Toyman

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Toyman

The Toyman versus Superman, from the cover of Action Comics #64. Art by Joe Shuster.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Action Comics #64, September 1943
Created by Jerry Siegel
Joe Shuster
In story information
Alter ego Winslow Schott
Team affiliations Superman Revenge Squad
The Society
Injustice League
Abilities Mechanical genius manifests in the form of many violent, destructive, and dangerous toys.

The Toyman the name of three comic book supervillains and one adolescent superhero in the DC Comics universe. They mostly appear in Superman stories. The first Toyman appeared in Action Comics #64 (September 1943). His traditional identity is Winslow Schott.

The Toyman uses toy-based or toy-themed devices and gimmicks in his various crimes. The Toyman's weapons, while sometimes comical, are also very dangerous. The Toyman's creations include devices such as life-sized wind-up tanks, acid-spraying water pistols, and toy soldiers that carry real guns. The Toyman usually dresses in a flamboyant costume. The Toyman made frequent appearances in the Golden Age comics, but has appeared infrequently in Superman stories since then.

Contents

[edit] Winslow Schott

As noted above, the Toyman first appeared in 1943 and appears in many Golden Age Superman comics. He appears less frequently in comics published after the early 1950s, but still remains a semi-regular foe during the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

After 1985's miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths and John Byrne's Man of Steel miniseries, the Toyman makes his revised, post-Crisis debut in Superman vol. 2 #13 (January 1988). In this version, Winslow Schott is an unemployed British toymaker who blames Lex Luthor and his company, LexCorp, for being fired from the toy company he is working for. He uses his toymaking talents to seek revenge, which eventually causes him to cross paths with the British hero Godiva, and subsequently, Superman himself. The Toyman continues to commit various crimes in Metropolis, including engaging in child abduction.

The Toyman later became a much more sinister figure, shaving his head and getting advice from "Mother" (probably just a voice in his head, but possibly something more). Apparently this is prompted by being told that a range of Superman action figures would not include him as he is not "edgy" enough. While this seems to begin as a pose of what he thought people expect of a villain, it rapidly became a genuine psychotic break. While in this state he murders the son of Daily Planet reporter Cat Grant ("You were a bad mommy. I'm glad I killed your son."); Adam and other children captured by the Toyman had tried to escape from him, but then he found out and stabbed Adam to death for being the leader of the group. He also develops a hatred of children, blaming them for not appreciating his toys.

The Toyman later seemingly recovers, and Superman shows him that children did appreciate old-fashioned toys, arranging parole in an orphanage; it is later revealed, however, that this is all a hallucination, caused when Zatanna attempts to cure him, and he has, in fact, returned to child abduction.

In the 1997 Speed Force Special, the Max Mercury story "Child's Play", set in 19th century New York, features the Schott Toy Company run by Archimedes Schott, a crooked businessman who resembles Winslow. Any relationship between them is unknown.

Winslow was seen in the Infinite Crisis: Villains United special, preparing for the Blackgate Prison break by lacing the dinner stew with Venom and Velocity 9 to increase the prisoners' strength, speed and aggression. Unfortunately, some guards also ate the drugged stew and fought the super-heroes who showed up to stop the criminals.

He is later seen as a member of the Injustice League in the Justice League of America Wedding Special.

Action Comics #865, by Geoff Johns and Jesus Marino, provides a new history of the Toyman. Winslow Schott tells Jimmy Olsen that he was a toymaker who lived with his wife Mary (it is mentioned that his grandfather was also a toymaker, perhaps a reference to Archimedes Schott). When a businessman offers to buy his shop to expand the number of children his toys can reach, he refuses. When Mary is killed in a car accident a few weeks later, Schott agrees to the purchase. However, the businessman lied and gave his technologically advanced toy plans to arms manufacturers. Schott proceeds to bomb the business with an explosive teddy bear.

Following his first confrontation with Superman, Schott meets the Prankster for the first time. The Prankster is shown to be a cruel, callous man who commits crimes "because it's fun". He repeatedly asks Schott to team-up since they are the only non-powered foes of Superman (apparently not counting Luthor). Schott refuses.

Towards the end of the issue, it's revealed that the Toyman who killed Adam Grant was a robot created by Schott to replace him in the event that he was ever incarcerated. A glitch in the robot's programing gave it a personality. Schott's repeated attempts to contact it were the source of the "Mother" delusion. Jack Nimball, Hiro Okamura, the Toyman from "Up, Up and Away" (called Toyboy), a robot resembling the Toyman from his first appearance are also shown as robots. Afterwards, Jimmy Olsen revels that the Toyman never had a wife, and a final flashback panel reveals that Mary was another robot.

The implication that Hiro Okamura was always a robot is cast into doubt by the events of Teen Titans #52 wherein an adult version of Hiro Okamura travels back in time to the present.

[edit] Jack Nimball

In the 1970s, a man named Jack Nimball assumes the identity of the second Toyman during a period in which Schott retires from his criminal career. Nimball, who first appears in Action Comics #432 (February 1974), wore a jester costume and uses a similar modus operandi to the original Toyman. However, this version of the Toyman proves short-lived, with Schott killing Nimball and resuming his crime career in Superman vol. 1 #305. He is the basis for the Toyman who appears in Challenge of the Superfriends.

A robot version of Nimball is shown in Action Comics #865.

[edit] Hiro Okamura

Hiro Okamura, is a teenage mechanical genius from Japan first appearing as Toyman in Superman #177 (February 2002). He targets Metallo, claiming the cyborg's body was based on a material stolen from his grandfather.

He later becomes an ally to Superman and Batman. In the Superman/Batman series, he aids the two in destroying a kryptonite meteor that threatens the Earth (Superman/Batman #1-6). He strikes a deal with Batman to provide him with various technological implements (Superman/Batman #7). Okamura uses more technologically advanced devices than the traditionally-constructed contrivances Schott uses and his work is largely whimsical in nature. Many of his inventions are inspired by anime and manga, including giant mecha (notably his giant Composite Batman-Superman robot).

Okamura appears only a few times in the Superman/Batman comic book, and his activities are limited to Japan. Winslow Schott remains active as the Toyman in the United States. In the Sam Loeb-penned memorial issue Superman/Batman #26, Okamura fakes his own kidnapping at the hands of Schott, forcing Superboy and Robin to search through his complex to save his life. Realizing his loneliness, Superboy and Robin extend their friendship to the boy. Okamura joins Robin and the other Teen Titans at the Titans Tower for Superboy's funeral, clutching a Superboy Action Figure.

In Superman/Batman #45, he offers to assists the duo in their quest to rid the world of Kryptonite, using spider-like nanobots to collect Kryptonite molecules in the air.

A future version of Hiro, allied with a power-hungry group of Titans, travels back in time to modern day to cement their power-base in Teen Titans #52 (Jan. 2008).

[edit] Toyboy

A robot Toyman surfaces in Metropolis and allies with Lex Luthor in Action Comics #837 (May 2006). His appearance, inspired by the character's Superman: The Animated Series incarnation, is that of a child-sized doll. As part of his bargain with Luthor, he is given the information needed to find his creator Winslow Schott in exchange for assistance in a plot against Superman.

The cover of Justice League of America #13 (Vol. 2) shows Android Toyman as a member of the new Injustice League, though this was not corroborated by the story.

This Toyman, renamed Toyboy, is shown amongst Schott's other robots in Action Comics #865.

[edit] In other media

[edit] Classic Animation

  • The Toyman first appears in animated form in The New Adventures of Superman animated series from 1966. This particular Toyman is the original Winslow Schott version.


[edit] Live action

[edit] Superboy

The Superboy live-action television series features a villain named Nick Knack, a reference to the Toyman. The character, played by Gilbert Gottfried, wears childlike clothing. Gottfried appeared in two episodes and wrote a story featuring the character for the Superboy tie-in comics series.

[edit] Lois and Clark: The New adventures of Superman

A character named Winslow P. Schott appears in the Lois and Clark Christmas episode "Seasons Greedings". With a similar background to the post-Crisis Schott in the comics, he creates a toy that causes children to become selfish and adults to act like children. He is referred to only once as being "a toyman" in passing onscreen, and is played by Sherman Hemsley. A later episode features a childlike Toyman played by Grant Shaud, who abducts children.


[edit] DC animated universe

[edit] Batman: The Animated Series

The episode "Beware the Gray Ghost" of Batman: The Animated Series features a villain called 'The Mad Bomber', who was possibly influenced by Toyman (although he might also have been influenced by the Puppet Master, a villain fought by the Golden Age Batman and Robin in Detective Comics vol. 1, #212), who uses customized toys based on a line of Gray Ghost (voiced by Adam West, who portrayed Batman in the 1960s television show) merchandise to carry bombs and hold Gotham City's economic centers ransom. He becomes more Toyman-like as the episode progresses, stating his delusional belief that toys are a powerful all-purpose tool. The Bomber is voiced by (and also resembles) the series' designer/producer Bruce Timm.

[edit] Superman: The Animated Series

A much more disturbing and creepy Toyman appears in the 1990s series Superman: The Animated Series, voiced by Bud Cort. He is an insane man who wears an eversmiling mask similar to a doll's head, which he is never seen without. His arsenal of weapons includes a giant superball that can smash concrete and an "inescapable" bubble-blower. In this version, Winslow Schott, Jr. is the son of a kindly toymaker, who spends all day in his father's shop watching him make toys. Gangsters take over the shop and use it as a front for a numbers racket. When the police uncover the scheme, the gangsters flee, leaving the elder Schott to be framed for running the operation and falsely imprisoned for embezzlement. Winslow is left on his own, and he spends several years in abusive and neglectful foster homes. By the time he reaches adulthood, Winslow is mentally ill. Making use of his natural aptitude for mechanics, he decides to make up for his ruined childhood by terrorizing the world and stealing money to amass his own personal fortunes. He appears in two episodes: "Fun and Games" and "Obsession." His plans revolve around Darcy, a lifelike android created to be his companion, but he also seeks revenge against Bruno Mannheim, the criminal who wronged his father, and against Superman.

[edit] Static Shock

  • This Toyman also appears in Static Shock, again voiced by Bud Cort. In the episode "Toys in the Hood," Toyman (who is revealed to have survived the events of "Obsession" after his helicopter is destroyed) orders Darcy to capture Static's friend Daisy so she can be Darcy's new body. After Superman and Static confront Toyman, Darcy betrays Toyman and tries to escape, only to discover that Toyman had implanted a fail-safe device programmed to destroy her if she turns on him. Darcy's body melts, and Toyman is taken to jail.

[edit] Justice League

  • In "Hereafter", an episode of Justice League, Toyman is a member of the Superman Revenge Squad, and during their attack on the city of Metropolis, he uses an experimental machine (which resembles a giant toy robot) that can fire blasts of energy from its "chest". Toyman first targets innocent bystanders before trying to blast Superman. Toyman then fires a blast at Batman and the injured Wonder Woman. To save them, Superman flies straight into the blast and is sent 30,000 years into the future. Everyone, including Toyman himself, believes that Superman had been vaporized. Corey Burton played Toyman here.

[edit] Justice League Unlimited

  • In Justice League Unlimited, Toyman is a member of Grodd's new Secret Society. Although still wearing the doll's head helmet, it now has a crack along the side of the face; giving the Toyman an unsettling appearance. He is prominently featured in the episode "Alive!", in which he becomes the pilot of the Legion of Doom's spaceship. When a riot erupts and divides the villains into two factions, he holds his own and defeats Killer Frost with a decent headbutt and a few tricks with a heavily rigged yo-yo. In the following Justice League Unlimited episode "Destroyer", the series finale, Toyman is briefly shown firing what appear to resemble Nerf darts at Darkseid's henchmen. What makes these darts deadly is that they explode shortly after being fired. Bud Cort reprises him here.
  • The Toyman appears as part of the new Legion of Doom in Alex Ross' mini-series Justice. He is one of several super-villains who've been secretly infected with microscopic robots by the alien Brainiac, causing him to have supposedly prescient dreams in which the Earth is destroyed, and the super-heroes are unable to save the world's populace. Thus, the Toyman is driven to aid in a scheme to sidetrack the Justice League while also helping to build mobile cities which supposedly will serve as interstellar arks, one such ark being a massive amusement park for the children being "rescued". The Toyman operates mostly through a remote-controlled arsenal and robots which resemble the Jack Nimball Toyman as a life-sized (or gigantic) puppet. The Toyman is only fully seen in the last issue -- he is the Winslow Schott version, but now morbidly obese, having been kept immobile by cybernetic connections which give him control over his toys.

[edit] In other animation

[edit] Superman: Doomsday

  • Toyman appears as a minor villain in the DTV movie, Superman: Doomsday, voiced by John DiMaggio. Like most of the characters in this film, his appearance differs from that of the DCAU Toyman, and he is portrayed in a more gothic form. In the movie, Toyman appears after Superman dies during a fight with Doomsday. Toyman (referred to in this movie as Winslow Schott) uses a giant insect-like robot and takes a school bus full of children hostage. He is routed by the efforts of Lois Lane and a newly-cloned Superman. Later on in the film, Superman's clone discovers that Toyman killed a four-year-old girl while trying to escape. The clone, upon hearing the news, angrily tracks down and brutally executes Toyman by dropping him to his death from high above the city.

[edit] The Batman

Toyman appears briefly in the season five episode of The Batman entitled "Lost Heroes" (Part One), and is voiced by Richard Green. This incarnation wears a jester's costume, likely a nod to the early and brief Nimball version. His costume is red, yellow and green, much like the costume he is wearing in Plastic Man, but a little different in design. Batman muses that Freud would have a field day with Toyman, though Superman warns not to underestimate him. He faces off against Batman and Superman with his toys and high-tech punching gloves. He ends up knocked out by some bombs. He should not be confused with Toymaker, another character created specifically for the show and who shares his toy-based M.O.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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