Creeper (DC Comics)

Jack Ryder is a former Gotham City resident and is the host of a political talk show. He is fired after criticizing his own sponsors on-air and refusing to change his behavior or apologize. Knowing Ryder is a decent detective, Chief of Network Security Bill Brane hires the former talk show host as one of his investigators. Brane reveals that CIA contacts have asked him to help find Dr. Yatz, a scientist recently captured by local gangster Angel Devlin who is working with Communist powers. Ryder decides to infiltrate a masquerade party at Devlin's mansion and visits a local costume shop. The clerk explains he mainly sells costumes for children, but offers Ryder "leftovers" from adult orders. Ryder cobbles together the costume involving yellow tights, green trunks and red gloves and boots. He completes the disguise with yellow make-up, a green wig and a red sheepskin rug he decides to use as a cape. At the costume party, Ryder fights some of Devlin's henchmen, suffering injuries in the process, and then discovers the kidnapped Dr. Yatz. The scientist injects Ryder with a chemical serum designed to accelerate healing while also granting great strength and stamina. He also hides a tiny device of his own creation in Ryder's wound, saying it is the safest way to keep the technology hidden from Devlin. The device, he explains, can "rearrange the molecular structure of matter", making clothing or items weightless and invisible until needed. By activating the device now hidden beneath his skin, Ryder is able to instantly cause his yellow and red costume to vanish or reappear instantly.

As Yatz then destroys the evidence of his work, Devlin's men arrive and shoot him dead. In costume, Ryder escapes Devlin's party, but is blamed for the chaos. Police arrive and one of the cops refers to the yellow-costumed intruder as a "creeper". Deciding he likes the name, Ryder later attacks and defeats Devlin's gang. He then reverts to his civilian guise and informs Brane and the police of Devlin's involvement in Yatz's death. Ryder then decides to continue secretly operating as the Creeper whenever he needs to fight crime. In his private life, he continues acting as a WHAM-TV network security investigator for Brane. A month after first becoming the Creeper, Ryder is assigned to help WHAM-TV weather correspondent Vera Sweet, who has been threatened. The two initially dislike each other, but over time they develop a flirtatious relationship.

Although the Creeper fights crime, he is frequently considered a villain himself by news media and authorities. During his first adventure involving a costumed villain, a man called the Terror, Ryder realizes that Yatz's implanted device has two side-effects: when he is the Creeper, it prevents his costume and make-up from being removed from his body, and when he is Ryder his superhuman powers become dormant, leaving him vulnerable.

During his early adventures, the Creeper regularly fights a shape-shifting terrorist named Proteus. At one point, Proteus reveals that he is motivated by being overwhelmed by how corrupt he finds society. He had hoped to find a friend in the Creeper and had spared his life before, but then concluded the yellow-skinned vigilante is actually an enemy after learning he is secretly Jack Ryder. While attempting another attack on society, Proteus seemingly kills himself and the Creeper muses whether he has lost both an enemy and a friend. Following this, the Creeper continues operating in Gotham City and Jack Ryder becomes a television reporter for WHAM-TV. He winds up teaming up with other superheroes often, most frequently aiding Batman. During an encounter with the Joker, the Creeper is rendered temporarily amnesiac and is tricked into helping the Joker plant a bomb, only realizing the truth at the last moment. He then brings the Joker to justice, not as the Creeper but as Jack Ryder.

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, much of DC Comics history is revised. The Creeper is given a new origin and interpretation as well. In the new continuity, Ryder is not a talk show host or TV reporter initially. Instead, he is a newspaper journalist working for the Herald Examiner and known for exposing corrupt criminal operations. Investigating the home of criminals during a masquerade party, he is ambushed and knocked out. The criminals knew he intended to investigate them and have decided to humiliate him before taking revenge. They drug him with a hallucinogen, one said to cause psychosis if used in too strong a dose, dress him up in a yellow and red costume with a green wig, and present him to the masquerade party as a jester called "the dancing creep". Drugged and confused, Ryder attempts to escape, but is severely beaten. He is then taken some distance away, shot and left for dead.

Ryder awakens in the home of Dr. Emil Yatz, a German immigrant and scientist who discovered the journalist dead near his estate. Yatz explains he used his experimental "inorganic matter transference" technology to heal and revive Ryder. Yatz explains he was rejected by the scientific community and became a science fiction writer before finding a sponsor. He created a device that can map the atomic structure of inorganic objects and then "swap" them with others, rending one temporarily invisible and intangible. Yatz realized his criminal sponsors intended to kill him soon and, when he found Ryder, he decided to hide his powerful device inside the man's body. Attaching the power source activated the device now in Ryder's forearm under his skin, healing the man. After destroying his scientific notes, Yatz explained that the device's "sub-atomic matrix" has been imprinted with Ryder's costume since he was wearing it when the scientist attached the power source. Now realizing Ryder also had a drug in his system, Yatz warns the drug may have been imprinted as well, meaning Ryder will once again be in a drug-induced state if he activates the device. The criminals arrive and murder Yatz before the scientist can say more. Touching his forearm, Ryder activates the Yatz device and becomes the costumed, chaotic Creeper, bringing the criminals to justice with physically enhanced abilities and healing. He later wakes up at his typewriter, having no real memory of his activities as the Creeper, but knowing his alter ego will be an effective weapon against crime.

The Creeper appeared in the Eclipso: The Darkness Within crossover event that happened in various DC Comics annuals in 1992. Tricked into being mentally controlled by the dark diamonds of the demonic Eclipso, the Creeper is later freed by Bruce Gordon, the villain's longtime adversary. In the self-titled Eclipso comic book series, the Creeper, Gordon and Gordon's wife Mona make a foray into a South American territory Eclipso has conquered. Later, the Creeper joins government operative Amanda Waller and several heroes to fight against Eclipso. Called the Shadow Fighters, the group included Major Victory, the original Steel, and Wildcat II. In Eclipso #13, some of the Shadow Fighters venture into Eclipso's territory and engage the villain in battle. Eclipso uses his power to possess several hyenas, using them to track down the Creeper and literally tear him apart limb from limb, apparently killing him. The remains, along with those of other fallen heroes, are stolen from Eclipso's control by surviving Shadow Fighters.

Years later, the new series The Creeper reveals that the Creeper's healing ability increased to compensate for the damage inflicted by Eclipso, allowing him to heal and resurrect. He also now exhibits a weaponized laugh that can cause pain and even stun opponents. The experience of death and resurrection is traumatic for Jack Ryder, who becomes a patient to the psychiatrist Dr. Solos. While undergoing therapy, Jack Ryder considers the possibility that he has inherited his mother's mental illness and may have only mistakenly believed the Creeper's personality is a result of drugs and a scientific device. He later realizes that he has conflicting memories of the Creeper's origin. In one version, he remembers buying costume leftovers before infiltrating a masquerade party. In another version, he remembers being drugged and shot before Dr. Yatz resurrected him. He realizes the different versions of this origin include elements that do not make much sense to him and concludes that none of these memories are accurate, that he has repressed the memory of his origin and his mind created other scenarios he found more acceptable. Ryder discovers Dr. Solos is actually his old enemy Proteus in disguise and learns the villain is somehow connected to his origin. Further information is not revealed, as The Creeper was cancelled.

Following the crossover Infinite Crisis, several areas of DC Comics continuity are revised again. Jack Ryder is a former journalist who now works as the host of a controversial political and news commentary TV show You Are Wrong!, where he regularly challenges criminals and politicians and often praises costumed vigilantes. Later on, Bruce Wayne: The Road Home - Outsiders reveals that in the new history, Ryder briefly dated Gotham photojournalist Vicki Vale when he was younger. His ex-girlfriend Vera Sweet is now a producer and on-air reporter for the same network. When he realizes others are becoming suspicious of his connection to the notorious Creeper, Ryder pretends to be disillusioned by that particular vigilante, promising $1 million to the person who catches the Creeper and brings him to face the law.

The Creeper's new origin story is soon revealed in a flashback in the miniseries The Creeper (vol. 2). Years earlier, Ryder is interested in the work of scientist Dr. Vincent Yatz, who is combining stem cell therapy and microscopic nanotechnology to create a revolutionary "nanocell" treatment called "smart-skin". This technology enhances a human body's regeneration, not only healing wounds, but even preventing scarring and restoring burns. Local mobsters come to Yatz's lab to steal this new technology and Ryder accidentally interrupts when he arrives. Unable to escape, but determined to keep the mobsters from taking his discovery, Yatz quickly injects the last sample of smart-skin, still somewhat unstable, into an unwilling Ryder. Believing that Yatz will create more nanocells if forced to, the criminals shoot Ryder in the head and throw him into the ocean. The smart-skin activates and revives Ryder, transforming him into a yellow-skinned superhuman with green hair and a mane of thick, red hair growing on his back and shoulders. The Creeper has Ryder's knowledge, but acts as a separate personality. After the Creeper transforms back into Ryder, the TV host discovers he can still hear the Creeper's voice in his head, allowing them to communicate.

Batman encounters the Creeper while on patrol and then investigates the Dr. Yatz case, discovering in the process that this new yellow-skinned vigilante is really Jack Ryder. Ryder and the Creeper learn that Yatz secretly intended the smart-skin to be a weapon and that tests on human subjects repeatedly resulted in mutated monsters. To achieve better results, Yatz took on a silent partner who introduced his own chemical "nerve agent" to the smart-skin, which resulted in Ryder's unique transformation into the Creeper. The silent partner is revealed to be the Joker and the "nerve" agent used was a version of his Joker venom, known to normally alter skin and hair color in victims while inducing temporary madness and uncontrollable laughter before killing them. In exchange for helping Yatz improve his results, the Joker wants to use the man's technology to create an army of maniacal, super-strong, near-invincible soldiers. Seeing the successful results with Ryder, the Joker refers to the Creeper as "family". A similar batch of smart-skin is then used to turn dozens of others into maddened, yellow-skinned soldiers with green and red hair.

Batman and the Creeper defeat the Joker and his operation with Yatz. Batman creates a chemical agent that can cure Ryder of the Creeper and offers it to the TV host. Ryder decides to throw away the cure and instead forms a truce with his alter ego, agreeing to let the Creeper out from time to time to fight criminals. This ends the flashback miniseries and the Creeper shows up sporadically in other DC Comics stories, encountering Eclipso again and helping to fight the Sinestro Corps. During the crossover Final Crisis, Batman is believed killed. It is then revealed that Batman prepared for this eventuality by leaving instructions to recruit a team of heroes he trusts, tasking them to act as a new version of the Outsiders. The Creeper is recruited into this new team, though this version of the team lasts only a year. Later, Batman is revealed to be alive.

During the Reign in Hell miniseries, the Creeper was presented as a demon that co-inhabited the body of Jack Ryder rather than an identity he assumed due to scientific experimentation. The story shows the Creeper demon separating from Jack Ryder, having been recalled to Hell by Lilith, the mother of all Earthborn atrocities. It is later revealed that the Creeper demon is just one of a similar-looking species of demon. The Reign in Hell miniseries had many internal continuity errors and unexplained contradictions that made its place in mainstream DC Comics canon questionable at best and the idea that the Creeper was a demonic entity was not repeated afterward.

In 2011, DC Comics created a new version of its universe called The New 52. In this timeline, the Creeper is first seen in a brief cameo when he is considered as a candidate for a new United Nations-sanctioned Justice League International team.[11] In The Phantom Stranger (vol. 4) #7 (June 2013), Jack Ryder is introduced as a talk show host at Morgan Edge's network who recently quit his job. After encountering the Phantom Stranger, Ryder is killed by a monster attacking Metropolis.[12] The Presence, in the form of a dog, notes that Ryder's story is not over, that he was not led to his death but rather to his destiny.

In Katana #3-4 (June-July 2013), the New 52 version of the Creeper is a malicious and fearsome-looking oni who regularly "rides" human hosts to cause chaos and violence. Unlike previous incarnations, this Creeper is a villain (though why he would be considered for membership in Justice League International earlier is never explained). This oni is revealed to be locked inside Soultaker, the mystical sword of the hero Katana, along with many other souls of enemies the blade has defeated over the centuries. When the villain Killer Croc breaks the sword, all the souls are released, including the Creeper, who reveals that he sometimes whispered to Katana through the sword, pretending to be her dead husband. Seeking out a new body to "ride", the Creeper discovers the recently deceased Jack Ryder and decides to possess it.[13]

The relationship between this oni Creeper and Jack Ryder is further explored in Justice League Dark #23.1 (subtitled Creeper #1), part of the Forever Evil crossover.[9] The story reveals the Creeper's past in feudal Japan and describes him as a wild being who "justifies cruel temper tantrums under the guise of spreading chaos". Although in his appearance in the series Katana indicated the Creeper was defeated by Katana herself and that he has possessed Jack Ryder's body before, the origin revealed in Justice League Dark contradicts this by revealing the oni demon has been trapped inside of Soultaker since the days of feudal Japan, passing the time by tormenting the other imprisoned souls, and that he never and could never have met Jack Ryder before meeting him after being freed. Possessing Ryder's body results in Jack Ryder being resurrected, unaware that he now shares his body with an oni demon who occasionally takes over his form and uses him to cause chaos and death. Ryder is confused by his occasional blackouts, but continues working as a TV reporter for the show Life After Death.

The 2017 initiative DC Rebirth altered DC Comics continuity yet again, removing much of the New 52 changes and restoring several stories and ideas from comics published before 2011. Post-DC Rebirth, the Creeper is reintroduced with his more classic appearance, once again the product of experimental science rather than a demon inhabiting a human host. While investigating a series of murdered criminals down in Chicago, Jack Ryder becomes the Creeper to battle a Deathstroke copycat, then is recruited by Bizarro to join the Red Hood's team of Outlaws. In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, the Creeper is shown to have been captured by Kobra's cult until he is retrieved by Black Adam.[14] He and Black Adam later attack Israel.[15]

The Creeper's powers are physical in nature as a result of Dr. Yatz's discoveries. Jack Ryder transforms himself into the Creeper by holding and pressing the button of a small "activator" device he often keeps in his pocket. This activates another device hidden underneath his skin that would rearrange molecules, immediately replacing Ryder's clothing with the Creeper's costume, yellow make-up, green wig, and red sheepskin cape. This also activates a chemical Dr. Yatz had injected inside Ryder, thus granting him enhanced strength, stamina, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, healing, and senses. When he deactivated his costume, as well as forcing it to disappear, these abilities became dormant. In his Creeper form, he is capable of scaling buildings or climbing walls via acrobatics.[16]

This version of the Creeper has the same capabilities as before, but owes them all to one device implanted in him rather than a chemical agent and two devices. When he first became the Creeper, he is under the influence of drugs. As a result, each time he transforms again, this device not only restores Ryder's powers, but it alters his brain chemistry to mimic a distinct personality. After he changes back into his human form, Ryder had trouble remembering the Creeper's actions. Due to being killed by dismemberment, the Creeper eventually revives himself from death via immortality. During this revelation, he can stun or inflict pain upon others with his laughs, as well as frighten them. Ryder is also able to recall some memories of his alter ego.[17][18]

In this version of history, Jack Ryder had been injected with "nano-cell" technology known as "smart-skin", an experiment intended to create aggressive supersoldiers. This smart-skin was created from a combination of stem cell research, nanotechnology, and various "Joker Venom" chemicals. As a result, Ryder physically transforms into a yellow-skinned, green-haired, and red-maned metahuman with his own distinct personality. These nano-cells rearranges the molecules of his clothing to become the Creeper's costume and vice versa. The Creeper has immense strength, stamina, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, and healing, as well as hyper-keen senses, pain-inducing laughs, and fearful presence. Both alter egos are able to mentally communicate with each other.[19][20]

The 2003 Vertigo Comics series Beware the Creeper features a female Creeper living in the 1920s Paris in a world separate from the mainstream DC Comics canon.

The Creeper makes a cameo appearance in the 2001–2002 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, wherein he has already been struck fatally. He is impaled by "Joker Boy" as part of a revenge scheme against Batman.

In the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, The Creeper appears as an elderly metahuman who works for Batman's rogue faction of metahumans.[21]

In the 1998 miniseries JLA: The Nail, where the public has been convinced that metahumans are alien invaders thanks to a smear campaign masterminded by Lex Luthor and a part-Kryptonian Jimmy Olsen, the Creeper is imprisoned by Cadmus Labs, Lois Lane noting that she once saw him save a family from a psychotic gunman.[22]

The 1998 DC One Million event revealed the legacy of the modern DC heroes by depicting their successors who lived in the 853rd century. In the year 85,271 on the planet IAI, an entity known as RYDR senses a disturbance that may unravel all that is and transforms into its other, the sum total of collective unreason, a shamanic avatar and raw distillate of madness known as the Creeper. The trail leads back to Jack Ryder, who grew tired of being a superhero. Jack and the Creeper became separate parts of each other, actual living beings. After the Creeper side kept splitting into bizarre and dangerous alternate Creepers, each representing a different part of the Creeper's personality, Jack realized that whether he liked it or not, the Creeper was a part of him. The future Creeper ingested all the alternate Creepers, but realizing the truth of the event, he returned them to the original Creeper and told him and Jack Ryder to remerge and the Creeper was reborn. The future Creeper returns to IAI with the last remaining alternate Creeper, the one representing self-loathing, which he disposes of before transforming back into RYDR to catalog the event.[23]

In the Tangent Comics universe, the Earth-9 version of the Creeper is a powerful warlock and member of an occult organization known as the Black Circle. In one of the possible origin stories for the Earth-9 version of the Green Lantern, the Creeper and the other members of the Black Circle task Zatanna to retrieve the mystical Green Lantern.[24]

Nightcreeper (Kurt "Jack" Ryder) of Amalgam Comics combines DC's the Creeper with the Marvel Comics mutant hero Nightcrawler. Nightcreeper's debuts in JLX #1 (1996). He is a member of the JLX (Justice League X-Men), an amalgamation of DC's the Justice League of America and Marvel's the X-Men.

In the alternate timeline of the 2011 Flashpoint storyline, Jack Ryder is in news broadcasting. He sends a message that Wonder Woman leads the Amazons in conquering the United Kingdom, renaming it New Themyscira during the war.[25]

In the New 52 Batman Beyond series, Jack has retired the Creeper identity, but still anchors on News 52. He co-sponsors a criminal rehab program which includes Melanie Walker, who was formerly Ten of the Royal Flush Gang. His co-anchor, Adalyn Stern, becomes the new Scarecrow due to a traumatic childhood experience she had with Batman, leading Jack to resent Bruce and his past actions.[26]

In the concluding miniseries, Smallville: Continuity, Lex Luthor's assistant reminds him that Jack Ryder has an exclusive interview with him.[27]

• Jack Ryder / The Creeper appears in series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), voiced by Jeff Bennett.
  • Jack Ryder first appears in The New Batman Adventures, serving as a recurring character and reporter throughout the series until he becomes the Creeper in the episode "Beware the Creeper" after being exposed to the Joker's laughing gas and submerged in an Ace Chemicals chemical vat. He then goes on a violent crusade against the Joker despite being sidetracked by his infatuation with Harley Quinn and stream-of-consciousness rambling. Eventually, after being begged by the Joker to stop him, Batman develops a skin patch to suppress Ryder's Creeper form and revert him to normal. Despite this, Ryder later removes the patch, doubting its effectiveness, and turns back into the Creeper.
  • The Creeper makes non-speaking cameo appearances in Justice League Unlimited as a member of an expanded Justice League.
• The Creeper appears in the teaser for the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Time Out for Vengeance!", voiced by Brian Bloom.

An alternate universe version of Jack Ryder appears in Superman: Red Son, voiced by William Salyers.

• Jack Ryder appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Leif Anders.
• Jack Ryder appears in Batman: The Telltale Series, voiced by Robert Clotworthy.
• Jack Ryder appears in Batman: The Enemy Within, voiced again by Robert Clotworthy.
• The Creeper appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced by JP Karliak.
• The Creeper appears as a playable character in Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich.

Jack Ryder appears as a supporting character in the Batman: Arkham franchise, voiced by James Horan.

• Ryder's voice appears in Batman: Arkham Asylum via a radio broadcast.
• Ryder makes his first physical appearance in Batman: Arkham City.[28] Sometime prior to the game, he was imprisoned in the titular prison by Warden Hugo Strange for investigating him and the prison, which Batman discovers while rescuing him from Deadshot during a side mission.
• Ryder's voice appears in the end credits of Batman: Arkham Origins via another radio broadcast.
• Ryder appears in Batman: Arkham Knight. In the side mission "Lamb to the Slaughter", Batman rescues Jack Ryder from Deacon Blackfire's cult, whom he had been investigating.

• The Creeper appears in the Justice League Unlimited tie-in comic book.
• Jack Ryder appears in Batman: The Audio Adventures, voiced by Seth Meyers.

• Kenner released an action figure of The New Batman Adventures incarnation of the Creeper in the late 1990s.
• Mattel released an action figure of the comic book incarnation of the Creeper in their DC Universe Classics line in January 2011.
• Mattel released an action figure of the Justice League Unlimited incarnation of the Creeper in their DC Universe: Justice League Unlimited Fan Collection line in November 2011.