Max Cort was a sergeant in the Gotham City Police Department. When Mayor Wilson Klass commanded then Captain James Gordon to man a task force to catch the Batman, Gordon appointed Cort as second in command, which he all to eagerly accepted. Max Cort held a grudge of sorts against the Batman; he was jealous and felt that Batman was “stealing” the criminals of Gotham from him and the other cops.
Mayor Klass hired Hugo Strange, a self-appointed Batman expert from television, to help the Batman task-force in their investigations; this inevitably led to Strange and Cort combining forces. Cort handed over files and photos of the Batman to Strange that Gordon had witheld due to a sense of loyalty and trust to the Batman.
Hoping to close the noose tighter around the Batman, Strange hypnotized Cort into becoming a lethal vigilante. Strange did this in order to publicly lay the blame of the Night-Scourge’s lethal methods solely on the Batman, calling the Batman psychotic and mentally disturbed in order to rally the public and the cops to take down the Batman, whom Strange himself was obsessed with.
In order to simultaneously take Gordon out of the equation and discredit any remaining trust Gothamites had in the Batman, Strange had Cort dress in a fake Batman costume, attack Mayor Klass, and kidnap his daughter, who had spurned Strange earlier while showing an attraction to the Batman. Klass gave Gordon a limited time to catch the Batman or else he would be fired.
After dealing with Strange and saving Klass’ daughter, Batman tracked down Cort, the Night-Scourge, and their battle culminated in a showdown at the GCPD. When Cort pulled a gun on Gordon, he was taken down in a hail of bullets.