WANTED: Earth-Two's Most Dangerous Super-Villains

Dr. Ripari

Personal information

Character History

Real Name: Unknown, presumed last name Ripari

 

Residence: Mobile
Occupation: Criminal
First Appearance (Golden Age): Detective Comics #160 (June 1950)

Nothing is known of the origins of the criminal known as Dr. Ripari prior to his encounters with Robotman in the 1950's.  He is first believed to have encountered Robotman when the hero was attempting to raise money for a Heart Fund and was offered a $20,000 donation by jewelry magnate J.B. Williams to guard a shipment of gold bullion and capture thieves targeting it.  Robotman agrees and rides with bullion to its intended destination with local newspaper reporting his presence.

Ripari is motivated by the challenge of stealing the gold despite Robotman and when the gang stop the shipment by blocking the armored car on a country road, unleashed a rapid-rusting compound that degrades Robotman's metal body.  As the hero flees, the criminals begin to cut into the van.  Finding clean sand nearby, Robotman quickly fashions a temporary body made of rust-proof glass and returns to the car.  This time Ripari repels him with a tuning fork that threatens to shatter him.  Fleeing again, he finds some abandoned tires and creates an elastic body and attacks the criminals once more.  This time Ripari used a blow torch, threatening to melt the new body so Robotman retreats inside the armored car and locks himself inside.

As the criminals use a blow torch to cut in, Robotman crafts a new body by melting the gold and hiding under a thin layer of the rubber.  Pretending to surrender, he opens the car and the criminals rush inside.  There the are ensnared in the remaining rubber and bound until Robotman can drive the car to its destination and deposit  them with the police (Detective Comics #174),

Dr.  Ripari is believed to have next encountered Robotman in an earlier reported tale in which he is released from prison with a plan to avenge himself on his heroic adversary.  He places an ad in a local newspaper requesting Robotman's assistance and providing a meeting place.  When Robotman arrives, he suspects a trap but before he can find it, he crashes through the floor.  Below, he lands in a magnetic field which suspends him in mid-air unable to move.

Taking advantage of his adversaries weaknesses, Ripari makes some adjustments  to Robotman's body before he and his gang depart.  When the field collapses, Robotman takes off in pursuit of Ripari.  Finding some police, he asks for information but his voice is so amplified it deafens everyone in range.  Examining himself, he finds that Ripari has rigged his vocal cords to over-respond.  As the criminal rob Wilton Warehouses, Robotman attempts to charge forth but suddenly powers through, bowling over bystanders and crashing into the warehouse.  As he runs past, the criminals rob the warehouse.

Robotman_DrRipari_Final colors

Ripari next heads to the National Bank and as Robotman arrives, he flags the hero down.  He invites Robotman to take a swing at him but when the hero does, he strikes in the opposite direction, hitting a police officer.  As the criminal gloat and rob the bank, Robotman realizes that one of Ripari's modification has caused him to act in reverse.  Targeting a mannequin nearby, he aims but again moves in the opposite direction, this time clocking Ripari and rendering him unconscious.  The police then round up the criminals and cart them off to jail (Detective Comics #160),

The further activities of Dr. Ripari on Earth-Two are not recorded.

Note
:  The two appearances of Dr. Ripari show the character with very different appearances and he is called Doctor or Professor Ripari in each.  He is "introduced" in his second reported case and emerges from prison to avenge himself on Robotman in the second.  It is not entirely certain that these two characters are the same and the other explains (they may be brothers, or even unrelated individuals) but given the same name and modus operandi the simplest explanation is that the two cases are the same Dr. Ripari.

Powers and Abilities

Dr. Ripari is a criminal with significant expertise in robotics and engineering.  He acquires or creates offensive devices such as rusting sprays, giant tuning forks and simple blow torches.  He is sufficiently advanced in his knowledge of robotics to re-wire the operational capacity of Robotman's mechanical body.  The nature and extent of this expertise is unclear.

Weaknesses and Limitations

Without his henchmen and equipment, Dr. Ripari is an ordinary human and below average combatant.

Multiversity Villains

Multiversity

No version of Dr. Ripari is known in any other timeline that Earth-Two.

Appearances

Issue

Comment

Reprinted in

Detective Comics #160

vs. Robotman


Detective Comics #174

vs. Robotman