The Sportsmaster is the name of different supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the character; Lawrence "Crusher" Crock, is usually depicted as a criminal who uses sports-themed weapons and gadgets to commit crimes. He is also the husband of Paula Brooks and the father of Artemis Crock.
The Victor Gover incarnation of Sportsmaster first appeared in Manhunter #17 and was created by John Ostrander, Doug Rice, and Kim Yale.
Fictional character biography
Lawrence "Crusher" Crock
Earth-Two version
He was the foe of the original Green Lantern and Wildcat. He was first known as Crusher Crock, a frustrated athlete who turns to a life of crime.[3] He was a member of different incarnations of the Injustice Society.[4] He helped capture the JSA using an exploding ball, after which they were hypnotized and then during the Patriotic Crimes he steals Old Ironside. He teams up with (and later marries) the Golden Age villainess Huntress. Later they have a child named Artemis Crock who became the third Tigress. In his later years he spent time behind bars but at least on one occasion was broken out of prison by his daughter - then a member of Injustice Unlimited.[5]
The second Sportsmaster is Victor Gover, an African-American former football player who possessed "photographic reflexes". Blacklisted from the world of professional sports after his metahuman abilities are exposed, Gover becomes a criminal and enemy of Manhunter. He later joins the Suicide Squad for one mission during War of the Gods.[9]
Following Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, Gover is reimagined as a powerless white athlete and gambling addict. Wildcat later beats Gover, forcing him to retire and attend Gamblers Anonymous.
Sportsmen
Sportsman is the name of two characters modeled after the original Sportsmaster.
The Earth-2 version is a telekinetic metahuman whose abilities are derived from an anti-proton globe. However, the globe affects his brain, forcing him into crime.
The Earth-1 version is Martin Mantle, an athlete whose father forced him to undergo unsafe enhancement treatments that will eventually kill him. As the Sportsman, he possesses Olympian-level physical attributes and specialized equipment of his own design.
Each of the Sportsmasters and Sportsmen had superb physical attributes on par with Olympic athletes in their prime. As noted above, Victor Gover also had "photographic reflexes".
Other versions
An alternate timeline variant of Sportsmaster appears in Flashpoint. This version was incarcerated in Doom prison. He attempts to escape during a prison break, only to be killed by Eel O'Brian.[10][11]
In other media
Television
A character based on Sportsmaster named Sportsman appears in the Justice League two-part episode "Legends", voiced by Michael McKean.[12] He is a supervillain from an alternate universe and member of the Injustice Guild.
The Lawrence "Crusher" Crock incarnation of Sportsmaster appears in Young Justice, voiced by Nick Chinlund.[13] This version is the ex-husband of the Huntress, with whom he has two daughters, Artemis Crock and Cheshire. Additionally, he is a former member of Ra's al Ghul's League of Shadows who became the top assassin and enforcer of Project Cadmus' Board of Directors, the Light. In the first season, Sportsmaster uses his relationship to Artemis to blackmail her into joining the Light, only for her to betray and capture him. Having escaped sometime before the second season, during which he was replaced by Deathstroke, he vows vengeance on Black Manta for Artemis' apparent murder at the hands of Manta's son, Kaldur'ahm, but lays his vendetta to rest when he discovers that Artemis faked her death to infiltrate the Light.
The Lawrence "Crusher" Crock incarnation of Sportsmaster appears in Stargirl, portrayed by Neil Hopkins.[14] This version is a member of the Injustice Society of America (ISA). In the pilot episode, Sportsmaster partook in the ISA's attack on the Justice Society of America (JSA)'s headquarters. In the two-part episode "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.", Sportsmaster assists the ISA in enacting Project: New America, only to be foiled and defeated by Stargirl's JSA. In the episode "Summer School: Chapter Thirteen", Artemis Crock breaks Sportsmaster and Tigress out of prison so that they can help Cindy Burman and the JSA fight Eclipso. Following this, the Crock family move in next door to the Whitmore-Dugan family. In the third season, Sportsmaster and Tigress work with the JSA to investigate Gambler's death and find the person responsible for spying on Blue Valley's citizens until they are killed by Icicle.
The Young Justice incarnation of Lawrence "Crusher" Crock / Sportsmaster appears as a boss in Young Justice: Legacy, voiced again by Nick Chinlund.[13]
^Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 52. ISBN978-1-4654-8578-6.
^"Sportsman Voice - Justice League (TV Show)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 18, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
^ abcde"Sportsmaster Voices (DC Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 18, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
