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The Religious Affiliation of
The Hexer
 

Religion: occult CBR Scale: D

Name: The Hexer

Classification: villain villain  

Publisher(s): DC

First Appearance: Batman (vol. 1) #170 (Mar. 1965): "Genius of the Getaway Gimmicks!"

Creators: Gardner F. Fox, Sheldon Moldoff, Joe Giella

Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes

Number of Appearances: 1

Enemy of: Batman

Occupation: criminal

Gender: male

Note: fake criminal in story Batman created

In the context of the Batman story "Genius of the Getaway Gimmicks!", The Hexer is not a "real" character. The Hexer is simply part of a ruse concocted by Batman in order to capture Ray Reynolds, the story's titular "Getaway Genius."

Reynolds was a man who had an almost obsessive belief that trying to capture or destroy Batman always led to doom for criminals, so he focused simply on carefully planning his escapes from crime jobs. Batman and police were thus unable to capture Reynolds and his gang. So Batman came up with a plan to create a situation in which he and Robin looked so helpless and vulnerable that the crooks wouldn't be able to resist trying to finish the heroes off before escaping.

The fictional "Hexer" was the central part of a story Batman created in conjunction with police and the newspapers. Reynolds was completely unaware that the Hexer was simply "made up" when he read about the criminal in local newspapers and talked to his crew about him. In panels 1 through 3 on page 8, Reynolds says, "Hello! What's this? Batman was caught in a trap by a criminal known as the Hexer -- but got away and captured his man! Aha! Just as I've said right along! The Hexer tried to get rid of Batman -- so the Hexer is in jail! Don't you get any foolish notions like that! Just concentrate on escaping! It seems Batman escaped by using the Bat-Signal in the sky -- something the Hexer never counted on! Now -- the Hexer has vowed to use the Bat-Signal in some mysterious occult manner and cause Batman's and Robin's doom! What utter nonsense!"

The next time Reynolds and his gang committed a crime, Batman and Robin were on hand to try to stop them. The criminals might have escaped, too, except for the trap Batman had set for them. The Bat-Signal was visible in the sky, and the dynamic duo pretended that the signal was having a strange effect. The Bat symbol on Batman's costume and the "R" on Robin's costume suddenly grew larger and wrapped around their wearers as if forming a straitjacket. Batman and Robin declared that the Hexer had caused the Bat-Signal to do this to them. They looked so helpless that the Reynolds gang postponed their escape and attacked the heroes.

But Batman and Robin were not really helpless. They had inflated the specially prepared symbols themselves in order to appear helpless and thus lure the criminals in closer instead of driving them to escape. Batman and Robin, using only their legs still able to subdue the criminals (and they were wearing bullet-proof jackets just in case).

Only Reynolds failed to fall into their trap. His belief against trying to trap or directly confront Batman was so strong that he was never temped by their trap. But his captured henchmen told Batman and Robin were to find their boss.

Thus, Batman and Robin were able to capture the "Getaway Genius," with the help of an occult criminal who didn't really exist: the Hexer.

Although the Hexer did not actually exist, this fictional "character" can still be easily classified with regards to his "religious" affiliation. Both his name ("Hexer", meaning one who casts spells or magical hexes) and the fact that the newspaper said he explicitly planned to use occult means to defeat Batman make it clear that Batman envisioned this criminal as someone defined by his belief in and use of the occult.


This character is in the following story which has been indexed by this website:
Batman (vol. 1) #170 (Mar. 1965): "Genius of the Getaway Gimmicks!" (mentioned)


Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
  - https://www.comics.org/issue/19004/
  - http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=72601