Hartley Rathaway was born
deaf and received assistive technology in the form of
hearing implants thanks to research funded by his wealthy father (later it was revealed that the implants were made by
Dr. Will Magnus). He became obsessed with
sound, and pursued little else in life; experimenting with
sonic technology, Rathaway eventually invented a technique of
hypnotism through music, and a way to cause deadly vibrations. Growing bored with his lifestyle, he turned to crime as the Pied Piper and frequently clashed with
Barry Allen, the second
Flash.
Reform . After Allen's death during
Crisis on Infinite Earths, Hartley retired from crime to become a
socialist champion of the poor and underprivileged. He also came out as one of DC's first openly
gay characters, and joked that this was ironic, as he was one of the few villains to have ever "gone straight". He first realized he was gay when he became attracted to
Rod Lauren when watching
The Crawling Hand. Rathaway becomes a good friend of the Flash,
Wally West, and his wife
Linda, whom he helps with scientific problems. Sometime later, Piper was arrested for the murder of his parents. Wally was sure Piper could not have committed such an act, but Piper himself seemed to believe himself guilty. Wally eventually discovered that the true murderer was
Mirror Master. Unaware of Wally's discovery, Piper broke out of
Iron Heights and struck a deal of some sort with former Rogue and
FBI agent
the Trickster. During this time, Flash asked the
Spectre to erase everyone's memories of his secret identity, due to his wife suffering a
miscarriage from an attack by
Zoom. It was later revealed that Barry Allen had
Zatanna tamper with the mind of supervillain
the Top, turning him into a hero (the Top had gone on a murderous rampage and Allen believed this was the only way to stop him from causing more harm). As a hero, the Top went insane over the guilt of his earlier deeds. After Allen had died, Wally received a letter from Barry asking him to restore Top's mind if he ever returned. After Wally had Zatanna restore the Top's mind, the Top revealed that when he had been a hero he had attempted to reprogram many of the other Rogues into heroes as well, including the Pied Piper. When the 'good' Rogues went after the remaining 'bad', Top returned to undo his brainwashing on the redeemed Rogues. When the Piper battled the Flash, West unmasked himself, triggering a flood of memories of their friendship and causing the Piper to pass out as his mind repaired itself. When he awoke, Piper appeared to be his old self again and came to Linda's aid. Piper remains the only Rogue to no longer be a villain, save for
Magenta. He later had all charges for murder cleared.
One Year Later One Year Later, Pied Piper was seen in the pages of both
The Flash (vol. 3), and
Countdown teaming with a new group of Rogues led by
Inertia. The team of Rogues has him working with his parents' murderer, Mirror Master. Piper reveals that he has rejoined the Rogues with a plan of infiltrating them, but when
Captain Cold,
Heat Wave, and
Weather Wizard kill
Bart Allen, he and Trickster are forced on the run together. They are pursued by the
Suicide Squad,
the Question and
Batwoman,
Poison Ivy and
Deathstroke, and Wally West. Wally confines the two of them at the wedding of
Green Arrow and
Black Canary, despite the warnings that Deathstroke is planning an all-out assault at the occasion. They manage to escape the wedding assault, while inadvertently picking up
Double Down as a passenger. The trio stop at a diner, only to be attacked by the Suicide Squad. Double Down is captured, but Piper and Trickster, using an invisibility field, decide to follow the Squad and free the other captured villains. After encountering and freeing
Two-Face, Piper and Trickster are again attacked by
Deadshot, who pursues them relentlessly until he succeeds in murdering Trickster. With Trickster's death, the cuffs activate a 24-hour self-destruct, which Piper is able to delay with his flute. When the train they are on is submitted to a border check, Piper flees into the desert. Delirious from the heat, he begins to imagine Trickster's corpse is talking to him. After severing the hand from the rest of the corpse, Piper is brought to
Apokolips by
DeSaad. DeSaad unlocks the shackles, and claims that Piper can channel the Anti-Life Equation and control the planet. Before the Piper can do so,
Brother Eye finishes assimilating Apokolips. DeSaad finally gets into Brother Eye's control and convinces Piper to play his flute to activate the Anti-Life Equation. Piper agrees to play, but upon hearing that DeSaad was the mastermind behind his recent misfortune, in an almost successful attempt to break his spirit and take control of him, he kills DeSaad with a tune. He plays one final time for Brother Eye, a
swan song, "
The Show Must Go On" by
Queen, that destroys Apokolips, with him still trapped inside, apparently left to die. However, he is later seen alive in the streets of Gotham City, saying that if he was allowed to live for some reason, this time he will play on the side of the angels.
Final Crisis Pied Piper returns in the ''
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge'' mini-series. He invades the police precinct, and picks up Trickster's will, which is actually a fake that contains information on the other Rogues, written in invisible ink. Piper later steps into the middle of the fight between Inertia,
Zoom, and the Rogues, using his flute to paralyze the combatants, and taking the opportunity to revenge himself upon Mirror Master through a kick in the face. Before he can do anything else,
Libra appears, and stabs Piper in the shoulder with his spear. Although wounded, Piper is able to contribute in the killing of Inertia by holding him in place for the Rogues using his flute. Piper is later mentioned to have turned himself into the Central City Police Department.
The New 52: The Flash and Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion (2011–2016) In September 2011,
The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Hartley is now the conductor of Central City's orchestra, and it is said that he is a 'reformed vigilante'. He later assists Flash and former Rogue teammate
Captain Cold against the newly united Rogues. He is in a romantic relationship with
David Singh, the director of the crime lab at the Central City Police Department. ==Powers and abilities==