Per Degaton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Per Degaton | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
Per Degaton is a fictional character, a supervillain in the DC Universe who can travel through time. Per Degaton made his first appearance in All Star Comics #35 (June-July, 1947) and was created by John Broome and Irwin Hasen.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
Degaton has since returned as a foe for the Justice Society, altering history at will, like orchestrating the killing of the President of the United States. During one of the annual meetings between JLA and JSA he almost succeeded in plunging Earth-2 into a nuclear conflict, bringing nuclear warheads to 1940; he was fooled and beaten by the combined forces of the heroes with some help from the All-Star Squadron.
For years Degaton had tried without success to alter the course of history for his own good, even thwarting the course of ancient historical events like the wars led between Greece and Persia. It should be noted that since Degaton was disintegrated by the appearance of his younger self, we can assume that the Degaton featured in those adventures was the same Degaton who left 1947 with the recently obtained time machine.
Degaton, frustrated for being not able to harm the JSA in chronologically their next encounter, used his time-travelling abilities to "watch life hurting [his enemies]". Sequentially confronting all the current JSA members (2004) he told them that he saw them die and revealed some hints on their final moments. For example, Degaton provided the revelation of the gruesome punishment that Atom Smasher would suffer at the hands of the Spectre, the breaking down of the relation between Stargirl and Captain Marvel, and it is only due to the intervention of Daniel that Degaton didn't tell Doctor Fate of his final passing.
Now equipped with a time disc, Degaton's a man that lives between seconds, apparently ageless in an intangible state, from which he can only be forced with the concentrated tachyons in the hourglass of Hourman
In JSA #68 (2005) after sending his genetically enhanced agents from the future (the "Red Morgue") to kill all relatives of Stargirl, he caused the JSA's temporary 1940s dissolution to become permanent, and disgraced all the masked crimefighters as traitors, thus erasing from history all subsequent superheroes. Degaton was eventually stopped and beaten to a bloody pulp by Atom Smasher, his hands soaked with the concentrated tachyons of the hourglass. Degaton then retreated into the time-stream, fully committed to watching the death moments of his enemies.
From his comments, Degaton has revealed he is one of the few people aware of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and the multiple timelines that once existed.
Per Degaton was also seen during the massive Metropolis battle in Infinite Crisis #7, his role and motives were never explained since he only appeared in one splash page.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Per Degaton possesses a limited "time vision," allowing him to know what will happen in the near future. He is out of phase with normal time, which renders him intangible. Hourman's tachyon filled hourglass has been shown to blur his time vision and allow anyone possessing it to hit Degaton.
It is unclear whether these are innate abilities Per Degaton acquired or if they are the result of his time disc.
[edit] Equipment
Per Degaton stands atop a "time disc." This machine allows him to travel through time as well as having failsafes to return time to normal should his plans fail. It floats and Degaton has mentioned a camera in it. Degaton also uses small time discs which can be thrown. Upon contact with a person, it speeds up metabolism. The speed is apparently variable; Hourman was sped up an hour until his powers ran out while the Atom was sped up to the point where his atomic physiology would explode.
