The Toyman

So I'm in a quandary. Call it the aspie in me, but I'm really interested in researching old comics canon and figuring out how I'd adapt/interpret/reboot various things. Not just as smut, but in a "DC Comics e-mails me tomorrow and I don't have to work with Eddie Berganza" way. Obviously, it's the internet, so I wanna talk about my ideas, but maybe it's not necessarily the best idea to have this stuff associated with my online presence. And even if it's a wee bit precious to worry about someone stealing your unsolicited comic book ideas, spending a few years on Tumblr has given me the impression that I am really more creative and imaginative than the average bear. 

Well, you guys are paying for premium content, and reserving this for primo payment offers a modicum of discretion. So here's how I'd write a few things.

Now, anyone who follows my Tumblr knows that I don't hold that every supervillain has to be the kind of Big Bad threat that can hold down a summer blockbuster. Attempts to do so tend to be more than a little embarrassing, such as the Riddler's appearance in the Green Arrow way back when.

By the same token, you have the Toyman. The last attempt to serious him up--the guy who uses killer toys to fight Superman--was when he was reinvented as a psychotic momma's boy child killer in, when else, the 90s. Even without that, post-Crisis he has a generic origin of being a brilliant inventor who was screwed over by a corporate type and went out for revenge. This is so common for supervillains that it's a wonder more superheroes aren't Communists. He's had a quirk of caring deeply about protecting children, but that's kinda the flipside of being a child killer--you're still reading a frickin' Superman comic about children being endangered. 

So here's how I'd reinvent him. Winslow Schott is a brilliant, slightly cracked inventor who's so successful that he's become rich beyond any need or desire. So he's bored. And also a huge Superman fan. In fact, he's even a fan of Superman's villains.

You can see where this is going.

Schott decides to become a supervillain, just for the thrill of it, playing it totally to the hilt. He dresses up in a silly costume, makes pronouncements like "YOU'LL NEVER STOP THE TOYMAN," places Superman in ridiculously slow death-traps, etc. He doesn't want to kill anyone and doesn't really care about the money robbing banks would net him--it's just crazy fun for him. He especially loves when, after he's put in prison, Superman says "We haven't heard the last of him." It makes him mark out like nothing else.

Eventually, somewhere down the line, Superman compromises with the Toyman to run his plots by the authorities so tthey're more training exercises for Superman than anything else. Toyman stays out of trouble, Superman gets practice without anyone being in danger, and we still have an excuse for a toy-centric action sequence whenever the urge hits us. Win/win.