When it comes to supervillains, DC Comics has a large collection. One thing that happens a lot in this world is that numerous villains have the same name, either because of continuity changes or because villains pass the baton on to other villains. Spellbinder is one of these characters. This is a DC supervillain codename that has been used by four fictional supervillains.
Delbert Billings was the first Spellbinder. He first appeared in Detective Comics #358 in December 1966. Sheldon Moldoff and John Broome designed him. This Spellbinder was a painter who committed crimes using hypnosis and optical illusions. In truth, every Spellbinder commits its crimes through deception and hypnosis.
We will discuss a different Spellbinder in this video, one who appears in The Batman and Batman Beyond. Ira Billings, the psychologist of Hamilton High School, is more significant as a character in Batman Beyond. Yes, Terry McGinnis, commonly known as The Batman from Batman Beyond, attended high school.
Because he is salty, the person only wants money, and he obtains it by employing futuristic gadgets to create illusions that drive people to commit crimes. It is a clever strategy, but he has some of the greatest in the game guarding Gotham City. Unfortunately, one of his classmates is none other than Batman himself. Unfortunately, Batman is mentored by Bruce Wayne, the original Batman.
In this video, we will discuss Spellbinder’s shenanigans, especially in Batman Beyond, and why he became a criminal.
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Spellbinder Origin from Batman Beyond
Spellbinder makes his first appearance in the tenth episode of Batman Beyond called Spellbound. He boasts of a strange ability that makes people hallucinate and causes their behavior in the false world to take place in the real world. This sounds a bit weird and complicated at first but when explained with context, it’s quite simple and effective.
In the episode, Gotham City is overrun by a series of strange crimes. The perpetrators claim that they met a strange, mysterious man in a weird suit and a magic eye who caused them to experience hallucinations. When Batman comes across this man, even he succumbs to this uncharacteristic power that warps the lines between fiction and reality.
Chelsea Cunningham becomes the next victim of this power. She returns from a date with her boyfriend, Rick when she comes across a man in a strange costume. He shows her an eye in his hand, offering to take her on an adventure. The moment Chelsea looks into the eye, she finds herself wandering across a jungle. Here, she finds an ancient temple with a small idol in the center. Chelsea picks it up. She then follows the man and reaches a pool of lava. Chelsea drops the idol into the lava.
If you’re wondering what this all means, this is where it gets interesting. Whatever happened here in the fictional world, is happening in a real-life setting. Chelsea has actually entered her own home, picked up a statue owned by her father, and dropped it off at the riverbank from above.
Her father confronts her about it and she snaps out of her hallucination. However, she is confused, and rightfully so. Meanwhile, the strange man flies away with the statue but no one really notices him.
The next day, Terry eavesdrops on a conversation between Barbara Gordon and the school psychologist, Ira Billings. They talk about Chelsea and come to the conclusion that she does this for attention. She only made up the story about the mystery man as an excuse. Terry finds it suspicious but Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne find it to be perfectly acceptable.
That night, the mystery man a.k.a. Spellbinder picks another victim – the auction house manager Mr. Deakins. He looks at Spellbinder’s strange eye and finds himself in the false world where he is amidst a jungle war. Mr. Deakins then knocks out a security guard at the auction house and locks himself inside. He gets a hold of a valuable dress that used to belong to Princess Audrey and drags it to the roof. He actually believes the dress to be a wounded comrade in the jungle war while the cops who have arrived and the guards are the enemies.
Spellbinder waits for him on the roof. He assumes the man’s vehicle to be a rescue helicopter and takes his so-called comrade there. In reality, he is just loading the valuable dress into Spellbinder’s ride. Even after Batman arrives, Mr. Deakins attacks him. Ultimately, Batman knocks him to a wall and Mr. Deakins snaps out of the hallucination. Similar to Chelsea, even he is left super confused.
The similar nature of the two incidents results in the cops reopening the case. Meanwhile, Terry leaves in a formal suit to attend the wedding of Jared’s mother. She was bedazzled in large jewels. While she was walking down the stairs, she was hit with the magic eye of Spellbinder, which was concealed in a video camera. She suddenly imagined herself in a nest brimming with gigantic insects and ran, terrified. Terry spots Spellbinder in the crowd and pulls out his suit.
Jared’s mother unknowingly jumps off the balcony but is saved by Batman. However, she sees him as a giant insect and tries to escape from him. Now, we get to the part Spellbinder was waiting for. The woman finally sees her jewels as insects and tears them off. Spellbinder steals them and Batman is unable to stop the theft. So, he pursues the strange guy.
Batman catches up to Spellbinder but succumbs to his hallucination. He finds himself atop a tropical waterfall and dives down to the pool. In reality, he is falling from the building towards the street. Bruce snaps Terry out of it and Terry manages to save himself. Spellbinder escapes.
He attacks Terry again the next day. Bruce hears an intruder alarm and finds Terry stealing Bruce’s valuable objects. At the same time, Terry believes that he is a contestant in a shopping spree game. Bruce once again snaps Terry back to reality.
Finally, Bruce reveals the tea on Spellbinder. It has been the psychologist Ira Billings all along. All of his victims were in fact, his therapy patients or their parents. Billings was aware of Terry working for Bruce Wayne even though he did not know of his identity. So, he used Terry to get access to Wayne Manor. And if that was the case, it meant that Spellbinder was right outside.
Terry once again is hit by the magic eye and is attacked by illusionary zombies. Finally, we get to hear Billings’ motive behind his actions. Spellbinder explains how he has been treating students coming from really wealthy families. However, he was often compensated poorly and wanted to get back at the rich to get the wealth he deserved for his services. He also wanted to attack Batman himself. But when Spellbinder tried to attack Terry, Bruce managed to help him out.
Terry finds himself back in reality and runs towards Spellbinder, but it wasn’t real after all. He almost falls off a cliff but Bruce snaps him back. Spellbinder sneaks an attack from behind which Batman evades, causing Spellbinder to fall from the cliff himself. However, Batman captures him.
That’s not it for Spellbinder in Batman Beyond though. He appears again in the show’s 21st episode where several teenagers find themselves being addicted to virtual reality. They begin to commit crimes for the money to fund this habit.
Donny is a young teenager. He is also a rockstar who is feeling euphoric after absolutely killing it at his concert which is brimming with his fans. He leaves the arena and enters a limo, where three beautiful girls are waiting for him. Suddenly, the scene shifts and it is revealed that he is actually in a virtual reality parlor and this is his dreamworld. Donny’s booth has been shut off but Donny begs to return to this place. However, the proprietor asks him to pay for it first.
Donny resorts to mugging people for money, snatching their wallets and purses. Terry witnesses it all and confronts it as Batman. Donny tries to escape him and leaps off a building roof and eventually, Terry has to give up on the pursuit.
Meanwhile, Donny goes back to the virtual reality parlor and pays his proprietor to enter the VR world once again. But the proprietor is none other than Spellbinder. This kinda feels like a crossover between Batman Beyond and Black Mirror.
Another client, Jessie, suddenly enters a state of comatose. Spellbinder shuts off the other booths and asks them to dump Jessie somewhere. He then sets off to find new recruits. Jessie was eventually found and was admitted to the hospital. Bruce realizes that a pattern is repeating in the city and it has some connection with Donny.
Terry brings Max to visit Donny’s parents for an investigation. The apartment isn’t great and Donny’s father seems to be quite abusive. Here, Max finds a cash card that belongs to Donny. They find a surprisingly high number of charges from an arcade with a virtual reality booth. That’s their clue right there.
They find the arcade. Donny and two others spot Max and Terry. They approach them and invite them to see a real VR experience. Here, Terry finds out that Spellbinder is the one offering these addictive services. A fight breaks out. Donny distracts Terry and Max is dragged away. She is then made to experience a fantasy where her family is loving, something she has always wanted.
History repeats and Terry finds Max breaking into a car to steal money the next night. He confronts her and she confesses to wanting to experience the virtual reality desperately. Terry takes her home but here, he sees her reality. Her parents are divorced and her mother is always too busy to be present. Terry contacts Bruce but Max sneaks up to knock him out. And she leaves the apartment.
Terry regains consciousness and goes to the parlor. He shuts down Max’s booth when Spellbinder takes him by surprise and knocks him out. Seems like this guy just can’t stop getting knocked out. Spellbinder heads to kill Terry but Max is too addicted to notice it.
Spellbinder attacks Terry by overloading his mind with an illusion device. However, Max realizes what’s up and subdues Spellbinder from behind. He is finally arrested.
He appears once again in the twenty-seventh episode, Eyewitness. Here, Commissioner Barbara Gordon sees Batman as a murderer, killing a man in cold blood. Batman becomes a fugitive and finds himself a new enemy with Barbara who also happens to be aware of his identity. But there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
Batman patrols Gotham City and overlooks a suspicious delivery. He busts it and exposes the gangsters selling the content of the delivery. The buyers escape but inside the cargo, Terry finds armed police officers and Commissioner Barbara Gordon, who is furious.
Turns out, it was a police sting operation that had been in the works for over a year. Barbara has also found out that Terry has a juvenile record and threatens to put an end to Batman if he slips once more.
The next night, Barbara speaks at a benefit dinner for her husband’s re-election. Mad Stan interrupts the dinner, prompting Batman to crash in and fight Stan. The battle gets brutal between the two and Stan is driven to the parking garage upstairs. Meanwhile, Barbara follows Terry with a gun.
Stan brings out a massive bomb. Batman disarms him and knocks Stan to the ground. The villain begins to mock Batman when the Bat crashes the bomb on Stan’s head, twice. Barbara is horrified by Terry’s act of brutality and charges at him to freeze but Terry disappears. When Stan’s body is checked, he turns out to be dead.
Commissioner Gordon is now furious and wants Terry to be arrested. However, she cannot find him. Terry is hiding out with Max when Bruce contacts him. He learns that Barbara saw him kill Mad Stan but Terry says that he only knocked him out. Bruce then checks the surveillance footage which seems to be a bit dodgy. Here, he realizes that something shady is lurking in the shadows. And of course, Terry has been framed.
Bruce orders Terry to go to the morgue as Batman and examine Mad Stan’s body. However, Terry is unable to find it. An intruder trips the alarm and the police appear to corner Batman. He somehow manages to escape and is taken to a movie theater via an underground tunnel by Bruce Wayne. Turns out, Barbara Gordon is waiting for him.
Bruce’s computer cleans up the surveillance footage and it confirms that Terry wasn’t lying after all. A shadowy figure appears in the background and this is the guy responsible for putting Terry in a mess.
Finally, Batman allows himself to get surrounded by the police and pretends to surrender. Suddenly, he throws his Batarang and an invisible figure is exposed behind Barbara. As you may already guess, it’s Spellbinder. Turns out, that Spellbinder uses his illusions to make Barbara witness a fake murder. He did it all because he wanted revenge on Batman for apprehending him in the past.
Meanwhile, the police find Mad Stan alive at Spellbinder’s virtual reality parlor.
It’s strange how Spellbinder was apprehended the last time but his VR technology still exists. Maybe that’s a plot hole or maybe it’s something only the criminal gets access to.
But that’s about it for Spellbinder in Batman: Beyond.
What Makes Spellbinder So Dangerous?
If you can control the mind, you can render the most powerful people weak. And that’s exactly what Spellbinder does.
Spellbinder isn’t the smartest guy. He is also mildly okay when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, which means that he is no match for Batman in these two areas. However, his game was his mind-warping technology and his artillery.
Spellbinder’s floating eyeball is dangerous. One look and it sends you into a fake world where he feeds information into your brain. This is exactly how he was able to victimize so many people, including Terry, in his debut episode.
He’s also got his VR technology that sends you to your ideal world. Imagine having a terrible life and finding a technology that sends you to a world where you’re happy. In the DC verse where the average person has a pretty garbage life, of course, this technology is dangerous and addictive. We know that Billings is a psychologist, so to be able to create technology that acquires full knowledge of a person’s psyche and creates a reality accordingly is actually insane.
Considering how someone as powerful as Superman is often subdued by villains who can control minds and warp reality, it is no surprise that Spellbinder’s illusionary tactics make him a dangerous foe to deal with.
Terrifying Version Of Spellbinder That Appears In The Batman
Spellbinder appears as an antagonist here and is voiced by the late Michael Massee.
Here, Spellbinder isn’t using technology to create his illusions but is actually a magician. He can use hypnosis to take over minds. There’s one condition though. The victim has to look at the clock when it strikes nine.
Spellbinder wants money. And he gets it by putting the butlers of rich people under his hypnosis. He makes them steal the valuable goods of their employers and acquire them. In fact, he has even controlled Alfred at one point.
Once he tried to steal a really rare gem. Too bad Batman arrives to stop him and the two engage in a mental battle. Batman was ultimately able to block the illusions and punched Spellbinder.
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