Warning! Spoilers for Batgirls #4 to follow!
One of the most striking villains from Batman Beyond, Spellbinder, has been given new life and a makeover in DC Comics. While this Spellbinder isn’t the same Ira Billings who tangled with Terry McGinnis in the Neo-Gotham of the future, their costume and new character elements take clear inspiration from their animated incarnation. With a surprising new link to the Batgirls, this new Spellbinder looks to be more dangerous than ever before.
Throughout Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern, and Becca Carey's run on Batgirls, the Spellbinder’s presence has been subtly felt through splash panels and art gallery advertisements. While Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, and Barbara Gordon have been working together as Gotham’s Batgirls to take down a mind-controlling street artist called the Tutor, this enigmatic villain has displayed flashes of strange mesmeric power accompanied by the Spellbinder’s black-and-orange spiral motif. In Batgirls #4, it is revealed that while the Tutor is not Spellbinder, he has been working directly beneath him – and that the new Spellbinder is in fact Charles Dante, an old flame of Barbara's.
While Charles is a departure from both the original Golden Age Spellbinder (an artist named Delbert Billings) and his animated counterpart, the influence of Batman Beyond can clearly be seen in this new figure. No longer just an artist, Charles is an art therapist, recalling his origins as a psychologist in Batman Beyond. Ira Billings used his position as a counselor in Terry McGinnis’s high school to influence teenagers in Batman Beyond's season 1, episode 10, "Spellbound." Charles takes this premise a step further – he mentions in Batgirls #3 that his practice has allowed him a residency at Arkham Asylum, giving him access to Gotham’s most dangerous minds.
The clearest homage to the Spellbinder of Batman Beyond, however, is Charles Dante’s costume. While it’s not the same ghastly orange bodysuit, it shares the same sleek lines and color palette - only reversed. The wiry frame is now clad in an all-black suit, outlined with orange accents and buttons. Instead of a spiral mask, the new Spellbinder wears a horned mask, eyeless and demonic. He still keeps the signature twisted spiral pattern, however, represented as both a button attached to his lapel and as the background in his speech bubble.
The DCAU has had a profound effect on many Batman villains' comic histories, notably rewriting Mr. Freeze’s entire backstory and introducing Harley Quinn to the comics universe. Now it looks like Spellbinder is getting a similar treatment: rather than pull from the original character, elements of the animated version have been blended together to make a powerful new comics debut. Taking the best of Batman Beyond and bringing it straight to the Batgirls, Spellbinder is back in business at last.