Spellbinder

Favorite Villains / Bad Guys (84 items)
list by filthyhandsgod

Ira Billings, also known as Spellbinder was a disgruntled high school psychologist turned mind-controlling criminal.


Ira Billings was once a psychologist working at Hamilton Hill High School. Feeling under-appreciated — and more importantly, underpaid — Billings decided to use his talents to get back at the very people he claimed had spurned him: the rich. Under the guise of his position, he probed the minds of wealthy students, and in turn — via mind control — used them to abscond with valuables from their own homes.

Billings donned a spandex suit with black swirls, and developed a floating "eyeball" imbedded in his right-hand glove. This contraption allowed him to project images into the minds of others. His first known victim was Chelsea Cunningham. Billings approached her during a stroll back home, and mesmerized her with a jungle adventure to retrieve a valuable trinket from an ancient temple, which in reality was one of her father's possessions. Afterwards, Billings was dubbed Spellbinder by the media, given his modus operandi.

On the next day, Dr. Billings was visited by Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon, who solicited his professional opinion on Chelsea's conduct. Billings discredited her behavior as a recurring cry for attention nourished by her father.

His next victim was Mr. Deakins, an auction house manager forced to endure a Vietnam War-like fantasy, upon which he had to carry and secure a wounded combatant, which was in reality a priceless dress. However this time, Spellbinder was spotted by Batman.

Afterwards, Spellbinder went after Lorraine Tate, Jared's mother. On her wedding day, Spellbinder planted his spell-casting eyeball in a hovering photo machine that he controlled from a remote position. He injected Lorraine with a nightmarish fantasy where she found herself besieged in an insectoid monster world. While running scared for her life, she left her precious jewels behind her under the belief they were insects, which Spellbinder managed to collect.

Batman caught up with him, but Spellbinder reacted quickly and ensorcelled him with a waterfall hallucination. This provided him with a chance to escape, as Batman dove straight down to the road.

On the next day, Billings summoned Terry into his office, under the pretense of wanting to check on him, given all the recent radical changes in his life. However, what he really wanted was information on Bruce Wayne. Then, he spellbound Terry into looting Wayne Manor, thinking he was a contender in a Supermarket Spree contest. Spellbinder was waiting outside the mansion to collect the plunder; however, unbeknownst to him, Terry had snapped out of the trance and set off to confront the mindbender as Batman.

Spellbinder once again mesmerized Batman; this time making him think he was under attack by zombies. Taking advantage of Batman's disorientation, Spellbinder fought dirty, striking him with everything he could grab. He then attempted to lure Batman into falling down a cliff, but the tables were turned on him, and Batman winded up saving Spellbinder from certain death. Billings was unmasked and taken into custody shortly after.