Villain Profile: The Ventriloquist and Scarface

Today we’re going to be talking about one of the nuttier members of Batman’s rogue’s gallery. And, considering the sort of crazy weirdos that run around Gotham City, that is saying something. Also, just going to say right off the bat, dummies are creepy. I don’t mean the kind of guys that Jeff Dunham uses, but the classic wooden toys. They’re just… unsettling. With their cold dead eyes, and creepy flapping mouths. Don’t give me that look, watch any Slappy themed episodes of the old Goosebumps TV show and tell me that you don’t find them creepy. Let’s get to it.

Who's controlling who?

Like a number of Batman’s baddies, Arnold Wesker’s childhood bears a striking resemblance to the Dark Knight. How? Tragic death of parents. Arnold was an incredibly meek, timid child. One of those kind of kids that if you popped a balloon to close to him, he might wet himself. That sort of thing. One day, his parents took him to the Gotham City shipyards to see an albatross. The bird was something of a local attraction, don’t know why. For some reason, this bird terrified young Arnold. Have you ever seen an albatross? Yeah, they’re big birds, but they are far from the most intimidating avian on planet earth. He demanded that his family take him home, and his folks comply. While walking back to the car, a delivery truck lost control, rocketed down the street, and hit Mr. and Mrs. Wesker. Right in front of Arnold’s eyes. The death of the Waynes is tragic, but at least Bruce’s parents could have an open casket funeral. Just saying.

The trauma of seeing his parent’s violent death, caused by his emotional outburst, caused Arnold to develop some pretty severe emotional problems. Namely that he completely repressed all of his emotions. He grew up… pathetically. Like George McFly before Marty changed the past in Back to the Future. But worse, since he didn’t meet the hot local girl that was willing to lower her standards for him. So sad. Arnold’s life changed once again, when the dam that held back his reservoir of anger finally crack. He was in a bar, when a brawl started. He accidentally, but brutally, killed the guy that started the bar fight. He was sent to Blackgate Prison. He was put in a cell with a man named Donnegan. He and Donnegan had an…okay relationship. It was good enough that Donnegan showed Arnold his’ greatest treasure, a dummy he named Woody. Woody was carved from the wood of the old Blackgate gallows, and looked creepy as heck. But, for some reason, Arnold was enamored with the creepy thing. He wanted to get his hands on it, but Donnegan was very protective of his toy. When Arnold did get a few minutes alone with the creepy, creepy thing and Donnegan found out, he beat the snot out of Arnold.

As time went on, Arnold grew increasingly depressed with prison life. Shocking, I know. When he finally had enough, he decided to commit suicide. He made himself a noose, and prepared to hang himself at night while Donnegan slept. To his surprise, Woody began speaking to him. Woody encouraged Arnold to, not hang himself, but to escape. He initially thought that Donnegan was just messing with him, but the other prisoner was dead to the world. ‘Woody’ informed Arnold that Donnegan had spent fifteen years digging a tunnel under their cell, but had given up. After just a little coaxing, Arnold was convinced to keep living and make his escape. Arnold grabbed Woody, intending to bring the doll with him. Unfortunately, Donnegan woke up and attacked Arnold again, this time with a corkscrew he’d smuggled in. During the altercation, Donnegan scratched Woody’s right eye. Arnold grabbed a loose brick, and smashed it against Donnegan’s head, killing him. He strung up Donnegan’s body with the noose, and escaped. The tunnel led to the prison boathouse. On Woody’s urging, Arnold stole a riot shotgun and murdered two guards, before escaping on a raft. They made it to the mainland of Gotham City, stole some new clothes, and gave Woody a new name. The little doll “hated” the name of Woody, and chose to go by the name Scarface.

Seriously, shouldn't that little gun still
blow off his little puppet arms?

Arnold, now going by the moniker the Ventriloquist, and Scarface became powerful drug kingpins in Gotham City. Scarface, despite being an extension of Arnold’s broken psyche, was incredibly abusive to his ‘partner.’ Verbally, and even physically. And, even though this was a very bizarre arraignment, most of their goons payed little attention to Arnold, but were fiercely loyal to Scarface. Wow, even in a city as weird as Gotham, what has to happen to someone to make them want to willingly take orders from a wooden doll? They ran a club they uninspiringly called the Ventriloquist Club, where they sold a designer drug called Fever. Their method for smuggling drugs into Gotham was to hide them in cadavers and then ship them to a local funeral home. Batman, having found out about Fever, tracked the drugs to said funeral home while Arnold and Scarface were getting their drugs. After a short tussle, scratch that, a very short tussle, Arnold was arrested. This time he was sent to Arkham Asylum.

He spent only a short time in prison. Drug money, it works wonders. After getting out and recovering Scarface, Arnold actually wanted to retire from the drug life, but Scarface refused to allow it. While they were in lock up and the evidence locker, respectively, a new group called the Street Demonz had taken over their territory. Scarface does not take kindly to interlopers. They reclaimed their gang and declared all-out war against the Demonz. They had several turf brawls, one of which ended with Scarface being riddled with bullets. Believing that Scarface was “dead,” Arnold tried to bury him. Literally. But, from the little wooden coffin, Scarface demanded to be released. Arnold complied, and repaired the damage to his little master.

Scarface and the Ventriloquist were pretty constant fixtures in Gotham’s underbelly, until Arnold was brutally murdered by an up and coming crime boss. Despite this, the Ventriloquist did make a comeback. As a Black Lantern during the Blackest Night event. For those just joining us, a Black Lantern is like a Green Lantern, but also a Zombie. A very crazy combination, I know. But, even in death and equipped with the Black Lantern power ring, Arnold wasn’t free of Scarface. BL Arnold felt compelled to creating a new Scarface, this one being a Black Lantern Construct. Darn, it sucks to be this guy. He was ultimately destroyed along the rest of the Black Lantern Corps when its leader/avatar Black Hand was brought back to life and conscripted into the Indigo Tribe. (The Purple Green Lanterns)

As the Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker has no superpowers or even above average abilities. He even sucks as a ventriloquist, being unable to pronounce ‘B’s’ while throwing his voice. He’d substitute G’s in. So “Boys, we’re robbing the bank before Batman gets here,” becomes “Goys, we’re rogging the gank gefore Gatman gets here.” He’s really not good at anything… except being a crime boss. Arnold Wesker suffers from a form of dissociative identity disorder, where he acts out his aggressive impulses and thoughts through his dummy. Scarface is absolutely ruthless, killing anyone that gets in his way, and abusing Arnold whenever he has even the smallest excuse. His preferred weapon is a tommy gun. Not sure how that kind of high powered weapon doesn’t blow off his arms, to be honest.

And, while not a superpower or accessory, the Ventriloquist and Scarface do have incredibly loyal minions. Notably the musclebound Rhino, and the willowy Mugsy. Both are fiercely loyal to their odd bosses. Rhino has been shown to be one of the few that considers the Ventriloquist to be his actual boss, and only addresses Scarface like he’s in charge to humor the Ventriloquist’s psychosis.

Wonder if this put Arnold's life into perspective for him?

It is interesting to note that most stories are deliberately vague as to whether Scarface is just a split personality of Arnold Wesker, or if he’s actually some sort of malevolent entity all on his own. He has been shown to occasionally move or speak on his own, but these could also just be chalked up to the damaged mind of Arnold. One thing that does make the whole “living doll” thing at least plausible, is his creepy background of being carved from the wood of an old gallows and that, despite being puppeteered by several different individuals, he always seems to have the same personality. That of a 20s era gangster. Weird.

The Ventriloquist and Scarface are two minor but recurring villains of Batman’s canon. Scarface has actually made several more appearances then his puppeteer, usually as a trophy in the Batcave or similar location. Also, Arnold is shown to be a much better ventriloquist outside the comics. No replacing B’s with G’s in the TV shows.

In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman first becomes aware of the Ventriloquist and Scarface in “Read My Lips.” He searched for the ringleader of a series of bank robberies, imagine his surprise when he finds a mild mannered guy holding a very angry dummy leading the crime ring. After a few encounters, Batman is captured by the gruesome twosome and is put in a deathtrap. Tied up and suspended over a pit of mannequin hands with sharpened nails pointing up. Batman is able to get out of this situation by using his own ventriloquism and impersonating skills. He mimics Arnold’s voice, throwing it as both puppeteer and puppet. Arnold and his alternate persona start arguing, and in a fit of frustration Scarface orders Arnold be shot. His goons are pretty confused by this, as they all had been working on the assumption that, while their boss was insane they by no means thought that the puppet was anything more than their bosses bizarre quirk. Like Penguin’s birds, Riddlers questions or Two-Face’s coin. Do you shoot your boss when he tells you to shoot him? In the confusion, Batman is able to escape, and Scarface is destroyed. Arnold is brought to Arkham, where he almost immediately starts working on a new Scarface. They returned in several other episodes, including “Trial,” “Catwalk,” and “Double Talk.”

How is the evil doll made of death energy
LESS creepy then the wooden version?

They appear again in The Batman. In this incarnation, Arnold Wesker is a former ventriloquist that snapped after he was booed off stage. Also, Scarface is redesigned to more closely resemble Tony Montana. You know, the original Scarface. Can’t imagine that the scarier look of Scarface won him any fans, just saying. He and Scarface become criminals, first robbing everyone that booed them off stage. Throughout the episode, Arnold and Scarface steal some heavy machinery, which culminates in a giant robotic version of Scarface. In a bit of role reversal, Arnold becomes the dummy being carried, as Scarface still needs the wimpy little guy to help him move. Batman defeats Mecha-Scarface by separating him from Arnold, and then destroying him. Arnold is imprisoned at Arkham. Sometime later, Arnold is freed from Arkham after being announced cured by corrupt psychiatrist Hugo Strange. Batman’s initially skeptical, but after observing him for a few weeks, Batman accepts that Arnold is actually cured. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a disturbing experiment by Strange, who then reunites Arnold with Scarface. Arnold obviously relapses, and starts committing crimes. Batman captures him again, and berates Strange for his unusual “help.”

The Ventriloquist and Scarface are an interesting pair. Arnold’s bizarre psychosis makes him both incredibly pathetic and dangerous. It’s a very bizarre thing to watch, seeing a mild mannered man constantly being berated and abused by a puppet. How much do you have to hate yourself to allow your little puppet to abuse you? I actually think his best episodes are “Double Talk” from Batman: TAS and “A Fist Full of Felt” from The Batman. Both are episodes that show the return of Scarface after Arnold is pronounced cured, and the relapse into his old ways. Both are actually pretty good metaphors for addiction or abusive relationships, as in both Arnold Wesker kicks his “Scarface” habit, but falls back into, through his old gang for TAS and subpar therapy in The Batman. He knows Scarface is bad for him, he knows being near the puppet will lead to misery, but he is incapable of functioning without it. Which is so very, incredibly, unbelievably sad. They’re the pathetic puppeteer and deranged dummy, the gruesome twosome, the Ventriloquist and Scarface. Next time: either the Riddler or Luke Cage Viewer Logs, whichever comes first.

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