Like most of DC’s main heroes of the period, Doctor Fate was inducted into the Justice Society and starred in their first eighteen adventures, but after the can cellation of his own strip in 1944, he was soon removed from the Society, too.ĭespite Doctor Fate’s early years being generally unexceptional, when the Justice Society was revived in the 1960s, the character became an integral part of the group and took part in almost all of their regular Justice League crossovers until the mid-1980s. In an unusual twist, Nelson soon revealed his secret identity to Cramer and later married her. In his civilian identity, Nelson operated out of an eerie-looking brick tower in Salem, Massachusetts, and courted the society beauty Inza Cramer. This deficiency was partly addressed halfway into the character’s career when his helmet was shortened, apparently limiting his powers to a degree, but coming up with suitably powerful villains was always a problem for his writers. An escaping gas killed the father, but the son awakened an ancient energy being called Nabu, who infused him with power, causing him to grow to instant adulthood, and equipping him with mystical artifacts: a helmet, an amulet, and a cape.īack home in the United States, Nelson’s power was almost limitless, which made his initial adventures somewhat predictable after all, there can be little suspenseful drama if you know that your hero will always be victorious.

Doctor Fate was Kent Nelson who, at the age of twelve, had stumbled across some ancient Sumerian ruins while exploring with his archaeologist father. With his blue-and-yellow bodysuit and his identity-concealing golden helmet, he was one of the more striking heroes of the time-albeit a rather impersonal one, as his face was permanently covered. Doctor Fate first appeared in May 1940 in More Fun Comics #55, under the hands of journeymen creators Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, and was DC Comics’ eleventh superhero (although by this point magicians of various descriptions were already a staple of comic books). Like his fellow supernatural hero, the Spectre, Doctor Fate was born and canceled during World War II, but endless revivals have kept the character in the public eye for decades.

Batman brave and the bold dr fate