Turtle (comics)

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

The Turtle
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAll Flash #21 (Winter 1945)
Created byGardner Fox
Martin Naydel
In-story information
Team affiliationsSecret Society of Super Villains
Legion of Doom

Two variations of Turtle made their debut live-action debut 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.[1]

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 is a 1940s villain who uses tricks of slowness in battle with the Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick). His main weapon is slow, deliberate planning. After a few clashes with the Flash, the Turtle fades from the public scene.[2]

Years later, the Turtle Man carries on his legacy. After the debut of the third Flash (Wally West) in recent years, the original Turtle returns, now with the younger Turtle Man as his henchman, to take over Keystone City from underground. A final clash with Wally and his allies results in the Turtle destroying his own headquarters, and apparently himself with it.[3]

Turtle Man (Silver Age)

The Turtle Man (sometimes simply calling himself "the Turtle") is the first gimmicked Rogue fought by the second Flash (Barry Allen) and appears 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 is also an independently wealthy scientific genius who creates fantastic devices based on slowness. After robbing the bank he paints his shadow on the wall, fooling the Flash into crashing into it. In his first appearance he is captured by the Flash while trying to escape via boat and arrested. This is apparently true both Pre- and Post-Crisis. Turtle Man only has a handful of battles with the second Flash. After some years, the original Turtle from the 1940s returns and meets his "successor". Impressed with the latter's scientific talent, the first Turtle becomes an ally in an attempt to take over Keystone City. A lab accident seriously cripples the Turtle Man during this time. After the third Flash (Wally West) and his allies find the Turtle's underground headquarters, the original Turtle seemingly kills himself while the younger Turtle Man is taken into custody.[3]

Later, the Turtle Man reappears 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 is 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.[4]

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 Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom) total control of it to combat the Flash.[5]

Jai West

In the pages of "Flash Forward", Jai West is a manifestation of Wally West's fear of not being able to see his family again that was born in the Dark Multiverse. He is the twin brother of Iris West II and was emigrated to Earth 0 by Wally.[6]

In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock", Doctor Manhattan's vision of a possible future says that Jai will become a superhero called Turtle.[7]

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.[8]
  • 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.[9]

In other media
  • Turtle makes a cameo appearance in the Justice League Unlimited animated television series episode "Flash and Substance".
  • Two different incarnations of Turtle appear in The Flash live-action series:
    • The first Turtle appears in the second season episode "Potential Energy", portrayed by Aaron Douglas.[10] 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, a metahuman criminal with chronokinetic abilities which manifest as "time bubbles". While attempting to get revenge on everyone who ruined a previous crime spree she went on, she was confronted by Joe West, the Flash, and Kid Flash. Together, the speedsters distracted her long enough to negate her powers with the Velocity-X formula so Joe could arrest her.

References
  1. Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 354. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  2. All-Flash #21
  3. Showcase #4
  4. Flash vol. 2 #219. DC Comics.
  5. Justice League vol. 2 #4 (July 2018) DC Comics.
  6. Flash Forward #1-6. DC Comics.
  7. Doomsday Clock #12. DC Comics.
  8. Star-Spangled Comics #17. DC Comics.
  9. Adventure Comics #122. DC Comics.
  10. Abrams, Natalie (January 11, 2016). "The Flash casts Battlestar Galactica alum Aaron Douglas as The Turtle". Entertainment Weekly.
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