Bad Reflection

[First Appearance: in 1959]
Written by GL

It's quite rare that we here at The House Of El have given focus to one of the Flash's outstanding villains; and without a doubt, he does have his share of villains. However, Flash has always had that reputation of suffering from over-colorful and over-comic enemies. One of those is Mirror Master.

Mirror Master is a recurring bad-guy of the Flash with a large technical knowledge of mirrors. Mirrors are his based weapons and there are a variety of skill the Mirror Master employs in combat. To day, four individuals have donned the guise of Mirror Master.

[DC Direct's Mirror Master: released as part of Flash's Rogues Gallery]

The very first Mirror Master was a convict named Sam Scudder, who worked in the prison machine shop. One day, he stumbled on a mirror-making technique that would allow mirrors to capture and retain images for a limited period of time. Scudder used his discovery to escape, and then began to refine the technology. He then began a life of crime as the super-villain, Mirror Master, and terrorized Central City. Mirror Master was constantly working on new technology, developing mirrors that allowed him to capture people inside them, travel to other dimensions, control minds, and convert matter into glass. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, Mirror Master was dispatched back in time to prevent a catastrophe, but was killed while arguing with fellow villains.

Later, Captain Boomerang briefly took Scudder's identity, becoming the second Mirror Master, to commit crimes while remaining in good standing with the bad-guy-team known as the Suicide Squad.

The third Mirror Master was Scotsman. As a baby, Evan McCulloch was left on the doorstep of an orphanage run by a lady named Mrs. McCulloch. He had nothing but his first name and a photograph of his parents. He grew up as a fairly normal child, until one night he got into a brawl with a bully and killed him. He was never caught, and, at age 16, Evan left the orphanage, again with nothing but his parents' photograph.

He settled in Glasgow, where he took up a life of drinking and partying that eventually led to crime. Evan began to hire himself out as an assassin. He was an excellent killer, and quickly became one of the most renowned mercenaries in the United Kingdom.

One day, he had been scheduled to do two hits. His eye was injured in the course of the first, leaving him with impaired vision. Evan couldn't shake the feeling that the second target seemed familiar, but only after he pulled the trigger did he recognize the man as his father from the photograph. At the funeral, Evan saw his mother.

Over the next few days, he tried to work up the courage to see her, but by the time he had, his mother had committed suicide. Evan, in grief, was about to turn himself over to the authorities when an unknown and shady company (a mix of U.S. Government and big corporations) offered him the costume and weapons of the original Mirror Master in exchange for his services.

[Evan McCulloch: the Scottish Mirror Master]

His first assignment was to scare Animal Man into abandoning his animal-rights protests. This was a mission he failed thanks to the sheer anger of Animal Man's wife. McCulloch eventually even helped Animal Man to fight the same men who gave McCulloch his weapons, but his heroism was short lived. He continues to work as a criminal and a super-villain-for-hire. At times, Evan also worked out of costume as a common mercenary in Britain.

Evan later moved to Keystone City, and came into conflict with the third Flash. He discovered a Mirror Dimension which enabled him to travel through any reflective surface. During the events of Underworld Unleashed, the team known as the Rogues had accepted him as Scudder's successor. After being betrayed by the devil Neron, McCulloch and four of the other Rogues died and went to Hell, but returned later due to a confrontation between Neron and the Flash. For a brief time, McCulloch then joined Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang and fought the Justice League of America.

[Part Of Luthor's Injustice Gang: to battle the Justice League]

He worked with a female villain called Blacksmith in her plan to takeover Keystone and Central City. When her plan failed, he became a member of Captain Cold's gang. Interestingly enough, Evan also battles an addiction to cocaine, although he seemed to have sobered up since the death of Captain Boomerang.

McCulloch subsequently joined Alexander Luthor's Secret Society after the Rogue War. But, during the Infinite Crisis subplot, Mirror Master fought in the final deciding battle and was defeated by Martian Manhunter. Shown in the One Year Later subplot, Evan is no longer a useful villain, being totally addicted to cocaine. Sad.