Cornelius Stirk
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Cornelius Stirk is the name of a DC Comics villain and enemy to Batman.
[edit] History
Stirk has the apparent ability to cause fear or hallucinations in others with telepathy. Stirk was released from Arkham Asylum, where he was confined at the age of 16 for trying to kill a classmate, after being certified as sane — probably following his use of his psychic abilities on his doctors. He then subsequently stopped taking his medication of tricyclics and chloropromazine and began his escalation into a serial killer.
A sociopath who takes sadistic pleasure in the pain of others, Stirk, like Scarecrow, uses fear to get to his victims. Stirk has the ability to make other people see him as someone else, allowing him to get close to his victims. He operates under the delusion that he requires the nutrients and hormones from peoples' hearts in order to stay alive, and these are best prepared with norepinephrine by inducing fear in the victim prior to death.
[edit] Knightfall
During the Knightfall storyline, Stirk worked with the Joker in an attempt to kidnap Commissioner Gordon. However, Stirk needed norepinephrine to survive, so he tried to kill Gordon rather than kidnap him, much to Joker's dismay. Gordon hallucinated that Stirk was actually Batman and Stirk tried to kill Gordon with a knife. Batman managed to stop Stirk, but Gordon was still screaming in fear. With no time to help his dear friend, Batman had to leave a terrified Gordon to his wife, who led him to a hospital.
