Pied Piper

History

Born deaf, Rathaway was later cured by his parent's money and research. He became obsessed with sound and found how to control peoples' minds with it. Eventually, he became a member of the Flash's Rogue Gallery.

The Pied Piper got tired of the Rogue world, and eventually retired from being a super-villain and became a hero. He is one of the first characters of the DC company to 'come out' as gay, revealing his orientation to the current Flash of the time, Wally West. This was important at the time, as it showed that DC was a very open minded and politically correct company. The Pied Piper has been a symbol of equality in some comic book groups, as homosexual comic fans have sometimes been attacked for their sexuality.

The Pied Piper is one of the few Rogues who have turned good, and although he has tendencies to turn back to evil occasionally, he remains, deep down, a good person. In the DC series Countdown, he expressed to fellow Rogue the Trickster, that with Wally West's disappearance, he felt he had no where else to belong.

Lately he has rejoined the Rogues, being led by Inertia. Inertia built a machine to steal the Speed Force from Bart Allen, leaving him powerless. The Pied Piper did not actually take part in Bart's killing, though he was present at the time. The other Rogues who were involved showed great remorse after realizing that Bart was in fact still only a child. The public is unaware that the Pied Piper played no role in Bart's death. The Suicide Squad tries to capture the Pied Piper and the Trickster. Deadshot shoots and kills the Trickster, leaving the Pied Piper chained to his dead body. Eventually, the Pied Piper cuts off the Trickster's hand. He is sent to Apokolips, where Desaad tells him he can channel the Anti-Life equation with his flute. He destroys Brother Eye, and ends up back on Earth.

Final Crisis