Puzzler

The Puzzler
The Puzzler
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #49 (June 1942)
In-story information
Alter ego	(I) Unknown (II) Valerie Van Haften
Abilities	(I) No unusual powers, but is a skilled games and puzzle player. (II) Body composed of living "puzzle pieces".

The Puzzler is a fictional character, a supervillain in the DC Comics universe. The character is primarily an enemy of Superman.

Fictional character biographies

The First Puzzler

In the Puzzler's first appearance, he threatens a table tennis champion's life when he refuses to pay protection money. Afterwards the Puzzler kidnaps Lois Lane and sets her up before a wheel of fortune that would trigger a strangling device if the indicator stopped on red. He rigs it so it would always stop on red. When Superman saves Lois, the Puzzler challenges him to a checkers game with Lois's life as the stakes. However, Superman spots the Puzzler cheating, he does the same at super-speed and so wins. The Puzzler is convicted of kidnapping for ransom, but eventually escapes. Again, the Puzzler challenges Superman to a game of cards, with Puzzler's henchmen sitting in. By using his X-ray vision to call out the cards from the back, Superman convinces the henchmen that the cards are marked and that the Puzzler is cheating them; they then turn on theifr boss.

Later, the Puzzler returns to enter a card playing tournament as a masked player. He displays some legitimate skill, but loses at poker, blackjack, rummy, hearts, casino and bridge. He vows revenge for his humiliation, and attempts to kill the players he had lost to in ways that reference the games he had lost; for instance, he kills the poker champ by beating him to death with a fireplace poker. However, the other players are all saved by Superman's intervention: the bridge champ, whom the Puzzler attempts to force off a bridge; the blackjack champion, whom the Puzzler attempts to kill with a blackjack; the hearts champion, in whom the Puzzler induces a heart attack; the rummy champion, who almost drinks the Puzzler's poisoned rum; the casino champion; whom the Puzzler tries to kill in a casino. After saving the players, Superman tracks the Puzzler to his hideout, bests the lair's death traps and captures the villain.

The Second Puzzler

A female, second version of the Puzzler has appeared in two recent issues of the Superman comic books. In the first appearance, she introduces herself as "Valerie Van Haaften, aka the Puzzler". Over the next few panels, she admits that she is a large fan of Superman's, and initially attempted to join several super groups to no avail. Thus, she decided that she would become a villain to gain his attention. Her body is composed of multiple large "puzzle pieces" that she can fully control, even when they are not directly attached to her. Superman disperses her with his super breath. ^[1]

The Puzzler reappeared in a later issue during the One Year Later story arc as an assassin hired by Intergang to kill Clark Kent. When she sees Superman, she decides to attempt to kill him instead in order to become famous. During the fight, she reveals she has been "upgraded" to have pieces that are nearly indestructible. Her "puzzle pieces" are much smaller and appear to be able to hit with greater force than her previous appearance. Superman defeats her again by trapping her component pieces in separate containers - preventing her from building up sufficient speed to escape. ^[2]

She is one of the villains sent to retrieve the Get Out of Hell free card from the Secret Six.

Other media

Television

• The Puzzler appeared in two episodes of the Batman TV series: (Season 2, Episode 31) on December 21 ("The Puzzles Are Coming") and December 22("The Duo Is Slumming"), 1966, played by Maurice Evans. Evans only appeared in those episodes because Frank Gorshin was in the midst of a professional dispute with the producers of the show. Otherwise, the episodes would have been titled "A Penny For Your Riddles" and "They're Worth A Lot More." ^[3]

• The Puzzler has made background appearances as a member of Grodd's Secret Society in Justice League Unlimited.

Film

• The name was an in-joke in Batman Forever, being one of the names Edward Nigma considered using before he became "The Riddler."

References

1. ^ DC Comics, Superman V2, Issue 187, pgs 16-18, Dec 2002
2. ^ DC Comics, Superman, Issue 652, July 06
3. ^ Joel Eisner reveals this in The Official Batman Batbook.