Hey folks, and welcome back to Marvelous Videos for a new exciting video. You probably guessed from the title of this video that we are going to take you on a journey through the life of a DC Comics character. We have got the story of the Clock King for you today.
The Clock King, a name shared by three supervillains, is a character who appears in DC Comics’ American comic books. Even if you know nothing about him, this is your moment to learn everything you can about him. As a result, the first Clock King in the DC Universe was introduced as a villain. Green Arrow is his most vehement foe. In August 1960, he made his first appearance in World’s Finest Comics issue #111. France Herron and Lee Elias produced The Clock King.
The Clock King is famed for his use of clock-themed gadgetry as a genius and master planner. Almost every time you see him, he will be wearing a clock mask, a cape, and a blue suit with clock motifs. Clock King made his live-action debut in the Batman TV series in the 1960s. Walter Slezak portrayed him in this film. Later, he was played by Robert Knepper in episodes from the second season of Arrow and The Flash, which were set in the Arrowverse. Due to his appearances in Justice League International and the Suicide Squad, he has recently garnered fame.
Let us now discuss his background and how he commits crimes.
Clock King Comic Origin
Two famed archers seem to be the protagonists or the heroes of the city where the Clock King creates havoc. One fine evening at the Ritz Royal Hotel, there was a gala costume ball. A night of partying where every single person is in masks and fancy costumes so they cannot be recognized. You can say it is a perfect place for a thief to commit a crime.
And that is exactly what our Clock King had in mind. This event served as the perfect opportunity for him to steal some things and successfully get away with them. He arrived at the gala obviously in a costume that had clock designs all over it, and his signature clock mask. Now, he was aware of the fact that there were many wealthy ladies present at the party who were wearing quite expensive jewelry. But since everyone was in masks, he was having a difficult time recognizing them.
The rule at the gala was that when the clock struck midnight, everyone was going to take their masks off. But the Clock King had planned his rooftop escape sharp at 12 A.M. So, naturally, he needed them to take off their masks before that. He succeeded in doing this by moving the minute hand of the clock forward and that is exactly when the room went dark. Women were yelling that someone had taken their tiaras and necklaces. But no one could catch the Clock King as he had escaped from that place.
Now, as it turns out, the way that our epic hero Batman has a bat signal that the police use to contact him, there is also a signal to call Green Arrow. It is like a flaming green arrow that is shot up in the sky through the police headquarters to notify Green Arrow that his assistance is needed. And in the very next moment Green Arrow and Speedy chase after the Clock King and spot him on the top of the clock tower.
But luck is on the Clock King’s side as he manages to deceive both Green Arrow and Speedy and make an escape for the good. Eventually, as the days go by, there are many thefts all over the city, which are obviously the crimes committed by Clock King. Our heroes successfully deduce that Clock King has a pattern where he only robs the places that have something to do with TIME.
Now, the Clock King has already started planning his next theft where he decides to trick Green Arrow by making him think that he is robbing the clock store. But in reality, he plans to run over to the antique store next to the clock store and rob it while others are distracted by the mishap in the clock shop.
Well, unfortunately for him, Green Arrow and Speedy are not that dumb. They figure out the Clock King’s plans and chase after him. Although our thief is also one step ahead of the heroes. He has set up a bobby trap which is unavoidable if they want to catch him. Underneath the floorboard, there is a giant hourglass full of sand that does not have a bottom. And the sand is constantly sinking. If Green Arrow and Speedy were to run out of time, they were sure to fall into a pit full of spikes.
The number of time-related puns that have been so precisely used in this comic, is definitely admirable. Now, in order to save themselves, the famed archer shoots up a shaft at the ceiling and they both use it to climb out of the hourglass. A shocked Clock King now has nowhere to run. The crimes of the Clock King are then brought to an end as he is put into jail.
Now let us go a little deeper into his story. Before he was named Clock King, people knew him as William Tockman. He was a good man who cared for his ill sister. But he received some rather unfortunate news one day, during a normal checkup. Tockman’s doctor told him that he had a rare genetic disorder and his time was down to only six months of life.
Being the concerned big brother that he was, he wanted to make sure that his sister would be taken care of once he was gone. So, Tockman planned a bank robbery to acquire sufficient money for her. That is when he got the nickname of The Clock King and adopted an extremely hideous clock-themed outfit since his plans were dependent on his mastery of the unique timing mechanism put in the bank’s vault.
Tockman could not exactly execute his plans since he was soon caught and arrested by Green Arrow. While rotting in a jail cell, he learned that his doctor had mistakenly mixed his test results with someone else’s and that he was not going to die after all. Although Tockman’s sister died a few days after and that is when his hatred for Green Arrow began. He was not exactly our everyday kind of fantastic super-villain, considering his complete lack of preparation.
He did end up joining the version of the evil Injustice League, which later became the Justice League Antarctica. When that failed to work out for him, he created his own criminal squad with a bunch of even more miserable villains. He eventually joined The Suicide Squad, in which he was ultimately murdered while on a mission.
We have another interesting story arc for the Clock King, so let us move to the next segment and check out who he appears as this time.
Clock King Story from Batman the Animated Series
The most well-known version of the Clock King is from Batman: The Animated Series. He was recreated for this show as Temple Fugate. And he is voiced by Alan Rachins. His name was taken from the Latin phrase Tempus fugit, which literally translates to “time flies.” Now, at first, it seems like the life of Temple Fugate is just like any other ordinary man. He is a guy who is obsessed with time and punctuality. He even has a pre-planned schedule down to every minute of his life on a “to-do” list organized into a perfect timetable.
He works as a lawyer at a time and motion study consulting firm that is being sued for all of its finances and by any chance, if he loses this case, he will go bankrupt. Now, just on the day of the meeting another lawyer, Hamilton Hill, manages to convince Fugate to take a coffee break at an unusual time different from his schedule.
Now, while he is on his break, everything ends up going wrong in his life. He misplaces paperwork and also ends up being late for his court session. As a result of this, the judge rejects his case, and Fugate loses the lawsuit and becomes bankrupt. Later on, it comes to his notice that it was Hamilton Hill’s firm that was the plaintiff for the court date for which Fugate was late. And now, he wants to take revenge on Hamilton Hill even more desperately because he did the crime of making Fugate LATE.
Seven years after this incident, Fugate becomes the Clock King, turning to a life of crime and vengeance by employing his strong grasp of the element of time. All this time, he believed Hill destroyed his life on purpose and so, he continued to wreak mayhem until eventually, Batman came into the picture. He wanted to be the greatest opponent Batman ever had. So, by watching him on news footage and learning his each and every move, Fugate prepared himself.
After almost catching and murdering Batman, Clock King ends up abducting Mayor Hamilton Hill and chains him to the hands of a massive clock on the 7th anniversary of his bankruptcy so that the mayor can now meet the Grim Reaper at 3:15. His attempt at killing the mayor leads him to finally have a climactic confrontation with Batman on the inside of the wheels of the clock tower. Fugate unknowingly jammed the wheels with his clock hand like a blade.
The machine malfunctions and breaks and Fugate manages to flee while howling with laughter and saying that there is always a way out. Later on, he is believed to be dead, but Batman has his suspicions. And he thinks that Fugate has always been alive and that it will only be a matter of time until he attacks again.
As Batman had predicted, Fugate finally reappears only this time he is armed with the kind of technology that allows him to move at near-light speed. He stole it from a scientist named Dr. Wakati, for whom he works as a butler by the name “Harold”. In order to kill Mayor Hill, this time, Fugate installs a bomb during Hill’s inauguration of the new courthouse. He is hoping to blow it up into pieces and murder thousands of people.
After learning Fugate’s secret from Dr. Wakati, Batman and Robin adopt a similar gadget to slow down the bomb’s detonation as they toss it into the river. Fugate attempts to run when his plans are defeated, but Robin captures him and destroys his machine, which makes him unable to escape. He was then arrested and jailed at the Stonegate Penitentiary.
Fugate eventually joined Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad in Justice League Unlimited, where he planned and organized a robbery for the team on the Justice League Watchtower. Surprisingly, Temple Fuget’s skills and abilities are also similar to those of a Golden Age villain known as The Clock, who made his first appearance in Star Spangled Comics issue number #70 in July 1947 while battling Robin.
Now, let us discover his traits and abilities that make him the villain that we all know him to be.
What Makes Clock King So Dangerous?
The original Clock King, we can say, does not have any metahuman powers or abilities, other than being extremely athletic and incredibly intelligent. He makes use of several clocks as well as time-related tricks to create deadly situations and destroy the city. His main weapon is a sword which is crafted in the shape of a clock’s hand that also acts as a walking stick. The level of his swordsmanship is so intense that even Batman himself could not beat him in single combat. Proof of this is revealed in the episode “The Clock King” of Batman: The Animated Series.
Now, his animated version seems to be even more skilled as he makes better use of his skills related to time. For example, he knows precisely how much time it takes Batman to land a punch. This knowledge gives him the advantage to avoid Batman’s attacks every single time. Later on, he employs his expertise as an excellent strategist to plan and execute a successful and surprise attack on the Justice League Watchtower.
Now let us come to the new Clock King. This current version of him has the power to always see what is going to happen four seconds or so in the future. It allows him to guess what moves his opponent is going to make. We will later talk about the show in which this power was first introduced. Of course, in close combat, this trick comes in very handy for him. The Clock King is also a scientific and technological genius. He develops many unique devices, such as designing teleporters, communications jamming tools, as well as an anti-gravity platform. His ways are particularly unique because he models all of his inventions on time-related pieces.
The stories of the Clock King do not end just here. There are many interesting versions of his character which makes him an even more out-of-the-ordinary supervillain in the DC Universe.
Mind-blowing Versions of Clock King In Various Forms Of Media
The Clock King makes a fantastic appearance on the iconic 1960s Batman TV show. This Clock King was played by Walter Slezak and the name of his character was Morris Tetch. He employed time-piece-based weaponry and death traps while attempting to steal objects related to time and clocks. The obsession with time is evident at this point. The Batman ’66 comic, recently, confirmed a much older fan theory that Morris Tetch was in fact the brother of Jervis Tetch, a.k.a. The Mad Hatter.
In The Batman: The Brave and The Bold cartoon the Clock King was introduced as the first villain in the series fighting both Batman and Green Arrow. Here, he is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. This Clock King spoke with a German accent and appeared in a costume that had a kingly version of the classic William Tockman outfit, complete with a crown and ermine cape as well as the traditional clock face mask.
In this version, he also uses two partners in crime named Tick and Tock. He locked the heroes up to their deaths in a pool full of acid. But sadly, for him, the heroes were able to escape using the powers of Green Arrow and Batman’s utility belt. He then made an attempt to battle the heroes but obviously failed only to get arrested by the police at the end.
The next widely known version of the Clock King is from the tv series Arrow, where he is played by the actor Robert Knepper. William Tockman made his first appearance on the show in episode 14 of the second season. In the episode, he has been shown to have almost superhuman abilities when it comes to timing as well as mind blowing technical skills, just like Temple Fugate.
It would appear that he is looking for a gadget that can be programmed to unlock any bank vault, which is actually known as The Skeleton Key. He wants this device so that he can get the money required for the medical treatment for his dying sister, Beverly. But Green Arrow and his expanding group of vigilantes are able to put an end to his plans.
Later on, Tockman makes a return in The Flash episode “Power Outage.” He was initially held in the custody of the Central City Police Department. Not soon enough does he take advantage of a citywide blackout and hold everyone inside as hostages. Iris West, on the other hand, comes to the rescue when she steals Officer Eddie Thawne’s gun and shoots Tockman with it before the Flash rushes to assist.
Another version of the Clock King was introduced, but he was never given a real name or a secret identity. He made his first appearance on Teen Titans during Sean McKeever’s time as the show’s creator. This Clock King was a skilled strategist but he also had a weak kind of psychic ability that permitted him to see four seconds into the future and act accordingly.
There is also the New 52 Green Arrow comic, which has recently featured a criminal leader named Billy Tockman. Together with two other criminal masterminds, Tockman leads the underworld of Seattle, directly managing the city’s waterfront. In this narrative, he has yet to be recognized as The Clock King, but the lineage seems to be very similar.
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