Creation

Ted Carson was created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff in Batman #126.

Pre-Crisis

The Menace of the Firefly

Ted Carson was a wealthy industrialist whom Bruce Wayne was on social terms with. During a high society party at Carson Mansion, a masked figure calling himself the Firefly broke in and stole a box of gold nuggets that had been a Carson family heirloom. Batman and Robin confronted the villain, but were defeated when Firefly disoriented them with a light-based device and made his escape. After the party, Kathy Kane arrives and consoles Carson, telling him Batman would likely track down the Firefly and retrieve the stolen nuggets. She leaves with him in his car right afterwards, and Bruce realizes that he is jealous of the fact that Kathy has fallen for Carson.

Later, the police contact Batman and Robin at the Batcave and tell them that Firefly is robbing the Gotham Glassworks. The duo arrive at the scene to find Batwoman already there, fighting the Firefly's thugs. Firefly makes his escape by using a sonic device to shatter all the glass in the building, but the heroes capture one of his accomplices. After a futile attempt at getting the thug to reveal his boss's secret identity, the heroes split up, but not before Batwoman drops a bombshell: she claims that she knows Batman's real identity and chides him for not being more careful with it.

Batman panics and wonders if Kathy discovered his identity by stumbling upon him and Robin switching into their uniforms at Carson Mansion during the first Firefly attack. Bruce then goes to visit Carson, only to find Kathy there as well. When Carson and Bruce both leave the mansion, Kathy notices a paper on the ground that contained Firefly's plans to rob the Gotham Museum of Natural History. She switches to her Batwoman costume, runs to Carson and tells him that she knows he is Batman, having spotted him changing into a costume during the party when Batman clashed with Firefly. She asks him to call Robin so that the three of them can stop the villain. Carson is taken aback, but quickly recovers and tells Kathy to wait while he gets his costume. After quickly getting his gear, he reveals that he is not Batman, but actually Firefly himself (having robbed himself just to ward off any possible suspicion), and then takes Batwoman hostage.

Meanwhile, Batman and Robin analyze dust samples from the clothes of the captured henchman that lead them to the Museum, where they find Firefly and a captive Batwoman. Carson fires a lethal beam of light at the Duo, but Kathy breaks free of her bonds and deflects the beam with a nearby shield. Batman then pole-vaults up to the villain and knocks him out with one kick. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Carson's family fortune had started to run dry, which led him to a life of crime.

New 52

In Nightwing Annual #1, Ted Carson seemingly slays Garfield Lynns to prove himself the superior arsonist and the one true Firefly.