Electrocutioner

Electrocutioner
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Buchinsky) Batman #331 (January 1981) (Electrocutioner II) Detective Comics #626 (February 1991) (Lester Buchinsky) Detective Comics #644 (May 1992)
Created by	(Buchinsky) Marv Wolfman Michael Fleisher Irv Novick (Electrocutioner II) Marv Wolfman Jim Aparo (Lester Buchinsky) Chuck Dixon Tom Lyle Scott Hanna
In-story information
Alter ego	Buchinsky (Electrocutioner I) Unknown (Electrocutioner II) Lester Buchinsky (Electrocutioner III)
Team affiliations	(Lester Buchinsky) Suicide Squad Secret Society of Super Villains
Abilities	Using a special costume that generates electric shocks

The Electrocutioner is an alias used by three fictional characters in the DC Universe, all minor enemies of the superhero Batman.

Publication history[]

The first Electrocutioner (known only as Buchinsky) appeared in Batman #331 (January 1981) and was created by writers Marv Wolfman and Michael Fleisher and artist Irv Novick.^[1]

The Electrocutioner II first appeared in Detective Comics #626 (February 1991) and was created by Wolfman and artist Jim Aparo.

Lester Buchinsky, the Electrocutioner III, first appeared in Detective Comics #644 (May 1992) and was created by writer Chuck Dixon and artists Tom Lyle and Scott Hanna.

Fictional character biography[]

Buchinsky[]

Buchinsky (first name unknown) is a self-appointed executioner of criminals in Gotham City who uses an electrically charged suit and goes by the name "Electrocutioner".^[2] Batman has three encounters with the him. In the first, the Electrocutioner murders killer Mike Caine;^[3] in the second, Batman rescues Dane Whitney;^{[volume & issue needed]} in the third, the Electrocutioner falls through a window, grips a metal railing, and shocks himself so that he lets go and plunges off a cliff into the river below.^{[volume & issue needed]}

The Electrocutioner later goes to Manhattan. He encounters two muggers in Central Park and attacks them with lethal doses of electricity from his gauntlets. The Vigilante, meanwhile, continues to cut a bloody swathe of bodies in the name of justice. He breaks into Charles McDade's limousine and shoots McDade and his lady friend Mona Simpson to death. That evening, the Vigilante learns that the Electrocutioner is back in town and is, in fact, targeting the same criminal element that the Vigilante himself is.^[4][5] The Electrocutioner is eventually killed by the Vigilante.^[6]

When S.T.A.R. Labs opened a portal to Limbo in Operation Zeppelin, they did this as various deceased criminals wished to return to the earthly realm through the portal. These criminals included the Electrocutioner, the Icicle I, Clayface II, El Papagayo, the Iron Major, and the Top. When Operation Zeppelin's creator Director Jeffrey Simon disappeared, a rescue party went through the portal and the villains captured them. They bargained with their demonic jailer, a demon impersonating Etrigan the Demon, exchanging their prisoners to gain temporary mortal forms and preparing to return to Earth. They were opposed by the Hawk, the Dove, and the Titans West. The battle was fierce, but the tide turned when J.E.B. Stuart came down from Heaven and gave the Hawk his Haunted Tank. The false Etrigan offered them a way out through another portal, but he was merely toying with the dead villains: when he sent them through the portal, it turned out to be an entrance to Hell.^[7]

Electrocutioner II[]

The second Electrocutioner used a red costume rigged to generate a lethal electrical shock against criminals (including Cannon and Saber), and ran afoul of Batman, who disapproved of his extreme justice.^[8] His real name was never revealed.

Lester Buchinsky[]

Lester Buchinsky is the brother of the original Electrocutioner. Originally fighting for justice just like his brother, he later became a criminal and a mercenary. Overly reliant on his ability to generate electricity, the Electrocutioner III has faced (and been defeated by) Batman, Robin, and Nightwing. In at least one scheme, working with the Cluemaster to steal an armored car full of money, the Spoiler works to oppose him. The Spoiler turned out to be the Cluemaster's daughter. The stupidity of Lester's second partner, a hulking brute with delusions of intelligence calling himself Czonk the Baffler, would also hamper their plans.^[9] For a time, Lester was frequently seen in the employ of Blüdhaven crime boss the Blockbuster II.^[10] In Infinite Crisis, Lester became a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains.^[11] During the 34th week of the series 52, the Electrocutioner III appeared as part of a Suicide Squad operation against Black Adam.^[12]

In the Rise and Fall storyline, the Green Arrow is still hunting the Electrocutioner III and those who worked with Prometheus; keeping secret his murder of the man as the rest of the Justice League tries to track him down. The Green Arrow confronts the Electrocutioner III, who set off the device that devastated Star City in Justice League: Cry for Justice. He was close to killing the man when the Black Canary stops him during their argument. The Black Canary then realizes what the Green Arrow did; thus, the Electrocutioner III escapes from the Green Arrow's attempt to bring him down.^[13] Although the Electrocutioner III was defeated and horrifically injured by Speedy,^[14]the Green Arrow's arrival convinces Speedy that killing is not the answer and the two archers take him into custody.^[15] Once the Electrocutioner III awoke from his coma, Roy Harper vowed revenge. He broke into the jail and killed the Electrocutioner III, despite the Green Arrow's protests.^[16]

Other versions[]

A fourth Electrocutioner appeared briefly in the Batman: Arkham Knight prequel comic. This unnamed Electrocutioner claims to be an underling of Lester Buchinsky and had acquired several of Buchinsky's prototypes and modified them using Wayne Industries technology. The Electrocutioner attacks Batman shortly after the ending of Arkham City, but is quickly defeated due to his arrogance, which Batman notes as the "exact problem with [his] old boss". He is then left there for the GCPD to find, but the Arkham Knight appears and kills him with a shotgun blast to the head.

In other media[]

Television[]

• The Electrocutioner appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Cat and the Canary". Electrocutioner was seen at Roulette's Meta-Brawl fighting Bloodsport in a match. He later appears as a member of the Secret Society.
• The Electrocutioner makes his first live action appearance in Gotham, portrayed by Christopher Heyerdahl.^[17] The episode "Rogues' Gallery" features Jack Gruber, an inmate in Arkham Asylum charged with murder and declared as a "grade-A sociopath", experimenting on other inmates with electroconvulsive therapy. After his accomplice, Aaron Danzig (whom he experimented on and now controls as a result), kills a guard and the Asylum Director Gerry Lang, Gruber escapes from Arkham. In "What the Little Bird Told Him", Edward Nygma discovers that Jack Gruber is an alias of Jack Buchinsky and gives this info to James Gordon and Harvey Bullock where he allowed himself to get sent to Arkham Asylum. Buchinsky later does an unexpected attack on Sal Maroni's restaurant and zaps Oswald Cobblepot unconscious. After Maroni and his men are placed in protective custody Buchinsky begins his attack on the Gotham City Police Department headquarters, knocking everyone unconscious. As Danzig starts to grab Maroni, James Gordon arrives (having been protected by wearing rubber shoes) to fight them. Buchinsky claims Maroni is a false friend and that Gordon is simply satisfying his ego. Gordon uses a nearby beverage to shorten out Electrocutioner's gear. Electrocutioner and Danzig are then arrested.

Film[]

The Electrocutioner appears in the animated film Batman: Bad Blood, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.^{[18][failed verification]} He is among the villains who work for Talia al Ghul. When Electrocutioner was about to kill Robin, he was killed by Damian Wayne's clone Heretic.

Video games[]

• In Batman for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Electrocutioner was the boss of stage 3. He had an electric sword-arm that was used to fling arcing high-voltage projectiles. Along with Killer Moth and Firebug, he was a supervillain working for the Joker.
• The Electrocutioner is among many other DC characters included in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.^[19]
• The Lester Buchinsky version of Electrocutioner appears in Batman: Arkham Origins, voiced by Steven Blum. He is as one of the assassins hired by the Joker (disguised as Black Mask) to kill Batman.^[20] He is the second assassin to face Batman, first appearing as a pit fighter on Penguin's ship, where he is easily defeated with a single kick to the face. Batman later tracks the electromagnetic pulse given off by his gloves to the meeting at the Royal Hotel with the Joker and the remaining assassins. The Joker becomes annoyed at the Electrocutioner's failed attempt to defeat Batman and at the fact that he is playing on his phone during the meeting, and promptly pushes him out of a window to serve as an warning to the other assassins. Batman later finds the Electrocutioner's body in the lobby of the hotel and takes his gloves to use as a gadget.
• The Electrocutioner's shock gloves appear in Batman: Arkham Knight, in the evidence room at the Gotham City Police Department. Aaron Cash's recording about them reveals that Batman donated the gloves to the police shortly after Arkham Origins; Cash guesses it was because Batman preferred beating up thugs in the old-fashioned way.

See also[]

• List of Batman family enemies

References[]

External links[]

• DCU Gude: Electrocutioner I Archived 2007-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
• DCU Gude: Electrocutioner III Archived 2007-02-06 at the Wayback Machine