Turtle (comics)

The Turtle
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	All Flash #21 (Winter 1945)
Created by	Gardner Fox Martin Naydel
In-story information
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Super Villains Legion of Doom

Turtle is the name of two fictional supervillains appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, who were primarily enemies of the Flash.

Different Turtles made their debut live appearance on The Flash, portrayed by Aaron Douglas and Vanessa Walsh.

Publication history

The first Turtle appears in All Flash #21 and was created by Gardner Fox and Martin Naydel.

The second Turtle appears in Showcase #4 and was created by Robert Kanigher and Carmine Infantino.

Fictional character biography

Turtle (Golden Age)

The original Turtle was a 1940s villain who used tricks of slowness in battle with the Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick). His main weapon was slow, deliberate planning. After a few clashes with the Flash, the Turtle faded from the public scene.

Years later, the Turtle Man carried on his legacy. After the debut of the third Flash (Wally West) in recent years, the original Turtle returned, now with the younger Turtle Man as his henchman, to take over Keystone City from underground. A final clash with Wally and his allies resulted in the Turtle destroying his own headquarters, and apparently himself with it.

Turtle Man (Silver Age)

The Turtle Man (sometimes simply calling himself "the Turtle") was the first gimmicked Rogue fought by the second Flash (Barry Allen) and appeared in Central City shortly after Barry's debut as the Flash. Originally using his natural slowness as a weapon, such as returning to rob a bank vault later to place people off guard, this Turtle Man was also an independently wealthy scientific genius who created fantastic devices based on slowness. After robbing the bank he painted his shadow on the wall, fooling the Flash into crashing into it. In his first appearance he was captured by the Flash while trying to escape via boat and arrested. This is apparently true both Pre- and Post-Crisis. Turtle Man only had a handful of battles with the second Flash. In more recent years, the original Turtle from the 1940s returned and met his "successor". Impressed with the latter's scientific talent, the first Turtle allied himself with him in an attempt to take over Keystone City. A lab accident seriously crippled the Turtle Man during this time. After the third Flash (Wally West) and his allies had found the Turtle's underground headquarters, the original Turtle seemingly killed himself while the younger Turtle Man was taken into custody.

Later, the Turtle Man reappeared again, seemingly cured from his severe injuries, and having developed the ability to 'steal' speed, slowing down others around him to a crawl no matter how fast they were moving.

During the Infinite Crisis, the Turtle Man was part of the Secret Society of Super Villains led by Alexander Luthor, Jr. (posing as Lex Luthor), using his speed-stealing abilities to negate the power of speedsters and thus make it harder for the heroes to track the Society.

Still Force entity

In Scott Snyder's Justice League series, the Turtle is revised as believing in an opposing energy to the Speed Force, known as the "Still Force". Each time he accessed this power, it aged him. Now a hatchling (described as "The Fourth Generation of his line"), he is finally attuned to the Still Force, and grants Gorilla Grodd (now a member of Luthor's Legion of Doom) total control of it to combat the Flash.

Powers and abilities

The Turtle Man wears a device that enables him to project a forcefield which can stop bullets. His shell is also a body armor which can expand to cover his head and also has some jets in them. The Turtle Man also has a ray device that he uses to make people move slower, as well as a laser gun that causes the optic nerves of a person to see everything moving faster than they are.

Other characters named the Turtle

There have been other villains who called themselves the Turtle:

• The Turtle is a gangster who fought Robotman.
• The Turtle is a criminal who faced off against Green Arrow and Speedy. He is a channel pirate who operates out of a glass structure and uses a submarine and his gang to commit crimes.

In other media

Turtle appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and Substance". His statue makes a cameo in the Flash Museum. Turtle is also seen in the bar where Flash's Rogues Gallery hang out.

Two different Turtles appear in The Flash:

• : The first Turtle appears in the 10th episode of the second season, portrayed by Aaron Douglas. This version is a metahuman thief named Russell Glosson who can drain the potential kinetic energy from his immediate surroundings and all those around him, sapping their speed. He is eventually apprehended by the Flash and imprisoned at S.T.A.R. Labs, where he is secretly killed by Harry Wells, who uses his brain tissue to create a device to siphon the Flash's speed.
• : A female version of Turtle appears in the sixth season episode "Death of the Speed Force," portrayed by Vanessa Walsh. This version is Frida Novikov who has time-controlling abilities thanks to the bubbles she emits. She is going around targeting those who exposed her crime ring. Cisco was the one who named her Turtle II. When it came to her latest target, she stopped time in the Central City Police Department and demanded that Joe West release the target from his custody. Thanks to a stall tactic from Flash and Kid Flash at the time when the Speed Force was dying, Joe West used the Velocity-X formula Cisco made to negate her powers and then arrests her.

External links

• Turtle at DC Comics Wiki
• Turtle Man at DC Comics Wiki
• Turtle at Comic Vine
• Turtle Man at DC Comics Wiki
• Hyperborea entry for the Turtle

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