Follow

    Whale

    Character » Whale appears in 93 issues.

    The leader of the 100, Tobias Whale and his minions have fought Batman and the Outsiders as well as Thorn. He is the archenemy of Black Lightning.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Whale last edited by Doc-Holiday on 10/25/23 05:48PM View full history

    Origin

    Tobias Whale was a con artist who got lucky in a scam and aquire political power. He used this to become a crime boss, terrorizing the city of Metropolis' Suicide Slum. He lead the 100 and was a unstoppable until Black Lightning, Jefferson Pierce, arrived on the scene promising to stop the 100 and Whale. Jeff eventually did defeat him and Whale went underground. He has tried to kill Black Lightning several times since and has fought the Outsiders as well.

    Creation

    Tobias Whale was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden. The character's first appearance was in Black Lightning #1, which came out on April 1977.

    Major Story Arcs

    Gotham Underground

    Tobias Whale has set his sights on Gotham city. He rallied and united the gangs of Gotham through a combination of force, and a common goal. His goal was to kill all of Gotham's 'masks'. To send a message to the masked super-villains, he tortured Scarecrow and hung him, battered but alive, on a pole. He sends his forces into a full gang war against Penguin's gangs. One of Penguin's gangs capture him and offer him a truce. He accepts. Later, he joins Intergang along. When Johnny Stitches comes to kill him, Johnny also joins Intergang.

    Black Lightning and Blue Devil

    Operating in Los Angeles, Tobias is furious to find that 'costumed fools' are interfering with his business and orders them to be tracked and killed. His men failed at the task and one of them went into hiding until his other men managed to find him and drag him back to the wall. The man presented Tobias with the 'Demon Cup' he had stolen from Graveyard Studios and Tobias recalled the movie it was featured in saying that it needed blood to work. He shoved it into the man's mouth, breaking his jaw, and activating it, which resulted in the summoning of Nebiros who begins to consume the souls of his men. Before Nebiros consumes his soul, Tobias shows him a picture of the Blue Devil and offers a deal to him, saying that he can feed upon the souls of the junkies that get hooked on his drugs.

    Powers & Abilities

    Tobias Whale is an effective leader who is skilled in criminal activity, intimidation tactics and logistics. He is often depicted as being capable and even above average in hand to hand combat as well as being at peak human strength (as he has hurt Black Lightning who is an Olympic level athlete).

    Other Media

    Black Lightning (CW)

    Tobias Whale on
    Tobias Whale on "Black Lightning"

    Tobias stars as the main villain on Season 1 of Black Lightning, played by rapper Marvin Jones III, a.k.a. Krondon. Like his comic book counterpart, this Tobias is an African-American albino and a crime boss in the city of Freeland. He leads the 100 gang and was formerly a rising politician until he was brought down by the investigations of Alvin Pierce, Black Lightning's journalist father, who uncovered Tobias' trail of corruption. In retaliation, Tobias killed Alvin by forcing him to "eat his words", i.e., stuffing Alvin's own newspaper articles down his throat until he suffocated.

    While not as physically large as his oversized comic book counterpart, the live-action Tobias is still a muscular and well-built character. He is a skilled fighter and a very strong man, having demonstrated the ability to break a man's back with a bearhug and beat down trained martial artists who were high on Green Light, a performance-enhancing street drug.

    Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

    Whale in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay
    Whale in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

    In the DC animated movie Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, Tobias Whale appears as an early antagonist. He attacks Deadshot but is quickly beaten by Count Vertigo.

    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.