The Cape and Cowl Death Trap
Introduced as a free-lance assassin, Jeremy Wormwood first appeared in Detective Comics issue 450 “The Cape and Cowl Death Trap.” Here he is introduced having been hired to assassinate Senator Locksley by an old party boss named Mike Carley. After Batman interrogates a man by the name of Harcourt about the hit, Batman deduces that Wormwood was involved in the hit. After being humiliated by Batman, “Harcourt” meats with Wormwood to hire him to bring Batman’s cape and cowl to him at all costs. Wormwood obliges but is curious to know why Harcourt wants Batman’s cape and cowl. “Harcourt” says he’ll only tell Wormwood why if Wormwood tells him who hired him to kill Locksley. Wormwood sends a riddle to the GCPD that leads Batman to find him in Father Knickbocker’s Wax Museum. There Batman is trapped in a room where wax statues are melting under intense heat and he is forced to give up his cape and cowl. Batman escapes afterwords by placing melted wax in a glove and tossing it through a window. When Wormwood meets with “Harcourt,” he tells him that Carley hired him to kill Locksley. Then “Harcourt” reveals that he was Batman the whole time and apprehends Wormwood. Batman leaves his cape and cowl behind in the room Commissioner Gordon has the police hold Wormwood in until they can take him to prison.
Jeremy Wormwood’s gimmick of placing riddles to his nearest location and placing his victims in elaborate puzzle-based traps is a very similar schtick to the Riddler’s.
In Other Media
Batman The Animated Series
The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy
Jeremy Wormwood appears in the Batman the Animated Series episode “The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy” which was an adaptation of “The Cape and Cowl Death Trap.” In the show, Wormwood’s first name was changed from Jeremy to Josiah and his crime was stealing $750,000 worth of bearer bonds from the International Relief Consortium instead of killing Senator Locksley. Also, Harcourt is replaced by Baron Wacklaw Josek as the person who hires Wormwood to steal Batman’s cape and cowl. Instead of sending Batman to the wax museum first, he traps Batman in a run-away train heading to run over a woman, but Batman defeats Wormwood’s first trap and learns the woman was a hologram. After that Wormwood places a billboard outside of the GCPD with his riddle that leads Batman to the wax museum where he surrenders the cape and cowl. Much like the comic Josek turns out to be Batman and apprehends Wormwood after learning who hired Wormwood to steal the bonds and where they are located. After Wormwood is arrested Batman sends his cape and cowl to Wormwood as a gift in prison.