Tobias Whale

Tobias Whale
Art by Trevor Von Eeden.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Black Lightning #1 (April 1977)
Created by	Tony Isabella (writer) Trevor Von Eeden (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Tobias Whale
Species	Human
Place of origin	New Earth
Team affiliations	The 100 Intergang Kord Enterprises
Notable aliases	The Great White Whale
Abilities	Criminal mastermind Advanced hand-to-hand combatant Skilled harpooner

Tobias Whale is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Black Lightning.^[1]

Tobias has been portrayed in a few shows and films. The character was portrayed by Marvin "Krondon" Jones III in the live action Arrowverse series Black Lightning.

Publication history[]

Created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, the character made his first appearance in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977).^[2]

Fictional character biography[]

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Tobias Whale is an African American albino kingpin, who worked his way up from the rackets to head the Metropolis branch of the 100. A school teacher named Jefferson Pierce spoke out against the 100's drug trafficking, and so they made an example of one of his students named Earl Clifford when Joey Toledo led his men into attacking Earl, which ended with Earl being hit by a car. Seeking to avenge the murdered student and receiving help from his tailor friend Peter Gambi, Pierce becomes Black Lightning and attacks Joey and his men. After defeating his henchmen, Joey Toledo is grabbed by Black Lightning, who arranges for Toledo to meet him at Garfield High School's gymnasium to inform on the 100 to him.^[3]

When Black Lightning meets with Joey Toledo, Malcolm Merlyn the Dark Archer also appears after being hired by Toledo to kill Black Lightning. Their fight is crashed by Talia al Ghul and the League of Assassins, who are after Merlyn since he left the group after failing to kill Batman. The resulting battle ended with Joey Toledo being killed by a League of Assassins operative. Afterwards, Pierce is so successful in avenging Earl's death that Tobias Whale is sent to jail.^[4]

When he breaks out of prison some months later, he teams up with Syonide II in order to distribute a new highly addictive drug. The drug's formula was supposedly in the possession of a woman named Violet Harper. Tobias sends Syonide to retrieve the formula. Unable to gain any information or find any trace of the formula, Syonide kills Harper. Violet Harper later comes back to life when an Aurakle possesses her lifeless body; this new being called herself Halo. Once he learned of Harper's resurrection, Tobias assumed that she must have memorized the formula. But since Harper had no memories from before her death, a frustrated Syonide killed her parents during the Outsiders' fight with Tobias Whale's henchmen.^[5]

Often called "the Great White Whale" behind his back, Tobias Whale weighs close to 400 lbs. However, most of his considerable bulk is muscle.

It is unknown whether Tobias Whale ever was associated with the 100's successor group, the 1000.

Whale returned in the miniseries Gotham Underground^[6] and has moved to Gotham City, where he is attempting to become the Capo di tutti capi boss of bosses, following the death of Black Mask I. After taking over both the Galante and Odessa crime families, he ends up in a gang war with Intergang. They buy him out and make him the CEO of Kord Enterprises which has become a front for Intergang's criminal activities.

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Tobias Whale is re-introduced when he gets word that a drug deal done by his representatives was disrupted by both Black Lightning and Blue Devil. He decides to have them hunted down in order to get revenge on them.^[7]

In DC Rebirth, the real Tobias Whale was seen in the pages of Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands. This version was not an albino and the Tobias Whale that encountered Black Lightning and Blue Devil was his unnamed nephew who used his identity during his reign in the Los Angeles criminal underworld. Tobias respected his nephew enough as a blood relative to kill him personally. Tobias later told his unnamed sister that her son was dead for using his name for his "half-assed" ventures and that he was an idiot.^[8]

Powers and abilities[]

Tobias Whale does not possess any superhuman abilities but has strength and muscular prowess far exceeding that of a normal human being. He has fought Black Lightning on several occasions with nothing but his bare hands. Whale is a master hand-to-hand combatant who is skilled in boxing, street fighting and judo. Combined with his great physical strength, this makes him a highly dangerous foe for Black Lightning and several other heroes in the DC Universe like Batman and Booster Gold. Tobias Whale is a highly intelligent criminal strategist who is a skilled planner and mastermind. Whale has vast knowledge of criminal strategies and planning and possesses vast knowledge in political science. Even though Whale is a formidable physical opponent, it is his strategic mind and wealth that makes him a true force to be reckoned with.

Whale has access to a variety of weapons, but his personal favorite weapon is his harpoon which he is dangerously skilled with.

Other versions[]

Convergence[]

During the 2015 Convergence storyline, the Pre-Zero-Hour version of Tobias Whale has been trapped in his Metropolis for a full year. He has taken over the criminal underground. He struggles to gain influence over the mysterious food deliveries, as this is something the city values. Tobias Whale is opposed by the vigilante Jean-Paul Valley and the stranded playboy Bruce Wayne. Whale is unaware that Wayne is secretly Batman.^[9]

In other media[]

Television[]

• While Tobias Whale is not present in Justice League Unlimited, a similar character named Steven Mandragora appears in episode "Double Date", voiced by Glenn Shadix. An amalgam of Sicilian crime lord from DC Comics Stefano Mandragora and of Tobias Whale, the latter one more visually based on him, he is a crime lord who killed Helena Bertenli's parents when she was younger, prompting her to become Huntress and join Justice League. Unlike the comics version of Tobias Whale and Stefano Mandragora, he is hinted to have metahuman powers due to his immense strength and endurance. Years later, he is seen in federal custody to give an information of organised crime. When Helena discovers this, she goes to kill him which causes Martian Manhunter to expel Huntress from the Justice League. Steven is released from custody by his henchman who also rescued his son Edgar from rival gang and attempted to escape with him. When Helena caught him with the aid of Question, she wants to kill him, but when she discovers that he has a son, she decides not to kill him, putting him in federal custody again.

• Steven Mandragora's son Edgar Mandragora appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Double Date", the Batman Beyond episode "Mind Games" and The Zeta Project episode "Ro's Gift" voiced by Brian Tochi and John Rhys-Davies. Edgar Mandragora was the son of Steven Mandragora and later a member of the Brain Trust. Edgar was kidnapped by a rival of his father's, forcing Steven Mandragora to stall testifying in court to wait out his rescue. His father had ensured that they would be provided for to slip away. However, the Justice League interfered. Huntress, who had a personal vendetta against Edgar's father, thought of killing him, but instead dropped a load of girders on him. Mandragora had to cooperate with the authorities for his Edgar's sake. The details of how Edgar grew up were unspecified, but he discovered he had psychic powers, including telepathy and telekinesis. He became a member of the Brain Trust, a secret society of metahumans who subtly kidnap children with similar gifts, claiming to the parents that they will help them. One prospect was Tamara Caulder, who had a latent psychic gift. Edgar was waiting for Batman at a fake school, where he trapped the Dark Knight in a mental illusion, all the while telekinetically throwing objects at him. Luckily, Batman is able to fight the illusion and render Edgar unconscious. Edgar was later able to escape prison, along with Bombshell. While playing chess with two more kidnapped children, Edgar received a telepathic message from her and Schiz about a girl who could communicate with machines, not knowing it was actually her robot friend in disguise. They kidnap her and try forcing her to fix a bomb, unwilling to believe that she did nothing. Transita was able to subtly fix the bomb, covering for Ro. The Trust then planned on using the bomb to release ultraband radiation on the nearby town, supposedly awaking the dormant powers in other children. However, Ro is able to turn the children against the Trust, having Amp boost Schiz's powers to high degree to envelop Edgar and Bombshell, rendering them unconscious from the trauma of overwhelming thoughts. Authorities then arrested the Trust members.

• Tobias Whale appears in the Beware the Batman animated series, voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley. This version is Gotham City's leading crime lord who employs criminals such as his lawyer / enforcer, Phosphorus Rex. In addition, Humphry Dumpler used to work as his accountant before he sought revenge against Tobias. He can be reasonable with Batman at times, as the two have worked together twice, though he betrays Batman once after siding with Ra's al Ghul.
• Tobias Whale appears in the Black Lightning live-action series, portrayed by Marvin "Krondon" Jones III.^[10] This version received his anti-aging serum from Dr. Helga Jace and is a former politician who rose through the ranks of Freeland's local government through corruption, but was brought down by the titular character's father, Alvin Pierce. After killing him, Tobias was removed from the government and became the leader of the 100 upon receiving ownership from crime boss Lady Eve. He is aided by enforcers Joey Toledo and Syonide as well as his sister Tori (portrayed by Edwina Findley). Over the course of season one, Tobias battles Black Lightning, loses Tori, and gains young enforcer Painkiller. In season two, he is arrested for Alvin's murder, but is quickly released from police custody. When he sends Painkiller to eliminate a target for refusing to comply with his demands, the enforcer fails to do so, forcing Tobias to kill him and hire the assassin Giselle Cutter to replace him. He later deduces Black Lightning's identity before reuniting with Jace to kidnap the A.S.A.'s metahumans and recruit the Masters of Disaster into his ranks. Tobias sends them and the 100 to attack Freeland, but Black Lightning, Thunder, and former 100 member Lala defeat them while Lightning confronts Tobias himself and nearly kills him before Black Lightning talks her down. Together, they defeat Tobias, who is remanded to metahuman prison, the "Pit". In season three, the A.S.A. use his bone marrow for their experiments before Lynn Stewart and Gardner Grayle sneak him out of the Pit, only to be subdued by a Markovian operative and taken prisoner. While in the Markovians' custody, Tobias is subjected to experiments conducted by A.S.A. double-agent Nurse Michael Allen until Black Lightning and his allies rescue Lynn, during which Tobias escapes to take revenge on Allen, locate Markovia's metahumans, and plan his return to Freeland. One year later, in season four, Tobias operates as a philanthropist, much to the Pierce family and Peter Gambi's dismay. By the series finale, Black Lightning has a showdown with Tobias Whale at Tori Tower which resulted in Tobias falling out the window and getting impaled on the spike despite Black Lightning's attempt to save him.

Film[]

• Tobias Whale appears in the animated film Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, voiced by Dave Fennoy. This version is a crime lord and underboss in the Black Mask Mob. He had a flash drive containing leaked information in his possession, which Amanda Waller sent Task Force X to recover. Tobias subdues Count Vertigo and Deadshot, but the former weakens him enough for Punch to force the crime boss to kill himself.
• Tobias Whale is set to appear in the upcoming animated film , voiced by Keith David.

References[]

External links[]

• Tobias Whale at the DCU Guide