Killer Croc
Killer Croc, born Waylon Jennings, is a criminal and nemesis of Buttman.
He was born with an extreme form of the medical condition Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis, which caused his appearance to develop progressively into that of a crocodile, hence his name. His mother died in childbirth, and his father abandoned him.
Waylon was raised by his abusive aunt; her persistent alcoholism prevented him from growing up in a suitable environment. As a teenager, Waylon had no friends, and was the object of ridicule of those who knew him. Jones was a regular visitor to the juvenile detention center and was finally tried and convicted as an adult when he was sixteen.
He murdered a fellow prisoner who mocked his appearance but nonetheless was out on parole "after eighteen years behind bars. Out of prison, he found a job in a carnival sideshow ... wrestling alligators". "I broke their backs with my bare hands," Jones later recalled. "Then I got smart. I had the strength, I had the hate -- why shouldn't I USE it to get what I wanted? 'Killer Croc' -- that's what they called me. But some day, SOME DAY, I knew they'd call me KING!" It was at this point that Waylon began referring to himself as Killer Croc. Even then, his strength level was greatly beyond that of a normal human.
Croc realized that there was more money to be made in crime, so he set out to become Gotham's most powerful underground figure. Croc had established powerful mob ties in Tampa that he was anxious to put to use elsewhere. He'd discreetly established a foothold in Gotham and assembled a gang before returning to Florida to take care of "some personal loose ends." After snapping the neck of the deputy who had brutally beat him when he was ten, he returned to discover that his followers had affiliated themselves with the simple-minded Solomon Grundy. Croc kept his temper in check but left the gang to its fate.
Within hours, the entire crew was killed when Grundy flew into a rage. Croc soon shifted his allegiance to the Squid, a mobster who was poised to fill the power vacuum in Gotham's underworld left by the downfall of Rupert Thorne and Tony Falco. Initially, Croc was content to work a protection racket at the visiting Sloan Circus but he soon wanted more.
Girls and sons...
After he witnessed Batman's escape from a deathtrap, Croc sauntered away, informing the Squid that "this outfit smells of loser." Croc later shot his former boss from a rooftop and left him for dead. While Batman began tracing the gun that killed the Squid, Croc approached the members of Gotham's Tobacconist Club and announced his intention to take over the city's mobs. The president of club's inner circle proposed a test and directed Jones towards a state-of-the-art Air Force Computer at S.T.A.R. Labs.
"Mister, I was born a freak -- I've had to prove myself to creeps like you all my life. I could break you in half. But that wouldn't get me what I WANT ... so I'll STEAL your crummy computer. And then I'll shove it down your fat throat."
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For their own reasons, Talia al Ghul and Catwoman had alerted the Dark Knight to the looming attacks on his life and the trio wound up in the abandoned Adams Brewery. They ended up being captured anyway, all three chained to a faulty brewing vat that was likely to erupt when it got hot enough. Croc stepped past a gloating Joker and demanded that Batman be released so that they could fight out their differences "man to man." As for Talia and Catwoman, Croc answered, "You win, they live. You lose, they DIE. Simple as that."
This time, Batman came out on top, freeing himself from Croc and sending the thug reeling with a steel barrel thrown into his torso. "NO!" the reptile man shrieked. "Nobody ever broke my grip -- NOBODY!"
"That was your mistake, Croc -- my name isn't 'nobody!'"
Powers and AbilitiesThe disease that Killer Croc is afflicted with seems to be some form of regressive atavism, meaning he has inherited some of the traits of ancestral species of the human race. His skin has hardened to the point where it is invulnerable to most forms of abrasion and even high caliber weapons fired from a distance. He possesses superhuman strength and he is stronger than Batman, whose strength is at the peak human level. A side effect of this condition seems to be that over time the primal reptilian part of his brain gains more control of his psyche. His speed, agility, and reflexes are also superhuman. He can also heal at a much faster rate than normal humans, similar to the healing rate of an actual reptile.
Croc has some experience at street fighting and wrestling, but he is not quite as proficient as Batman or Nightwing. He is a high school drop out, but has proven to be moderately capable of organizing thugs in small-time racketeering operations. He is usually hired by other villains as muscle or as a hitman, as he is at least intelligent enough to follow instructions. Croc also is very skilled at swimming aided by his reptilian genetics.
Superhuman: Killer Croc's mutated strength level is many times greater than that of a normal human. Over the years, as Croc's body continued to mutate, his strength levels increased accordingly. Sometimes, he was even portrayed as being dinosaur like, with a tail and a reptilian snout to boot.
