The Changeling

Personal Data

Erik Razar

Residence: Keystone City
Occupation: Professional Criminal
First Appearance (Golden Age): Flash Comics #84 (June 1947)
First Appearance (Post-Golden Age): none
Pre-Crisis Fate: Presumed deceased
Post-Crisis Fate: Unknown

History

    Nothing is known of the life of Erik Razar before he became a small-time gangster in Keystone City. In the early 1940's, Razar ran a small mob that was taken over by a larger operation run by gangster Topper Hull. Hull framed Razar and had sent him to prison. For years Razar fumed and swore revenge. In the summer of 1947, Razar had hatched a plan to escape by sabotaging the prison power generator. His plan had an unforeseen side-effect however, charging Razar with enormous amounts of electricity. Unhurt, Razar slowly changed into a gorilla and made his way across the prison yard where he was sighted by guards. When they opened fire, Razar changed into a giant tortoise, bouncing the bullets off it's thick shell. When the bullets ceased, Razar became a rhinoceros and battered down the gate. Fleeing into the woods, Razar became a bird and set out in pursuit of Hull.

    Perched on Hull's window sill, Razar learned that Hull had planned a bank job by intercepting an armored car delivery. Razar decided to torture Hull by thwarting his crimes and intercepted the car first. By this point, the police had consulted with scientist Jay Garrick who was among those who witnessed Razar, as a large bull elephant, intercept and dismantle the armor car. Quickly changing to the Flash, Garrick engaged the shape-shifting criminal but was quickly dispatched into a large water reservoir.

    Razar, now named The Changeling by the local papers, decided to foil Hull's hijack of a sunken ship recovery operation and then kill him. The Flash also became aware of Hull's plans by eavesdropping in his invisible super-speeding from and determined to intercept them both. Razar dove into the water as Hull's boat left the pier and transformed himself into a large shark. The Flash dived in behind the Changeling but the criminal irritated a large clam which seized the Flash's leg and threatened to drown him. After extricating himself, he came upon the Changeling-shark threatening the divers in the recovery operation and assaulted him. Deciding that he would need to kill the villain to stop him, the Flash battered the shark's gills until it could not breath and then knocked it unconscious as the Changeling tried to change forms. As the unconscious and unmoving shark drifted to the bottom, the Flash left to capture Hull. (Flash Comics #84) Whether the Changeling survived or not as never been determined.

Power and Abilities: The Changeling possessed the ability to change forms into any animal. Whether this was limited to animals which he had seen or could include extinct or imaginary animals remains unknown. Despite the animal forms, Razar retained mental control of the form and thus the animal possessed the criminal cunning of the human mind.

Weaknesses and Limitations: Razar, as an anima, also developed the animal limitations. For example, as a shark, it breathed through a shark's gills and thus was vulnerable as a shark would be. Time limits or restrictions on the frequency of changes in the Changeling's powers have never been recorded.

Golden Age Appearances
Flash Comics #84
 

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