Angle Man

CHARACTER
Angle Man
Real name	Angelo Bend
Debut	Wonder Woman v1 #70 (November 1954)
Created by	Robert Kanigher Harry G. Peter
Affiliations	Mafia The Society Anti-JLA
Abilities	Can alter objects and locations
Played by	see In other media
GALLERY

History

Golden and Silver Age

The Angle Man was an unsuccessful criminal who became obsessed with crimes with unbeatable "angles." He plagued Wonder Woman with a series of increasingly clever schemes that involved "angles." It is unclear whether or not he had an Earth Two counterpart.

He reappeared in Secret Society of Super Villains now wearing a yellow and green costume and wielding the Angler, a Penrose triangle which could warp time and space in a variety of ways. A text page in that issue explained that he had been recruited and outfitted by the SSOSV's founder Darkseid only to use the Angler to warp ahead in time to a point after Darkseid had been exposed and deposed as the Society's secret leader. He also began appearing in the Wonder Woman title once more.

This Angle Man died in the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, apparently as a result of attempting to use his Angler during the massive dimensional upheavals caused by that event.

Modern Age version

After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the entire DC Universe history was erased and restarted again with the same familiar characters, but with all new backgrounds and histories. In Angle Man's case a still-living, uncostumed Angle Man initially appeared briefly in the Flash comic as one of several villains whose equipment was appropriated by the weapon-absorbing Replicant.

Later, during Phil Jimenez's run on the Wonder Woman title, he was revamped into Angelo Bend, an Italian master thief for hire who uses his special angler to escape authorities. He was caught by Donna Troy while trying to steal an ancient artifact from a museum. Even though Donna, as Troia, was trying to stop the villain, Angle Man formed a bit of a crush on the Amazon. He became so enamored with her that he instinctively transported himself to Themyscira seeking Donna's help when he was savagely attacked by a Fury possessed Barbara Minerva. Later it was learned that he had been hired by Barbara, the previous Cheetah, who had lost her powers to Sebastian Ballesteros and needed the stolen artifacts to regain them. He was also seen grieving at Donna Troy's funeral after she was briefly killed by a Superman robot.

The next time he is shown was among a large team of super villains formed by the Wonder Woman villain Devastation. An enemy of Cassie Sandsmark, Devastation formed the group to battle the now disbanded Young Justice.

Infinite Crisis

The sophisticated thief re-imagined by Jimenez was subsequently written as an entirely different personality, much deadlier and obsessive.

Bend appeared in Catwoman as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains who were operating in the East End of Gotham City. Catwoman infiltrated the team pretending to be a villain again to get close to the Society. Bend discovered her discussing her plan to double-cross the Society and attacked her, shooting her in the stomach and stabbing her in the head with a triangle-shaped blade. However, the Catwoman the Angle Man "killed" was in fact a new Clayface whom Catwoman had recently encountered and asked for help. The real Catwoman appeared and, during her attack on the villains, beat Bend savagely with a baseball bat.

One Year Later

In the DC Universe One Year Later, Selina Kyle has given up her mantle as Catwoman after having a child. Her associate and friend Holly Robinson has taken over the Catwoman persona.

Bend, now obsessed with Catwoman and bent on revenge, has targeted Holly, not realizing that he is going after the wrong person. He has since been defeated by Holly once (the brutal fight was caught on tape), but has been approached by a new villain calling himself the Film Freak, apparently a successor to the deceased Batman villain of the same name.

When Film Freak deduces Selina's secret identity the two villains launch an attack on her apartment. In the wake of this he even threatens to kill Selina's baby and to give her secret identity away to other villains. These plans are, however, thwarted when Selina calls in Zatanna, who performs another mindwipe on the two men. This results in Angle Man forcibly confessing his crimes to Gotham Police after reminiscing about his more glorious days as a supervillain.

Angelo next appears as an ally of Circe who has emmassed a large team of villains to attack Wonder Woman. He informs Diana that Circe has amplified his powers and uses his Angler to replicate itself as a projectile stabbing tool. He and his teammates are about to subdue Wonder Woman when she is rescued by a large group of the Amazon's allies. Angle Man is rendured unconscious by Robin in hand-to-hand combat and is then arrested under the authority of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. After Angle Man's incarceration has been processed his Anglers are taken by Nemesis and placed in government confiscation.

DCnU

Angle Man was present with several other villains as the Crime Syndicate had gathered them. He later appeared watching the television broadcast revealing Superman and Wonder Woman's relationship.

Powers and Abilities

Possesses an object known as an Angler which can alter objects and locations according to the holder's wishes, sometimes defying gravity or through teleportation.

==In other media==

In Justice League Unlimited, Angle Man appears as a member of the Secret Society and makes several non-speaking appearances in the series final season. Angle Man had a one line cameo in the episode "The Great Brain Robbery, voiced by an uncredited Phil LaMarr. He is a member of Gorilla Grodd/Lex Luthors' Secret Society in the episode, Alive.