Doctor Fate

Doctor Fate is a DC Comics superhero and wizard, best known as a member of the Justice Society of America. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940).

The original and best known Dr. Fate was Kent Nelson, an archeologist who discovered the tomb of the mystical being Nabu and was trained by him in the arts of magic.

Dr. Fate was a member of DC’s Golden Age all-star group the Justice Society of America and was a key part of the group during its 1970s revival.

Afterwards, DC introduced several new versions of Dr. Fate, including Eric and Linda Strauss, a pair of twins who could merge into Dr. Fate and joined the Justice League; Inza Nelson, Kent’s reincarnated wife; Fate, a mercenary who used Kent’s weapons; and Hector Hall, the son of JSA members Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who had several previous superhero identities. All of these revivals were short-lived, however, and DC has now allowed the Dr. Fate property to rest, although the Kent Nelson version has made some appearances in the DC animated universe.

Publication history

Kent Nelson was raised by an Egyptian wizard named Nabu, and appeared in 1940 as the heroic Doctor Fate in More Fun Comics #55. Among Golden Age superheroes, Fate was unusual for wearing a helm which covered his entire face.

Fate became a charter member of the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940) and remained a member for several years, departing the group following #23.

In 1941, Fate traded in his full helmet for a half-helmet, leaving his mouth exposed. Fate's popularity waned faster than many of his contemporaries, and he disappeared from the scene before the 1940s were out.

Fate was revived along with the rest of the JSA in the 1960s through the annual team-ups with the Justice League of America, who were established as residing on a parallel world from the JSA. Unlike many of his JSA cohorts, Fate did not have a corresponding JLA analogue, making him distinct in that regard (perhaps because the Silver Age revivals took a more science fictional bent, with which Fate was not essentially compatible), and perhaps boosting his long-term popularity especially considering he is the closest counterpart the company has to Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange.

Fate also teamed with Hourman in two issues of Showcase, #55-56 (1). Dr. Fate was a regular member of the JSA during the All-Star Comics revival of the 1970s, as well as appearing in First Issue Special #9 (1975), drawn by Walt Simonson.

In the 1980s following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Fate briefly joined the Justice League and was the star of a 4-issue miniseries by J. M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, in which Nelson finally died of old age and Fate's mantle was taken up by a pair of humans (Eric and Linda Strauss) who would merge into one being to become Fate (similar in this regard to Firestorm). Nelson's body was reanimated by Nabu (who was revealed to be a Lord of Order), and started calling himself Kent, to help train the pair in their new role. The three starred in a Doctor Fate series by DeMatteis and Shawn McManus.

After two years, the series and character shifted such that Nelson's wife Inza inherited the Fate mantle and starred in a year's worth of stories in which she tried to change the world for the better using her powers.

After this, DC decided to retire the classic characters, and Doctor Fate was replaced by a character named Fate, a mercenary whose weapons were the transformed helm and amulet of Doctor Fate. He starred in two of his own series, Fate and The Books of Fate, but both were cancelled after relatively short runs.

In 1999, the Fate character was retired in the new JSA series, and Doctor Fate returned in the person of Hector Hall, the former Silver Scarab, and the son of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Like his father, Hall had himself been reincarnated, and assumed the mantle of Doctor Fate after a battle with the wizard Mordru, who craved Doctor Fate's power. In addition to appearing in JSA, this new Doctor Fate starred in a 5-issue miniseries in 2003. This incarnation of Fate was killed off in 2006 during the events of Day of Vengeance.

Fictional biographies

Kent Nelson

Kent Nelson was the son of an American archaeologist in the 1920s. While on an expedition to Egypt, Nelson's father opened the tomb of the wizard Nabu, and was killed for the violation. (Nabu is named after a god from Babylonian mythology. The Nabu of the DC Universe may originally been meant to be this god.) However, Nabu took pity on the orphaned Nelson and raised him himself, teaching him the skills of a wizard and bestowing upon him a mystical helm and amulet.

By 1940, Nelson had returned to the United States and housed himself in an invisible tower in Salem, Massachusetts, and embarked on a career fighting crime and supernatural evil as the hero named Doctor Fate.

Fate was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, though he left the group around 1945. As Kent Nelson, he romanced and eventually married a redheaded woman named Inza. His powers as Fate kept the two of them young through the 1980s. In 1942, he stopped wearing his full-head helm and switched to a half-helm which left his mouth and chin exposed.

It was later established through a retcon in First Issue Special #9, 1975, that the full helmet contained the personality of Nabu, who partially replaced Nelson's own personality when he donned the helmet. Switching to the half-helmet left Nelson in charge, but also stripped him of much of his sorcerous might, leaving him merely strong, tough, and able to fly, essentially a second-rate Superman. Another retcon, in All-Star Squadron #27, revealed that Fate switched to the half-helm because a supervillain stole Nabu's helm and both helm and villain were cast into an alternate dimension.

Fate presumably retired - or simply disappeared from public life - in the late 1940s and was inactive through the 1950s along with most other Golden Age superheroes.

When the Justice Society reactivated in the 1960s, Fate was a member - again wearing Nabu's helmet, though how it was recovered has not been revealed. Little is known of Fate's adventures during this period save for the JSA's annual gatherings with the Justice League of America from the parallel world of Earth-1 (the JSA being on Earth-2), and a pair of adventures he shared with fellow JSA member Hourman facing the monstrous Solomon Grundy and the villainous Psycho Pirate.

Fate was also a member of the JSA in the 1970s, though he had become increasingly erratic and withdrawn from humanity, though still committed to protecting Earth against supernatural menaces. In the 1980s, Fate briefly joined the Justice League, but Nabu's magic was failing to keep Kent and Inza Nelson young, and the pair finally died.

Eric and Linda Strauss

Nabu bound together a pair of humans, Eric and Linda Strauss into a new Doctor Fate, the pair merging into one being to become the hero, but otherwise living their own lives. Nabu joined them by animating Kent Nelson's corpse and referring to himself as Kent. They moved into Linda's apartment, away from the seemingly destroyed Tower of Fate, where they were soon joined by a small and kind demon dubbed Petey and the lawyer Jack C. Small.

With Nabu's teaching, the three were active for a couple of years, until Eric was killed by Darkseid. However, it was not the end of the road for Eric, as his soul was placed in the dying body of Eugene DiBellia (severely injured in a car crash), the father to a cosmically important daughter named Raina (who would usher in a new age for mankind). Linda operated on her own for a while, before the mantle of Fate rejected her.

Nonetheless, the Anti-Fate (Dr. Benjamin Stoner), returned to plague her, and Linda and Nabu joined together to form Fate. Although the Anti-Fate was defeated, Linda died after the Lords of Chaos magically assaulted her before retreating. Similar to Eric, her soul was placed in the (dying) body of Wendy DiBellia (Eugene's wife who was in a coma), so that she and Eric could take care of Raina. The DiBellia couple was always fated to die, but thanks to the timely intervention of the Phantom Stranger and a character serving as the human avatar of God, Raina was not left without her caretakers.

Inza Nelson

It turned out that the Nelsons' souls still resided within Fate's amulet and they were resurrected in new, young bodies; this time, however, Inza alone was able to manifest as Doctor Fate. Kent chided Inza for what he felt was reckless use of magic but she began to work toward improving their neighbourhood.

As a female Doctor Fate, she spent a couple of years striving to improve the lot of humanity, being, unlike her husband, a proactive Dr. Fate. Her inexperience in the actual use of magicks backfired at first, but she grew into her own after some time.

However, as she developed in her magics, she also started to expand in her proactive role, she became more and more reckless in the way she used her magics. Slowly but surely the people started to become dependant on her and for every little problem called out for Dr. Fate. Instead of retreating, she made matters worse as she developed spheres that responded to the people's wishes.

This abuse of the Fate magics even ended up separating Kent and Inza as they steadily found themselves opposed to one another's actions. Nonetheless, Kent eventually faithfully returned to his wife's side. Eventually Inza's proactive behavior finally backfired on her, as she was put on trial, having gotten out of control, and she was feared to have become some sort of dictator.

After that problem was resolved, she was later aided by Kent once he was able to regain his Superman-esque powers of earlier years in a softened but still more proactive role than the previous Fates. Through means unrevealed, the pair later began merging as the male Doctor Fate again.

It was this Fate who faced the supervillain Extant in the Zero Hour crisis, scattering Fate's helm, amulet and cloak, and greatly aging the Nelsons, who returned to Salem.

Jared Stevens

The artifacts were discovered by Jared Stevens, who transformed the helm into smaller weapons and began a career as a balance between Order and Chaos as Fate. During his one encounter with the Nelsons, the latter pair were killed by minions of a villain, and their souls returned to Fate's amulet.

He would eventually meet his end at the hands of Mordru, who was killing agents of Chaos and Order alike in a bid to kill the child that would inherit the mantle of Fate and claim the artifacts for himself.

Hector Hall

Nabu had arranged, however, for Hector Hall (the former Silver Scarab and son of the original Hawkman and Hawkgirl) to be reincarnated as the new Doctor Fate, and with the aid of the reformed Justice Society, this came to pass, and Hall took up the mantle.

Hector's reincarnated body, however, supposedly differentiated his purpose from previous "Dr. Fates." Hector's physical body is the son of DC heroes Hawk and Dove (Hawk later became the villains Monarch, then Extant), agents of Chaos and Order, respectively. Therefore, Hector was born as be an agent of balance, as opposed to an agent of Order, like the previous Fates were. This concept was downplayed or dropped altogether in later stories.

In JSA #78-80, after a climactic conflict with the Spectre, Hector Hall, along with his wife Lyta Hall, was banished to "Hell," a snowy mountain landscape, where he would be forced to spend eternity. After protecting his unconscious wife from a group of demons, Hector collapsed, just as Lyta awoke. She revealed that she had communicated with her son Daniel Hall (now the Lord of Dreams), and made a deal. The two joined their son in the Dreaming, seemingly giving up the mortal world forever.

Nabu

With the disappearance of Hector Hall, his teammates in the Justice Society travelled to the Tower of Fate, hoping to use his services to travel to the Fifth Dimension and find Jakeem Thunder. At the Tower they found the garments of Fate, but no Hector. Seeking to call forth Nabu, Sand wore the garments and Nabu spoke through him. He prepared a spell through which some of the team travelled to the Fifth dimension, but at that time, Mordru returned and botched the spell. In turn, he subjugated the remaining Society members and Doctor Fate. Mordru seemingly crushed Nabu and his helmet, which allowed Sand to use his powers and free himself. Freeing the other members of the team, they took on Mordru, as Nabu started to channel himself through the vestments of Fate without a host. He fought Mordru, transporting him to differing dimensions in hopes of defeating him, travelling to the worlds of Kingdom Come and The Nail before being stopped by Mordru.

The two continued their struggle, although Mordru seemed to be getting the upper hand, until the timely arrival of Jakeem and the other team members, and Jakeem and his Thunderbolt singlehandedly took care of Mordru. Nabu was offered to join the Justice Society, but he discerned that a crisis was afoot and that his presence was required elsewhere, disappearing.

In the Day of Vengeance Special, Nabu called together a team of magical beings to stop the Spectre and seal the Seven Deadly Sins. Nabu personally confronted and goaded the Spectre, whose anger grew so great that the Presence took notice and sent the Spectre to his new host. As a result, Nabu died, which caused the end of the Ninth Age of Magic and the beginning of the Tenth Age.

Before his death, he gave the Helm to Detective Chimp to give to the new Doctor Fate. The helmet would still have certain abilities, even though Nabu would no longer be contained within it. After a failed attempt by Detective Chimp to put the helmet on, he asked Captain Marvel to throw the helmet down to Earth and let it land where it will, letting fate pick the next Doctor Fate.

Other versions of Doctor Fate

Doctor Chaos (Earth-One's Doctor Fate analog)

A helmet identical to the one used by Nabu (containg a Lord of Chaos), was discovered by Professor Lewis Lang and his assistant, Burt Belker, in the Valley of Ur. The Lord of Chaos possesed Burt to become Doctor Chaos, who had a different agenda to Earth-Two's Doctor Fate. Doctor Chaos's costume was identical to Doctor Fate's, but had an opposite color scheme. Superboy confronted him and was able to remove the helmet from Belker and jettison it into space. There was no record of the helmet ever returning to Earth, and was erased after the merging of alternate universes during the Crisis.

Fate (Kingdom Come)

The reality of Kingdom Come featured a version of Nabu, similar to his final appearance, who was able to channel his consciousness through the Helm and Cloak without the need for a host body. This version of Fate sided with Batman's group during the series, and was amongst the survivours at the end of the story.

Future (Books of Magic)

In the fourth Book of the Books of Magic mini-series by Neil Gaiman, a future version of Doctor Fate is shown to Timothy Hunter by Mr. E. This one is a corrupted version of the Helm which looks like a human skull. It would ultimatly kill any of its worshippers that wears it. This one no longer cares about the war between Order and Chaos and believes that there is no meaning in life; just flesh and death.

Doctor Strangefate

Dr. Strangefate is the Amalgam Comics equivalent of Dr. Fate combined with Doctor Strange and Charles Xavier of Marvel Comics (His powers were based on both Doctors, but he was Charles Xavier under the helm). Dr. Strangefate was the protector of the Amalgam Comics universe, and built up the universe around him from the battle between DC Comics and Marvel Comics respectively, and would literally kill to prevent his world from collapsing.

Powers and abilities

Doctor Fate possesses a wide variety of powers. In general, he can fly, is resistant to damage, and has greater-than-human strength. He is susceptible to toxins in the air, however.

At his most potent, Fate is an accomplished sorcerer, able to match most other wizards in the DC Universe, but not as powerful as true extra-human beings such as the Spectre, as evidenced when Hector Hall is defeated by the Spectre in roughly one page (However, when Nabu battled Spectre alone, the fight seemed more evenly matched.). Fate has been observed throwing bolts of mystical energy, crafting solid objects out of energy a la Green Lantern, and transforming objects into other kinds of matter. The full limits of his magical skills are unknown.

Over time, Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange has evolved to be somewhat similar to Doctor Fate, in that both possess amulets which can emit beams of light, and both live in mysterious abodes filled with mystical books and objects. (In fact, the two were temporarily merged into a single character named Doctor Strangefate during the Amalgam crossover.) Fate is considerably more withdrawn from humanity in both demeanor and locale than is the Manhattan-based Strange.

Helm of Nabu

The helmet that Doctor Fate wears is the focus of the Doctor Fate identity. It originally housed Nabu's spirit and allowed him to possess the current host, it later only allowed him to advise the host instead. The helmet is what provides the link to Nabu and by not wearing it (as Kent Nelson did at one time), Doctor Fate loses much of its power and knowledge.

Putting on the helmet of Doctor Fate usually results in its wearer being clad in the other garments of Fate, unless the one with the actual claim to the helmet wants to prevent it.

Amulet of Anubis

The circular device that adorns the livery collar worn around Doctor Fate's chest and shoulders is the Amulet of Anubis, which gives anyone who wears it vast magical abilities. It holds many similarities to the Amulet of Agamotto of Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange, with both Amulets being capable of revealing and recognizing magical characters. The amulet has also been shown to house the souls of many who have worn the vestments of Fate.

Awards

Both the character and the comics of the same name have received recognition, including:

1963 Alley Award for Strip Favored for Revival
1965 Alley Award for Best Revived Hero

Other media

Doctor Fate has guest appeared in animated form on The Animated Series, Justice League, and became a member of the Justice League in Justice League Unlimited. The Doctor Fate in those series is the Kent Nelson version. In Superman: The Animated Series he was voiced by George Del Hoyo. In his return appearances in the Justice League series, he is now voiced by Oded Fehr.

In his Superman appearance, "The Hand of Fate", Superman goes to seek Fate's help when a supernatural threat named Karkull (whom Fate is responsible for defeating previously) invades and conquers the Daily Planet. At first, Fate refuses to get involved because he was tired of the eternal struggle between "good" and "evil". Superman's insistence on returning to fight on his own, despite his unlikeliness to succeed, inspires Fate to join the good fight once again.

This fatigue with mortal concerns has continued in his animated incarnations, as seen in his next appearance on Justice League entitled "The Terror Beyond". He and Aquaman help Solomon Grundy escape from the authorities so they can enact an age-old spell to save this dimension from an invasion by the Old Ones (creatures based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft). They are stopped by the League and end up fighting the Old Ones in their own dimension.

Only after this episode does it seem that Fate maintains any continual relationship with fellow superheroes (miscommunication being the reason for the struggles between him and the League in "Terror"), including joining the expanded League in Unlimited. However, he's still not much of a team player, maintaining his own little mini-League of outsiders within the League which is a disguised version of Marvel Comics' Defenders, including Aquaman, Hawkgirl, and Amazo. Fate is a stand-in for Dr. Strange.

External links

Doctor Fate (Hector Hall) - DC Database Project
^* Showcase #55: The Glory of Murphy Anderson
^* Comic Book Awards Almanac