Tonight’s episode of The Flash revealed another of the metahumans created when Barry returned from the Speed Force, one many fans might not recognize.
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Spoilers for tonight’s episode of The Flash, “Girls Night Out”, below!
Tonight’s episode saw Iris’ (Candice Patton) bachelorette party get crashed by Norvak, a henchman of Amunet (Katee Sackhoff), Caitlin’s (Danielle Panabaker) former boss. It turns out that Amunet runs a criminal black market and likes to collect metahumans that she can use in her illegal enterprises. Amunet is quite happy to show Killer Frost her latest acquisition, a young man she calls the Weeper.
If the name the Weeper isn’t familiar to you, that’s OK. The character is fairly obscure, going all the way back to Fawcett Comics days, but we’re here to fill you in.
Fawcett Comics Villain
Originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics, the original character named The Weeper first appeared in 1942’s Master Comics where he was a foe of Bulletman and Bulletgirl. The Weeper, real name Mortimer Gloom, cuts a dramatic figure, wearing a blue opera cape, top hat, and carrying a walking stick. However, he’s far from the dapper gentleman he appears to be. The Weeper is a brutal villain who loathes the happiness of others, but also feels terrible after he causes people harm.
In comics, Gloom was a circus performer who was fired for dishonesty. He later takes his revenge and adopts the name of the Weeper. The name is fitting for Gloom as he cries after he hurts people. An example of this is when, in one story, Gloom and his newly recruited henchmen — The Bittermen — ride through a parade in a hearse and toss tear gas into the crowd. The act causes a stampede that kills many people. After, The Weeper drives down the corpse-littered street sobbing about the tragedy even though he was the one responsible for it.
In 1946 a second Weeper appeared in comics. This new incarnation of the character is the son of the original, taking up his father’s mantle following Mortimer Gloom’s death. Just as brutal as his father before him, this new Weeper later teams up with the Earth-Two version of the Joker in Justice League of America #136 in 1976 after DC Comics acquired Fawcett’s characters. In the issue, the Joker teaches the Weeper his particular style of committing crimes, but the Weeper doesn’t quite understand why the Joker laughs about his acts. Ultimately, they are stopped by Earth-Two’s Batman after following a trail of jewels left behind by the criminals.
The Weeper also appears in the animated Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode “Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!”
The Weeper on ‘The Flash’
While we don’t see much of this latest metahuman the team encounters, tonight’s version of The Weeper is vastly different from his comic book roots. Instead of being a brutal criminal who cries for his victims, tonight’s metahuman’s tears have a far different purpose. This Weeper cries a drug or sorts, specifically a love drug making him very valuable to a criminal businesswoman like Amunet.
Before You Go
The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW
[Embed id=52450]CW’s The Flash (TVShow: cws-the-flash)[/Embed]
