Dr. Fate

DR. FATE

Real Name: Kent Nelson

Class: Human magic-user

Occupation: Superhero, archaeologist, physician

Group Affiliation: formerly Justice Society of America, All-Star Squadron, Black Lantern Corps

Known Relatives: Aaron Babcock (uncle),, Celestine Babcock (mother), Inza Cramer (Dr. Fate, wife), Kent V. Nelson (Dr. Fate, grand-nephew), Kent Nelson, Jr. (son), Laryn Nelson (great grand-niece), Sven Nelson (father, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Tower of Fate, Salem, Massachusetts, 1940s era to present

First Appearance: More Fun Comics #55 (May, 1940)

Powers: Fate wore the helm, amulet and mantle of Nabu, giving him fantastic mystic powers. With these talismans he possessed superhuman strength and flight, astral projection, energy projection, invisibility and teleportation. He resided in the Tower of Fate, which was a mystic crossroads.

History: Archaeologist Sven Nelson and his son Kent were excavating the Ur Valley, and found the ancient Lord of Order Nabu in suspended animation. He woke, and a boobytrap filled the chamber with poison gas, killing Sven. Nabu raised Kent as his own, and taught him the ways of sorcery. After years of training Nabu bestowed Kent with his mantle, amulet, and the helm in which his soul resided, and Kent became Dr. Fate.

(Spectre Annual II #1 (fb)) - Spectre sensed a murder, and when he went to investigate he found Dr. Fate standing over a corpse. Spectre accused him of murder and attacked him, but Fate, who told him he was being presumptuous to think he had any power of him, used his mystic arts to counter him. They realized they were evenly matched, and Fate told him he’d discovered the murder and was speaking to the dead man. The dead man gave them enough clues to figure out that he’d been murdered by occultist Micah Cole, who was working on the U.S. government program codenamed the Nightmare Codex. Fate and Spectre flew to Washington and the newly constructed Pentagon. Reverend Col. James Powell admitted that the U.S. was in an occult arms race with the Axis. Hitler was seeking the Spear of Destiny and the Ark of the covenant. The U.S. had sent an archaeologist to get to the Ark first, and were using the Pentagon to harness the power of the Elder gods with the help of Micah cole. Powell said souls were needed to fuel the magic to summon an Elder God, but claimed they were only using the souls of convicted murderers executed in the electric chair. Michah’s murder of an innocent came as a shock to him, and he realized Micah was trying to hijack the project to bend the elder god to his own designs. Micah summoned Koth-Shugoth, and Fate and Spectre combined their magic to keep it from fully emerging from a dimensional gateway. Spectre killed Micah, turning him into a dusty skeleton, and pushed Koth-Shugoth inside the gate, finding himself in the dimension God had exiled the elder Gods too. He felt insignificant and powerless before Koth-Shugoth, but the Spectre-Force took over, telling Koth-Shugoth he’d make an example of him for daring to cross the boundaries in which god permitted him to exist. Spectre returned to the Pentagon, assuring Fate that Koth-Shugoth would nevermore trouble mankind.

(Spectre III #20 (fb)) - Dr. Fate and several other mysterymen were battling a German fleet trying to cross the British Channel, but the fight was going against them until the Spectre arrived. He turned the tide, and every German soldier died screaming. The mysterymen were in awe at Spectre's power.

(DCU Holiday Bash #2) - <December 24, 1944> Fate and the Justice Society put on the Justice Society Canteen for troops home for the holidays. They helped foil Nazi saboteurs that tried to blow up the canteen, thanks to the help of Ensign James Gordon.

(Spectre III #20 (fb)) - <1945> At the end of WWII Flash and the Justice Society visited Auschwitz and learned the full extent of the Nazi's genocide. Spectre raged, and wanted to destroy every German in sight, but the Justice Society talked him down, telling him he had to rely on the justice of the Nuremberg war trials.

(All-Star Comics I #58, 59) - Brain Wave informed the JSA that he was going to cause disasters in Seattle, Washington, Peking, China and Capetown, South Africa that would cause a chain reaction that would destroy Earth. They split up, with Fate and Green Lantern trying to stop an massive release of flouro-carbons in Capetown. They found themselves unable to deal with the disaster, although youthful hero stopped the catastrophe by uncovering it as an illusion. Similar circumstances averted the disasters in Capetown and Peking, with new heroes helping the JSA. Power Girl suggested that Brainwave set them up to fail but didn't foresee the interference of the new heroes, whom Power Girl dubbed the Super Squad. The JSA and Squad confronted Brain Wave aboard his space station, and learned that he'd sapped the willpower of the JSA that they displayed in averting the disasters to return will and youth to Per Degaton. When the JSA had the villains on the ropes, Brain Wave used his mental powers to send Earth on a collision course with the sun, demanding they submit or see the planet die. Power Girl sent Brain Wave's space station toward the sun, overheating it and causing the villain to pass out. The JSA decided to take in the Super Squad so they could learn from each other.

(All-Star Comics I #60, 61) - Fate and Green Lantern were contacted by Washington, who warned them of Vulcan, a threat to national security. the former astronaut now had superhuman powers and a vendetta against the JSA because he once idolized the team, and his misguided attempt at heroics led to his current inhuman state. Fate and Lantern battled Vulcan, and Vulcan collapsed a building on Fate and escaped. The JSA dug fate from the rubble and later destroyed Vulcan, but Dr. Mid-Nite examined Fate and determined that he was dying.

(All-Star Comics I #62) - Mid-Nite hooked Fate up to a machine that kept him alive using the cosmic power from Star-Spangled Kid's cosmic rod. Green Lantern and Flash went to Egypt to try and find a way to save Dr. Fate's life.

(Spectre III #54 (fb)) - The JSA pursued Spirit King in Flash's body to Stonehenge, where he emerged, and jumped from one hero to the next to defeat them, ultimately taking Dr. Fate as his host, and allowing Flash to flee, and putting the idea in his head to seek Spectre's aid. Spirit King brought the heroes to Fate's Tower to punish them with hellish torments, and he animated Mr. Terrific's rotting corpse for his own amusement. Flash arrived with Spectre, and Spirit King revealed that his whole plan was to draw in the Spectre, his prize. His master was Shaitan, and he opened up a portal to Hell to consume the Spectre. Mr. Terrific's spirit arrived, and helped Spectre send Spirit King to Hell, closing the gate. Terrific said he always felt outclassed by his teammates, but he knew he was the hero that day, and the JSA said he made upo for his lack of powers with heart and guts.

(DC Comics Presents #23) - Inza was transforming into a monster because of a spell placed on her ancestor Captain Ezra Hawkins, a privateer of the 1600s. Dr. Fate s crystal ball revealed that Hawkins and his crew had been transported from Earth-2 to Earth-1 by magical forces, and set out into one-dimensional space to find them. Between dimensions he encountered El Muchcacho, the imp that had cursed Hawkins, and defeated him. He brought Muchacho to present-day Earth-1 where Superman was battling the magically cursed Hawkins. Fate forced Muchacho to remove his curse, and returned everyone to their proper time and place. Fate returned home and was overjoyed to find Inza cured from her curse.

(Swamp Thing II #46) - Fate was among the number of heroes teleported to the Monitor's satellite by Alexander Luthor, Jr., who explained his plan to make sure reality survived the Crisis.

(Spectre III #15) - Inza and Kent were discussing the best use for her Fate powers, and she considered cleaning up another city block. Phantom Stranger appeared, and recruited Inza, the Spectre was ready to cast judgment on the world, and Stranger needed heroes to stop him.

(JSA #63(fb, BTS) - When Dr. Fate died, the spirits of him and his wife were diverted into Fate s amulet by Nabu.

(JSA#63) - Nabu broke his chains, but Dr. Fate entered the amulet and transferred his power into Kent Nelson and the other spirits in the amulet. Dr. Fate told Nabu he wanted him to learn compassion, and entrusted the job of teaching him to the other spirits.

Comments: Created by Gardner Fox & Howard Sherman.

In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU Fate lived on Earth-2.

Dr. Fate received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #6. Dr. Fate received a profile in JSA Secret Files #1 under the Fate's Legacy entry. Dr. Fate was featured in the Crisis on Parallel Earths entry in JLA in Crisis Secret Files #1.

Dr. Fate had cameos in Action Comics #650, DC Comics Presents #25, 30, 38, Demon III #51, JLA #76, JSA #7, 38, 55, 56, JSA All-Stars #8, Justice League of America II #5, New Gods II #15, Spectre III #21, 24 and Swamp Thing IV #2.

A photo of Fate and the JSA was seen in the JSA Museum in JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice, JSA #52, JSA #54, JSA #60and JSA #67 and in JSA hq in JSA #73. JSA #57 and JSA #75 showed a solo portrait of Fate in JSA hq. A statue of Fate was seen in the JSA Museum in JSA #82.

Bizarro-Superman wrote and illustrated the Captain Marvel and the Sham Shazam comic book featuring Dr. Fate in Bizarro Comics #1.