Electrocutioner

The Electrocutioner I, a self-appointed executioner of criminals who slipped through the hands of the law, begins a series of crook-killings in Gotham City with his electrically charged suit.[2] Batman has three encounters with the Electrocutioner I. In the first, killer Mike Caine dies;[3] in the second, Batman rescues Dane Whitney; in the third, the Electrocutioner I falls through a window, grips a metal railing, and shocks himself so that he lets go and plunges off a cliff into the river below.

The Electrocutioner I goes to Manhattan. He encounters two muggers in Central Park and attacks them with lethal doses of electricity from his gauntlets. The Vigilante, meanwhile, continues to cut a bloody swathe of bodies in the name of justice. He breaks into Charles McDade's limousine and shoots McDade and his lady friend Mona Simpson to death. That evening, the Vigilante learns that the Electrocutioner I is back in town and is, in fact, targeting the same criminal element that the Vigilante himself is.[4][5] The Electrocutioner I is eventually killed by the Vigilante.[6]

When S.T.A.R. Labs opened a portal to Limbo in Operation Zeppelin, they did this as various deceased criminals wished to return to the earthly realm through the portal. These criminals included the Electrocutioner I, the Icicle I, Clayface II, El Papagayo, the Iron Major, and the Top. When Operation Zeppelin's creator Director Jeffrey Simon disappeared, a rescue party went through the portal and the villains captured them. They bargained with their demonic jailer, a demon impersonating Etrigan the Demon, exchanging their prisoners to gain temporary mortal forms and preparing to return to Earth. They were opposed by the Hawk, the Dove, and the Titans West. The battle was fierce, but the tide turned when J.E.B. Stuart came down from Heaven and gave the Hawk his Haunted Tank. The false Etrigan offered them a way out through another portal, but he was merely toying with the dead villains: when he sent them through the portal, it turned out to be an entrance to Hell.[7]

The Electrocutioner II used a costume rigged to generate a lethal electrical shock against criminals (including Cannon and Saber), and ran afoul of Batman, who disapproved of his extreme justice.[8]

Initially working in the cause of justice just like his brother, the Electrocutioner I, Lester Buchinsky became a criminal and later a mercenary. Overly reliant on his ability to generate electricity, the Electrocutioner III has faced (and been defeated by) Batman, Robin, and Nightwing.

In at least one scheme, working with the Cluemaster to steal an armored car full of money, the Spoiler works to oppose him. The Spoiler turned out to be the Cluemaster's daughter. The stupidity of Lester's second partner, a hulking brute with delusions of intelligence calling himself Czonk the Baffler, would also hamper their plans.[9]

For a time, Lester was frequently seen in the employ of Blüdhaven crime boss the Blockbuster II.[10]

In Infinite Crisis, Lester became a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains.[11]

During the 34th week of the series 52, the Electrocutioner III appeared as part of a Suicide Squad operation against Black Adam.[12]

In the Rise and Fall storyline, the Green Arrow is still hunting the Electrocutioner III and those who worked with Prometheus; keeping secret his murder of the man as the rest of the JLA tries to track him down. The Green Arrow confronts the Electrocutioner III, who set off the device that devastated Star City in Justice League: Cry for Justice. He was close to killing the man when the Black Canary stops him during their argument. The Black Canary then realizes what the Green Arrow did; thus, the Electrocutioner III escapes from the Green Arrow's attempt to bring him down.[13] Although the Electrocutioner III was defeated and horrifically injured by Speedy,[14]the Green Arrow's arrival convinces Speedy that killing is not the answer and the two archers take him into custody.[15]

Once the Electrocutioner III awoke from his coma, Roy Harper vowed revenge. He broke into the jail and killed the Electrocutioner III, despite the Green Arrow's protests to the contrary.[16]

• The Electrocutioner appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Cat and the Canary". Electrocutioner was seen at Roulette's Meta-Brawl fighting Bloodsport in a match. He was later seen as a member of the Secret Society.
• The Electrocutioner makes his first live action appearance in Gotham, portrayed by Christopher Heyerdahl.[17] The episode "Rogues' Gallery" features Jack Gruber, an inmate in Arkham Asylum charged with murder and declared as a "grade-A sociopath", experimenting on other inmates with electroconvulsive therapy. After his accomplice, Aaron Danzing (whom he experimented on and now controls as a result), kills a guard and the Asylum Director Gerry Lang, Gruber escapes from Arkham. In "What the Little Bird Told Him", Edward Nygma discovers that Jack Gruber is an alias of Jack Buchinsky and gives this info to James Gordon and Harvey Bullock where he allowed himself to get sent to Arkham Asylum. Buchinsky later does an unexpected attack on Sal Maroni's restaurant and zaps Oswald Cobblepot unconscious. After Maroni and his men are placed in protective custody Buchinsky begins his attack on the Gotham City Police Department headquarters, knocking everyone unconscious. As Danzing starts to grab Maroni, James Gordon arrives (having been protected by wearing rubber shoes) to fight them. Buchinsky claims Maroni is a false friend and that Gordon is simply satisfying his ego. Gordon uses a nearby beverage to shorten out Electrocutioner's gear. Electrocutioner and Danzing are then arrested.

Electrocutioner appears in Batman: Bad Blood, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.[18] He is among the villains who work for Talia al Ghul. When Electrocutioner was about to kill Robin, he was killed by Damian Wayne's clone Heretic.

• In Batman for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Electrocutioner was the boss of stage 3. He had an electric sword-arm that was used to fling arcing high-voltage projectiles. Along with Killer Moth and Firebug, he was a supervillain working for Joker.
• Electrocutioner is among many other DC characters included in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[19]
• The Lester Buchinsky Electrocutioner appears in Batman: Arkham Origins, voiced by Steven Blum. He appears as one of the assassins hired by Black Mask to kill Batman.[20] He is the second assassin to face Batman, first appearing as a pit fighter on Penguin's ship. He starts boasting before fighting Batman, which allows him to knock out Electrocutioner with one kick to the face. However, he is able to escape after Batman leaves the pit, promising Batman he'll fight him again. Batman later tracks the electromagnetic pulse given off by his gloves to the meeting at the Royal Hotel with the remaining assassins. Joker sheds his Black Mask disguise when he disrupts Electrocutioner's game on his phone during the meeting. Electrocutioner demands to know who Joker is and the clown fires his gun near him as a warning. Electrocutioner is pushed out of a window by Joker (who claimed that Electrocutioner has nothing else to contribute) and crashes onto a chandelier in the lobby of the hotel, killing him. Batman takes Electrocutioner's gloves for himself as a gadget, which becomes a key tool for the remainder of the game. Batman uses them to revive Alfred as a defibrillator, then does the same to Bane after remembering the Electrocutioner's threat to "jump-start his heart, and then kill him again".
• In Batman: Arkham Knight, Electrocutioner's Shock Gloves appear in the evidence room at the Gotham City Police Department, where they were donated by Batman. Aaron Cash's recording about them says Batman gave them in a short time after Origins, guessing he preferred beating up thugs the old-fashioned way.