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    Gentleman Ghost

    Character » Gentleman Ghost appears in 215 issues.

    A 19th century ghost with a grudge against Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Gentleman Ghost last edited by SlamAdams on 10/06/23 02:18PM View full history

    Origin

    Gentleman Ghost, Jim Craddock
    Gentleman Ghost, Jim Craddock

    James "Jim" Craddock grew up in 1800's England. His mother was poor, and he lived in poverty. He soon turned to robbery to support himself.

    He eventually immigrated to the United States, where he was falsely accused of a violent crime and killed by Nighthawk, a masked cowboy.

    Craddock soon discovered that he would remain a ghost until the spirit of the man who murdered him moved on to "the next plane of existence." He also quickly discovers that Nighthawk is actually an incarnation of ancient Egyptian royalty, meaning that his soul, and therefore Craddock's, will never pass on.

    Nighthawk is later reincarnated as Hawkman, who Craddock finds he is unable to truly kill. He becomes Gentleman Ghost and begins antagonizing superheroes in order to pass the time.

    Creation

    Jim Craddock was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. Jim Craddock made his first comic book appearance in October 1947 in the pages of Flash Comics #88.

    Major Story Arcs

    Honor Among Thieves

    Summoned to the Injustice Society
    Summoned to the Injustice Society

    When The Wizard falls victim to a mysterious entity, he calls in a favor to reunite the Injustice Society to help him. They find Craddock in a swamp after The Wizard attempts a quick seance before the entity could take a whole of his body again. Craddock then helped lead them to Solomon Grundy, their final member. Together, they plan on raiding the JSA museum to retrieve an artifact called the Cosmic Key. It would allow The Wizard to release the entity that is subjugating his astral form, at a high price. While waiting for The Thinker to find the most opportune moment to strike the museum, Craddock helped Wizard track the entity, who turned out to be Johnny Sorrow, former teammate, who they decided to rescue from whatever void he was trapped in.

    When most of the JSA heavy hitters were in the field, this new Injustice Society snuck in through the sewer system. Using his intangibility, Craddock did recon on the vault and security room, eventually taking Jakeem Thunder hostage and recovering Johnny’s mask, while the others face off against JSA members. With the key in hand, they were suddenly confronted by Talia al Ghul, her sister Nyssa, and their army of Ubus, who also wanted the key. Their lazarus pit weapons had more than enough powerful magic to take out Craddock and Grundy.

    In the ensuing chaos, Ragdoll made off with the key, a plan of betrayal that he had planned with Craddock. Craddock was a team player though, informing Icicle of Ragdoll’s intentions. Knowing the key needed to kill someone, Icicle and Craddock allowed Ragdoll’s plan to go forward, turning him into a conduit to bring back Johnny, destroying Ragdoll in the process. Craddock witnessed the whole thing and handed over Johnny’s mask. Using the key, the Injustice Society was then teleported to a new headquarters, The Crooked House.

    The Haunting of the JSA

    Jim Craddock and Alan Scott
    Jim Craddock and Alan Scott

    During the events of Infinite Crisis, Gentleman Ghost joins Alexander Luthor's Secret Society and attacks Metropolis along with other criminals. During the battle he fights Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, and wins, leaving Scott in a coma.

    After the defeat of Alexander and Superboy-Prime, Ghost took it upon himself to haunt members of the JSA with ghosts of their loved ones. With the JSA-ers believing him to be more con artist than actual specter, they look for a scientific solution to beat him at his own game. He proves himself a real ghost when he summons a ghost army to run on the Tower of London and steal the crown jewels.

    The JSA had a few aces up their sleeve. The Thunderbolt’s powers complimented Ghost’s, and he was able to counteract his intangibility. Being a virgin, Stargirl was immune to the attacks of Ghost’s ghost army, and, being of distant royal descent, Wildcat was able to physically hurt Ghost, stopping his rampage for good.

    For Hire

    Gentleman Ghost was one of many supervillains that was pursuing the Get Out of Jail Free card that was in possession of the Secret Six.

    Gentleman Ghost was also one of the many assassins pursuing Batman because of a large bounty placed on his head by Two-Face. Craddock manages to stow away on the truck with Batman inside but the Dark Knight manages to escape from him.

    Suicide Squad Black

    Gentleman Ghost and Wither reunited
    Gentleman Ghost and Wither reunited

    When Faust betrayed ARGUS by absconding with the magical relics he was hired to inventory, Amanda Waller put together a new task force of magic users, called Suicide Squad Black, to hunt him down. Ghost was one of the recruits. He was romantically attached to fellow member, Wither, and it was her well-being that Waller used as leverage as Ghost was unable to have a bomb implanted in his neck.

    The team tracked Faust to Russia where he was trying to acquire the magic armaments that Aladdin had collected. In his employ was an occult terrorist organization called Cerberus. Aladdin had leaked the location to Waller so that she could secure them before Faust, but the team failed, forcing them to continue chasing Faust across the globe and beyond. When they tracked him to Gemworld, he was able to capture them and offer the chance to be their best selves. For Ghost, that meant the return of physical sensation. Faust had already convinced his lover, Wither, to join his side. But Ghost was a pure arcane being and believed he was in danger of Faust’s plans, so he rejected both Wither and the offer. He tried to shoot Faust, but this backfired. When Faust fought back, the cave they were in collapsed, stranding them in Gemworld.

    When Waller’s main Suicide Squad was mind-controlled by Faust, she got desperate and sent a rescue team into Gemworld for the occult team. They now needed to face the Quellzorn, a giant ancient robot who had previously been taken apart and turned into the magic weapons Faust had collected. They made their way through the battle droid, freeing the original Squad from Faust’s thrall along the way. Together, they attempted to fight Faust and his minions. This meant Ghost was forced to take Wither out with a point blank shot to the head. He nearly quit the team without Wither, but once Faust was captured, he almost killed him out of revenge. However, Wither returned to him, now in a spectral form just like himself.

    Variants

    Kingdom Come

    Gentleman Ghost is present at the supervillain bar when Superman arrives and announces the return of the Justice League.

    Scooby Doo! Team Up

    Gentleman Ghost was one of a number of ghostly apparitions who were kidnapped by a mysterious foe. Phantom Stranger and Deadman got the help of Mystery Inc to find them. Mystery Inc was able to track them to a Nevada ghost town called Silver Spur. There, they found Stranger's old foe, Tannarak, who was using The Spook identity, a masked foe the Mystery Inc have gone up against before.

    The New 52

    In the New 52 continuity, Gentleman Ghost is no ghost at all. Instead, he was cursed by a witch. Gentleman Ghost steals the Mortis Orb to resurrect the dead. He comes into contact and battle Hawkman. The dead Warlock, Julius Gates, that had the Mortis Orb buried with him comes back to drag him to Hell. Hawkman drops the Mortis Orb somewhere in Antactica.

    Hell to Pay

    Possessing Bane
    Possessing Bane

    Ghost appears in a limited digital series that served as a follow up to the animated film, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay.

    Ghost learns that Amanda Waller is using her Suicide Squad to search down a new artifact that would get her out of Hell with the help of Jason Blood. He confronts that Squad in a Boston graveyard as he is duty bound to protect the current owner of the artifact, Vandal Savage. He fights them by possessing random members and using their abilities against the others. Ghost is beat up by Deadman, answering a call for help from Blood. He retreats rather than try to fight Deadman.

    He raced ahead of their journey to a swamp they would eventually travel to in order to set up a new trap: Solomon Grundy. Although Deadman could still fight Ghost, the team had a harder time fighting Grundy. Their fight was interrupted by The Spectre, who was targeting Waller and the reason why she needed a way out of Hell in the first place.

    The DCEU

    Although Gentleman Ghost never appeared in any of the DC Extended Universe movies, he did appear in a special comic tie-in called Black Adam- The Justice Society Files. Jim Craddock was a modern day jewel thief known as The Gent and working for Intergang. He had a run in with Hawkman. While making his getaway on a hoverbike, he crashed into a building killing himself. His soul then made a deal presumably with the Manhawks to return to the land of the living as a ghost if he attempts to kill Hawkman.

    JSA of the Future

    Alive, again, and then dead, again
    Alive, again, and then dead, again

    26 years in the future, the mantles of the Justice Society were not picked up by the new generation like they had in the past. Huntress (Helena Wayne) needed to get creative with keeping the JSA alive. She decided to give villains a second chance as members, as her father, Batman, had done for her mother, Catwoman, before she was born. Ghost was among the new recruits. This much to the chagrin of Helena’s partners, Power Girl and Doctor Fate (Khalid Nassour).

    Unfortunately, on one mission, they find Doctor Fate’s dead body, mummified as if he has been dead for thousands of years. He was killed by Per Degaton, a time traveler that manipulated the age of Fate’s body. He similarly manipulated the other members. For Ghost, he sent him backwards through time, bringing him back to life so that he could shoot him all over again. This time his soul moved one.

    Powers and Abilities

    Gentleman Ghost is what is traditionally understood to be a "ghost"; he is capable of intangibility, invisibility and flight. He is also a good marksman and carries an old flintock gun. He can freeze the body of anyone he touches in the manner of a "death touch". He is also able to trace and identify spectral trails. However, other ghosts, men with royal blood, virgins, and Nth metal can negate his intangibility.

    Other Media

    Animation

    The All-New Super Friends Hour

    Gentleman Ghost, referred to as Gentleman Jim Craddock, appears in an episode of "The All-New Super Friends Hour," entitled "Ghost." He was voiced by Allan Oppenheimer.

    Justice League Unlimited

     The Gentleman Ghost in Justice League Unlimited.
    The Gentleman Ghost in Justice League Unlimited.

    The Gentleman Ghost appears in Justice League Unlimited, played by Robin Atkin Downes. He was first seen in as a member of the Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society in "I Am Legion" and later makes cameo appearances in "Dead Reckoning" and "The Great Brain Robbery" . In "Ancient History," he is shown trying to outrun the Green Lantern until Hawkman catches him with a net made from Nth metal.

    Batman: The Brave and the Bold

    Batman: The Brave and the Bold
    Batman: The Brave and the Bold

    The Gentleman Ghost appears in several episodes of the animated series Batman: The Brave and Bold, played by Greg Ellis. He is shown as an elegant being with white clothes and monocle, his true appearence only is seen during battle when he is pounched. He is only affected with Batman´s devices with Nth Metal (as knucles, batarangs, handcuffs).

    His first appeareance is in the second episode of series: "Terror on Dinasaur Land!". As introduction its shown how Batman and Plastic Man are chasing Gentleman Ghost after one of his fellonies, Plastic Man got distracted by the stolen money and leave alone Batman in the persecution, when Gentleman Ghost is about to kill Batman is beaten by Fire.

    He later appears in seventh episode "Dawn of the Deadman!", he appears as the main villain in the episode, duirng the fight against Batman, the villain manages to bury him alive in a high tech coffin with traps included. Believing that his enemy was dead, Gentleman Ghost gather three ancient artifacs related to executions (a quill, key prison and a hanging rope) so he could revive and control his own army of undead criminals.

    Green Arrow with Speedy assistance could release batman´s body and finally the four heroes (Batman, Green Arrow, Deadman and Speedy) face the undead. During the battle Batman destroys the artifacts freeing the living dead from control of Gentleman Ghost. The army revolted against their master grabbing and pulling him to the ground. Crying for help Gentleman Ghost was helped by Batman but was unsuccessful. The villain was dragging while cursing Batman.

    Gentleman Ghost next appears in the episode "Death Race to Oblivion", where he, along with several other heroes and villains, are forced by the villain Mongul to compete in a race to determine the fate of the Earth. He loses the race and ends up in a cell, awaiting execution, but is then freed by Guy Gardner and a few other heroes who were also being imprisoned.

    DC Super Hero Girls

    Ghost appears in a two part episode called "#NightmareInGotham." He is voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

    The LEGO Batman Movie

    Gentleman Ghost appears as one of the many villains who ally themselves with Joker in The LEGO Batman Movie. He has no speaking lines.

    Teen Titans Go! vs Teen Titans

    Ghost appears in this animated series, voiced by Weird Al Yankovich.

    Video Games

    Batman: The Brave and the Bold

    He appears as one of the four main bosses of the game in episode 3. As prelude of the episode Batman must face Clock King in the Big Ben as bait to lure him to London. He tries to kill Batman and Hawkman in the old London offering Batman´s soul to the demon Astaroth so he can get back his life.

    DC Universe Online

    Ghost is one of the many members that populate the DC Universe Online world.

    LEGO DC Super Villains

    Ghost is a playable character in this LEGO game.

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