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Winslow Schott is the Toyman, an enemy of Superman who uses toys as weapons.

Origin

While growing up in the United Kingdom, Winslow Percival Schott discovered that he had a knack for toy-making and took an interest in testing his own creative talents. The very first toy he ever constructed was a humble toy biplane, made from balsa wood and painted red and blue. Sadly, the neighborhood bully took the opportunity to abuse the sensitive Schott and stole his wooden biplane, infuriating the boy whose skills had just gone to waste. Nevertheless, Schott was not discouraged from making a future career for himself as a toymaker; in fact, Schott became world-renowned for his brilliant toy designs while running his own modest, small business. Then came the day when unscrupulous businessman Walter Dunhill, the owner of an arms manufacturer, came to Schott with the proposition of purchasing his technologically advanced toy designs for usage in weapons development. Horrified by the suggestion, Schott refused, but the death of his wife Mary in an automobile accident, probably arranged by Dunhill, caused Schott to give in from resignation and sell his business and designs. In actuality, Schott was never legally married in any way or form and created "Mary" as a humanlike android programmed to act as if she were his wife. Regardless, "Mary" was very much real to Schott, motivating him to take his revenge on Dunhill by sending him an exploding teddy bear that killed him. Subsequently, Schott went on to embark on a criminal career as the nefarious Toyman.[1]

Early Criminal Career

The Toyman then made a failed attempt to assassinate Lex Luthor, whose company LexCorp owned Walter Dunhill's arms manufacturing company as a subsidiary, by using first an exploding model of a LexCorp flying wing and then a horde of exploding action figures. By the time Superman located Toyman's apartment, however, the Toyman had been kidnapped by Morgan Edge, who brought Toyman into the employ of his crime organization Intergang.[2] When he resurfaced a while later, Toyman tried to use robotic toys to kidnap the children of LexCorp executives, but Superman thwarted this scheme.[3] Toyman was also deceived into helping build the Happyland Amusement Park under the false belief that it was intended for the sole purpose of bringing happiness to children, yet when Toyman learned that the amusement park was really a front for an operation headed by the Apokoliptian monster Sleez, he assisted his enemy Superman in bringing the true clandestine goings-on at the park down.[4]

After escaping prison and changing his image (prompted by a voice in his head, which he identified as the voice of his mother), Toyman abducted several children in Metropolis, including Adam Grant, the son of Cat Grant. When Adam tried to free the others, Toyman murdered them all and dumped their bodies in an alley in Suicide Slum. Superman caught him and brought him in.[5] While he was in prison, Cat Grant thought about killing him but ultimately decided not to.[6]

Months after her son's death, Cat decided to visit Schott in prison and discover why he had turned into a child killer. Toyman explained that it was entirely the children's fault. After being arrested for helping Intergang, Toyman had been approached by a toy manufacturer, who made Superman-based toys, for permission to use Toyman's image as a toy. Schott would not receive any royalties, but he agreed nonetheless, ecstatic at the thought of being made into an actual toy. For the better part of a year, Schott then tried to get a hold of the toy manufacturer, hoping that at the very least he would get a copy of the toy. No response came. Eventually, Schott was allowed to be part of a prisoner work program, mopping floors at a local mall after dark. Coming to one of the toy stores, he found his toy in among the many other Superman toys, but not one of them had been sold, despite having been marked down to dirt-cheap prices. Schott snapped, and after strangling his guard, escaped and tracked down the toy manufacturer, demanding an explanation. The toy manufacturer explained that the children simply did not want him, having no desire to play with a toy that looked like a clown instead of a serial killer. After murdering the man, Schott began to hear the voice of his "mother" and decided to make children pay.[7]

Later Criminal Career

Toyman briefly joined forces with the Cyborg Superman. Together, they were able to split Superman into two beings: Superman Blue and Superman Red.[8] Much later, Superman decided to try and rehabilitate the Toyman, getting him into a program where he made toys for poor children.[9]

In a vain attempt to help him, Zatanna had visited Toyman in prison and altered his mind with a spell in an attempt to heal him of his delusions. She was unsuccessful, instead inadvertently increasing his psychosis. He later kidnapped several more children, viewing his actions in his own twisted mind as them coming to stay with him willingly. Zatanna used her magic again, dispelling his delusions and clearing Toyman's mind. Unfortunately, his deadly robot toys had already weakened the building they were in by fighting Superman, so the whole building collapsed. Toyman was apparently killed, but no body was found.[10]

Toyman has since resurfaced, abducting Jimmy Olsen in order to convince him, and the news by extension, that he never killed any children and that the murder of Adam Grant had been the action of one of several android duplicates he created of himself to take his place in jail if he were ever arrested. However, Superman and Batman arrived to arrest Toyman at Jimmy's prompting, leaving him incarcerated in Arkham Asylum when last seen in person.[1]


Abilities

  • Genius Level Intellect
    • Mechanical Aptitude: Toyman's threat lies in his aptitude for constructing deadly, weaponized toys of his unique design.
    • Robotic Engineering: Toyman's penchant for the creation of technologically sophisticated "toys" also extends to his ability to make convincingly humanlike android doubles of himself. In the past, Toyman has used his androids as stand-ins for himself in his crime sprees.

Other Characteristics

  • Delusions: Prior to having Zatanna foul up his mind, Schott had already begun hearing his mother's voice while he was in jail. It has since been revealed that this Toyman was not the real Winslow P. Schott but rather a malfunctioning android proxy designed by him. Nonetheless, the real Toyman does suffer from very real psychological illness and delusions (but never when reaching the point of injuring or killing children, as the duplicate did). This is proven by his wholehearted conviction that his android creation "Mary Schott" was actually his legitimately married wife and his paranoid insistence on distrusting other individuals aged over 17.

Equipment

  • Various Toys: Life sized toys which impersonated various people or did his bidding, high tech plastic lab equipment and toys that are just toys for amusement.

Transportation

  • Various Toys: The Toyman has employed a wide array of vehicles to aid him in his criminal endeavors, all of which are patterned after a toy of some kind. Such vehicles include everything from toy trains to pogo-sticks.

Weapons

  • Various Toys: Acid spraying squirt guns, toy soldiers with live rounds, toy airplanes with machine guns, wind up tanks with miniaturized shells, exploding balls, acid gum, etc.


Related

Footnotes


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