- "Here to test your plan, an unwilling businessman!"
- —Jervis Tetch.
The Businessman was the original victim of the Laughing Toxin.
Biography[]
Jerome Valeska devised a plan to drive the citizens of Gotham City insane. He got one of his fellow partners in crime Jonathan Crane to create a laughing toxin which would drive the user insane. In order to test out the plan, he got Crane and Jervis Tetch to kidnap a test subject, which unfortunately ended up being the businessman. The businessman is brought to the Van Dahl Mansion where Jerome's Legion of Horribles used as a base of operations. Crane assured the man it wouldn't hurt a bit, and sprayed the toxin in the man's face. The Horribles witnessed the man break out into uncontrollable laughter and his skin turn pale. The side effects were so horrific the man's jaw began to dislocate with the uncontrollable laughter. Whilst several of the Horribles are horrified by its effects, Jerome is gleeful at the results and it prompted him to enlist Crane to create more of the substance.