Peter Merkel, Jr. (New Earth)

Oh, dear, not slavers! Why, that's almost nearly the sort of kind of barely a little bit about half as bad as the murderers and despots we normally work for!

— Rag Doll ^src

Peter Merkel, Jr., alias the Rag Doll, is the son and successor of the original Rag Doll, Peter Merkel, Sr.

History

Origin

Given that his father was a sociopath and a cult leader, his was probably not the most conventional of upbringings, to say the least. He indicated that his father was abusive toward him due to his disappointment at him not being born double-jointed. He has a sister, an extremely brutal (and insane) crime lord who goes by the name of Junior. It appears that their relationship was incestuous. Somewhere in his teens, he had his genitalia surgically removed.^[1] At some point, he began thinking about having his bones altered to mimic double-jointedness.

Injustice League

When Peter reached adulthood, he began having his joints replaced one by one with fully-rotating and self-lubricating prosthetics.^[2] After twelve years and unknown hundreds of surgeries, he achieved a level of flexibility that his father, the original Rag Doll, could only dream about. Needless to say, his father did not like the competition and he wasted no time in making his displeasure known.

Secret Six

Through unknown circumstances, Rag Doll joined the Secret Six and helped them throughout a variety of adventures. His role in the Six was that of the demented smart-ass and he was constantly trying to prove that he was the weirdest and the funniest of them all.

As part of the team, he joined Bane and Catman on a mission to stop criminals in Gotham after Batman's death. Rag Doll disguised himself as Robin and served as a sidekick to his teammates but, in the end, they were all banished from Gotham by Nightwing. Rag Doll stopped wearing his Robin costume and he also remarked how unsuitable both Bane and Catman were for the role of Batman.^[3]

Blackest Night

During Blackest Night Rag Doll, the rest of the Six, and the Suicide Squad fought a group of Black Lanterns that attacked them at Belle Reve Penitentiary. The fight was one of brutality against brutality as the Six repeatedly killed their enemies, only to have them continue to fight on.

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Contortionism: Rag Doll is inhumanly flexible due to unknown hundreds of joint-replacing surgeries over the years.

Weaknesses

Power Instability: Rag Doll needs a special medicine to lubricate his joints in order to keep them from literally ripping through his skin and tearing his flesh apart. This weakness was exploited by the Mockingbird to press-gang him into joining the Secret Six.^[2]

Other Characteristics

Mental Disorder: Rag Doll is very proud of being considered the weirdest and most demented member of the Six to the point of resenting anyone who might prove to be more demented than he is. This led him to attempt to kill his former teammates the Mad Hatter^[4] and Harley Quinn.^[5]

Trivia

Rag Doll has adopted several little monkeys, each one dressed in a replica of one of his teammates' costumes.^[6]^[4]
Rag Doll is non-binary and uses both male/female pronouns (i.e., "he" and "she") interchangeably; however, he tends to use male pronouns most of the time. ^[3]