Barton Mathis

Barton Mathis
Biological Information
Species	Human
Status	Deceased
Universe Information
Home universe	Earth-1
General Information
Occupation	Serial killer (formerly)
Alter ego	The Dollmaker
Actor	Michael Eklund

"After all, everyone loves a pretty doll."

—Barton Mathis^[src]

Barton Mathis (died October 23, 2013), also known as The Dollmaker and The Broken Doll Killer, was a psychopathic serial killer in Starling City. He would drown his female victims by pouring a polymer down their throats, before dressing them up like dolls for police to find, thus giving him his name.

Mathis developed a personal grudge against detective Quentin Lance after the latter apprehended him. Upon escaping prison during the Undertaking, he resumed his killing spree and targeted Laurel Lance to get revenge on Quentin, only to be murdered by the Canary in retribution.

Biography

Killing spree

Around late 2007, Mathis established himself as a serial killer in Starling City when he left the bodies of his victims on display, dressed up as dolls. This earned him the moniker, "The Dollmaker". Unbeknownst to anyone, Mathis targeted women who used Mermaiden, a high-end skin cream marketed for delicate complexions, which he deemed perfect to help produce "dolls". After killing eight women, Mathis was taken down by detective Quentin Lance and sent to Iron Heights Prison.

Escape and revenge

Mathis was in jail during the Undertaking. An escaped Cecil Adams/Count Vertigo gave Mathis the keys to his cell during the earthquake and ensuing chaos out of admiration for a "fellow artist". Mathis repaid Cecil with a warning about aftershocks, something the drug dealer guaranteed.

After escaping, Mathis eventually continued his killing spree and set up his operation in an abandoned facility of Metamorpho Chemical. Seeking revenge on Quentin for his imprisonment, Mathis killed another woman and left her body for the police to find as a message to the former, revealing his return. When Quentin and the Arrow arrived at the Bisque Museum to try and capture him, Mathis called Quentin and taunted him as he killed another girl.

After discovering how Mathis chooses his victims, Quentin and Team Arrow tried to lure him out by using Felicity Smoak as bait. Mathis ambushed Felicity and tried to kidnap her, but the Arrow intervened. Mathis tried to flee as the archer attended to an injured Felicity, only to be pursued by Quentin. Mathis knocked Quentin down with a piece of wood and tried to shoot him, but was stopped again by the Arrow. He then took off when the police arrived.

Shortly after, Mathis kidnapped Quentin's daughter, Laurel Lance. He then posed as a homeless man in the SCPD parking lot, tasing Quentin when he approached him. While driving his captives away, Mathis shot a guard, triggering an alarm.

Mathis brought the duo to his hideout, where he planned to turn Laurel into one of his dolls while forcing Quentin to watch. Quentin tried to plead for his daughter's life, but Mathis angrily ranted how the only way he could truly defeat the detective was to destroy his soul by killing Laurel. However, before the process began, the Arrow arrived and saved Laurel. Mathis tried to flee, only to be attacked by the Canary. The two fought until Mathis used some pipes to trap the vigilante. He mused on the Canary's pretty skin until the Arrow pinned Mathis down with two arrows in his shoulders. The Arrow told Mathis he was going back to jail, but the Canary refused to accept that, and killed Mathis by impaling him through the chest with one of her escrima sticks.

Personality

"What comes next is really quite exquisite. The sound of an esophagus slowly hardening. Like a symphony."

—Barton Mathis^[src]

Barton was a disturbed psychopath who took sadistic pleasure in killing women and dressing them up like dolls, for no clear reason other than his own entertainment, Barton seemed to have a fetish for his victims' skin, which he commented on a lot and took great care to only target women with certain complexions, Barton believed, in his own twisted way, to be doing these women a favor in treating them as showpieces, claiming their beauty will be preserved and won't fade with age. He spoke in a calm, reverent manner during his killings, admiring them like a piece of art.

Barton seemed to have some level of appreciation for criminals who crossed the same lines as him, as seen with Count Vertigo.

Barton lacks any form of logic; for example, after being arrested by Quentin Lance, he developed a deep-seated hatred for the police detective, unable to understand that he deserved to be imprisoned for his crimes, with this desire for revenge even shattering his usual tranquil facade. Barton desired to torment Quentin on a personal level, as seen when he forced the latter to listen to one of his victims' screams over the phone and even tried to murder Quentin's daughter, Laurel Lance, in front of him to destroy his spirit.

These negative traits of Barton's were what led to his painful, yet deserved/justified death at the hands of Sara Lance.

Abilities

• High-level intellect/Skilled tactician: Barton was a notorious serial killer who managed to successfully evade the police for a time before and after his incarceration. He also concealed the secret of his modus operandi for years. Barton had proven to be able to anticipate his opponents' thinking, as seen when he set up a telephone at the Bisque Museum to call and taunt Quentin Lance. Barton was also shown to be a quick analytical thinker; he blindsided and disarmed Quentin by ambushing him in an abandoned warehouse, and when confronted by Sara Lance (under the persona of the Canary) pulled a chain to make pipes fall on and pin her down.
• Weapons proficiency: Barton was adept in using guns and a taser.
• High tolerance for pain: When Oliver Queen (under the persona of the Arrow) shot Barton in the back with an arrow, Barton simply pulled it out and continued running with no sign of pain.
• Stealth: Barton stalked and kidnapped multiple women during his killing spree. He also quickly vanished after his first confrontation with the Arrow despite police approaching and was even able to abduct Quentin from the SCPD parking lot.

Weaknesses

• Lack of combat skills: Barton lacks any form of training or skills in hand-to-hand combat, as he had only gone after women who have no form of combat skills; for example, after Oliver Queen (under the persona of the Arrow) came to rescue Quentin Lance and Laurel Lance from Barton, he ran away like the coward he truly was, as Barton knew full well that he was no match for the vigilante archer, when he was confronted by Sara Lance (under the persona of the Canary) the latter overpowered him relatively easily.

Appearances

Arrow

Season 2

• "Broken Dolls"
• "Crucible" (flashbacks)
• "State v. Queen" (flashbacks)
• "Three Ghosts" (mentioned)
• "The Man Under the Hood" (newspaper)

Season 6

• "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2" (indirectly mentioned)

Behind the scenes

• Within The New 52, Barton Mathis is a supervillain and the third character in the DC comics to adopt the moniker of the Dollmaker. He made his first appearance in Detective Comics #2, in November 2011. The Barton Mathis version of the Dollmaker is a deranged surgeon who runs an organ transplantation racket and uses the empty husks of his victims to create life-sized puppets. His alias is derived from his rag-doll appearance, the result of his own sewing. Dollmaker is assisted in his organ trafficking ring by a gang of patchwork madmen, his "family".