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{{Infobox comics character
|character_name=Time Trapper
|publisher=[[DC Comics]]
|debut=''(as Ty. M. Master) ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' #101 (October 1958); (as Time Trapper) [[Adventure Comics]]'' #317 (February 1964) (first mentioned) / ''Adventure Comics'' #318 (March 1964) (cameo) / ''Adventure Comics'' #321 (June 1964) (Full Appearance)
|creators= Robert Kanigher (Time Master) and Edmond Hamilton (Time Trapper)
|alliances=
|aliases=[[Cosmic Boy]], [[Lori Morning]], [[Superboy-Prime]]
|powers=[[List of comic book superpowers#Time manipulation|Time manipulation]]
}}
The '''Time Trapper''' is a [[fictional character]], a [[supervillain]] in stories published by [[DC Comics]]. The Time Trapper's main enemies are the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]].

The Time Trapper's main powers are depicted as vast control over [[time]] itself. The Time Trapper's lair has been located at the [[Heat death of the universe|end of time]].

==Publication history==
While the character first appeared as "The Time Trapper" in ''[[Adventure Comics]]'' #317 (February 1964) in a story written by [[Edmond Hamilton]], a similar character named "The Time Master" had appeared earlier in ''[[Wonder Woman]]'' #101 (October 1958) in a story written by Robert Kanigher. In ''[[Super Friends]]'' #17 (February 1979), writer [[E. Nelson Bridwell]] wrote a story that hinted that the two characters were one and the same. Although usually depicted in early stories as wearing a hood that hid his entire face in shadow, the Time Trapper wore a mask that revealed the lower half of his face in a rare non-Legion appearance wherein he sought revenge on Superman for helping the Legion defeat him years earlier.<ref>Superman 385-387 (1970)</ref> 

==Fictional character biography==
The Time Trapper was originally a strange robed [[warlord]] from the extremely distant future, well past the time of the [[Legion of Super-Heroes]]. In his early appearances, the Time Trapper (also known as Paras) created a strange "[[Iron Curtain]] of Time" that prevented the Legion from going into their future. He also commanded a vast number of slaves and had a henchwoman named [[Glorith]], whom he eventually murdered.<ref>''Adventure Comics'' #338 (October 1965)</ref>

The Time Trapper (as The Time Master) appeared in 1958 to challenge [[Wonder Woman]] and Colonel [[Steve Trevor]] under the alias T.Y. Master by creating a diabolical "fun house". Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor were transported to various disasters throughout time when opening a door before defeating the Time Master by Wonder Woman vibrating through the doors. The villain then admitted defeat and disappeared, possibly returning to the "Iron Curtain of Time".<ref>''[[Wonder Woman]]'' (vol. 1) #101 (1958)</ref>

Later, it was revealed that the Time Trapper was a member of the fascist but well-intentioned race of [[Controllers (DC Comics)|Controllers]].<ref>''DC Limited Collector's Edition'' #55 (1978)</ref> The Time Trapper was defeated by the Legion and it was believed that his menace ended when the villain [[Darkseid]] removed almost all of his power during the [[Great Darkness Saga]].

Later [[retcon]]s claimed that the Time Trapper was not a Controller at all, replacing this with a series of wildly contradictory origins. These various backstories include him being the Legionnaire [[Cosmic Boy]],<ref>''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 4) #61 (Sept. 1994)</ref> [[Lori Morning]],<ref name="l64">''Legionnaires'' #64 (September 1998)</ref> [[Superboy-Prime]],<ref name="l3w4">''Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds'' #4 (May 2009)</ref> the living embodiment of Entropy in the Universe,<ref>''Legion of Superheroes'' (vol. 4) #4 (1990)</ref> and a sentient alternate timeline.<ref>''Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds'' #5 (Sept 2009)</ref>

One of the more noteworthy stories involving the Time Trapper came after the reality-altering mini-series ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'' and the 1986 revamp of [[Superman]]'s origin, which removed [[Superboy]] from Superman's and the [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]]'s history. Given the problems this posed for [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]] continuity, it was later revealed that the Time Trapper created a [[pocket universe]] from a slice of time in the distant past, and altered events in this reality so that an Earth resembling the pre-''Crisis'' one was formed, complete with its own [[Superboy]]. The Time Trapper then further manipulated the timestream so that whenever the Legion would travel into the past to visit the 20th century (or [[Superboy]] visited the [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]]'s future), the two would be directed into each other's worlds.<ref>''Action Comics'' #591 (August 1987)</ref> However, the "pocket universe" lacked a Kryptonian Supergirl, and thus was not a perfect answer to patching Legion continuity. (The "pocket universe" was later revisited and made the point of origin for a non-Kryptonian [[Matrix (comics)|Supergirl]], also known as [[Matrix (comics)|Matrix]]).

Four Legionnaires, ([[Duo Damsel]], [[Brainiac 5]], [[Saturn Girl]], and [[Lar Gand|Mon-El]]) were involved in a conspiracy to destroy the Time Trapper, against the Legion's regulations. They managed to reach his citadel at the end of time and seemingly destroyed him by using the [[Infinite Man]] against him. During this attack, Duo Damsel's second body was killed and [[Mon-El]] was put into a [[coma]].<ref>''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 3) #50 (September 1988)</ref>

Following the five-year gap in [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]] history, [[Brainiac 5]] learned that the Trapper's essence had survived in [[Mon-El]]'s mind. [[Mon-El]] then murdered the Trapper in the Pocket Universe, which caused a chain reaction throughout time and resulted in the sorcerer [[Mordru]] dominating the universe for a time.<ref>''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 4) #5 (March 1990)</ref> [[Mordru]]'s former sidekick Glorith, through a magical spell, managed to take the Trapper's place in history and it was revealed that the Time Trapper had originally engineered the creation of the Legion in order to halt the inevitable rise of [[Mordru]].<ref>''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 4) Annual #1 (1990)</ref>

However it is eventually revealed that the Time Trapper had managed to survive and was probing Glorith's mind in an effort to regain his power. Enraged by this violation of her person, Glorith confronts the Time Trapper in the remains of his Pocket Universe and literally consumes him, effectively becoming the Time Trapper.<ref>''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 4) #13 (November, 1990)</ref>

===''Zero Hour''===
The Time Trapper appeared to have been killed by [[Parallax (comics)|Parallax]] during the 1994 [[Zero Hour: Crisis in Time|Zero Hour]] storyline, but was apparently reconstructed with the universe at the climax of that story. He was also revealed to be [[Cosmic Boy]]. Keeping a promise he had made to the pre-''Zero Hour'' version of [[Cosmic Boy]], he did not intervene to ensure the creation of the post-''Zero Hour'' [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]], but after they were formed, he briefly bedeviled them, with memories of all of his previous incarnations intact.<ref>''Legionnaires'' #60-61 (May–June 1998) and ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 4) #104-105 (May–June 1998)</ref> The identity of this incarnation of the Time Trapper remains unconfirmed; some evidence suggests that it may be a future version of [[Lori Morning]].<ref name="l64"/>

The Time Trapper later states that he made countless attempts to separate [[Superman]] from the [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]] and erase him from the timeline, but that these attempts never lasted. The Trapper claims to have confused the Legion with "pocket dimensions and alternate history", implying that he was responsible for the creation and existence of the "[[Legion of Super-Heroes#"Five Years Later"|Batch SW6]]", "[[Legion of Super-Heroes (1994 team)|Reboot]]" and "[[Legion of Super-Heroes (2004 team)|Threeboot]]" incarnations of the Legion.<ref>''Action Comics'' #864 (June 2008)</ref> He also reveals that he is the one who created the crystal tablet that stated [[Superman]] to be of [[Earth]] origin.<ref>''Action Comics'' #858-863 (December 2007 - May 2008)</ref>

===''Final Crisis''===
The Time Trapper's plan came to fruition in the 2008 miniseries ''[[Final Crisis]]: [[Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds|Legion of 3 Worlds]]'' by [[Geoff Johns]] and [[George Pérez]]. He uses [[Superboy-Prime]], which he views as a corrupted [[Superman]], as a tool to destroy the link between Superman and the [[Legion of Super-Heroes|Legion]].<ref>''Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds'' #1 (October 2008)</ref> He brings [[Superman]] and the Legion founders to the end of time, where he attempts to kill them and is revealed to be an older [[Superboy-Prime]].<ref name="l3w4"/> However, during the battle, [[Saturn Girl]] watches as the Trapper's "S" scar on his chest gains a slash across it as it simultaneously happens to Prime in the past. With this evidence, [[Brainiac 5]] theorizes that the Trapper is in fact an alternate, sentient timeline whose identity changes constantly as the true timeline marches on, explaining the multiple identity changes he has gone through in each incarnation. In order to weaken the Trapper, the founders combined their powers, using the cracks in reality at the end of time to bring in many alternate Legionnaires to fight him. The Trapper was knocked out and brought back to the Legion's time. The Trapper tried to convince Superboy-Prime to join forces with him to destroy the Legion. However, Prime refused to believe that the Trapper was his future self and punched him, creating a blinding flash that sent Prime back to [[Earth Prime]] and destroyed that incarnation of the Trapper.<ref>''Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds'' #5 (July 2009)</ref>

==Powers and abilities==
The Time Trapper has complete control over future time. He is able to freeze it, alter it, and even separate parts of it, thereby creating his own pocket dimensions. He cannot, however, alter events in the present time.

==Other versions==
===Super Friends===
In February 1979, Time Trapper appeared to defeat the [[Super Friends]]. During the investigation, Wonder Woman suggested that the Time Master and the Time Trapper were the same person. Superman deduced that the Time Trapper wanted to get rid of all superheroes throughout time, particularly the Legion of Super-Heroes. Time Trapper kidnapped and transported the [[Wonder Twins]] in the past by trapping Jayna on [[Krypton (comics)|Krypton]] and Zan on a water planet near the star-sun Neryla. With the help of Queen [[Hippolyta]], the Super Friends separated into small teams to locate and rescue the Wonder Twins. Returning to the present, the Super Friends defeated The Time Trapper who then disappeared. [[Superman]] believed he was imprisoned by the Controllers from his world.<ref>''Super Friends'' #17-18 (1979)</ref>

==In other media==
===Film===
* The Time Trapper appears as the main antagonist in the animated film ''[[JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time]]'', voiced by [[Corey Burton]]. He is freed from his skeletal hourglass prison called the Eternity Glass by Lex Luthor (who had been thawed out in 30th century Earth by [[Karate Kid (comics)|Karate Kid]] and [[Dawnstar]]). From there, he is enslaved by Luthor and forced to take him back in time as well as send his fellow members of the [[Legion of Doom (DC Comics)|Legion of Doom]] further back in time to change events so that baby Kal-El would never have been raised by [[Jonathan and Martha Kent]]. However, a few members of the Justice League were able to follow and the others faced off against Time Trapper who displayed his immense power. Once Dawnstar and Karate Kid made it so that Luthor was freed from the ice in the present instead of the future, Time Trapper erased the alternate Lex from existence, freed himself, and used the Eternity Glass in an attempt to mold the present day in his image. However, thanks to Dawnstar's light energy combating his dark matter composition, the League and the Legionnaires were able to separate the Trapper from the Eternity Glass, and he was forced back into his prison. Dawnstar and Karate Kid took the hourglass back to the future, to ensure he wouldn't harm the present (or their past) again.

===Miscellaneous===
* The Time Trapper appears in the teaser of issue 7 of ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold (comics)|All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]'' (which is based on ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]''). He is seen fighting Batman and the Teen Titans until he is defeated by them. <ref>''All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' Vol 1 7</ref>

==See also==
* [[Glorith]]
* ''[[Legionnaires 3]]''
* [[Cosmic Boy#Limited series|''Cosmic Boy'' (limited series)]]
* "[[The Exaggerated Death of Ultra Boy]]"
* "[[The Greatest Hero of Them All]]"
* [[End of an Era (comics)|"End of an Era" (comics)]]
* ''[[Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds]]''

==References==
{{reflist|3}}

{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}
{{Super Friends}}

[[Category:Characters created by Edmond Hamilton]]
[[Category:Characters created by Robert Kanigher]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1958]]
[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1964]]
[[Category:DC Comics cosmic entities]]
[[Category:DC Comics supervillains]]
[[Category:Extraterrestrial supervillains]]
[[Category:Fictional characters who can manipulate time]]
{{Source Wikipedia}}