False-Face

Disambiguation

This page is for the two male villains by the name False-Face.

The female villain by this moniker has her own page: Falseface.

Major Story Arcs

The first False-Face

The first man identified as False-Face was among the five small-time criminals hired by organizer Black Star. Along with his colleagues Captain Bigg, Hopper, Brain and Rattler, he staged a robbery at a city bank by disguising himself as a construction worker. False-Face drilled through a water main and used the pressurised escaping water to blast a hole into the bank. After he and his friends robbed the bank, they used a paddy wagon as their getaway vehicle while disguised as police officers.

Under the orders of Black Star, False-Face was sent to New Orleans to rob riches from those sponsoring a Mardi Gras event. He and his henchmen disguised themselves as a Clown Krew and insinuated themselves onto a parade float. This managed to attract the attention of Shining Knight who was in the area at the time. False-Face escaped, but his henchmen were apprehended. He then attempted to rob the Star Sapphire Gem from Mardi Gras organizer J.J. Ennis. To do this, False-Face disguised himself as a police detective and infiltrated Ennis' house. He once again fought against the Shining Knight, and briefly subdued him, but the Shining Knight escaped from False-Face's trap and defeated him. False-Face was then arrested by the police. At this point, it was discovered that the unpleasant face he usually presented was not false at all.

The second False Face was a criminal make-up artist and master of disguise who impersonates wealthy people and steals either from these wealthy people or steals expensive objects using those personas. In reality he is white haired and toothless. False-Face retired after his first encounter with Batman. He encountered the Batman once in comics and in two episodes of the 1960's Adam West Batman show.

The second False-Face

The second man to use the name False-Face was a master of disguise who has caused problems for Batman and Robin. Little is known of the Caped Crusaders' first meeting with the villain, but on their second chance encounter, they found that he had impersonated a wealthy uranium tycoon named P.S. Smithington. As Smithington, False-Face robbed a local Gotham City jewelry store framing the true Smithington for the crime. Batman managed to rescue the actual Smithington, but was unable to recover the stolen jewels. At the police headquarters, Commissioner James Gordon supplied Batman and Robin with information about the case and the two gave chase.

This time, False-Face kidnapped rock n' roll star Wally Weskit during a charity benefit concert and concealed him in an elevator shaft. As False-Face assumed the form of Wally Weskit, his henchman Pebbles attempted to make off with the charity proceeds. Batman and Robin managed to prevent this, but False-Face and his gang escaped.

The third time when False-Face struck, he impersonated a safari hunter named Arthur Crandall in order to get into the Gotham City's Explorer Club. While attempting to steal the club's Golden Tiger Trophy, Batman and Robin arrived and were on his heels again. He lured Batman towards a large water tank and managed to temporarily trap him, but the Dark Knight detective succeeded in outsmarting False-Face and his men, apprehending the entire group in the process. False-Face was taken to prison whereupon he soon retired from his life of crime.

Animated Series/Films

On the Batman television show, False-Face was played by Malachi Throne, who caused some infamous behind the scenes drama as show producer William Dozier wished him to remain anonymous in the show credits due to the nature of the character. A deal was finally struck in that Throne would be credited in only the second episode and would remain as "?" in the credits of the first episode.