List of DC Comics characters: B

The Bad Samaritan (alias Zviad Baazovi) is a supervillain, and enemy of the Outsiders who first appeared in The Outsiders #3 (January 1986). He is a former Soviet spymaster who became a neutral party after the Cold War, to which became a valued asset for Checkmate.[1]

Barrage is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Phillip Karnowski is a criminal who originally fought Maggie Sawyer and lost his right arm in the process. While incarcerated at Stryker's Island, Karnowski gained some favors from his fellow inmates where he built a high-tech armor that included an energy cannon arm that replaced his lost right arm. With this armor, Karnowski became Barrage and attacked the Metropolis Police Department's Special Victims Unit to get revenge on Maggie Sawyer. Barrage was defeated by Superman.[2]

Barrage later escaped from prison and was recruited by Morgan Edge to join the Superman Revenge Squad and get revenge on Superman. The group was defeated by Superman.[3]

Batman Jones is a Batman expert in the DC Universe.[5]

The character, created by Jack Schiff and Bill Finger, first appeared in Batman #108 (June 1957). A rebnooted version appears in Battle for the Cowl interviewed by Vicki Vale.[6]

Within the context of the stories, his parents were rescued by Batman shortly before Jones was born and they named him "Batman" as thanks. The boy grew up idolizing Batman and tried to become a crimefighter before he began collecting stamps.[7] As an adult, he is an expert on Batman.[6]

Beard Hunter is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Ernest Franklin was a disturbed and closeted gay assassin of bearded men who was hired the Bearded Gentlemen's Club of Metropolis to kill the Chief because he would not sell his beard to them. He cannot grow a beard due to a male hormone deficiency, as stated by to his mother when she was visited by the police.[8]

Billy Numerous (voiced by Jason Marsden) was specifically created for the Teen Titans animated series and did not have a previous appearance in the mainstream comics. He later appeared in comics starting in Catwoman (vol. 3) #78 (April 2008), now known as Repro.

Billy Numerous (real name William "Billy" Strayer) is a former student of the H.I.V.E. Academy and enemy of the Teen Titans. Numerous first appeared as a student of the H.I.V.E Academy, where his power of self-duplication was subtly hinted at. After the H.I.V.E. was destroyed during Cyborg's confrontation with Brother Blood, Numerous and most of the other students went freelance. Later, Numerous engaged in a robbing spree all across Jump City and he stole anything he and his innumerable clones could get his (their) collective hands on. His power thoroughly confounded the Titans, especially Cyborg, who became all the more obsessed in catching him. Finally, however, Cyborg realized that there was another way of catching Numerous. He and the other Titans confronted Numerous in the old stadium where he had stashed his loot, seemingly with numerous copies of themselves. To bring them down, Numerous created even more clones of himself, but finally pushed his powers too far. The resulting reabsorption of each of his clones caused a massive physical and mental shock, stunning him and enabling his capture.

At some point, Numerous entered Jinx's H.I.V.E. Five and was also recruited into the Brotherhood of Evil. As one of the Five, he participated in the attempted capture of Kid Flash, but even his numerous clones were unable to stop the super-speedster. Later, when the Brotherhood executed its worldwide strike against young superheroes, he and Gizmo were sent to capture Kole and Gnarrk in their subterranean retreat, but both heroes escaped them. When the remnants of the Titans under Beast Boy later attacked the Brotherhood's headquarters, Numerous and most of his H.I.V.E. Five teammates tried to run, but were intercepted by Kid Flash, aghast to see that Jinx had switched sides and joined up with him. Moments later, they were all swept away by one of Jinx's hexes and carted off by Kid Flash for flash-freeze treatment.

In Catwoman (vol. 3) #78 (April 2008), a character based on Billy Numerous named Repro appears. The small-time crook known as Repro was operating in Gotham City during the time when many of the city's criminals disappeared for a short time. He was one of the only two criminals left in the city, with the other being the Thief. Repro was a young and inexperienced criminal who only did small-time criminal activities, just enough to stay off the radar of big-time crime fighters. After a confrontation with Catwoman where he thought he had shot her in the chest, he hastily departed and ran to the Thief to tell him about it. He was, in turn, shot in the chest and killed by the Thief, who then dumped his body in an alley to cover up the murder.

Bison-Black-as-Midnight-Sky is a Native American shaman in the DC Universe.

The character, created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick, first appeared in The Fury of Firestorm #1 (June 1982).[9]

Within the context of the stories, Bison-Black-as-Midnight-Sky is the great-grandfather of Black Bison and the last great shaman of the Bison Cult. He resents his great-grandson's disrespect for the cult's traditions. When he is killed by muggers in Central Park, he binds his spirit to a magical amulet.[Firestorm 1]

The amulet allows his spirit to influence or control his great-grandson when worn.

Black Arrow was created by Otto Binder and George Papp, first appearing in Adventure Comics #143 (August 1949). He is a leader of a criminal gang, who creates the identity as part of a robbery scheme to outwit the Green Arrow.[10]

Black Beetle is the name of different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Black Bison is the name of two supervillains in the DC Universe.

The character, created by Gerry Conway and Pat Broderick, first appeared in The Fury of Firestorm #1 (June 1982).[9]

Vera Black a.k.a. Sister Superior is a British psionic cyborg in the DC Universe.

The character, created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke, first appeared in JLA #100 (August 2004).[30] The storyline set up the limited series Justice League Elite which consisted of 12 issues published between 2004 and 2005.

Within the context of the stories, Vera Black is the sister of Manchester Black. As children their parents would often fight and Manchester would take her out to play to avoid them. As his idea of "play" became killing sprees, Vera's perspective became twisted. When her brother dies after attempting to destroy Superman, she has her ruined arms, lost in an untold childhood incident, replaced with cybernetic prostheses which can configure into any weapon she desires, initially contemplating revenge on Superman before she decides to be better than her brother.

Her new abilities result in her leading the remnants of the Elite and tacitly working with the Justice League. This leads to the League, encouraged by the Flash, asking her to lead a new team with the intention that she will handle black ops missions that the League cannot due to what they represent to the public, primarily involving hunting down and eliminating metahuman threats before they go public. Starting with Coldcast and Menagerie, she adds Flash, Manitou Raven, Major Disaster, Green Arrow and Kasumi to the team. She also enlists Naif al-Sheikh to keep the team in check and serve as a liaison to the governments of the world.

Blackbriar Thorn was a High Priest of the ancient Druids of Cymru. When his entire sect is massacred by attacking Roman forces, Thorn flees to the surrounding forest. Attempting to escape capture, he transforms himself into solid wood, hiding amongst the trees. For Thorn's dismay, the agony of his dying comrades creates a geological upheaval which buries his newly arboreal form underground.

Millennia later, Blackbriar Thorn's body is unearthed by an archaeologist and subsequently displayed at the Gotham City Museum of History. When moonlight strikes the statue on the night of its unveiling, Thorn is revived and begins to wreak havoc upon the Museum and its patrons, which includes the alter egos of Superman and Etrigan the Demon. The heroic pair's actions drive Thorn to retreat into the city, where he later attempts to procure a new body—-that of Superman. Together, Etrigan and Superman defeat Thorn, rendering him incorporeal.[31]

Blackbriar Thorn appears, seemingly in human form, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He, Etrigan, and other assembled mystics lend their combined energies-—channeled through Doctor Occult and Green Lantern Alan Scott—-to successfully defeat the Anti-Monitor's Shadow Demons, which had been ravaging the Earth.[32]

Disembodied once more and said to have lingered in Gotham Park since his prior defeat, Thorn is channeled by a stage psychic at the behest of John Constantine to provide information about a pending calamity in The Green.[33]

Blackbriar Thorn next appears (again, with a human appearance) as an agent of the demon Neron in a demonic realm called The Abyss. Holding captive the soul of Mollie Scott as bait, Thorn attempts to ensnare her husband, Alan Scott, but is surprised to find Alan no longer vulnerable to wood.[34]

As part of Johnny Sorrow's version of the Injustice Society, a more woody-looking Thorn and his teammates are defeated by Wildcat as they invade the JSA's Headquarters.[35][36] Thorn's defeat left his body splintered into pieces, one shard of which is kept on display in JSA Headquarters. Thorn lies dormant until the Injustice Society's next attack. Using a crossbow, Injustice Society comrade Tigress shoots the splintered sliver of Blackbriar Thorn into Alan Scott's chest. Apparently once more susceptible to wood, Scott is gravely wounded as Thorn regenerates from the embedded projectile and proceeds to inflict more damage.[37] Thorn is ultimately defeated in this siege on the JSA by Stargirl.[38]

Blackbriar Thorn appears most recently in Day of Vengeance battling the Spectre, who, influenced by Eclipso, attempts to kill all magic wielders in the DC Universe. The combatants appear in gigantic form.[39] Thorn loses the battle, but delays his next regeneration to lend his powers, along with many other mystics, in a combined effort to defeat the Spectre.[40]

Blackbriar Thorn is among the villains in the ambush of the JSA led by Tapeworm.[41]

In The New 52 reboot of DC's continuity, Blackbriar Thorn is re-established as one of two powerful magical entities used by Nick Necro to combat the Justice League Dark. He tries to destroy Zatanna in Peru by controlling an entire forest with his magic. He is then possessed by Deadman and neutralized.

During the Forever Evil storyline Forever Evil: Blight, Blackbriar Thorn is among the magic users in the possession of Felix Faust and Nick Necro. Faust and Necro plan to use the magic users as part of a weapon to defeat the creature that destroyed the Crime Syndicate's Earth.[42]

The character appears in the "DC Rebirth" relaunch as one of the villains refusing to be hired by Henry Bendix to kill Midnighter and Apollo.[43]

Blackout (Farooq) is a metahuman who can harness electricity. He makes his first appearance in Flashpoint (vol. 2) #1 (July 2011). In the alternate timeline created by the events of Flashpoint, Blackout is recruited by Cyborg into a team of superheroes whose mission was to end the Amazon-Atlantean war, which had devastated Europe and caused millions of human casualties. To that end, the team was assigned to take down both Emperor Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

Another new recruit, the Outsider, revealed during a meeting with Batman that he had been hunting Blackout so he could use his abilities to power India. This manhunt resulted in the loss of Blackout's girlfriend and his departure from school. Blackout has since voiced his reluctance to be part of the same team with his worst enemy.

Blackrock is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Blackrock is a recurring enemy of Superman first appearing in Action Comics #458 (April 1976).[44]

Blackrock was the creation of Dr. Peter Silverstone in an attempt to increase ratings for the United Broadcasting television network.[45] Silverstone hypnotized UB President Sam Tanner and later Tanner's nephew, Les Vegas, to fill the role. A third Blackrock (an energy construct) was created by Tanner's command not much later.

Eventually Silverstone assumed the mantle of Blackrock himself, using a powerful stone that could metabolize electromagnetic energy into energy to achieve flight, energy blasts and superhuman strength, and fought Superman several times. This rock, while a technological artifact, has the appearance of a polished gem that is as black as coal. It was appropriately dubbed the Blackrock.

The Post-Crisis version was stated (in Batman/Superman adventures) to be a symbiotic alien life form, rather than a creation of Dr. Silverstone. Its appearance and abilities are approximately the same.

Silverstone is the only Pre-Crisis user of the stone that has been mentioned in Post-Crisis continuity. Overuse of the Blackrock's powers blinded Silverstone and left him insane. He was found sitting muttering to himself and watching constant television shows in an apartment owned by an ex-convict named Samuel Benjamin, who beat Silverstone to death with the Blackrock and took it for himself. Despite its power, his inexperience with the Blackrock led to his defeat and Superman took the stone and threw it towards the Sun.[46]

A short time later, Alexander Luthor Jr., disguised as Lex Luthor, dispatched Bizarro to retrieve the Blackrock from the Sun[47] before passing it on to a South American woman named Lucia,[48] a drug smuggler and revolutionary who had been jailed by Superman before. Her intense feelings of hatred towards the Man of Steel matched those of the Blackrock and she proved particularly adept in using it. However, her skills were not enough to defeat Superman and the Blackrock withdrew into itself.[49]

It was eventually shown that the Blackrock had been kept by Superman, who locked it away in his Fortress of Solitude. The Blackrock escaped and bonded with Plastic Man. Shortly after, the Blackrock was removed from Plastic Man and found its way into the hands of Batman, who shortly afterwards decided he needed its powers to help him stop a currently-rampaging Superman (Superman had fallen under the influence of Despero as he attempted to turn Earth's alien superheroes against humans). Although it remained on Batman after Superman threw off Despero's influence, Superman was able to force it to leave Batman by threatening to kill him, informing the Blackrock that he knew Batman would rather die than live like this.

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Blackrock is Bradley Glenn, an ex-con who was hired to star in a reality television show called Badass Nation about the life of a supervillain.[50] The TV company provided him with powered armor and a fictional backstory about finding it in a crashed spacecraft. They intended to film him tearing up a bridge that was scheduled for demolition, but the crew neglected to ensure that the bridge had been closed to traffic and the Pre-Flashpoint Superman had to intervene.[51]

The Post-Crisis wielders of the Blackrock seem to have developed differing powers based on their personalities. All seem to have possessed superhuman strength and endurance, flight and energy projection abilities. The Blackrock also has the ability to absorb ambient energy to empower its wielder. Dr. Silverstone seemed most adept at using its ability to process information from TV and radio signals. Samuel Benjamin was particularly skilled at using it to boost his own physical strength and toughness. Lucia's abilities seemed to be an amalgamation of her predecessors', but she seemed to prefer using its energy projection abilities and discovered a way to use it to drain Superman's power.

While the stone had bonded to Plastic Man, he was not shown using its abilities much.

Batman used it in much the same way that Lucia did, but Batman showed more of a preference for physical combat than Lucia did.

Jimmy Olsen and several other humans were bonded to the Blackrocks when a shower of them rained down on Earth. These people showed some level of superhuman abilities similar to those demonstrated by Lucia, etc. but it was not shown if they were as strong as he was.

Bradley Glenn's armor enabled him to leap great distances and an energy field around one gauntlet gave him a powerful punch.

Blackwing (Charles "Charlie" Bullock) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton and Joey Cavalieri.

The character was chronologically introduced in Adventure Comics #464 (April 1979), but was unnamed in that comic. He was, however, named in his next appearance in Wonder Woman #281 (April 1981) and later, became Blackwing in Wonder Woman #297 (August 1982). Also, worth to note, the original story in Adventure Comics was intended for All Star Comics #75. Charlie was drawn as a teen in that story, but his next appearance (only three years later) depicts him as a young adult who graduated from law school.

In his mid-teens, Charles Bullock was searching for a direction in life. The teenager found it after he helped fight off street punks alongside Wildcat and was invited to join him at his gym. Charlie attended law school and later became a junior partner and top-notch researcher to the law firm called Cranston, Grayson and Wayne. When a criminal named Karnage broke into the office looking for his boss Arthur Cranston, this, and another event, led him to become the costumed hero Blackwing. Although his first outing as a crime fighter proved unsuccessful when he was captured by the costumed villain Boa's gang, Blackwing managed to contribute in freeing the Huntress from Boa's giant snake and recorded some evidence that was used to put the mastermind and his men away.

Since then, Blackwing has never appeared again in any other published story.

Blitzkrieg is a character appearing in American comic books related to DC Comics. The character, created by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham, first appeared in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #2 (March 2007) as Baroness Blitzkrieg. An apparent descendant of Baron Blitzkrieg, she is a speedster who is a member of the Fourth Reich and fights against the Justice Society of America to which she is beaten by the Flash,[52] and Liberty Belle.[53] Blitzkrieg went out on her own but is beaten by Catwoman,[54] and Supergirl.[55]

Block is a young Maori woman living in Melbourne, Australia, the woman dubbed the Human Block was once inexplicably struck by lightning and survived the incident. Unknown to her, this similar event had happened to many other individuals throughout time and was in fact the Speed Force imbuing her with speed-related abilities. In her then-present time—1957—Block acted as a side show attraction in a carnival, the prize of $1,000 going to whoever could move her, which was failed by many, as she had manipulated her body density. One drunken man staggered onto the stage to accept her challenge, making her move by insulting her Maori heritage rather than physically moving her. Angered, she immediately struck out at him and instigated a small brawl, tearing through the crowd before someone hastily drew their firearm on her and shot, only to find that not even bullets affected her. Before the now-turned mob could attack her, Zoom, accompanied by his newly recruited acolytes the Folded Man and Magali, appeared and teleported her outside of the carnival grounds. Being offered the chance to embrace her abilities and live as a godlike being after mastering them, she did not hesitate to join Zoom and his quest to kill the "evil" Flash. Along with the other Acolytes, she would train for what would be an unknown amount of time to kill the Flash, facing off with Zoom in his place. It is unknown how long this training took place, as they stated that, over the course of centuries, this team trained to take on the Flash and when they reached older age, Magali would revert them back to their original ages when joining. Unknown to Block, Zoom is actually the one to have orchestrated her joining him to begin with, appearing to the drunk man who challenged her, while convincing him that the way to make her move was to attack her heritage, as he had been keeping close watch on her for some time.

Bloodwork (Dr. Ramsey Rosso) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by Joshua Williamson, Paul Pelletier and Howard Porter, first appeared in The Flash (vol. 5) #28 (October 2017). An enemy of Barry Allen / Flash, he has the ability to control and manipulate blood.

Bolphunga is an extraterrestrial bounty hunter in the DC Universe.

The character, created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #188 (May 1985).[63]

Within the context of the stories, Bolphunga the Unrelenting has a love of destruction and plots to make a name for himself by challenging the most feared and mysterious beings in creation, fixating on Green Lanterns. This has led to his defeat by Mogo,[GL 1] Kilowog[GL 2] and Guy Gardner.[GL 3]

Boom is the name of different characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Sy Borgman is a retired scooter-bound U.S. agent with some cybernetic enhancements and an ally of Harley Quinn that first appeared in Harley Quinn (vol. 2) #2 (March 2014) as part of The New 52.

Sy Borgman is a retired U.S. agent formerly called Syborg who was rendered scooter-bound and got cybernetic enhancements after stopping a terrorist plot. When Harley Quinn heads to her nursing home appointment, Sy Borgman recognizes her causing Harley to close the door behind her. He explains his history to her and states how he must use a scooter due to the weight of the cybernetics affecting his aged body. Sy wants to help Harley by targeting the gang that was responsible for his current cybernetic state.[73] While going over the files, Harley and Sy start with Igor Lenivetskin, who is in a coma. They were able to sever the tubes going into him and set his body to explode. The second target is Ivana Brekemoff. Sy states Ivana will be more difficult than Igor. Upon entering the mansion by force, Harley and Sy confront Ivana who starts using an RPG on them, which blows up the mansion.[74] Emerging unscathed, Harley and Sy flee from the police helicopter while throwing Ivana to her death. Their third target is Alexei "the Bear" Medvedenko, who currently works as a security guard at the Prospect Park Zoo. When they arrive, they find that Alexei had been torn apart by the zoo animals he released upon hearing that they were coming for him. The other people that Alexei called were also on the files and consist of Kosta Armanoleg, Borya Tatierski, Yuri Beyznatofin, and Zena Bendemova. Harley and Sy send explosive bagels their way, where Kosta, Yuri, and three of Kosta's henchwomen were caught in the explosions. Harley brings a metal pipe down on Borya's head, leaving Zena as the remaining target. While it was mentioned that Zena was an ex-lover of Sy, she is caught by surprise when Sy sends her scooter into Zena enough to send her flying into the horns of a rhinoceros. Then it comes to the final target that Sy foreshadowed, where he and Harley head to Coney Island and break into the bedroom of a man named Chuck. After a monologue by Sy about the car that Chuck sold him, Harley kicks Chuck out the window where he falls into the streets below. While Sy wanted to finish off Chuck, he relents.[75]

When Harley Quinn is invited to the Skate Club by Summer Daze, she brings Sy Borgman along to accompany her.[76] Harley Quinn learns that this roller derby has no rules, as Sy Borgman places a bet on Harley. When Sy gives Harley an explosive toothpaste to use on her opponent Maria Monsterella, it kills her, causing the match to be disqualified. Sy still managed to win his bets and allows Harley to pay for the meal that follows. Harley later packs Sy's wheelchair into his car and sees him off.[77]

Bouncer is an enemy of Batman who constructed a special suit out of alloy that gave him enhanced bouncing abilities. In their first encounter, he shot and killed Batman, who is replaced by the Batman of Earth-Two.[78]

He later returned as a henchman for the Monarch Of Menace. When Batman was missing, the Monarch of Menace hired various Batman villains to commit crimes for him, including the Bouncer, however he was once again defeated when Batman returned.[79]

Brainiac 3 (Lyrl Dox) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is a Coluan who is the son of Brainiac 2 and the Gryxian Stealth.[80]

Breathtaker is a name of two supervillains appearing in DC Universe.

Crystal Brown is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

Crystal Brown is a nurse who is the ex-wife of Arthur Brown and the mother of Stephanie Brown who struggles with pain pill addiction.[86]

Byth Rok is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC comics, and who is commonly known as a recurring enemy of the Silver Age Hawkman. He was created by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, and first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #34 (February/March 1961), titled "Creature of a Thousand Shapes".

On the alien planet Thanagar, a scientist named Krotan developed a pill that would empower the mind to control the molecular formation of the body. Just as he was about to swallow it, a thief named Byth assaulted him and swallowed the pill. Byth first transformed into a bird and left (via spaceship) to commit crimes on other planets. Katar Hol and his wife, Shayera, tracked his rocket to Earth.

For many years, Byth would escape on several occasions only to be captured again by Hawkman and Hawkwoman.[88]

In the Hawkworld mini-series, Byth is a corrupt Wingman commander and Katar Hol's superior. He manipulated a drug-induced Katar into killing his father, aiding his rise to power.[89] Now Administrator of Protection, he gains his shape-shifting powers from a new drug called Krotan. Katar Hol, with the help of Shayera Thal, uncovers his schemes but Byth escapes arrest.[90] He flees to Earth and runs criminal operations in Chicago. He supplies Carl Sands with a shadow generator.[91] He is later captured,[92] and returned to Thanagar.[93]

Byth was apparently defeated for good by the then recently resurrected Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders.

In The New 52 reboot of DC's continuity, Lord Byth is shown to be responsible for the creation of Ultra the Multi-Alien where he had combined the DNA of the alien prisoners to make Ultra the Multi-Alien the Slayer of Worlds.[94]

After consuming the Changeling Pill (or Krotan), Byth gained the ability to transform into any other person or animal at will, whether they were indigenous to Thanagar or originated on an alien world (including Earth). There appears to be no physical restriction in terms of mass or volume when it comes to Byth's shape-shifting talents.

Firestorm titles

Green Lantern titles