DCAUResource.com

Menu:

Magpie

Back to Villains Main > Magpie

Real Identity: Margaret Sorrow
Appearances: Secrets, Attraction, Darkness, and Reckoning
Powers/Skills: Pain Insensitivity, Unarmed Combat, and Above Average Agility
Voiced By: Grey DeLisle Griffin

Margaret Sorrow was a kleptomaniac and repeat offender. She was arrested and sentenced to serve 10 years at Blackgate Penitentiary. Sorrow participated in Joe Braxton and Bethanie Ravencroft's mind control experiment in exhange for an early release. The method worked and Sorrow was stripped of the bad in her. But she also lost memories and built up a high tolerance to pain. She was given a new life and name, Cassie. She was released from Blackgate after just two years. Over the course of the next five years, Cassie got a job as Ravencroft's secretary. She was unaware Cassie was a former test subject. On paper, Sorrow was issued a date of death and the city made it legitimate by getting an empty grave plot. The bad returned and manifested as a second personality called Magpie. Both personalities were unaware of each other's presence. Magpie longed to know who she really was and sought her memories back.

Magpie came to discover there was a way to use the Mind Control Helmet to reverse the process and return memories. She quickly garnered the attention of Batman after she trespassed onto six warehouses and stole hi-tech electronics worth millions. Though she claimed to only have taken them because they were shiny. One night, Magpie entered Joe Braxton's warehouse and stole the Mind Control Helmet. She forced him to wear it and wiped his memories out. While making her escape, Magpie was attacked by Batman. Intrigued by his Utility Belt, Magpie demanded it but Batman counter offered hand cuffs. A brawl followed with Magpie getting the upper hand.

Batman and Lieutenant Gordon independently tracked Magpie to the Miskatonic Psychiatric Hospital. Batman fell victim to her razor sharp talons laced with a poison named curare. When Batman awoke, he found himself strapped down and wearing the Mind Control Helmet. While Magpie went to get her memories back from Ravencroft in another room, Batman was subjected to the helmet. He escaped, destroyed the helmet, and exposed the truth to Magpie. When Magpie saw Cassie's reflection, she became confused and didn't believe Batman. She was about to attack when Gordon shot some of her talons off. Magpie threw the debris at Gordon and fled the room. She was devastated to see the Mind Control Helmet in pieces and declined Batman's offer of help. As far as she was concerned, there was only Magpie left in her. Batman defeated her by setting off a cannister and knocking her onto a table. She was electrocuted and rendered unconscious. Gordon admitted to Batman he was going to put her right back in Blackgate.

Magpie was surprised when Batman began visiting her. He simply wanted to help her understand what happened to her, such as the consequences of suppressing one personality. Magpie, however, became obsessed with Batman and believed she knew him the best. When Batman's visits became infrequent, Magpie began to worry. She became excited when she sighted Batman, who was escorting Lunkhead to a prison cell next to hers. Batman briefly spoke to her but Katana interrupted to tell him the Gotham City Police Department was on its way. Magpie became enraged and didn't think Katana deserved to be at Batman's side. After some thought, she concluded Batman needed her help. Unable to escape by herself, Magpie tricked Lunkhead by promising him lot's of candy. Once she was free, Magpie kicked Lunkhead down to the next floor. She fled Blackgate and made her way into the city. Magpie then set off an explosion at a jewelry store. Batman and Katana responded and were attacked. Confused by Batman's denying her help, Magpie fled the scene after blowing up Katana's motorcycle.

Magpie went on a 12 hour crime spree robbing banks, department stores and electronic stores. At each location, she left a nest of objects in the shape of a bat. Media speculated Magpie and Batman were working together. Batman had difficulty in tracking her since the spree had no discernible pattern and she didn't stay in one place for long. He believed Katana would be a target and a liability in the field so he forbade her from joining him in the manhunt. Batman believed Magpie would return to her past hideout, the Miskatonic Psychiatric Hospital. Magpie was at the Miskatonic and encouraged Batman to embrace the dark like her when Margaret Sorrow was erased. Enraged at the sound of Katana's arrival, Magpie knocked Batman out and attacked Katana. During the fight, she drugged Katana with curare and took her to the Gotham Cemetery to be buried alive. Magpie robbed one more jewelry store and left a set of numbers that formed a web address, 052.283.12. Batman figured out the clue and watched as Magpie revealed an unconscious Katana in a coffin with 30 minutes of air.

Batman picked up on Magpies "buried" clue and went to the Gotham Cemetery. According to her plans, Batman went to Margaret Sorrow's empty grave and dug it up. Magpie desired to know why Katana was more important than her even though she understood him. Batman admitted he only wanted to help her hold onto her humanity. Magpie drugged Batman and kicked him into Sorrow's grave. Katana, meanwhile, had dug her way out and attacked Magpie. Batman cured himself with physostigmine. Batman and Katana knocked Magpie into Sorrow's grave. She was knocked out when Sorrow's headstone fell on her. She was returned to Blackgate but was soon freed by Ra's Al Ghul in order to take out Batman. After Batman dispatched Professor Pyg and Mister Toad, Magpie landed on the Batmobile and shattered the windshield. Batman launched himself out of the Batmobile and fought Magpie. She was looking forward to having a piece of the city to plunder of shiny things but was blasted by Phosphorus Rex. The two villains fought each other but were taken over by Cypher.

Batman was able to sever the connection by throwing a bola at Cypher. Outnumbered, Batman surrendered himself to Magpie. As he assumed, the villains fought each other over Batman. Magpie was blasted by Rex again but she recovered and sliced off Cypher's cords, knocked Mister Toad away with a piece of debris and even flipped Professor Pyg.