Ragdoll
Ragdoll is a comic book character that first appeared in Villains United #1
Ragdoll's ligaments and tendons are triple-jointed, which allows him to bend and twist his body in unimaginable ways. It also allows him to fit into spaces no other human would fit into.
History
Origin
Peter Merkel Jr., son of the Golden Age Rag Doll, was born without his family's special trait of being triple-jointed and so could not perform the contortionist tricks his father and brother could so easily. He was a disappointment to his father, and his father was a cruel man.Over the course of twelve years, he underwent hundreds of surgeries that should have killed him. He had all his joints replaced with self-lubricating and fully rotating implants. He could now contort his body to inhuman extremes. However, his skin required a special emollient to keep all his twisting from tearing his skin apart.
Black ops workVillains United
Ragdoll's need for this special emollient made him an easy mark for Lex Luthor, hiding behind the identity of Mockingbird, to blackmail him into joining the Secret Six. He would be given only enough for a daily dose to keep him in service. While serving with Mockingbird's Six, a strange friendship developed between Ragdoll and Parademon. Parademon insisted on referring to him as "Clown" despite his protests and was fiercely protective over him. Sadly, Parademon sacrificed his life when the Secret Society of Super-Villains came bearing down on them all.
Black ops work
Ragdoll had what was left of his friend's body stuffed and kept in his room to talk to from time to time.
One Year Later
Ragdoll remained with the Secret Six, which continued on as a mercenary team. He was one of the members targeted by assassins sent by a then unknown party. He was attacked by Ibac in a restaurant. Ibac had an extremely difficult time of killing him as breaking his bones didn't seem to matter much to him at all. Ragdoll ended the fight by grabbing four steak knives and shoving his arm down Ibac's throat. He offered a deal. If he would be allowed to leave peacefully, he wouldn't drop the steak knives. Ibac agreed, but Ragdoll did not feel Ibac was particularly trustworthy and dropped the knives anyway.Ragdoll was hospitalized from his injuries and found by Dr. Psycho while he slept. This would later lead to Ragdoll attacking his teammates in a helicopter according to the mental suggestion Dr. Psycho left in his head. He chopped off his own hand to cause Knockout to fall from the chopper, before falling from it himself. He survived, and his hand was found and successfully reattached. After the procedure, Catman noted that he seemed to enjoy surgery too much.
After the Secret Six successfully dealt with Vandal Savage, Cheshire and Dr. Psycho and therefore put a stop to the assassination attempts, Ragdoll bonded with Mad Hatter over their strange and eccentric behaviors. He then shoved the other man off a tall wall, saying there was only room for one freak on the team and leaving the Mad Hatter for dead.
Cuddly with Manhunter
Ragdoll's solo adventures appeared to consist completely of getting abducted by the Suicide Squad and shipped off to the prison planet as part of Salvation Run. While there, he sided with the Joker's group when the super villain population took sides.
Back with the Six
Back on Earth, Ragdoll rejoined the newly reformed Secret Six. The team took a job to retrieve the fabled "Get Out of Hell Free" card created by Neron, which put them sights of a frightening criminal known only as Junior. He never seemed particularly tempted by the card, unlike some of his teammates. More importantly, Junior was revealed to actually be his own deranged and deadly sister, which was more evidence of his father's cruelty.Ragdoll would repeatedly try to talk his dear sister out of her course of action, but she was too far gone. With his last attempt on the bridge leading into Gotham City, she cut the fingers off one of his hands with a pair of scissors. He then watched his sister die in a ball of fire.
These events had been orchestrated by the Mad Hatter to get revenge on Ragdoll's previous betrayal with the hope that the Secret Six would all be killed. Ragdoll tried to tell the Mad Hatter that they were still friends, or else why would he have found Mad Hatter's hat for him? Ragdoll then tossed the hat off the bridge, which required the Mad Hatter to leap off after it.
Powers and Abilities
Ragdoll is triple jointed (due to numerous surgeries). He is able to take a great deal of damage.
