Weather Wizard

Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) is a fictional supervillain appearing in publications published by DC Comics, and an enemy of Flash.

Publication history

Weather Wizard made his first appearance in Flash #110 (December 1959-January 1960) and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

Fictional character biography

Early life

Escaping a prison transport by leaping from the window, Mark Mardon fled to his brother's house only to find him dead. Mardon's brother, Clyde, a scientist, had just discovered a way to control the weather before dying of a heart attack (although recent evidence implies that Mardon murdered his brother and either lied about or blocked out the memory of finding his body^[1]). Mardon took Clyde's notes and used them to make a wand to generate weather and embarked on a criminal career as The Weather Wizard, sometimes using his powers on a small scale (such as zapping someone with lightning) and sometimes a larger scale (imprisoning a town in winter), almost always facing defeat by The Flash (Barry Allen).

After Barry Allen's death during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Weather Wizard went into semi-retirement for a while, until, during Underworld Unleashed, he teamed up with other Rogues which included Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Captain Boomerang, and Mirror Master, as part of a ploy for greater power. Ultimately, it ended with their deaths and the release of the demon Neron. They were later resurrected as soulless demons by Neron to use against Barry Allen's successor Wally West, who manipulated Neron to return the Rogues' souls. The Weather Wizard and the others, except for Heat Wave, returned to a life of crime.

Weather Wizard joined up with Blacksmith and her rogues. Through her, he learns he has a son from a one-night stand with Keystone City police officer Julie Jackham. Their son, Josh, had exhibited internalized weather-controlling abilities and Mardon wanted to have the same ability without the use of his wand. He tried to kidnap Josh from Wally's wife, Linda and dissect him to understand out how his son gained that ability, but hesitated to harm the child when he noticed that the child had "my eyes...my brother's eyes." He was stopped by Flash and sent to Iron Heights, but escaped. After Blacksmith's group disbanded, the Weather Wizard, along with Mirror Master and Trickster, joined up with Captain Cold, who declared himself the leader of the Rogues. Mardon was also the representative of the rogues for the Secret Society of Super Villains.

One Year Later

One Year Later, he and several other Rogues are approached by Inertia with a plan to kill the Flash (then Bart Allen). Inertia destroyed Weather Wizard's wand and used 30th century psychological therapies to remove the mental blocks which prevented him from using his powers without it. Though Inertia is eventually defeated, the other Rogues beat Bart to death, Weather Wizard using his control over lightning to electrocute him. After Allen's identity was revealed, Mardon was surprised and horrified to discover that the Rogues had "killed a kid".^[2]

Salvation Run

Weather Wizard is one of the exiled villains featured in Salvation Run along with his fellow Rogues: Captain Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, and Abra Kadabra.

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge

He was seen as the member of Rogues who joined the Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains. In "Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge" series, however, Weather Wizard and the rest of the Rogues reject Libra's offer, wanting to stay out of the game (Captain Cold even berates Mirror Master for working with scum like Dr. Light). Before they can retire, they hear of Inertia escaping and decide to stick around long enough to get revenge for being used.^[3] In retaliation, Libra kidnaps Josh and tries to get Mardon to join the Society, threatening to kill the boy if he does not. To which Mardon responds "If I killed my brother, Libra, if I electrocuted the only person who ever cared about me, what makes you think I care anything about that child?" Libra then taunts Mardon to prove him wrong. Mardon is hesitant to make a move when Inertia kills the boy himself, and Mardon joins his fellow Rogues in defeating and killing Inertia.^[4]

The Flash (Vol. 3)

Weather Wizard and The Rogues visit Sam Scudder's old hideout and unveil a giant mirror with the words In Case of Flash: Break Glass written on it.^[5] Afterward, Mardon is still on the run with The Rogues.^[6]

The New 52

In this timeline of The New 52, while Weather Wizard's past with Barry Allen remains almost unchanged, his origins are slightly different. Now called Marco Mardon he and his brother, Claudio, are Latino and the heads of a Mafia family. After their father's death Marco runs away, eventually becoming the Weather Wizard, but is called back after Claudio's murder. The Flash, looking for Patty Spivot who had been kidnapped, later attacks and submits Mardon forcing Elsa, his brother's widow, to reveal she as the kidnapper and also Claudio's killer. This revelation drives Marco to the edge, making him attempt a suicide-murder by calling lightning to strike himself and Elsa; however, he survives and is approached by the Golden Glider for an unknown plot.^[7]

Powers and abilities

Weather Wizard originally wielded a wand that enabled him to control weather patterns. Weather Wizard has used it to produce blizzards, summon lightning bolts, fly using air currents, produce fog and generate winds. Essentially Weather Wizard can produce any type of weather pattern imaginable, as well as other phenomenon such as tornadoes. Recently Inertia destroyed his wand, using 30th Century psychological therapies to remove Weather Wizard's mental blocks. He can now control the weather without his wand. Weather Wizard has also shown limited control over magnetism.

In The New 52 reality, Marddon returns to using his wand, but reveals that the device drove him crazy.

Other versions

Earth-33

A version of Weather Wizard exists on Earth-33, a world of magicians.^[8]

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Weather Wizard was imprisoned in Iron Heights. Weather Wizard is then confronted by Mirror Master, who assembles the Rogues.^[9] Weather Wizard then escaped from Iron Heights and pursued revenge against Citizen Cold for murdering his brother, Clyde.^[10] Citizen Cold killed Weather Wizard revealing that his brother, Clyde hired Citizen Cold to kill him, but Citizen Cold also tells him that to do it for free.^[11]

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew

The 1980s series Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew presented the parallel Earth of "Earth-C-Minus," a world populated by funny animal superheroes that paralleled the mainstream DC Universe. Earth-C-Minus features the villainous "Weather Weasel," a weasel counterpart of the Weather Wizard, who battles his nemesis, the hero known as the Crash.^[12]

25th Century Weather Wizard

A futuristic version Weather Warlock is a heroic Weather Wizard as part of the 25th Century cops known as The Renegades from Professor Zoom's future.^[6]

Injustice: Gods Among Us

In Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic, Weather Wizard is briefly seen in Chapter Eight battling Hawkgirl as she demands the location of Mirror Master from him. In Year Five he, Heatwave, Mirror Master, and Golden Glider are recruited by Batman's Insurgency because of their "no kill" rule. The four use Mirror Master's device to travel the world and destroy Regime bases to cripple Superman's influence, but are cornered by Bizarro, who is under the impression he is the real Superman. As they deal with him while also dealing with the impending rival of the true Superman, Weather Wizard enrages Bizarro by calling him a "fake Superman" causing the unstable clone to kill him and Heatwave with heat vision.

In other media

Television

Live-action

• In the 1979 TV specials Legends of the Superheroes, Weather Wizard was portrayed by comedian Jeff Altman.
• Miguel Ferrer essentially reprised his role when he portrayed the villainous Weatherman/Dr. Eno in the 1997 live-action TV pilot Justice League of America who was based on Weather Wizard.

Liam McIntyre (left) and Chad Rook (right) portray Mark and Clyde Mardon respectively on The CW's The Flash.

• Chad Rook and Liam McIntyre portrayed Clyde and Mark Mardon, respectively, on The CW's The Flash.^[13] In the series pilot, the brothers are bank robbers that are caught in a plane crash when the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explodes, giving them both the ability to manipulate the weather. However, Mark was heavily wounded in the aftermath of their transformation and was hospitalized as his younger brother returns to Central City nine months later. Clyde used his powers to terrorize Central City for a short period of time, and was the first metahuman the Flash fought. After getting his plan foiled by the Flash, Clyde is shot dead by Detective Joe West, saving the Flash's life. After learning that Clyde was shot dead by Detective Joe West while fighting Barry Allen, having fully mastered his powers behind-the-scenes by the events of "Out of Time" - to the extent that he can control the weather in a precise manner inside a building where his brother could only control it on a large scale outside - Mark decides to avenge his brother by kidnapping Joe with the intent of having the detective watch him kill everyone in Central City. He generates an enormous tidal wave, causing Barry to use his speed to create a barrier against it, but Barry inadvertently travels back in time a day before as the result. He captures Mark before he can initiate his revenge against Joe, and Mark becomes one of S.T.A.R. Labs' prisoners. In the episode "Rogue Air", he is being transported to Lian Yu, with the other metahumans, who had been imprisoned in S.T.A.R Labs, but Captain Cold sabotaged the plan and set them free, also offering him and Rainbow Raider the chance to join the "Rogues" in future. In "Flash Of Two Worlds" it is revealed that the Mardon brothers had an encounter with Patty Spivot's father at a bank prior to their transformation that resulted in Mark shooting him in the face, and Patty became a police officer in her quest to stop metahuman criminals. In "Running to Stand Still", Mark breaks Jesse James and Snart out of prison to join forces to kill the Flash- although Snart declines to participate- dispersing random bombs around the city in Christmas gifts to force the Flash to let them kill him or they will trigger the bombs. However, the Flash's allies find and disable all the bombs while Mark is taking his time killing the Flash, allowing them to dispose of the bombs through a dimensional breach while Barry deals with his foes. Patty attempts to kill Mark while he is immobilized, but the Flash convinces her not to become a murderer and she instead arrests Mark, taking him in to Iron Heights Prison in Central City.

Animated

• Weather Wizard was introduced in Superman: The Animated Series episode titled "Speed Demons" voiced by Miguel Ferrer (and resembles him). He is a former extortionist from Central City who tracks Superman and the Flash's coordinates as they competed for the title of 'fastest man alive'. Also in that episode, Mark's brother (here called Ben) was not dead and Mark siphoned the energy off Superman and Flash through the monitoring arm bands, which he gave to them with the intention of using their race to generate the necessary energy to work his weather-manipulating machinery. With Ben's help, Superman and The Flash defeated him.
• Weather Wizard appeared in Justice League voiced by Corey Burton. Weather Wizard was a member of the Superman Revenge Squad. During battle, Wonder Woman deflected a lightning bolt back at Weather Wizard with her metal bracelets (Flash pointing out that there was a large number of reasons why it shouldn't have worked). He gave cover to Kalibak by conjuring a tornado. Batman managed to disarm Weather Wizard and knock him out.
• Corey Burton reprised his role as Weather Wizard in Justice League Unlimited. Weather Wizard appears as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. He was also seen as a background character and a display in the episode "Flash and Substance". Later on, Weather Wizard sides with Grodd in the mutiny against Luthor. He is frozen by a turncoat Killer Frost; none of the frozen villains are seen escaping prior to Darkseid blowing up the Secret Society's station.
• Weather Wizard is featured in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by Robin Atkin Downes. He makes a cameo in the episode "Night of the Huntress!" where Calculator informs him that Flash will be out of Keystone City for a few days allowing him to commit his crime there. In "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!", he assists Captain Cold and Heat Wave in a crime spree. He is also seen in the opening for "Triumvirate of Terror", where he is on the baseball team of the Legion of Doom.

Film

• Weather Wizard appears in the opening of Justice League vs. Teen Titans voiced by Rick D. Wasserman. He is seen fighting the Flash along with the Legion of Doom before he is defeated by the Scarlet Speedster. He tries to run away, but ends up getting possessed by Trigon who makes him powerful enough to rival the League (even using his powers without his Weather Wand). He is stopped by Damian Wayne and Wonder Woman, who exorcise the demon out of him.

Video games

• Weather Wizard appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame voiced by Corey Burton.
• Weather Wizard appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Brandon Young.

Parodies

• Weather Wizard appears in the Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise voiced by Matthew Senreich. He is seen with the Legion of Doom when they head to Spring Break so that Lex Luthor can look for Lena Luthor. When Joker comments about the beautiful weather, Weather Wizard quotes "You're welcome." As Weather Wizard walks away, Joker asks if Weather Wizard is going to keep making that joke every day.

Miscellaneous

• A second Weather Wizard resembling the one from the Mainstream DC version appeared in an issue of Justice League Unlimited issue 38. This unnamed Weather Wizard unsuccessfully attempts to bring down The Flash and Wonder Woman, with help from Giganta, Top, and Mirror Master.^[14]
• Go Go the Wizard in Jiro Kuwata's Batman manga is essentially Weather Wizard with a new name.

References

External links

• Arrowverse entry for Weather Wizard
• Alan Kistler's Profile On: THE FLASH - A detailed analysis of the history of the Flash by comic book historian Alan Kistler. Covers information all the way from Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to today, as well as discussions on the various villains and Rogues who fought the Flash. Various art scans.