DNA is probably the oldest and most perplexing databank on the planet. Entire genetic architecture that was previously something quite distinct is now encoded into our own cells. We know that all living species descended from a single source. But it is not until we come across an abnormality in the normal process of evolution that we realize how terrible it is. Have you ever thought about why some birds have teeth? Or why does it look like some dolphins have hind legs?
Or why are some human babies born with a rudimentary “tail”? Although a goose with teeth is one of the most horrifying images we have ever seen, they are not aliens or mutant hybrids brought back from the future to destroy us all. Atavism, a simple but rare biological process, is responsible for the formation of these “abominable appendages.”
Simply described, atavism is a biological structure change that resurrects an ancestral genetic feature that had been lost to evolution. It is why axolotls have webbed feet, dogs have dewclaws, and one of Gotham City’s most savagely cruel reptile humanoids lurks in the sewers.
Killer Croc was created by writer Gerry Conway and illustrator Gene Colan as the most physically intimidating adversary that Bruce Wayne had ever faced, with cameo appearances in Detective Comics issue #523 and Batman issue #357. And his humanity is not the only thing he is missing as the year’s pass. Let us have a peek at the origins of this horrific deformed beast who nearly killed Batman. Killer Croc’s Origins Have Been Revealed.
He was Born Waylon Jones: Killer Croc’s Origins
While “living the gimmick” is a fine balance between putting on a nuanced character portrayal and maintaining their own identity as a professional wrestler, this wasn’t the case for Waylon Jones. He was born with a rare condition that oddly resembled epidermolytic hyperkeratosis; except it wasn’t. Waylon was one of those rare individuals whose genes mutated thanks to Regressive Atavism, which managed to unlock the reptilian genome present in his DNA. I
t gave him a thick, scaly hide and razor-sharp claws and teeth that made him look like a vicious crocodile. He killed his own mother on his way out of her birth canal and would be abandoned by his father shortly after.
He was taken in by his aunt, but life would have been better for him on the streets. Being an abusive alcoholic, Waylon’s aunt would regularly beat and berate him, calling him names like “Lizard Boy” and making him scrub off his scales till his body bled. You’d think that a child who has known such torment in his personal life would find some respite in the outside world. But somehow, things only got worse for young Waylon.
He was relentlessly bullied as a child because of his monstrous appearance, shunned and ridiculed to the point he started feeling emotions no pre-schooler should ever even dream of. When he was only eight years old, he snapped and almost killed one of his schoolyard tormentors; for that, he spent the next eight years of his life in reform school.
As his contempt for humanity grew, so did his body, mutating to grotesque proportions and becoming increasingly reptilian in appearance. Over time, Waylon Jones forgot what made him so scared to be “accepted”; when he could simply make them bow down to his whims. The now sociopathic Jones celebrated his eighteenth birthday by killing an inmate at his prison home and becoming a cold-blooded murderer.
Even though he had just killed a man, Jones was let out on parole; a decision his aunt wouldn’t live to regret. He got a job as a sideshow circus freak for a while, wrestling crocodiles for people’s amusement. After finishing one of his “matches”, he realized he could use his strength to become an extremely powerful criminal and decided to do just that, taking on his in-ring persona as his criminal alias; Killer Croc.
While the details of his condition and the extent of his abilities have gone through drastic alterations in his 40-year-long existence, everything we’ve spoken about so far has remained consistent across every incarnation of Waylon Jones. The New 52 added another layer of tragedy (and violence) to his backstory by revealing that despite his monstrous appearance, Jones was- at his core- a nice, gentle and compassionate person. He would avoid conflict if he could afford it; but when he couldn’t, the results would be decidedly blood.
In this version, after having a disagreement over the payment for that night’s gator match, Killer Croc bites off the arm of his circus promoter and ends up getting arrested. When he overhears a few officers ridiculing the stupidity of his subsequent crime spree, he vows to become the best of both worlds, combining his brawn with brains to become the ultimate crime lord of Gotham City.
Unleash the Beast: Killer Croc’s Most Notable Appearances
Batman issue #357 is notable for two reasons: the introduction of the Todds (parents of the 2nd Robin Jason Todd) and the first full appearance of Killer Croc; though he keeps his face hidden throughout. After Tony Falco and Rupert Thorne are turned over to the police by the World’s Greatest Detective, a power vacuum occurs in Gotham’s Underworld.
Initially, a man called the Squid tried to fill it, using his former life as an international spy to his advantage, solidifying his power. He calls Gotham’s smaller mob bosses for a meeting, which is where we see Waylon Jones for the first time. He would go on to murder The Squid and fill in that power vacuum himself.
It was also during this run that he became the Sal Maroni to Jason Todd’s Dick Grayson. It was Killer Croc who originally killed the Todds, leading to the creation of the 2nd – and arguably more violent- Robin. When Jason tracked down Croc, he beat him within an inch of his life with a crowbar; a grim foreshadowing of his own fate. Future retcons have since established Two-Face as the murderer of Todd’s parents.
After failing to keep a firm grasp on Crime in Gotham City, Croc made it his personal mission to break down Batman; limb by limb. In his first three physical encounters with the Caped Crusader, Croc came out on top and managed to subdue one of the world’s greatest martial artists with a crude move-set and raw, unbridled strength.
During the events of Knightfall, Croc almost succeeded in doing what Bane would go on to do. During yet another confrontation with Batman, Killer Croc nearly breaks Bruce’s back, forcing him to retreat and earning Croc Bane’s undivided attention.
In terms of pure power, Waylon Jones’ mutations might have been enough to stand up to Bane. But thanks to years of abusing Venom, Bane had transcended human definitions of strength and managed to effortlessly break Waylon’s arms and send him packing. Croc would return with a vengeance and battle Bane to a stalemate the next time.
During the events of the Hush storyline, Croc is injected with a virus that rapidly accelerates his regressive atavism, causing him to fully transform into a human/crocodile hybrid. He goes on a mindless rampage after escaping from Arkham and has to be fully subdued and drugged in order to be cured.
But Thomas Elliot had spent years studying biology and his virus always came back with an explosive bang. Croc was implanted with a mind-control chip by Mad Hatter on the orders of the Black Mask, who wanted to use him as an unstoppable enforcer. An additional side effect of the chip was that Croc would be completely unaware of the actions he commits under its influence. Waylon ended up becoming so traumatized by the experience that he began cannibalizing himself in order to get rid of the chip.
After ridding himself of its influence, he retreated to the sewers, vowing revenge on both Batman and Black Mask. During his time dwelling in the literal underground of Gotham City, Jones realized that ruling doesn’t necessitate visual authority; he could just as well rule over Gotham City from his personal kingdom, down in the sewers.
He began saving helpless victims of crime and recruiting them into his personal army. Waylon felt a queer kinship with them, recognizing their vulnerabilities and outcast status. It reminded him of his own childhood, and he vowed to take care of his “subjects” even if he had to give his life for them. Croc would eventually amass a force strong enough to take out a highly-trained SWAT team effortlessly.
With his militia of disenfranchised and troubled civilians, Waylon Jones finally achieved the moniker he had always worked towards; he became King Croc. This marked the start of a period where Croc transitioned into more of an anti-hero role. With DC’s Rebirth initiative, Jones found himself helping people once again as a part of Amanda Waller’s Task Force X.
He started becoming “human” again, reining in his bloodlust and reptilian instinct, and even forming a romantic relationship with his teammate June Moone; aka The Enchantress. But the events of the Joker War force Croc back into the enforcer’s life, and he has since returned to his villainous ways. While his personal trajectory is a tragedy worth performing in the Coliseum, there is nothing dramatic about the threat that Killer Croc poses to society.
What Makes Killer Croc So Dangerous?
Over the years, Croc has floated about on the character-relevancy rankings, going from one of the leading racketeers of Gotham City to a sewer-dwelling pacifist thanks to the constant rebooting of the DC Universe. The one thing that’s remained consistent is that he is one of the most physically-imposing threats Batman has ever faced.
Waylon Jones is a freak of nature, who is, for all intents and purposes, a reptile. His senses are far more enhanced than that of a normal human; once he memorizes a person’s scent, he can track him for miles away. His scales serve as natural armor. They are so durable that they make him virtually immune to abrasions and bullet wounds. He is an exceptional swimmer, capable of moving freely underwater and outmaneuvering his opponents like they’re fishes out of water.
But while those things come in handy when he’s tracking a target, they become ancillary in comparison to his strength. Killer Croc is easily in the Top 3 Strongest Batman Villains of All-Time conversation. With his monstrous strength, Jones can rip a bank vault door off its hinges with ease, and toss around the Caped Crusader like a ragdoll. As we’ve mentioned already before Bane came into the picture, it was Killer Croc whose life’s mission was to break Batman’s back; he nearly succeeded and didn’t need to dope to do it either.
Croc also possesses a healing factor that gives Wolverine a run for his money. Waylon is so confident in his ability to heal, that during one of his Arkham-mandated therapy sessions, he bit his arms off to get rid of the restraints.
Talk about hardcore! After getting injected with a mutagen by Hush, Croc’s reptilian regression has only worsened, making him look like an anthropomorphized crocodile and sending his mind into the depths of insanity. Though he can control his psyche, for the most part, Waylon Jones struggles with his reptilian urge to consume warm-blooded flesh; and when he gives in, the bodies pile up like so many flies.
Threatening Alternate Versions Of Killer Croc In Various Forms Of Media
Being one of the most iconic villains in Batman’s Rogues Gallery, Killer Croc has made several appearances across various forms of media; especially animated TV shows. Killer Croc appears as one of the villains in Batman: Gotham Knight, where he is a cannibalistic serial killer. The story goes that he was born with a hideously disfiguring skin disorder and that his mother abandoned him in the sewers of Gotham.
As an adult, he filed his front teeth into points to compliment the reptilian appearance of his skin and becomes a circus performer. Later, Waylon Jones – now called Killer Croc – goes on a killing spree that eventually lands him in Arkham Asylum. After getting injected with the Fear Toxin by Scarecrow, Croc goes on an extended rampage that sees him have a drawn-out battle with a rattled Bruce Wayne, who only won because he shoved a smoke bomb in Croc’s mouth.
In Son of Batman, he gained his reptilian powers thanks to a mutagen developed by Kirk Langstrom; aka Man-Bat. He is captured by Talia al Ghul and has the mutagen extracted from his blood, nearly killing him. Batman agrees to help him after he names Langstrom as the mutagen’s creator, but not before Batman rips off his damaged tail to make him talk. He was a professional wrestler in Batman: The Animated Series, and a robot in Batman Beyond.
In Batman: New Adventure, he teamed up with Baby Doll to take down The Dynamic Duo but was unsuccessful after a love-struck Doll unraveled his deception. He appeared as a drugged-out, cavern-dwelling inmate of Arkham in the critically-acclaimed game Batman: Arkham Asylum. While he wasn’t exactly a major villain in the first installment, avoiding him was a task and a half.
Moving around Arkham on a floating log isn’t ideal if you couldn’t tell, and if Jones caught even a sliver of movement, you better be prepared for one brutal fight sequence. He makes his return as one of the 8 assassins hired by Black Mask to take out Batman in Arkham Origins. Killer Croc made his live-action debut with the DCEU’s first Suicide Squad film, where he was portrayed by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
Why Killer Croc is one of the Best Batman Villains
His detractors will always label him as a Curt Connors knockoff, but we’d argue that Killer Croc is a far more layered and empathetic character than the Lizard, and that is saying something. Waylon Jones started his comic book journey as a cold-hearted, calculating mob boss who used his biological defects to his physical advantage and wanted to simply rule the underworld and break Batman’s back.
As the years progressed and his sanity regressed, his story became a truly compelling black hole of conflicting, terrifying emotions that can only manifest themselves in primal rage and a hunger for human flesh. Waylon Jones is Killer Croc, but he has shown that he can be more than that. It isn’t for a lack of trying that he doesn’t continue on the path of goodness.
Jones has been misunderstood his entire life because of how he looks; something most of us can kind of relate to. After his entire genetic make-up was toyed with like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, who can blame him for giving in to his animalistic “other”? Killer Croc has been immortalized in comic book history as one of the more empathetic members of Batman’s Rogues Gallery; even though he eats people and lives in the sewers.