It does not get much better than supervillains from DC Comics. These delinquents symbolize the wicked best of Gotham City’s murky, grimy, and dangerous playground, and they are the polar opposite of Batman, the crime-fighting Caped Crusader.
Many renowned supervillains have emerged from the alleys and gutters of Gotham City, leaving their mark on the DC Universe. Today, we will take a look at one such villain who was essentially a victim of his circumstances, and his villain genesis tale will undoubtedly make you cringe. The Great White Shark (and no, it is not the aquatic monster) is presented to you.
Dan Slott and Ryan Sook created the Great White Shark, which originally appears in Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #1 in July 2003. He goes on to feature in 66 DC comics issues. Warren White, the Great White Shark’s real name, was a crooked financier who stole millions of dollars.
He was put on trial for his crimes, and when his insanity plea was approved, he thought he had achieved a legal victory. He did not, however, go free, and he realized his mistake when he arrived at Arkham Asylum.
Warren’s transformation into the Great White Shark took place here for all intents and purposes after he was driven insane by the other inmates and was scarred by frostbite, which bleached his skin chalk white and left him without hair, a nose, or lips after an encounter in Mr. Freeze’s cell. To match his new moniker, he christened himself the Great White Shark and filed his teeth into points.
Thanks to his financial skills, White has become a key player in Gotham’s underground crime scene, running a number of rackets from his Arkham cell. Let us start at the beginning with his origin narrative.
Great White Shark Backstory
Warren White was a vicious banker known as the “Great White Shark” because of his ferocity. Warren White was a white man with dark hair and a tiny mustache when he first appeared. He stole his company’s pension fund and practically all of the company’s client’s life savings, both working-class and upper-class. He pled insanity to avoid incarceration, but the judge sentenced him to Arkham Asylum after learning that he had paid off the jury.
White entered Arkham, oblivious to the horrors he would endure, believing that, like everything else in his life, he could buy his way out. However, following his discovery, he became the asylum’s new ‘fish,’ despised by both inmates and staff. Even the Joker said he was the worst person he’d ever met since, despite killing people, he doesn’t take their children’s college funds. Killer Croc later slit White’s throat because “the new ‘fish’ needed a set of ‘gills,'” he reasoned.
He eventually visited with Dr. Anne Carver, the Asylum psychiatrist, and offered her a $20 million bribe in exchange for his transfer to a minimum-security jail. She consented, but it was later revealed, much to White’s dismay, that the actual Anne Carver had died and had been replaced by Jane Doe, who had been exploiting Anne’s image for months.
Even the Joker said he was the worst person he’d ever met since, despite killing people, he doesn’t take their children’s college funds. Killer Croc later slit White’s throat because “the new ‘fish’ required a set of ‘gills,'” he reasoned. He eventually visited with Dr. Anne Carver, the Asylum psychiatrist, and offered her a $20 million bribe in exchange for his transfer to a minimum-security jail.
She consented, but it was later revealed, much to White’s dismay, that the actual Anne Carver had died and had been supplanted by Jane Doe, who had been exploiting Anne’s image for months. Jane Doe was stopped by Batman and sent to prison herself.
His request for a transfer was withdrawn once it was discovered that Jane performed all of White’s mental tests, and he remained in Arkham. For the next few weeks, he was assaulted and abused, and the asylum’s medic eventually warned him that if he wanted to survive, he needed protection.
He served Two-Face for several weeks in search of assistance, but after discovering that Two-Face would only protect him ‘half the time,’ he begged to leave. When Two-Face learned of this, he attempted to decide whether White should live or die by flipping his coin. However, Humpty Dumpty came to his rescue and determined that White should share a room with him because he considered White the worst man he had ever encountered and in his weird and twisted way, wanted to be the one to fix him.
Jane Doe filed her jail later that night and kidnapped White. She then left him to die in Mr. Freeze’s sub-zero room. White gradually lost his mind, as well as his ears, lips, hair, nose, thumb, and several fingers, after being locked up for hours. He sharpened his teeth to the point once he was out. With his new appearance and insanity, he adopted the title “Great White Shark” and became Arkham’s go-to guy for special vehicles, armaments, and necessary equipment by the convicts in the event of their escape. Thus, effectively being reborn as a scary Batman villain.
Thus, Warren White is a cunning and shrewd criminal mastermind. He has excellent financial talents, which he uses to fund criminal activities, purchase weapons, hire associates, and arrange a variety of other activities. He’s proven himself capable of overseeing a criminal empire both inside and outside of Arkham Asylum. He lacks combat experience but is capable with a rifle, and his sharpened fangs can always be used as an effective weapon if necessary.
Great White Shark Various Story Arcs
Having made appearances in a total of 66 issues of DC comics, The Great White Shark has played a role in multiple storylines, varying in importance. Some of his major appearances and defining story arcs are as follows.
White next returns as part of the wider One Year Later storyline in the Batman: Face the Face arc, which ran through Detective Comics #817-820 and Batman #651-654. The Great White Shark had positioned himself as Gotham’s supreme crime leader during the narrative, which saw Batman and Robin absent for a year. In this plot, the Great White Shark successfully used his underworld ties as well as the new TallyMan to assassinate various villains like Orca, KGBeast, and Ventriloquist who were linked to The Penguin.
He was not only assassinating them, but he was also attempting to implicate the newly reformed Harvey Dent in their deaths. As an alibi, Great White remained in Arkham, commanding these actions from within, serving as a testament to his genius planning and organizing skills. Since then, Batman has confronted him and threatened to inform Two-Face of the frame-up, vowing to give Two-Face a shot at Great White if he is apprehended and returned to Arkham.
Despite his prominence as one of the city’s most prominent criminals, the Great White Shark remains imprisoned in Arkham, running his empire from within his cell and utilizing his confinement as a flawless alibi. He made his most recent appearance in Detective Comics #832 when Batman captures another villain known as the Shark, a former member of the “Terrible Trio.” The Great White Shark was reportedly planning to punish the Shark for appropriating the moniker White had claimed for himself when he was sent to Arkham.
He then appears in the Gotham Underground storyline, when the Great White Shark was savagely battered and imprisoned after being displaced during the recent takeover of Gotham’s criminal underworld by Metropolis gangs the 100 and Intergang.
Warren White was one of the many criminals being taken from Arkham Asylum to a secure location after the alleged death of Batman in Batman R.I.P or The Battle For The Cowl. The convicts were subsequently drugged, resulting in quick death at Mask’s command. Warren and his squad, acknowledging Black Mask as their commander, were armed to wreak havoc on the city once more, ending Two-Face and Penguin’s reigns over Gotham and restoring Black Mask as the supreme dictator of the underworld.
Insane Versions Of Great White Shark In Various Forms Of Media
The Great White Shark is a brilliantly made character and his backstory and specifically, his appearance coupled with an interesting name makes him a fan favorite. He has appeared in multiple different media.
In The Batman vs. Dracula animated film, a character who looks eerily similar to the Great White Shark before his transformation appears at the opening. This anonymous figure, like White, is sane in reality but manages to plead insanity and end up in Arkham, where he is progressively being driven insane by the other convicts. However, because this character is nameless, it’s unclear whether this is Warren White or a new character based on him.
While the Great White Shark does not present in Batman: Arkham Asylum, a jar in the asylum’s morgue bears his name. Several human fingers, a nose, and a pair of lips float in formaldehyde in the jar, probably those lost to frostbite by White. Two more jars similar to this can be found in the Medical Facility’s secure access cabinet in the room where The Scarecrow used his fear gas on the guards and doctors. A Riddler question mark was discovered at the bottom of the page, indicating that Riddler may require him for Underground objectives similar to Penguin’s, but on the other side of the battle.
He also appears in a fair share of video games. In the 2009 video game Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Great White Shark is mentioned. The Riddler’s in-game bio can be unlocked by solving one of his riddles. The answer to the question may be discovered in a jar in the game’s morgue, which comprises his nose, lips, one ear, and two fingers.
A sign reading “W WHITE” atop a building in Amusement Mile in the 2011 video game Batman: Arkham City refers to the Great White Shark. During Ra’s al Ghul’s “Trial of the Demon,” this sign reappears.
The container that opened Great White Shark’s bio in Batman: Arkham Asylum was seen in the evidence room of the Gotham City Police Department in Batman: Arkham Knight.
With that, we come to the end of this character study of yet another memorable DC villain. When it comes to unique and deranged villains, DC comics are the gift that keeps on giving. With no noise, lips, ears, or hair and deathly pale white skin and teeth razored down to resemble shark fangs, The Great White Shark is a villain that will not be easily forgotten.
However, his story is also a classic example of a more philosophical understanding and analysis of Gotham as we see how the penitentiary systems and jails of Gotham are spaces that effectively create villains out of men. This is a story of a regular crook driven insane in Arkham Asylum that leads him to become an even more dangerous villain whose sense of self now depends on his criminal persona.
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