First appearing in Detective Comics #355 in September 1966 as a masked wrestler whose intention was to get rid of Batman so he could be Gotham City's unchallenged masked man. It is later revealed that his identity is news reporter Telman Davies and is eventually foiled by Batman.

Telman Davies was a newscaster on a local television channel in Gotham City. He decided to adopt the masked identity of the Hooded Hangman as a way to become the number one masked fighter. He became a member of a wrestling company in order to test his mettle. His fighting techniques were not entirely legal, but he always managed to defeat his opponents. Eventually, he tried to defeat Batman by luring him into apparent crimes. On two occasions, Batman was almost defeated, but Telman never finished the fight. After this, there was a third encounter and both fighters agreed to unmask the loser of the fight. Batman was knocked down first and Telman removed the cowl, but was shocked to see his own face. Batman had disguised himself as Telman after deducing the Hooded Hangman's identity and as Telman was left in shock, Batman seized the opportunity to defeat Telman and expose him to the public. Defeated and with his secret no longer safe, Telman lost his job at the television channel and he went on a ship away from Gotham, towards South America.

Telman reappears as a serial killer in an issue of Superman/Batman. He kills 12 people before Batman catches up with him.