Tobias Whale

Tobias Whale
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Black Lightning #1
(April 1977)
Created by Tony Isabella
Trevor Von Eeden
In-story information
Alter ego Tobias Whale
Species Human
Place of origin New Earth
Team affiliations The 100
Intergang
Kord Enterprises
Notable aliases The Great White Whale, Whale
Abilities Criminal mastermind
Advanced Hand-to-Hand Combatant
Skilled harpooner

Tobias Whale is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Black Lightning.

Whale has been portrayed in a few shows and films. The character is portrayed by Marvin "Krondon" Jones III in the live action series Black Lightning.

Publication history

Created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, the character made his first appearance in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977).

Fictional character biography

Tobias Whale is an African American albino kingpin, who worked his way up from the rackets to head the Metropolis branch of the 100. A school teacher named Jefferson Pierce spoke out against the 100's drug trafficking, and so they made an example of one of his students named Earl Clifford where Joey Toledo led his men into attacking Earl which ended with Earl hit by a car. Seeking to avenge the murdered student and receiving help from his tailor friend Peter Gambi, Pierce becomes Black Lightning and attacks Joey and his men. After defeating his henchmen, Joey Toledo is grabbed by Black Lightning who arranges for him to meet him at Garfield High School's gymnasium to describe the 100 to him.[1]

When Black Lightning meets with Joey Toledo, Merlyn also appears upon being hired by Toledo to kill Black Lightning. Their fight is crashed by Talia al Ghul and the League of Shadows who are after Merlyn when he left the group after failing to kill Batman. The resulting battle ended with Joey Toledo being killed by a League of Assassins operative. Afterwards, Pierce is so successful in avenging Earl's death that Tobias is sent to jail.[2]

When he breaks out of prison some months later, he teams up with Syonide II in order to distribute a new highly addictive drug. The drug's formula was supposedly in the possession of a woman named Violet Harper. Tobias sends Syonide to retrieve the formula. Unable to gain any information or find any trace of the formula, Syonide kills Harper. Violet Harper later comes back to life when an Aurakle possesses her lifeless body, this new being called herself Halo. Once he learned of Harper's resurrection, Tobias assumed that she must have memorized the formula. But since Harper has no memories from before her death, a frustrated Syonide killed her parents during the Outsiders' fight with Tobias Whale's henchmen.[3]

Often called "the Great White Whale" behind his back, Tobias Whale weighs close to 400 lbs. However, most of his considerable bulk is muscle.

It is unknown whether Tobias ever was associated with the 100's successor group, the 1000.

Whale returned in the limited series Gotham Underground[4] and has moved to Gotham City where he is attempting to become the Capo di tutti capi boss of bosses, following the death of the Black Mask. After taking over both the Galante and Odessa crime families, he ends up in a gang war with Intergang. They buy him out and make him the CEO of Kord Enterprises which has become a front for Intergang's criminal activities.

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Tobias Whale is re-introduced when he gets word that a drug deal done by his representatives was disrupted by both Black Lightning and Blue Devil. He decides to have them hunted down in order to get revenge on them.[5]

Other versions

Convergence

During the 2015 "Convergence" storyline, the pre-Zero-Hour version of Tobias Whale has been trapped in his Metropolis for a full year. He has taken over the criminal underground. He struggles to gain influence over the mysterious food deliveries as this is something the city values. He is opposed by the vigilante Jean-Paul Valley and the stranded playboy Bruce Wayne. Whale is unaware that Wayne is secretly Batman.[6]

In other media

Television

  • While Tobias Whale is not present in Justice League Unlimited, a similar character named Steven Mandragora appears in episode "Double Date", voiced by Glenn Shadix. An amalgam of Sicilian crime lord from DC Comics Stefano Mandragora and of Tobias Whale, the latter one more visually based on him, he is a crime lord who killed Helena's parents when she was younger, prompting her to become Huntress and join Justice League. Years later, he is seen in federal custody to give an information of organised crime. When Helena discovers this, she goes to kill him. Steven is released from custody by his henchman who also rescued his son Edgar from rival gang and attempted to escape with him. When Helena caught him with the aid of Question, she wants to kill him, but when she discovers that he has a son, she decides not to kill him, putting him in federal custody again. Unlike the comics version of Tobias Whale, he is hinted to have metahuman powers due to his immense strength and endurance.
  • Marvin "Krondon" Jones III portrays Tobias Whale as the main antagonist of the first season of Black Lightning.[7] His backstory is that he is a former politician who rose through the ranks of local government through corruption, but was brought down by Jefferson's father Alvin. After killing Alvin, Tobias was kicked out of the government and became the leader of The 100 Gang upon receiving ownership of it from Lady Eve's people. He has Joey Toledo and Syonide as his enforcers and has a younger sister named Tori (portrayed by Edwina Findley).

Film

Tobias Whale appears in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, voiced by Dave Fennoy. He had a flash drive containing leaked information in his possession which Amanda Waller sent Task Force X (consisting of Deadshot, Black Manta, Count Vertigo, and Punch and Jewelee) to recover. He subdues Vertigo and Deadshot in a fight, but is killed when Count Vertigo uses his "Vertigo Effect" to weaken him and Punch uses his sting string to force him into shooting himself in his head.

References

  1. ↑ Black Lightning#1
  2. ↑ Black Lightning #2-3
  3. ↑ Batman and the Outsiders #20. DC Comics.
  4. ↑ "Gotham Underground" #1-8 (December 2007 to August 2008). DC Comics.
  5. ↑ DC Universe Presents #13. DC Comics.
  6. ↑ Batman: Shadow Of The Bat #1 (April 2015). DC Comics
  7. ↑ Ramos, Dino-Ray (August 10, 2017). "'Black Lightning' Adds Marvin "Krondon" Jones III As Villain Tobias Whale". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
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