Victor Danning

Victor Danning

A scientist turned criminal, at one time a specialist in mechanical engineering, who attempts to steal an as yet unperfected "brain-amplifying ray"—a device designed to "increase any man's mental power 100 times"—from the laboratory of its inventor, Dr. John Carr. With the intention of using it to endow himself with a super-intellect to aid him in the planning and execution of spectacular crimes, Danning does not actually succeed in stealing the machine, but efforts to apprehend him receive a severe setback when, during a scuffle in Carr's laboratory, Danning and Robin become accidentally transformed into supergeniuses while Superman becomes transformed into a mental dullard. Although they are generally more hindered than helped by the slow-witted behavior of the intellectually impoverished Superman, the quick-witted Batman and the superingenious Robin ultimately succeed in apprehending Danning and his henchmen and in using Dr. Carr's "brain-amplifier" to restore Danning, Robin, and Superman to normal (WF No. 93, Mar/Apr 1958: "The Boss of Batman and Superman").