance in the Justice League two-part episode "A Better World" as one of several supervillains that Superman of the Justice Lords lobotomized to ensure peace. Curiously, Scarface is the only one of the duo with the lobotomy scars caused by Superman's heat vision.
Film
- The Arnold Wesker incarnation of the Ventriloquist and Scarface make a cameo appearance in The Batman vs. Dracula.
- The Arnold Wesker incarnation of Ventriloquist was originally planned to appear in The Lego Batman Movie, according to concept art, but did not appear for unknown reasons.
- The Arnold Wesker incarnation of the Ventriloquist makes a cameo appearance in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
- The DCAU incarnations of Arnold Wesker / Ventriloquist and Scarface makes a cameo appearance in Space Jam: A New Legacy.
See also
In Spanish: Scarface (DC Comics) para niños
- List of Batman family enemies
