Who's This? A real snake.
The facts: Copperhead first appears in The Brave and the Bold #78 (July 1968) by Bobs Haney and Brown and aside from a reprint of that story later in the series, most of his appearances pre-Crisis are as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. After Crisis, he became a utility villain, fighting Hawk and Dove, Superboy and Starman, among others. He was one of the villains who sold his soul to Neron to get more power, getting transformed into a proper snake man rather than a dude in a costume, and was eventually killed by Manhunter Kate Spencer. Other Copperheads, including a female one, have since popped up.
How you could have heard of him: He does appear in animation quite a bit (Justice League, JLU, B&B, and Public Enemies) and even had an action figure made of him in the JLU line.
Example story: Superboy #12 (February 1995) "Compound Troubles!" by Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett and Doug Hazlewood
I have a theory about villains created for team-up books that rather than migrate to one or the other hero's rogues gallery, they most often stick to the team-up book and eventually wind up as utility villains who hop around from hero to hero as a low or mid-level threat, and/or get drawn into crowd scenes when huge villain teams show up. Copperhead fits that profile to a T. The easiest way to make your utility villain fight any hero you want is to make them an assassin-for-hire, then you can sic 'em on the hero or a supporting cast player. Case in point Superboy who just happens to have a slightly slimy agent called Rex Leech, who is up to his neck in debt. And Copperhead isn't just an assassin, he's a guy who doesn't like to pay for air fare.
And so he lurks around Honolulu like this across several pages, just a room away from Rex, his daughter Roxie, and the Boy of Steel himself, until he catches a ride under Rex's taxi cab and follows him home. He REALLY hates to pay for transportation. It leads him to Superboy's new purchase - the Compound, a bunch of dilapidated bungalows he wants to turn into a superhero Skywalker Ranch. The Kid's business acumen just made sure Rex can NEVER pay those debts.
And I don't know how Boss Gamboli does things, but Copperhead is ready to get paid in blood if not money. Or more likely, it's intimidation and punishment for the delay when Coppers goes after Roxie.
Whoops, he maybe should have checked that she didn't have a superhero with her. But maybe he's prepared. Superboy's first punch slides right off him, he doesn't show up on goggle infra-vision, and even a Superboy needs to breathe.
The Kid flies up and gets Copperhead off him by firing his goggle heat vision, but he misses and though high up, "as a master contortionist, [he] can absorb the fall from almost any height". And when Superboy tries to tackle him, he slides right out of his grasp. Bonus points to Copperhead for staying on target however. He gets away from Superboy and heads right back to Roxie.
As usual, the Kid's tactile telekinesis saves the day, wiring up ol' snake-head and before he can slip out of his bonds, throwing the switch on the Compound's electrical system.
And even THAT doesn't take him out entirely, as Superboy has to knock him out with an old-fashioned fist after a "last scare". Creep's tough, but not that tough. Shows up in a story, uses his whole bag of tricks, through some arrogant banter around, and gets his clock punched within an issue.
Does Copperhead deserve better? What works in one universe - he looks and feels like a Spider-Man villain - doesn't in another, I guess. And yet, had he remain attached to Batman after that B&B story (or even Batgirl, since she was in it too), he might have had a better time of it. He was a thief in that original story, and thieves with gimmicks have a role to play in Gotham. Then again, maybe Killer Croc stole all his reptilian thunder. In another reality, he might have made a good Central City Rogue, too slippery for the Flash to catch him, who knows. As was, he had a fun visual that could be applied to superhero action.
Who's Next? A magno-ball champion.
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