Doctor Edgar "Psycho" Cizko is a violently sadistic and misogynistic telepath whose abilities allow him to control the minds of others through hypnosis to create illusions, astral projections, and ectoplasmic conjurations.
Often underestimated due to his short stature, Cizko is particularly talented in taking an opponent's fears and inhibitions and turning them against them. He takes extreme delight in watching his victims as they succumb to his manipulations; often seeing their demise as rightful justice for himself.
Background[]
Edgar Cizko was a medical student who became the pride of the faculty while earning his doctorate, graduating with a special commendation, however, he was also frequently ridiculed and humiliated by his peers for his short stature and his interest in the studies of psionics, which was influenced by his possession of latent psychic abilities. Dubbed "Doctor Psycho", Cizko courted and married another student, Marva Jane Gray, however, Marva was secretly in love with the college athletic champion, Ben Bradley. To cover their illicit affair, Ben and Marva framed Cizko for the theft of $125,000 worth of radium from the college lab. When Cizko was indicted, and Marva testified against him as an eye witness, Cizko was sent to prison, leaving Marva and Ben free to marry.
At that moment and forever afterward, Cizko developed and cultivated a lifetime hatred of all women, his hatred allowed him to further develop his abilities into vast psychic powers that allowed him to enter and sometimes shape people's dreams, control minds and project illusions. He spent the remainder of his sentence planning his revenge, and when released, he tortured and killed Bradley.
Cizko took to impersonating a child psychologist named Dr. Charles Stanton at the Adams Junior High School in Boston, Massachusetts and began using his powers to mentally force students to improve their grades, while secretly instigating conflict by controlling the minds of Wonder Woman and Hermes to force them to fight and destroy all the people in Boston as his criminal masterpiece. His control was interrupted after being discovered by Helen Andersen who was trying to investigate the secret to the recent success in student grades, before knocking her out and holding her hostage. He used his mental powers to torture Helen by putting nightmares into the mind of her unborn child to drive her insane and kill her along with her baby, but was stopped by Wonder Woman who managed to find Cizko by reading the memories of Vanessa Kapatelis, a close friend of Wonder Woman who had been affected by Cizko's mind control. He was knocked out after trying to hypnotize Wonder Woman by pretending to be Dr. Stanton.
He somehow managed to escape after being knocked out and was later seen using his powers to kidnap and imprison Julia Kapatelis under orders from Circe before warning her that a traitor was in her midst.
Cizko was later again recruited by Circe to create disturbing and consistent nightmares for Vanessa Kapatelis. This would force her to separate herself from her closest allies. The plan was to make Wonder Woman feel isolated and create fear of her fellow Amazons. He was imprisoned at the Greater Boston Institute for the Criminally Insane were he meticulous fractured Vanessa's mind to hone his powers before trying to make his escape. Vanessa later managed to break Cizko's hold on her mind, causing a psychic backlash that rendered him drooling and catatonic in a padded room and a straitjacket. When the Legion of Super-Heroes were lost in time, Saturn Girl mentally calls for her friends and accidentally awakens Cizko enough for him to attack several staff members and escape. He then attacked the Legion and tries to take over Saturn Girl's mind, but unintentionally unlocks the inhibitor of her full abilities and awakens her true power. She then summarily defeats Cizko and psionically forces him to constantly see her face on the next person he sees.
Later, Cizko returns to warp Vanessa's fragile mind and turns her into the new Silver Swan in an effort to make her a new member of a team of villains consisting of himself, Circe and the new male Cheetah. He was knocked out by Donna Troy and incarcerated into the Slabside Penitentiary.
He was later visited by Leslie Anderson in The Slab, and, after an unsettling session where he mentally molested her, was moved and recruited by Veronica Cale in a plot to discredit and ruin Wonder Woman's reputation. He was seen trying to cause a crowd of people to kill each other in a riot before betraying and impersonating Cale as revenge for her trying to have her bodyguard murder him. He was confronted by Wonder Woman at Cale's Headquarters and managed to escape. He then went on a spree of murder where he kept trying to mentally cause others to commit suicide, but he revealed it was only a ruse in an attempt to reveal to Wonder Woman that Cale was the true mastermind behind her recent troubles while maintaining his freedom. He later appeared to join the newly-repowered Cheetah and Zoom to become part of the newly created Secret Society of Super-Villains.
Cizko worked with Talia al Ghul to recruit criminals for the Society with Catman the only one to reject their offer. Cizko does not take the rejection well and threatens to have Catman kill himself. However the pack of lions under Catman's command convinces him he might be eaten if he has Catman hurt himself and leaves peacefully. He also spends time working with Deathstroke to capture one of the Shazam Family of superheroes. The other members of the Society eventually realize that he was trying to mentally influence them but they brush it off as something to be expected. Cizko was then seen traveling to Metropolis to act as a distraction while Shrapnel caused destruction but he decided to have some sadistic fun and mind controlled civilians into attempting suicide to torment Superman. Superman managed to save the civilians and Cizko was rescued by Black Adam.
Cizko later travels with Warp to release the Doomsday from his prison at the Earth's core. He used his powers to control Doomsday, and uses him during the assault on Metropolis. Cizko mentally fought against Martian Manhunter during the Battle of Metropolis and was defeated along with the rest of the villains.
Combat Statistics[]
Involvement[]
Heroes[]
- Dr. Psycho runs an experimental facility within Metropolis General Hospital funded by LexCorp. As his patients begin rebelling, Superman sends new heroes to support Supergirl in quelling the chaos and taking Dr. Psycho down. He is quite easy to defeat as he deals very little damage, but is confusing and time-consuming due to his mental tricks and hallucinations.
Villains[]
- His efforts are thwarted by Supergirl until Lex Luthor intervenes with newly recruited exobyte powered members of the Society.
Trivia[]
- Doctor Psycho first appeared in Wonder Woman #5 (July, 1943)
- Doctor Psycho is voiced by Robert Matney.
- Embarrassing Cizko in any way will set him off. Commenting on his height, or lack thereof, will assure this.
- Doctor Psycho has an intense hatred of women and sees Wonder Woman's humiliation and defeat as his ultimate goal.
Gallery[]
See also[]
External links[]
- Edgar Cizko DC Database
- Doctor Psycho Wikipedia