Heroes & Villains The DC Animated Universe - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles
The Royal Flush Gang
There have several different iterations of the criminal outfit known as the Royal Flush Gang. The gang was originally formed by The Joker after he recruited a group of five young adults possessing metahuman powers. These individuals had been experimented on by a shadowy facet of the United States military and the experience left them each traumatized, angry and easily manipulated by The Joker.
Fashioning them with costumes evocative of playing cards, The Joker dubbed the quintet his ‘Royal Flush Gang.’ He then organized a complex attack on Las Vegas that was meant to draw out and engage The Justice League. Following a tremendous battle, The Justice League managed to defeat most of the gang yet the whole ordeal was revealed to be a ruse orchestrated by The Joker to garner a huge television audience. With so many people watching, The Joker then unleashed the most powerful member of The Royal Flush Gang: Ace.
Young Ace possessed reality-altering powers and her hypnotic gaze could induce vivid hallucinations, ultimately lead to irreversible madness. The Joker hoped that scores of people watching on would be driven hopelessly insane.
Fortunately, Batman was able to demonstrate to Ace that The Joker was manipulating her; that he was no better than the governmental agents who had made her childhood so unbearable. Ace turned on The Joker, rendering the Clown Prince of Crime into near catatonia. Ace then left and released the audience from her influence.
The youngster returned some time later. With her powers evolved to the point where she could warp and reshape reality, Ace recruited a second Royal Flush Gang armed with powers she bestowed unto them. And yet her new gang proved no fun so she sent them to battle the Justice League and the foes were soundly defeated.
Ace’s powers continued to mount and she came to realize that it would all result in her experiencing a fatal cerebral aneurysm. Batman comfortable the frighten youth as her final moments came and Ace passed away peacefully in the Dark Knight’s arms. With her death, reality was restored and the rest of the gang reverted to their natural forms.
The title of the Royal Flush Gang would later be taken up by new criminals who maintained successive iterations of the gang far into the future.
In a wink to the broader fanbase, The Royal Flush Gang were each voiced by the cast of the Teen Titans animated series. With Khary Payton voicing Ten; Greg Cipes as Jack; Hynden Walch as Queen; Scott Menville as King; and Tara Strong providing the voice for the tragic Ace.
The Royal Flush Gang first appeared in the twenty-eighth episode of the second season of Justice Leagues, ‘Wild Cards Part I.’