Lawrence Crock (DC Extended Universe)

Lawrence Crock is a skilled mercenary and combatant from Civic City who used Warren White and his crime family to take control of Civic City. He was originally a boxer known as "Crusher Crock" as well as a thug who worked for various crime lords. He was eventually trained by Ra's al Ghul in the League of Shadows, and used his skills to become a mercenary. After having his daughter taken away from him, he forms a plan to tear Civic City from the ground up.

Biography
Born in 1964 to two immigrants, an Irish father and a German mother, Lawrence grew up on the streets. As a teenager he frequently got into fights. His father had made a bad deal with a local crime lord which resulted in his death. His mother wanted to leave the city, but Lawrence wouldn't go along. His mother moved to Metropolis without him.

Lawrence started boxing at age 17, about a year after his mother left. He was trained by Joe Morgan. His immense size and strength gave him several advantages in the ring. His greatest victory was against Ted "Wildcat" Grant in 1987.

Lawrence started living with Paula Brooks in 1986. In 1988, Lawrence was nearly killed by a home invader. After the incident, Lawrence decided that he needed to be able to protect Paula. He'd heard about a secret society in a hidden city in Tibet which was led by a man who could turn any man into a warrior. He left Civic City for three years, promising Paula that he'd be back and to wait for him.

During his training in the League of Shadows, one of his tasks was to work with the Corto Maltesean militia. During the Russian invasion of the island in 1989, Lawrence worked with the militia to take down the Russians as well as capture American soldiers for experimentation. He ended up capturing seven American soldiers, including Jim Harper. During his time in Corto Maltese he formed a partnership with Guillermo Barrera, the most dangerous of the militia men.

Lawrence became one of Ra's al Ghul's greatest students. He trained for several years, and left Nanda Parbat with the permission of Ra's. He returned to Civic City in 1991, and married Paula shortly after. In 1993 Paula gave birth to their daughter, Artemis. Lawrence taught Artemis combat and archery, both of which she mastered.

In 2002, crime lord Carl Grissom threatened to kill Artemis and Paula if Lawrence didn't do a job for him. Lawrence went along with the job, but it turned out to be a setup organized by Thorne and several cops he had working for him. Paula divorced Lawrence and Artemis was taken away from him. The event caused Lawrence to harbor a deep hatred for both crime lords and cops, claiming that they were all corrupt.

After Warren White left Gotham City and Roman Sionis's organization, Lawrence used him to form a new crime family in Civic City as a way to control it.

Appearance
Lawrence is bulky and muscular. He has blonde hair which is somewhat gray. In his full suit, he wears a black armored torso, gray pants, and black boots. He wears armored pads on his arms as well as a metal gray hockey mask on his face.

Abilities

 * Peak physical condition
 * Master combatant/martial artist
 * Master swordsman
 * Master archer
 * Expert marksman
 * Use of sporting equipment as weapons (such as a hammer and a javelin)
 * Master tactician
 * Stealth

Equipment

 * Hammer
 * Javelin
 * Kevlar armored hockey padding
 * Steel hockey mask

Trivia

 * Lawrence Crock is known as Sportsmaster in the comics. Like the show version, Sportsmaster used sporting equiment such as a hammer and javelin to do his deeds. He is never called Sportsmaster in the show, due to the silliness of the name.
 * Lawrence is confirmed to be the father of Jade Nguyen, the villain from the comics known as Cheshire. This was originally done in the animated series Young Justice, in which Cheshire and Artemis were sisters. However, the show sticks with Artemis's original origin story of being entirely Caucasian, whereas she was half Vietnamese in Young Justice. It has been confirmed that Paula is not Cheshire's mother, and that she was conceived during Lawrence's time in the League of Assassins.

Related

 * Sportsmster on Wikipedia
 * Lawrence Crock (New Earth) at DC Comics Database
 * Lawrence Crock (Young Justice) at DC Comics Database