Character Spotlight: Copperhead

In case anyone's not aware, I often find inspiration for new posts from TVTropes's Canon Immigrant and RetCanon pages. (But I'm pretty sure a lot of the entries for comics on those pages come from this blog, so it evens out.) And for years now, one of the entries on those lists was a female Copperhead. But I looked and looked and never found any evidence of a female Copperhead appearing in comics.

Until now.

But first, let's go over the Copperhead legacy. The first - and, most would argue, "main" - Copperhead debuted in The Brave and the Bold #78 (April 1968). John Doe was a master contortionist and super-assassin who strangled his victims to death, but he later got snake powers when he sold his soul to Neron during Underworld Unleashed. He was killed by Manhunter in 2004.

The second Copperhead was Nathan Prince, who debuted in Teen Titans #56 (February 2008) as a member of the Terror Titans. Considering the New 52 happened only a couple years later, Nathan didn't have much time to shine.

The New 52 introduced us to Sameer Park in Justice League #18 (March 2013). Unlike the previous two, this Copperhead is actually a human/snake hybrid. He was killed during Forever Evil (2013).

Another Copperhead who looks almost exactly the same as Sameer appears in Batgirl and the Birds of Prey issues #2-4 (September-November 2016). And a Copperhead with a still inhuman but less snake-like appearance showed up in Batman issues #14 and #19 (January and March 2017. Whether these are meant to be the same Copperhead, and whether either or both of these are meant to be Sameer Park, remains to be seen. Wikipedia calls this version "Nora Park", but I have no idea where it's getting that information. This version or versions doesn't even appear to be a woman.

But you know who is a woman? The Copperhead who appeared in Batman: Arkham Origins (October 2013). She's a boss fight in the game and she seems to have all the same abilities as the original Copperhead. There also seems to be some evidence that points to "Copperhead" being a role in drug cartels rather than a specific person. Regardless, I've used an image of her action figure because all the screenshots I could find of her in the game are really dark and don't give a good impression of her.

Three years later, a female Copperhead with a very similar appearance premiered in All-Star Batman #2 (September 2016). Why yes, that IS the same month as the mysterious Copperhead above. It's almost like comic book companies are terrible at getting their facts coordinated these days. But I digress. She is formally a mercenary like previous Copperheads, but is currently a crime boss in Gotham.

After all this time, I'm glad I can finally cross her off the list!