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Quote1 I believe in the absolute freedom of the individual. I believe that the present order must be abolished. I believe that the voice of the people must be heard,...listened to,...and obeyed! Quote2
Lonnie Machin src

Lonnie Machin is Anarky, a young would-be vigilante with very strong convictions to his ideology.

Lonnie Machin was a straight-A high school student, heavily influenced by philosophers and skilled in gadgetry. He developed the costumed identity of Anarky, following his own beliefs and started acting as a vigilante in Gotham City, responding to people's complaints in public outlets. He was eventually stopped by Batman, even though his father, Mike, tried to protect him by falsely confessing that he himself was Anarky.[2][3]

After being caught, Lonnie was locked away in a juvenile detention center. However, during this period of incarceration, Lonnie operated as Moneyspider, a computer hacker. In this guise, he stole money from large corporations and channeled it to the third world where he believed it would do more good. This scheme was foiled by Tim Drake, on his first solo case prior to becoming Robin.[4]

Knightfall

 Main article: Batman: Knightfall

After several inmates from Arkham Asylum were released, Lonnie broke from the reformatory and resumed his Anarky persona to fight common crooks.[5] However, after learning how bad the situation was, Anarky decided that Batman was indirectly responsible for the chaos in Gotham. As he started planning to take Batman down, the Scarecrow started a city-wide plan to spread fear. Anarky took it upon himself to bring down Batman and the Scarecrow.[6] He almost succeeded on his plan, but he was dosed with Scarecrow's fear toxin and he was unable to capture them, although he saved one of Scarecrow's minions from a certain death. Anarky was then warned by Batman to never try to fight him again, but he was not taken back to the detention center.[7]

Eventually, Anarky built a machine that allowed him to fuse both hemispheres of his brain, giving him increased intelligence, and what he perceived as enlightenment. Anarky eventually chose to shed the encumbrance of his double life, and faked his death.[8][9] He then worked in seclusion to further his goal of achieving an utopian society. He had several further brushes with Batman, as well as the likes of Etrigan and Darkseid. Eventually, due to the earthquake in Gotham, Anarky relocated to a new base of operations beneath the Washington Monument.

Anarky has had run-ins with Green Arrow, the Justice League, Young Justice and Robin.

Lonnie was captured and held hostage by Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, a.k.a. the General, who took the mantle of Anarky to put psychotic and meaningless acts of chaos and destruction in the streets of Gotham.[10]

Moneyspider

Lonnie had been captured and held against his will by the General, who along with destroying the role Anarky had in Gotham and Washington, he also destroyed Lonnie so that he could never return to his role as the anarchist. The General had poisoned Lonnie and left him in a catatonic, paralyzed state. Connected to his only usable part of his body, his brain, Lonnie was reduced to speaking through a computer program and unable to breathe for himself.

Anarky02

Armstrong had apparently shot Machin in the head and poisoned his medical supplies which left him in his current state. Once found by Tim Drake, Moneyspider was saved from the new Anarky. While Moneyspider lay in a hospital bed being treated and attached to his computers he was again contacted by Tim Drake who revealed his identity to him as Red Robin and asked that Moneyspider be his "oracle" or sorts. Specifically he asked Lonnie to be a real "Moneyspider" to create an international web that will get him access to the ins and outs of criminal and corporate operations. This intrigued Machin and the two set off to conquer Red Robin's "list".


Abilities

Other Characteristics

  • Restricted Mobility: Lonnie is paralyzed from the neck down as well as limiting his breathing functions, eyesight and movement and hearing functions. He is also catatonic, by default he is forced to communicate through computers.

Equipment

  • Anarky Baton: A powerful electric stun baton that doubled as a grappling hook.
  • Anarky Stars: Many throwing stars shaped as circle-A's.
  • "Max": He has an on-board computer, named Max, that has an actual personality of its own and functions in a similar fashion to Mister Terrific's T-Spheres.

Transportation

  • Boom Tube: Anarky has a fully functioning Boom Tube.


  • Alan Grant originally intended Anarky to be the third Robin after Jason Todd's murder during A Death in the Family, although he changed his plans when Marv Wolfman created the Tim Drake character during A Lonely Place of Dying.[12]
  • Upon learning of Nicieza's reasoning for the new portrayal, Roderick Long "summarized" the explanation as a mock-dialectic:
    • Thesis: Anarky is too interesting a character not to write about.
    • Antithesis: Anarky is too interesting a character for me to write successfully about.
    • Dialectical synthesis: Therefore I will make Anarky less interesting so I can write about him.
  • Lonnie Machin is also a political activist.
  • There are different variations of the alias "Moneyspider", in the same issue it has been seen as Moneyspider, Money Spider, MoneySpider, Money-Spider, and moneyspider. Seeing as this alias as well as his actions are only computer-based it is possible that due to typing limitations and spoken translations that all of these names are viable.
  • Lonnie Machin has a crude "circle-A" scar across his chest.
  • Once briefly commanded his own Green Lantern Ring.[13]
  • Once, Anarky was mistaken as a woman by a newscaster who did not know who Anarky was.[14]

Related

Footnotes



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Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

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