Killer Moth

Real Name[]

Drury Walker (once Cameron Van Cleer, see below)

Known Aliases[]

None

First DC Appearance[]

Batman #63 (June 1951)

First Story Appearance[]

Wings of the Eagles

Weapons[]

Moth-themed battle suit, which includes the ability to fly, crawl and hang on walls, a cocoon gun, and an energy whip.

Powers[]

None, though Moth seems relatively skilled in genetics as he had repeatedly bred mutated insect legions to do his bidding.

Current Status[]

Active

History[]

In the comics, Killer Moth had two origins. In his pre-Crisis form he was millionaire Cameron Van Cleer. Setting himself up as the "anti-Batman", complete with Moth-signal, Mothmobile and Mothcave, he hired himself out to Gotham's criminals to help them escape the police. He was thwarted by Batman but remained a persistent enemy through to the 80's. He is most remembered for being the first criminal fought by Barbara Gordon as Batgirl in her Pre-Crisis origin and before she was crippled by the Joker and became Oracle.

In the 90's he was re-invented as a "joke" character - a failure whose real name was revealed to be Drury Walker. Despite his many inventions (including the aforementioned cocoon gun), Walker could never succeed at anything, even in his dreams. Finally, he snapped, and in the DC Event Underworld Unleashed he sold his soul to the demon Neron and became the terrifying moth mutant/monster Charaxes, a hideous beast that fed on humans. In the fan story Gods' Playground, Killer Moth suffered a similar fate (albeit through genetic modification rather then soul-selling). Charaxes's savage appetite would plague the Batman family several times throughout the years before Charaxes met his end in Infinite Crisis (and in its fan story Crisis Point) by being in the wrong place at the wrong time as he was ripped apart by Superboy-Prime.

Considering his circumstances, it seems more likely that the show's Killer Moth is Cameron Van Cleer rather then the failure Drury Walker (or perhaps he is Drury Walker with Cleer's origin); the Cameron origin explains Killer Moth's spoiled daughter Kitten much better. Whichever version he may be, the show's Killer Moth tries to promote himself as a master criminal...until his daughter Kitten starts yelling and showing who really wears the pants in the family (Date With Destiny). Indeed, Killer Moth is so devoted to his daughter that he modified a whole plan to attack the city using giant, er, killer moths so that Robin would take her to the prom (after her original boyfriend, the spider-headed mutant Fang, dumped her). It ended with Fang reuniting with Kitten just long enough for the Titans to kick all their butts and send all three to jail.

Killer Moth's other show appearance (besides joining the Brotherhood) was when he attempted to utilize Starfire's pet worm Silkie (which the Titans had actually acquired in Date with Destiny) as a weapon after Starfire's accidental feeding of Silkie 'zorka berries' casued Silkie to mutate into a giant form, which Killer Moth further turned into a giant moth. However, Starfire managed to plead to the heart of her pet, and in one of the show's most hilarious moments, Killer Moth tried to do the same in a pure 'WTF am I doing' tone ("Hey, big fella. Did Killer Moth create you in a lab? Yes, he did! Yes, he did! I am your father. Join me, and together we will... go on a picnic... or something..."). Of course Silkie chose Starfire and Killer Moth was defeated. Killer Moth's lone appearance in the serious Legendsverse was him suffering defeat, like many others, at the hands of the Zap Pack. Besides this, his only appearance has been in Villain Cafe where, drunk, he was bemoaning his spoiled and controlling daughter. Ironically, Killer Moth was one of the survivors of the Titans vs Brotherhood battle in We All Fall Down; unlike in the show, he escaped in the chaos with Kitten. Though as much as she nags and needles him, one has to wonder if he feels he would be better off dead.