Dollmaker (DC)

**Dollmaker** is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

## Biography

**Barton Mathis** was a male human born in the modern age where he was the son of the infamous Gotham City serial killer known as **Wesley Mathis**. His father took Barton on his numerous excursions where he tracked and killed random victims on front of his son with him cannibalising the body for parts. Wesley Mathis was later found out and shot dead at the hands of a young James Gordon. Barton Mathis was taken in by the Gotham City Police Department where he claimed that he was forced to go on his fathers hunting trips and witness the crimes perpetrated by him. This led to the boy being sent into foster care but after a year he disappeared and no trace of him was seen after that point. Years later, he came to develop crude surgical skill where he performed operations on his body as well as others as he adopted the guise of the Dollmaker. (Detective Comics v2 #3) The Joker later had an arrangement with the Dollmaker to have a procedure made to cut off his face. Upon reaching the designated site, he was met by one of the Dollmaker's 'sons' wit this angering the Joker who proceeded to kill the man as he wanted the surgeon himself. He then went on the run from the GCPD and Batman in order to get captured by them whereupon he was sent to Arkham Asylum. This was all part of an elaborate plan to have a direct meeting with the Dollmaker in a cell in the institution where he could have the operation done. Though saddened at the lost of his son, the Dollmaker agreed and conducted the procedure with the Joker's face being removed much to the madman's delight at going through the ecstasy of the pain. The pair celebrated the success of the operation where they believed they had been reborn on that night. (Detective Comics v2 #1)

The next day, the Joker was missing and the GCPD caught sight o a serial killer named **Ray Quimby** where they believed he might have been responsible for the Clown Prince of Crime's disappearance along with his face being cut off. Quimby was an associate of Wesley Mathis and whilst on the run he came upon the Dollmaker's family who killed him. They were also responsible for capturing Commissioner Jim Gordon and held him hostage as the Batman looked to find the police officer. Whilst investigating the site, he was ambushed by the Dollmaker's 'family' and given an injection to leave him helpless. The Dollmaker then arrived intending to claim the Dark Knight as his prize and gave him what appeared to be the mutilated body of Jim Gordon. (Detective Comics v2 #2) Batman quickly determined that the body was simply a doll made to resemble Gordon with the villain revealing that the real Commissioner Gordon hidden somewhere else. With the paralysis taking effect, the Dollmaker directed his minions to capture the Batman. The Dollmaker did not want Batman injured and in particular no damage to his face as he intended to do his work on the Dark Knight and sell him to he highest bidder. Despite being outnumbered, Batman managed to escape by falling through a window and taking one of the Dollmaker's minions with him. (Detective Comics v2 #3)

Suspended like a marionette, Batman is forced to fight the Joker dolls when a crook named Raju arrives at the Dollmaker's lair to offer the Dollmaker a large sum of money in exchange for Batman. Raju's client is the Penguin, who plans to pay the Dollmaker some gold bars in exchange for Batman's body. The Dollmaker uses magnetized cables to immobilize Batman completely, and Batman is surprised to realize that the cables are of his own design, as the Dollmaker has somehow gained access to Wayne Corp. Regardless, he uses a demagnetizer in his suit to free himself, leaping forward and knocking the Penguin's thugs out. Freed, he easily defeats the Joker dolls and begins his search for the Commissioner. Meanwhile, the Dollmaker receives a call from an unseen benefactor, who warns him that the GCPD are on their way. The benefactor orders that Commissioner Gordon be killed. The Dollmaker and Matilda make their escape, while his thugs, Bentley and Sampson, gather all the organs and body parts they can salvage. Meanwhile, Batman begins kicking down every door in the hospital in search of Gordon. Batman defeats Bentley and Sampson and finds the Commissioner and Olivia Carr as they get to safety. Seeing the Dollmaker escaping in a car, Batman leaps down onto the roof, crushing it down around him. Unexpectedly though, the car explodes. When Batman investigates, he discovers that the car was filled with decoy dummies that he had mistaken to be the Dollmaker and that the real Dollmaker must have escaped in the police chopper. (Detective Comics v2 #4)

## Overview

### Personality and attributes

He blamed James Gordon for killing his father and ruining his life. (Detective Comics v2 #3)

Mathis was known to abduct children in order to adopt them as part of his twisted family. (Detective Comics v2 #3)

The Dollmaker looked for victims in order to perform his craft where liked to find extremely valuable collectibles among people. (Detective Comics v2 #2)

It was said that the Dollmaker was ultimately a victim himself with him answering to people that even he was afraid of failing. (Detective Comics v2 #3)

### Powers and abilities

The surgery was known as the **Doll Process** which was noted for being a delicate operation. (Detective Comics v2 #3) This involved stitching skin onto the faces of others leaving suture patterns all over their bodies. (Detective Comics v2 #2)

The Dollmaker had a number of henchmen serving him that included:

* **Orifice** : (Detective Comics v2 #2)
* **Bentley** : (Detective Comics v2 #3)
* **Jack-in-the-Box** : a man dressed as a jester who was extremely strong with his arms being pliable and his tongue had been removed. It was suspected that his arms had been altered to become akin to rubber or replaced with something synthetic. (Detective Comics v2 #3)
* **Dollhouse** : a woman named **Matilda** who claimed to come from a family of supervillains and said that she was the granddaughter of the Toyman where she was given the name of Dollhouse by her father the Dollmaker. (Catwoman v4 #12) She had a mask on her face and sometimes dressed as a nurse where she aided in the Dollmaker's surgeries. (Detective Comics v2 #2)

He was known to dress up cheap thugs as the Joker and made them wear death masks. (Detective Comics v2 #4)

Mathis made use of plastic dolls to serve as decoys to ensure he escaped arrest. (Detective Comics v2 #4)

## Notes

* The Dollmaker Barton Mathis was created by Tony S. Daniel where he made his first appearance in Detective Comics v2 #1 (November, 2011).
* On MTV, Daniels said in an interview, *"We see something very, very strange happen to the Joker in issue one, and that leads Batman to discover that there’s someone around the corner that he was previously unaware of. There’s a new villain in town that goes by the name The Dollmaker, and he really has a whole crew of cohorts and people that work with him. They’re insane – they’re right up there with The Joker. His main story is discovering what they’re all about, and how he’s going to handle a new serial killer in town that he knows nothing about."*
* On IGN, Daniels said in an interview, *"Dollmaker is new to Gotham and he's come here to make a name for himself. He has a history with Commissioner Gordon and a vendetta to fulfill. This maniac and his family of helpers like to make doll's out of their victims. They create the ultimate collectibles. They're truly a disturbed bunch who really could use some rehabilitation inside Arkham Asylum. On the flip side, they donate their victim's organs to the black market to save lives."*

## In other media

### Television

* In Arrow, the Dollmaker Barton Mathis appeared in the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse in the episode "Broken Dolls" where he was portrayed by actor Michael Eklund.
* In Gotham, the character was adapted to the storyline where he became a mad European scientist by the name of Dr. **Francis Dulmacher** and was portrayed by actor Colm Feore. He was mentioned but not seen in the episode "Selina Kyle". He was shown to had hired a woman and man pair to pose as members of the Mayor's Homeless Outreach Program. These two referred to their employer as the Dollmaker and were tasked with kidnapping street kids as part of a child trafficking ring whilst using Trident International Shipping as a front for their operations. Their smuggling ring was uncovered in Gotham by detectives James Gordon and Harvey Bullock who arrested the pair though the Dollmaker himself was not shown.

### Films

* In Batman vs. Robin, the Anton Schott version of Dollmaker made an appearance early in the animated film where he was voiced by actor "Weird Al" Yankovic. He was the son of noted toy maker Winslow Schott who was actually a psychopathic killer that abused Anton for many years and was his primary victim. Around 12 years ago, a testimony by Anton Schott sent his father to prison and he took over the family business which prospered well under his management. This remained the case until the floods came forcing the toy business to shut down. Unknown to anyone, the years of abuse by his father had broken Anton Schott psychologically and he believed that children needed to be saved with the only way to do so was by turning them into dolls. To that end, he operated as the Dollmaker where he abducted children with some being psychologically broken to serve him as his dolls. Both Anton and his dolls wore masks with these broken children being outfitted with cybernetic implants as they became vicious killers. Damian Wayne as Robin tracked down the Dollmaker's hideout with Batman arriving at the scene. The pair fought off the violent children and freed the captive ones with Anton attempting to flee. Damian in a rage nearly killed Schott but decided against it after his father taught him about seeking justice and not vengeance. However, Anton was killed by Talon who with a clawed gauntlet hand had plucked out his heart and told Damian Wayne to trust his instincts before departing the scene. When Batman arrived, he initially mistakenly believed that Damian had been responsible for Anton Schott's death. At the Batcave, Damian Wayne accessed the file on Anton Schott and closed the case on the computer.

## Appearances

* *Detective Comics v2*: (2011)
* *Batman: The Joker's Daughter v1*:
* *Forever Evil v1*:
* *Dark Crisis v1*: