Tattooed Man

SuperFriends Comic Book Character
Tattooed Man
Information
Real name:	Abel Tarrant
Species:	Metahuman
Homeworld:	Earth
Universe:	Earth-1A
Affiliations:	Injustice Gang
Rogue of:	Green Lantern

Tattooed Man.
Image from Justice League of America, #158 (Sept. 1978).

Tattooed Man.
Image from Justice League of America, #111 (May/June 1974).

The Tattooed Man is a supervillain and an enemy of Green Lantern who has the ability to turn his tattoos into deadly weapons.

Background Information

In the parallel universe, known as Earth-One, Abel Tarrant was a sailor based in Coast City who turned to burglary. During one of his heists, he was exposed to a bunch of mysterious chemicals which left him with the mental ability to create actual objects from the chemicals. When he got back from the robbery, he tattooed himself using the chemicals so he would always have the chemicals near him. Some of the shapes he was able to conjure from his tattoos were an axe, shield, cannon, and dragon.

The Tattooed Man originally had the advantage against Green Lantern because the chemicals' base was yellow.

He eventually became a member of the Injustice Gang and by then had tattooed much of his body, including his face.

Powers and Abilities

• Body Art Animation: Abel can animate and control his tattoos simply by touching the region of his body where the tattoo is located. The effects discontinue upon Tarrant's command or if he should happen to be incapacitated.
• Above Average Strength Level

Appearances

The Tattooed Man did not appear in any episode of the Superfriends TV Show.

Earth-One Appearance:

• Justice League of America, #61 (March 1968)
• Justice League of America, #111 (May/June 1974)
• Justice League of America, #143 (June 1977)
• Justice League of America, #158 (September 1978)

Earth-1A Appearance:

• SuperFriends Comic Book: Limited Collectors' Edition #C-41 (December 1975 / January 1976)
• Super Friends, #8 (November 1, 1977): -- indirectly referenced
  • In this SuperFriends issue, we are told that the Red Tornado's appearance follows the events in Justice League of America, #146 (September, 1977). In the JLA #146 we are introduced to the 'Injustice Gang.'

Notes

• The first Tattooed Man appeared in Green Lantern, #23 (September, 1963). There have been more versions after this one.
• He was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.
• This version of the first Tattooed Man has appeared in the animated TV series Justice League Unlimited which ran on the Cartoon Network from 2004-2006. He appeared as a member of Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society. He was briefly seen during the Society's attack in Gorilla City where he was punched by Batman.