Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
You know…he never really had a chance: Mirror Master
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Appearances in Heroclix: The Flash, Origin
First Appearance: Animal Man #8 (February 1989)
Team Affiliations: Rogues, Secret Society of Super Villains, Injustice Gang, Suicide Squad, Legion of Doom
Powers/Abilities: Various powers over mirrors, including the ability to travel through them and trap others within them; Has a body made of a glass-like material; Can turn anyone into glass
Created by: Grant Morrison – Chas Truog
As a baby, Evan is left on the doorstep of an orphanage run by Mrs. McCulloch with nothing more than a first name and photograph of his parents. He has a mostly normal childhood, all things considered, until at the age of 8 he is assaulted by an older boy. In self-defense, Evan drowns the boy in a creek and is never caught. He leaves the orphanage at the age of 16 with his parents’ photograph.
He settles in Glasgow and takes up a life of petty crime, eventually becoming an assassin. He grows to become one of the most renowned mercenaries in the UK, even being able to avoid luxuries such as eye surgery. Due to this eye surgery, he doesn’t recognize a target until it is too late, realizing the man he just shot is his father. He goes to the funeral and, for the first time, sees his mother.
Over the following days, Evan tries to work up the courage to confront his mother but waits too long, arriving to find that she has committed suicide. Overcome with grief over his role in his parents’ deaths, Evan endeavors to turn himself in but is instead picked up by a consortium of US Military Industrial Complex interests, who offer him the costume and weapons of the original Mirror Master in exchange for his services.
His first target as the new Mirror Master is Animal Man. Evan is supposed to scare Animal Man into abandoning his animal-rights positions, only to fail due to Animal Man’s wife. When Mirror Master refuses to kill Animal Man’s family, he is fired and retaliates by helping Animal Man track down the Big Government Business agents that hired him. This heroism is incredibly short-lived and Mirror Master returns to his criminal ways almost instantly.
Mirror Master moves to Keystone City, quickly making an enemy of the Flash (Wally West). Mirror Master discovers a “Mirror Dimension” that allows him to travel through any reflective surface. McCulloch is accepted as a member of the Rogues in time to die, go to Hell, and be resurrected when Neron battles the Flash. Mirror Master also joins Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang and battles the Justice League right up until Batman offers to pay the villain twice what Luthor was.
Mirror Master and Captain Cold are approached by Brother Grimm with a plan to permanently get rid fo the Flash but are ultimately betrayed by Grimm and trapped in a pocket mirror universe in Linda Park’s diamond ring. The villains are then forced to join forces with the Flash to escape the dimension, with Wally even briefly granting them super-speed.
He goes on to work with Blacksmith and eventually develops a severe cocaine addiction. The death of Captain Boomerang seems to lead to Mirror Master sobering up. Evan joins Alexander Luthor Jr’s Secret Society after the Rogue War and battle the Outsiders. He also takes part in the Battle of Metropolis, eventually defeated by Martian Manhunter. One year later, Evan is a member of the Suicide Squad and has relapsed into his addiction. Mirror Master, along with the Rogues, are persuaded by Inertia to kill the current Flash (Bart Allen) and are immediately enraged when they learn that the Flash is “just a kid.”
Mirror Master is among the villains exiled to Salvation. After the villains escape Salvation, Mirror Master along with the other Rogues refuse Libra’s offer to join his Secret Society of Super Villains. They instead enact revenge on Inertia.
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