Tobias Whale is a brutal and determined crime lord, a clever and intelligent leader who always plans his moves carefully, as if playing on a chessboard with his men as pawns. Ready to take the reins of what was left of Gotham’s organized crime, Whale immediately seized power in the Odessa and the Galante crime families, aiming to become the “ capo dei capi“… and when Intergang arrived in Gotham as well, this time Tobias Whale was ready to face them in a proper gang war. Freeze, Killer Croc, Man-Bat, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Two-Face and many others, to Planet Salvation. Previously home of some of the most powerful crime lords in the world, Gotham was experiencing a power vacuum after the death of Black Mask and the deportation of most of its most picturesque villains, namely The Joker, Bane, Mr. Not to succumb to his rivals, Tobias Whale decided to leave Metropolis, heading for another rich city that just waited to be conquered: Gotham City. Intergang was supported by Apokolips, and soon they became more powerful than anybody else in the city. The war between them went on for years, until a new power emerged to undermine Whale’s one: the Intergang, a new criminal group led by Bruno Mannheim. This, however, brought to Whale new enemies: not only Halo, but also the team she had become a member of, the Outsiders, who counted also Black Lightning in their ranks. As it became clear that Halo had no memory of her former life, Syonide killed her parents in frustration. Harper soon resurfaced as the heroine Halo: Whale believed she had memorized the formula, so he sent Syonide to her once again. Whale sent Syonide to take the formula from her, but as she failed to do so, she simply killed the girl. Tobias Whale just learnt of a new, highly addictive drug, and the formula was a secret kept by a young woman, Violet Harper. A prison wasn’t enough to keep Whale in for long, however, and soon he got out, helped by his newest ally: the new Syonide, a proficient and ruthless assassin, who would have helped him in reaching the top once again. Whale and Lightning began an all-out street war, that eventually ended with Whale’s defeat and arrest. Instead of solving a problem, however, killing the boy only made it worse, as the murder attracted the attention of a new superhero who became the protector of the Suicide Slum: Black Lightning. To teach him a lesson, Whale had one of Pierce’s students, Earl Clifford, killed and hung as an example. One of such fools was Jefferson Pierce, a school teacher, who even beat one of his pushers to protect his students from The 100. Not many people opposed him, and the few who did soon regretted it. Eventually, he formed and led The 100, one of the most influential and powerful gangs in all Metropolis. Often called “ The Great White Whale“ by his enemies behind his back due to his massive size, Whale taught them that most of his bulk actually came from his inhuman muscles, and he crashed the ones who opposed him with his bare hands, integrating their goons in his own private army. He started from the Suicide Slum, the poorest and most disreputable block in Metropolis, as a simple gangster, but he fought his way to the top, acquiring both an enormous influence in the underground world, and even a remarkable political power. Tobias Whale’s first moves to become the powerful and undisputed crime lord we know are pretty much unknown. The show maintains just half of the original character’s looks, as he’s indeed portrayed as an albino African American man, but in the comics his bulk is massive, making his surname quite a self-description. On the run from the authorities, he has Alvin killed, and he becomes the leader of The 100, the city’s most powerful gang, obviously entering in conflict with Alvin’s son, Jefferson “Black Lightning” Pierce. In the show, Whale will be at first a corrupt politician, who however is exposed by investigative reporter Alvin Pierce. The second character appearing in the Black Lightning trailer is the series’ big bad, Tobias Whale, portrayed by Marvin “Krondon” Jones III.
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