Publication History
Dr. Mortal was created by Bert Whitman and made his first appearance in Weird Comics #1, published by Fox Features Syndicate in 1940.
In the comics, Dr. Mortal is depicted as a villain. However, detailed information about his character, storylines, and specific powers or abilities, if any, is not well-documented. This is a common issue with many Golden Age characters, particularly those who were not main characters or did not have long-lasting series.
Fox Features Syndicate was known for its superhero and crime comics during the early 1940s. Many of their characters, including Dr. Mortal, were phased out as the publisher’s focus shifted over the years.
Dr. Mortal, born as Arthur Caldwell, was once a brilliant scientist, driven by the tragic loss of his beloved wife to a rare and incurable disease. Consumed by grief, he became obsessed with discovering the secret to immortality, believing that no one should have to suffer the pain of losing a loved one.
Dr. Mortal’s desperation led him down a dark path as he started to perform dangerous experiments on living subjects. To avoid being caught, he kidnapped people from the streets and brought them to his hidden underground laboratory. His first experiments were conducted on average individuals, carefully monitoring their reactions to his experimental treatments.
As the months went by, Dr. Mortal recorded significant improvements in his subjects’ lifespans. However, something went terribly wrong when he attempted to push the limits of his experiments. The subjects started to exhibit strange and frightening abilities, turning into uncontrollable monsters. Horrified by what he had created, Dr. Mortal locked the monsters away in the basement of his laboratory, determined to correct his mistakes.
Despite the setbacks, Dr. Mortal’s hunger for knowledge was insatiable, and he knew he needed to continue his experiments to unlock the secrets of immortality. He began to realize that the key to his success might lie in experimenting on people with superpowers, as they already possessed extraordinary abilities that could potentially hold the answer to eternal life.
Driven by this new revelation, Dr. Mortal started to meticulously research and track down superheroes, planning his next move to capture them and bring them to his laboratory. As he embarked on this new phase of his dark quest, Dr. Mortal was ready to stop at nothing to achieve his ultimate goal of immortality, regardless of the consequences.
Power Classification
Mad Scientist – Scientific knowledge, kidnapper, experimenting on superpowered individuals.
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