The Key debuted in
Justice League of America #41 (December 1965). The unidentified man known as the Key develops
mind-expanding "psycho-chemicals" that activate his 10 senses. Assisted by henchmen known as "Key-Men" and a "key blaster" gun, the Key has several failed run-ins with the
Justice League of America (JLA). The Key first drugs the Leaguers, which not only causes them to disband the Justice League, but also physically blinds them to the existence of the Key and his Key-Men. The Key fails to take into account
Hawkman's sidekick,
Hawkgirl, who frees him from the drug's effects. They free the other Leaguers, and the Key is imprisoned. The Key returns three years later. During his last attack on the League, he left a subconscious command in their minds that would not allow them to leave the League's headquarters for one hour. At the end of that time, each Leaguer would turn on another and kill him or her. Superman defeats the Key by going back in time and sending his un-hypnotized self forward in time. He defeats each Leaguer in turn, and then imprisons the Key in the
Fortress of Solitude in suspended animation. The Key appeared to die six years later. He wires an entire city block of
St. Louis, Missouri, with bombs, forcing the Justice League to pass through a series of traps to reach the device which will stop the detonation. The Key reveals that he was freed by a judge who found Superman's actions an unconstitutional use of
cruel and unusual punishment. Incarcerated in a regular prison, he learns the psychoactive drugs he has taken have left him terminally ill. Released on humanitarian grounds, he attempts to destroy the League. The
Phantom Stranger impersonates one of the Key-Men, helping to save the League. Green Lantern
John Stewart drives the explosive force of the bombs down into the ground, and the Key escapes at the last moment. The Key appears again in
Justice League of America #150 (January 1978). The
Manhunter Mark Shaw has given up his old identity to become a new hero named the Privateer.
Doctor Light attempts to gain access to the
Justice League Satellite, but is driven off by the Privateer. Light encounters a new villain, the Star-Tsar, and they briefly engage in battle. Eventually, the League discovers that Shaw is the Star-Tsar and used Snapper Carr and Key as proxies. Additionally, Key was deformed after being exposed to radiation in his previous encounter with the League. Still in his dwarfish, barely mobile form, the Key attempts to cure himself by reactivating
Amazo, which was stored in the Justice League Satellite.
Zatanna uses magic to cure the Key, restoring the powers to the League. The Key makes a cameo appearance in
Justice League of America #240 (July 1985). The time-traveling villain Dr. Anomaly observes the Key's second battle with the Justice League before launching his own attack on the superhero group. The most recent incarnation of the Key is introduced in
JLA #6 (June 1997), by
Howard Porter and
Grant Morrison, in a teaser at the beginning of the issue. The Moon begins to fall out of orbit in
JLA #7 (July 1997), and the Key is seen to not be responsible. As the Leaguers return to the
Justice League Watchtower on the Moon, the Key immobilizes them. The Key's new look is explained in
JLA #8 (August 1997): The Key spent years in a drug-induced coma to unlock even more potential in his brain. The "psycho-chemicals" altered his appearance so that now the Key is a pale, cadaverous, white-haired humanoid with greatly heightened mental abilities. The Key uses a programmable "psycho-virus" to knock the Justice League's members unconscious and trap them in a shared dream. The League is saved when
Connor Hawke defeats the Key, after which he is imprisoned in
Arkham Asylum and
Martian Manhunter renders him comatose. The Key next appears in
Gotham City, where he uses his psycho-chemicals to remove
Batman's inhibition against killing. The Key's goal is to have Batman kill him, so that he might unlock the secret of death.
Batgirl and
Azrael must prevent Batman from committing murder until the drug wears off. The Key makes an appearance, along with a large group of villains, attacking the Justice League and
Marvel Comics' the
Avengers in 2003. The JLA disbands in the "World Without a Justice League" storyline in 2006, in which the Key plays a major part. Unable to disable his telepathy, the Key comes close to insanity before realizing that killing people helps calm the voices. He commits mass murder using his psychic powers before the Justice League stop him. Afterward,
Manitou Dawn sends Key to a peaceful dream world. In
Infinite Crisis, the Key is shown during the Battle of Metropolis, although whether this takes place just before the events of "World without a Justice League" or after is not clear. He is later briefly seen to be a member of the
Injustice League. The Key reappears in
Justice League of America (vol. 2) #17-18 (March–April 2008), although neither his cure nor his escape from the "dream plane" are explained. The
Suicide Squad is collecting the world's supervillains to send them to the prison planet
Salvation. Several villains, led by the Key, take refuge with the Justice League and are imprisoned. The villains assume that, once the danger of exile is past, the Key will be able to free them whenever they wish, but a dampening field in the prison prevents the Key from using his enhanced intelligence. The Key next appears having escaped from the Justice League's prison (somehow), and is briefly depicted as a member of the
Secret Society of Super-Villains. He is next seen meeting with the supervillain
Roulette a year later to receive information she had collected on the League. The Key is apparently working for someone else, but who it is, is never revealed. The Key's next major appearance came in
Batman: The Dark Knight (vol. 2) #1 (November 2011). The Key is depicted incarcerated in Arkham Asylum (although how he got there is unclear). An aggression-enhancing toxin is released into the air at Arkham, and Batman must battle the Key and a number of other villains as he penetrates the hospital to reach
Two-Face. The Key makes another major appearance in the
Justice League comic a year later, when he is freed from his cell during a riot at Arkham Asylum. Although quickly captured by Batman, Superman and
Cyborg, the Key reveals that he and the
Weapons Master were broken out of their cells only so that they could be interrogated by a new villain,
David Graves, who wanted to know the weaknesses of the Justice League. The Key appeared in a flashback in
Black Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell (July 2014).
DC Rebirth In
DC Rebirth reboot, the Key works with Troia, an evil alternate version of
Donna Troy; captures Batman,
Nightwing, Wonder Woman,
Donna Troy,
Barry Allen,
Wally West,
Aquaman, and
Tempest; and traps them in a specially designed prison to manipulate them into destroying each other. However, the heroes escape and force Key to retreat. In ''World's Finest'' #8 (December 2022), the Key instills entamaphobia (the fear of doors) in everyone in Gotham City, leaving them afraid to leave their homes, and demands five billion dollars in ransom. ==Powers and abilities==