Doctor Death

DOCTOR DEATH

Real Name: Karl Helfern

Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Supervillain, scientist

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: unnamed father, unnamed grandfather, unnamed son (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Gotham City, Prime Earth

First Appearance: Batman II #25 (January, 2014)

Powers: Doctor Death invented a serum that hardened bones and caused them to grow uncontrollably. He could kill others by injecting them with the serum, and his own prolonged exposure to the serum gave him a monstrous skeletal appearance, superhuman strength and durability, and regenerative powers.

History: (Batman II #25, 26) - Dr. Karl Helfern worked on a research team at Wayne enterprises, researching a chemical that would cause bones to harden upon receiving trauma, with the end goal being military application and protecting soldiers. Helfern became uncontrollable, and after being let go worked in a number of unregulated labs where he acquired the nickname Doctor Death for all the animals that died after being injected with his serum. Doctor Death made himself a guinea pig, but the growth of his bones took over his soft tissue, turning him into a monster. He went mad and vowed to kill the rest of his research team. He killed Wayne Enterprises scientists Bill Kelvar and Dell Paji after injecting them with his experimental chemical that caused their bones to grow out of control, tearing apart their soft tissue. Batman investigated the crimes, and in his civilian identity of Bruce Wayne he visited Lucius Fox at Gotham University School of Engineering, where he’d been working since he was fired from Wayne Enterprises by Phillip Kane. Bruce implicitly trusted Lucius, who his father always described as reliable. Lucius put together the research team led by Helfern, and explained why Helfern had been scrubbed from the Wayne Enterprises databases after being fired, as he was a liability. Lucius injected Bruce, paralyzing him, and told him nothing could stop Doctor Death as the villain emerged from the shadows. Doctor Death had injected himself with his own serum some time ago, giving him a monstrous bony appearance. Doctor Death held a grudge against Lucius since he was the once to convince Thomas Wayne to fire him, and injected Lucius with his bone chemical, but Lucius was immune because he’d developed a vaccine which he’d already injected, the same vaccine he’d just given to Bruce. Bruce recovered and fought Doctor Death, who claimed he had a story to tell Bruce about something terrible that happened a long time ago any why the billionaire had blood on his hands. Bruce locked him in an experimental jet engine, but Doctor Death got free and cracked Bruce’s skull with his bony hands. Lt. Gordon arrived on the scene, shooting Doctor Death in the back and the villain jumped out a window and fled. Bruce spent a day in the ICU nursing a fractured cranium before changing into Batman and going to the Newton Center where Deeds and Booker, the other members of Helfern’s research team worked. Doctor Death had already come and gone, injecting the scientists who were in painful death throes. Commissioner Loebs and the GCPD ambushed Batman, and Loeb, who had a vendetta against the Caped Crusader, blamed Batman for the scientists’ deaths, ordering the GCPD to open fire.

(Batman II #29) - Batman located Doctor Death’s lab in the Gotham catacombs, and from his papers he discovered that Death had taken materials from each of the scientists he’d killed to create at doomsday device at the behest of Riddler. Riddler appeared on a screen in Death’s lab, telling Batman he only wanted to force people to be smarter to survive because the world was dying and controlled by the rich and elite who didn’t care. He detonated a bomb in the catacombs, and batman found himself buried under water and bodies. Batman freed himself and called Gordon, who was busy evacuating the Narrows as superstorm Rene was about to hit Gotham. Batman had triangulated the power surges Riddler used and realized they formed a question mark with Wayne Tower acting as the dot. Batman knew he’d be there, prepared to unleash his doomsday device, a remote hacking hub he could use to control or turn off any part of Gotham’s infrastructure. It was set to be activated when Gotham’s power was turned back on. Gordon called Dan Corrigan, pleading with him to have Gotham l or shut down Gotham’s infrastructure. It was set to go off as soon as Gotham’s power was turned back on. Batman piloted his Bat Blimp towards a weather balloon Riddler had stolen to boost the signal of his hacking hub. As the storm tore apart his blimp Batman barely made it to the weather balloon, where he was confronted by Doctor Death. Batman tried to reason with Death, saying Riddler’s reign of terror could kill thousands. Doctor Death was loyal to Riddler because he’d funded his research after he was let go by Wayne Enterprises, and retorted that his bone serum would save millions. Riddler was the one to convince Doctor Death to inject himself with his own serum, and Death bragged that he was living proof the serum worked. He admitted it made him into a monster, but said it was a start. They fought and Batman’s scrambler he planned on using on the signal booster fell off the side. Batman laid Doctor Death low, ripped off one of his boy protrusions and used it to start bashing the signal booster. Doctor Death revealed that his son was a soldier who Philip Kane, as a favor to him, gave him what he thought was a safe assignment, tracking down nomads in the desert. One of the nomads’ tunnels was booby trapped and his son was killed, all in the vain attempt to track down Phillip’s nephew Bruce Wayne. Death attacked Batman again and the signal booster exploded, filling Death’s body with shrapnel. His bones grew to cover over the wounds but wouldn’t stop until Doctor Death died, crushed by his own bones.

Comments: Created by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo.