Doctor Phosphorus

Doctor Phosphorus
Doctor Phosphorus
Art by Marcos Marz
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Detective Comics #469 (May 1977)
Created by Steve Englehart
In-story information
Alter ego Dr. Alexander James Sartorius
Team affiliations Secret Society of Super Villains
Abilities Burning skin
Toxic fume emission
Radiation manipulation

Doctor Phosphorus (real name Dr. Alexander James Sartorius) is a fictional character who has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. Primarily an enemy of Batman, the supervillain exists in DC's main shared universe, known as the DC Universe.

Publication history

Doctor Phosphorus first appeared in Detective Comics #469 and was created by Steve Englehart.[1]

Fictional character biography

A crack in a reactor core causes Dr. Alex Sartorius to get "five million slivers of (radioactive) red-hot sand" into his body. Nuclear reactions caused the silicon in the sand to be booted up by one proton each, to phosphorus. Burning forever, he starts a quest for revenge against the people he blames for his terrible fate, getting into conflict with Batman on a few occasions.

During the Underworld Unleashed storyline, he is one of many villains to sell his soul to the demon Neron. In exchange for his soul, he is granted greater power and temperature control. For example, he can now wear normal clothing without it bursting into flame.[1]

In James Robinson's series Starman he is initially hired by the Mist to kill the original Starman, Ted Knight, but is defeated by the retired hero. However, they face each other a second time; this time, Phosphorus has given Knight a significant dose of radiation, which gave him terminal cancer. In a third and final confrontation, Knight is determined to ensure that Phosphorus would harm no one else. During the battle, he uses his cosmic rod to tear the pavement from beneath Phosphorus and drive him into the earth, apparently killing him.[1]

Phosphorus returns in Detective Comics #825, where he is being held in Cadmus Research laboratories. When one of the scientists examining him says he heard Sartorius had died, the other replies, "From being crushed? Hardly. Everything human in Sartorius was consumed by fire long ago. We believe his powers manifested a fusion reaction that completely sublimated his central nervous system — creating functional facsimiles of his heart, his lungs, his kidneys — all working in concert to produce a near-endless supply of clean energy." [2]

Phosphorus escapes from Cadmus, and once again seeks revenge on those responsible for his condition. He is defeated by Batman during an attack on Rupert Thorne, and he is imprisoned in Arkham Asylum.[1]

During Batman's absence after his presumed death, Phosphorus escapes custody along with the other Arkham inmates. He kidnaps both Kirk Langstrom and his wife Francine for information about Langstrom's research. However, Phosphorus caused Kirk to transform into Man-Bat and throw Phosphorus into the ocean.

During the Brightest Day crossover event, Phosphorus is freed from Arkham when Deathstroke and the Titans attack the facility. However, before Phosphorus can escape, he is attacked by Arsenal.[3]

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Doctor Phosphorus is reintroduced in the Forever Evil storyline, appearing among the villains that the Crime Syndicate of America recruits to join the Secret Society of Super Villains.[4]

Powers and abilities

Doctor Phosphorus has burning skin, toxic emissions, and can manipulate radiation. When he sells his soul to Neron, he is granted better control of his powers so that any clothes that he wears will not burn off.

Other versions

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Doctor Phosphorus was invited by Lt. Matthew Shrieve to be the new member of Creature Commandos, but Doctor Phosphorus then betrays him and kills his family.[5] It is revealed that Doctor Phosphorus had been working for General Sam Lane who is responsible for the deaths of Miranda's family.[6]

In other media

Television

  • Doctor Phosphorus' appearance was used as inspiration for the character Derek Powers in Batman Beyond voiced by Sherman Howard , who later becomes Blight. His skin is burned off due to the high levels of radiation his body emits and all that is left is the glowing, radioactive skeleton associated with Doctor Phosphorus.
  • In The Batman, Firefly's mutation from the phosphorus isotope causes him to become Phosphorus voiced by Jason Marden. After numerous defeats by Batman, Firefly (Garfield Lynns) asks his girlfriend, Dr. Jane Blazedale to help him steal a phosphorus isotope. She helps him steal it and Garfield uses it to upgrade his arsenal. However, an accident occurs and Garfield is transformed into Phosphorus. He becomes insane and whatever he touches burns. He was defeated by Batman when he uses liquid nitrogen on him. This version of Phosphorus resembles molten lava and burns orange flames. Phosphorus also shares his comic book counterpart's insanity.

Film

Doctor Phosphorus appears in The Lego Batman Movie.

Miscellaneous

Doctor Phosphorus appears in Smallville Season 11: Titans. He is broken out of prison by Rose Wlison and attacks an amusement park. Superman and the Teen Titans arrived. Despite initial trouble, Superman and the Teen Titans defeated Phosphorus when they threw him into the ocean. Doctor Phosphorus is then imprisoned by the D.E.O..

Video games

Dr. Alex Sartorius can be heard in Batman: Arkham Knight. In Simon Stagg's audiotapes, he can be heard bitterly confessing how his employer Stagg is profiting from his research and using it to create weapons. The audiotapes revealed that Dr. Sartorius was raised as a Catholic, but chose science over faith. The third audiotape has Dr. Sartorius mentioning that Simon Stagg has started collaborating with Scarecrow. Before he can take action against Stagg, Dr. Sartorius is told by a member of Arkham Knight's army that Stagg wants to see him. One of the Gotham Stories reveals that Dr. Sartorius was punished by being used as a test subject to Scarecrow's latest fear toxin, developing intense pyrophobia.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Wallace, Dan (2008), "Doctor Phosphorus", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 105, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
  2. ↑ Detective Comics #825
  3. ↑ Titans (vol. 2) #28
  4. ↑ Forever Evil #1
  5. ↑ Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #2 (July 2011)
  6. ↑ Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3 (August 2011)
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