Doctor Spectro
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| Doctor Spectro | |
 Doctor Spectro (right) fighting Captain Atom, on the cover of Captain Atom #79 Art by Steve Ditko. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Charlton Comics DC Comics |
| First appearance | Captain Atom #79 (February-March 1966) |
| Created by | Steve Ditko (plot, art) Joe Gill (script) |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Tom Emery |
| Abilities | Ability to control emotions using light-based powers |
Doctor Spectro is the name of a supervillain that appears in comics published by Charlton Comics and DC Comics.
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[edit] History
[edit] Charlton Comics
Doctor Spectro debuted in Captain Atom #79 (February-March 1966). After inventing a series of prisms that could alter human emotions, the Doctor was kidnapped by a gang of criminals and forced to use his invention to commit a bank robbery. When the Doctor refused to help, the criminals pushed him into his experimental machinery. The strange energies of the machine reacted with the prisms, giving the Doctor the ability to control emotions directly. The energy also affected his mind, causing the Doctor to embark on a crime spree. The superhero Captain Atom confronted Doctor Spectro, who was disintegrated when he came into contact with a high tension wire. The supervillain managed to survive and returned to fight Captain Atom in issue #81 (July 1966).
[edit] DC Comics
Doctor Spectro became part of the DC Universe after DC Comics purchased the rights to Captain Atom and other characters. He appeared in issues #9 and 10 of Crisis on Infinite Earths (December 1985 and January 1986, respectively).
Post-Crisis, Doctor Spectro was re-introduced in Captain Atom Vol. 3, #5 (July 1987), in a story written by Cary Bates and drawn by Pat Broderick. In the new version Doctor Spectro was really Tom Emery. A newspaper reporter discovered that "Doctor Spectro" was the creation of General Wade Eiling, a fake supervillain whose exploits were used to provide a cover story for the Captain Atom project. Once Captain Atom went missing, Doctor Spectro reverted to the life of a small time super-crook.
Doctor Spectro has made guest appearances in other DC titles, including Underworld Unleashed (November 1995), JLA #34 (October 1999), Action Comics #760 (December 1999), JSA #28 (November 2001), and Superman/Batman #3 (December 2003).
In the Green Arrow comics, the Green Arrow family often claim that Doctor Spectro has the worst supervillain costume.
In the recent novelized version of Infinite Crisis, Doctor Spectro was killed by Superboy-Prime alongside the hero Aaron Van Horn, aka Gunfire. This was a scene notably not shown in the illustrated Infinite Crisis mini-series, and occurred at the same time that the death of Blood Pack was shown.
[edit] Other media
In Justice League Unlimited, Doctor Spectro is later seen as one of the latest recruits in the Secret Society.
