MERLYN (Malcolm Merlyn)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Dillin

Merlyn (Malcolm Merlyn)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Malcolm Merlyn
Aliases: Arthur King; The Magician; The Dark Archer
Occupation: Assassin
Status: Active
Homeworld: Earth
Citizenship: American
Known Relatives: Tommy Merlyn (son)
Group Affiliation(s): League of Assassins; Killer Elite; The Society; Seven Men of Death
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: Justice League of America Vol. 1 #94 (November 1971)
Creators: Mike Friedrich, Neal Adams and Dick Dillin

HISTORY

Nothing is know of Malcolm Merlyn's life before he joined the circus, where he under the stage name "The Magician" performed amazing archery tricks while blindfolded. His performances would inspire a young Oliver Queen who saw one of his performances to become an archer himself.

When Merlyn left the circus he went to the Himalayas to be trained by Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins. After completing his training Merlyn was inducted in the League himself, and would go on to use his skills as an assassin. He took up residence in Star City, and set up a cover as a white-collar businessman.

After Oliver Queen became Green Arrow, he sought out Merlyn to improve his archery skills. Merlyn agreed and trained the young hero, hoping that he could pass on all that he had learned and have someone to succeed him, since his son Tommy had become a businessman in the hope of impressing his father. Merlyn would eventually tell Oliver everything but he didn't react as Merlyn had hoped. Oliver rejected to join Merlyn, so he challenged the new hero to a public archery contest to determine the best archer and if he won he would let him walk. Green Arrow eventually lost, but Merlyn let him walk anyway.

Later, as part of the League of Assassins, Merlyn was ordered by the Sensei to kill Batman. Merlyn would almost certainly have killed Batman had Green Arrow not defeated him. With death being the only price for failure in the League of Assassins, Merlyn first sought protection by joining the Anti-Justice League and then by becoming an enforcer for The 100 which brought him into conflict with Black Lightning.

After that Merlyn disappeared for several years, but would eventually return making a deal with Neron to amp his ability. Joining the Killer Elite, another group of assassins, he would attack the Justice League, but was defeated. Later encounters with super-heroes included his spell on the Zandian Olympic team and other missions with the Killer Elite.

At some point, Merlyn began to accept jobs from the Calculator with his old friend the Monocle. On one of their missions together, they were sent to silence the Shadow Thief, so he could not testify in court. Monocle was killed in an encounter with Manhunter and Merlyn was incarcerated. He escaped soon afterwards and assisted Doctor Light in his campaign against Green Arrow, distracting him for long enough for Doctor Light to destroy much of Star City, before impaling Green Arrow with several arrows and leaving him for dead.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Merlyn in chronological order click here