Mirror Man

Floyd Ventris is a criminal scientist who uses mirrors in his crimes, in a fashion similar to the Mirror Master. Ventris often tries to expose Batman's secret identity.

Character History
In the years since he'd been sent to prison, Floyd Ventris had seen a new breed of criminal come to prominence. He was determined to share in the spotlight but a catchy name was not enough. He would commit flamboyant crimes, of course, but the achievement that would truly catapult him to fame would be the revelation of the face that an unmasked Batman saw in the mirror.

It had begun late summer day when Ventris had escaped from prison. Breaking a pocket mirror, Ventris used a fragment to reflect the searchlight into the eyes of a guard. Recognizing that that broken mirror had brought him good fortune, Ventris declared that "it's like an omen!" The Mirror-Man was born. He didn't wear a costume but his bald head, overbite and square reflective glasses made a strong impression.

Among his early thefts was a "two-way electronic mirror that x-rays anything covered by cloth". During his subsequent string of robberies, the villain used every opportunity to scan Batman and, finally, he succeeded. The mirror exposed the unmasked Batman as Bruce Wayne. Hoping to preempt the disclosure, the Dark Knight arranged for the Gotham Gazette to interview Bruce Wayne about the instances in which he was mistaken for Batman. Ventris' gang laughed hysterically when their boss told them his discovery.

Convinced that he was correct, Mirror-Man planned his next crime to take place at the site of a live television broadcast. As the villain had anticipated, Batman intervened and Ventris held up his two-way mirror in front of the Dark Knight's face. Beneath his cowl, however, was a second mask of warped mirrors that distorted Bruce Wayne's features too drastically for anyone to identify.

The Mirror-Man's story was reprinted in Batman Annual # 3, and soon the Mirror-Man returned in Batman # 157. Still fixated on Batman's true identity, Ventris arranged for one of his men to shadow Bruce Wayne while he embarked on his latest robbery. Bruce proved too quick for the thug and managed to slip into his Batman guise anyway.

Complicating matters further was reporter Vicki Vale's discovery of the Mirror-Man's objective. With Bruce scheduled to be a speaker at a book society meeting, Vicki knew that he wouldn't be able to change to Batman so she hired an actor to stand-in for him. Independently, Batman and Robin had made arrangements for Alfred to impersonate Wayne. Between the distraction of the two Waynes and another mirror diversion, the Dynamic Duo lost Ventris' gang again.

The discovery that an actor had portrayed Wayne at the meeting seemed to prove Mirror-Man's case and, after Batman finally captured him, he said as much to the assembled reporters on the scene. Denouncing the allegations as absurd, Batman insisted that Bruce Wayne be called to the scene to refute the claim once and for all. The moment Bruce showed up, Ventris began pawing at his face and hair for signs of make-up. There were none. Publicly discredited, the Mirror-Man was returned to prison, unaware that it wasn't Bruce Wayne who had been disguised -- it was Batman. Alfred Pennyworth had been disguised and in Batman's costume for the incident.

The Mirror-Man was freed one final time in Batman #400 (1986), part of a mass jailbreak engineered by Ra's al Ghul. Ra's had freed the villains with the intention of using them in a massive plot against Batman but Mirror-Man had other plans in mind. Despite being provided with replicas of his original mirror weapons, he walked away from the scene, unwilling to fight under someone else's orders or risk capture by Batman again. He remained at large.

Nearly twenty years later, Mirror-Man returns briefly in the pages of H.E.R.O. #7–9.

Powers and Abilities
Mirror-Man had no special powers or abilities. He was a brilliant criminal mastermind but obtained only a low rank in Gotham's underworld. He is unskilled in hand-to-hand combat and mainly relies on gimmicked mirror weapons for defense.