Doctor Nemesis

Strength 6d

Agility 5d

Intellect 11c

Willpower 8d

Hand Size: Edge:

4 (25) 2

Powers:

Longevity (s): his most readily apparent mutant ability, this power details how James managed to avoid succumbing to old age like most of his peers (above and beyond mere clean living). He possesses this power at least at intensity 1, which adds several hundred years to his life span.

Cybernetics:

Cybernetic Eyes (w): though the full extent of Dr. Bradley's self-modifications have yet to be revealed, it is known that he has replaced his original eyes with enhanced versions based on those he helped Dr. Horton develop. These eyes, however, are even better than the originals.

In addition to the ability to see the standard visual spectrum, they wield the ability to spot 'genetic aberrants' at 200 yards. Functioning at intensity 9, this lets him identify beings with naturally or artificially modified DNA - such as mutants, clones, and certain altered humans.

Equipment:

Dart Gun (a): James, in either of his Doctor alternate identities, carries a gun that can fire darts. These darts, of course, are actually miniature syringes, which he can load up with various payloads. The darts themselves only inflict intensity 1 damage, and are deflected by any real body armor.

* Knock-Out Serum (s): the second advanced medical concoction that Doctor Bradley has created, this is an incredibly powerful 'super sedative' that is potent enough to take down even Captain America. James can K-O a foe by passing a K-O Serum (strength) action; this serum works at intensity 15.

* Truth Serum (s): Doctor Bradley's original claim to fame, this ingenious serum of his own design, once it is injected into a body, will force him to answer any question truthfully, with no subterfuge, within seconds of exposure to it. James' opponents resist his truth serum as they would his K-O juice (intensity 15).

Hindrances:

(none)

Skills:

Boxing (s): as was most other Golden Age adventurers, James was rather handy with his fists in addition to his 'gimmick' dart gun. As such, he can divide his pre-cardplay action score between two unarmed melee attacks if he so chooses, the last of which will occur as a contingent action.

Manipulation (w): the skill that helped him to assemble the Battle-Axis, this talent describes James' intense persuasive abilities. He knows how to push people's buttons, using both hypnotic and neuro-linguistic techniques to make them to do what he wants - not even revealing his manipulations while doing so!

Marksmanship (a): picked up after leaving the laboratory for more... intense action, this skill represents his ability to use firearms. Whether wielding a standard, semi-automatic, or fully automatic rifle or pistol, or even his curious drug-dispensing handguns, James does so at a reduced difficulty level.

Medicine (i): his primary claim to fame, James is a doctor of some renown. This skill, in addition to helping him concoct his truth serums and knockout drugs, allows him to perform life-saving surgery when necessary, as well as helping characters recover from long-term damage.

Robotics (i): a skill he honed to a fine degree with his long-time associate, Phineas T. Horton, this skill gives James a powerful understanding of electronics, computer circuitry, and humanoid mechanics. Of course, combined with his Medicine talent, this allows him to build androids.

Calling:

Repentant, with a secondary calling of Glory-Hound: ever since his near-death experience at the helm of the villainous Battle-Axis, Dr. Bradley has fought hard against the Nazi scourge, fighting still-free agents of that regime abroad to make up for his crimes to this very day.

Costume:

In his original guise as Doctor Nemesis, James wore a sort of 'two-fisted doctor' outfit. This consisted of a navy blue pair of trousers, a white collared, long sleeved shirt, a red tie, a navy blue suit jacket, a stylish brown fedora, and of course a white surgical mask to hide his identity.

After he went bad (and then subsequently reformed), James and altered his 'action' costume slightly. Ever since, he wore a white pair of pants, a white collared, long sleeved shirt, a white tie, a white trench coat, a white fedora (with a black band), and a white surgical mask.

Personality:

James is a man with a conflicted past. While he is well aware of his achievements and is happy to tell anyone about them that is happy to listen, he is nonetheless working hard to make amends for his foolish past, and has been doing so ever since World War II, even at great personal cost.

Real Name: James Bradley, M.D.
Occupation: adventurer, former criminal mastermind
Legal Status: citizen of the United States with a likely criminal record both at home and in Brazil
Marital Status: possibly married, possibly a widower
Alias(es), if any: Doctor Death
Group Affiliation: the Beast's Fringe Science Team, formerly of the the Battle Axis

Height: 5' 10"
Hair: gray
Eyes: blue
Weight: 160 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: none

Story:

Doctor James Bradley was a man ahead of his time, in that he shared the vision of his one-time associate, Phineas T. Horton. When the two pooled their considerable skills, they were able to build fully functional androids, robots that, though not alive, looked and appeared to function like normal men.

Save for one little flaw. You see, when their first model was activated, it burst into flames upon being exposed to oxygen, even if it didn't burn; this was just a bizarre process of its ersatz, 'synthezoid' metabolism. This was when a rift formed between Bradley and Horton, however.

You see, Horton wanted to reveal his handiwork to the world, but Bradley thought it prudent to wait until this whole 'fire' mess could be resolved. Horton would have no such thing, though, and not wishing to be mocked by the press alongside Horton, James left his company - though not empty-handed.

You see, the two had been working on more than just one android, though the second one, while nearly complete, was not yet ready for use. As such, it would take some time before James could get thing functional, so he returned to medicine to supplement his income during this time.

He was rather smart, though, and in working with various medicines in his spare time, James concocted a revolutionary, fast-acting truth serum. Seeing this as his opportunity to gain more glory than Horton had (who, at the time, was indeed made a mockery by the press), James became an adventurer.

Calling himself Doctor Nemesis, James battled all sorts of weird villains, including the Japanese saboteur X2, doing so in the guise of a sort of 'direct action doctor'. He did this for a time, but shortly after his crime-fighting career began, the Human Torch escaped from his cement incarceration.

He'd been buried by Horton, but not deactivated as the press demanded of him, you see. After a short time, the Torch gained control of his fiery nature and became one of the world's greatest heroes. This reversed Horton's fortunes, turning him from a subject of mockery to a world renowned man of Science.

Naturally, since he parted ways with Bradley years earlier, Horton hogged all the fame for their creation, a fact that rankled Bradley to no end. This ultimately drove him over the edge, and seeking the adulation he felt he deserved for his work, he signed on with the Torch's enemies - the Nazi party.

The extent of the work that James performed for the Nazis has yet to be revealed, but he may or may not have helped these heinous villains construct an army of 'two bit Human Torch copies' that were used to invade Atlantis; this has yet to be revealed, but no other Nazis knew so intimately how the Torch worked.

Regardless, James eventually adopted a new identity, that of Doctor Death, a sort of 'evil doctor' persona. In this guise, he contacted various heroes that, while they were generally good people, were nonetheless susceptible to being 'turned' to the Nazi cause, due to their beliefs / natures.

At the same time, James activated his own version of the android he created with Horton, and dubbed him Volton; unlike Horton's Human Torch, this fellow generated vast electrical forces instead of fire and heat. He even gave him a heroic 'origin', something about being struck by lightning.

This 'magical' lightning strike both gave him his super-human powers and stole his memory, as James told the new sentient being. Volton believed this for a time, and fought crime until James could turn the Human Meteor, the Spider Queen, and Strongman to his cause.

This group, including Volton, became known as the Battle-Axis, and were to be a counter-force to the Invaders, after the Super Axis failed so miserably. Their first mission was to remove the United States from World War 2, doing so by giving them something else to occupy their time.

James decided a horrible natural disaster would work for this, and set about causing an earthquake that would not only knock California off the West Coast, but would also unleash tons of poison gas stored in the Southwest upon every man, woman, and child within several hundred miles of the 'quake.

To this end, James set about, with his cohort Sky Shark, to acquire the components of something he dubbed the Oscillotron, a massive vibratory machine that would unleash the force bound up in various fault lines - he had to kidnap some help to manage this, though.

He found the perfect person for this to be Johann Goldstein, a Polish Jew and inventor who, in addition to having the skills necessary to build the Oscillotron, would serve as a handy hostage to force his brother Jacob (the Golem) into serving the Nazi cause; he found the irony there to be delicious.

James also kidnapped Professor Enoch Mason, a physicist who had invented the so-called Dimension Smasher, a device that could pierce the veil between universes. Once he was all ready, James led his team from Germany back to the United States in a Nazi submarine.

Their vehicle caused a stir, though, and the Invaders came to investigate - but the Battle-Axis managed to deal with them handily. Once they'd arrived on American soil, James sent his minions to collect various components of the Oscillotron, and himself went about getting the Dimension Smasher working.

Eventually, the Invaders found his hideout atop the neglected deposit of poison gas that he planned on using against America, and a big brou-hah-hah ensued. His minions defeated the Invaders again, this time thanks to the Vision, a being he summoned to our universe with a fully operational Dimension Smasher.

Choosing to keep the Invaders captive, hoping to dissect them to see what made them tick, James was ultimately hoist by his own petard. The Invaders escaped their captivity, and managed to turn Volton against him (after Captain America deduced Volton's true origins).

When Johann was killed by the Sky Shark when trying to escape, this also caused the Golem to turn against the Battle-Axis, and during this fight his plan was ultimately unraveled. In fact, angry over being lied to, Volton attacked poor James, seemingly killing him with one of his trademark Ampere cocktails.

Or so everyone believed. In truth Dr. Bradley escaped death this day, though his fate took a turn after his 'son' tried to kill him. Perhaps it was just the severe electrical shock, but the experience seemed to have been something of a 'moment of clarity' for James.

Dropping his Doctor Death guise, James returned to his role as Doctor Nemesis, and apparently turned against his former benefactors. In fact, he fought against them both during the remaining years of World War II and then afterwards, when many Nazis fled to South America.

For over sixty years since, he has done battle with a variety of terrible genetic aberrations created by former Nazi scientists, preventing them from getting out of South America and endangering the world at large. He continued this fight until recruited by the X-Men's Beast.

Working hard to undo the slow, perpetual genocide perpetrated upon the mutant 'race' by the Scarlet Witch, the Beast was looking for a group of extremely talented scientists who excelled at unconventional thinking. This group, his Fringe Science Team, needed the Doctor's help.

Though he revealed that he was working in obscurity for a reason, most likely to prevent himself from falling into his old habits, Dr. Bradley eventually agreed to help the Beast in his quest to save mutant-kind, though the ultimate fate of this endeavor has yet to be revealed.

Extra Goodies:

View the Golden Age Doctor Nemesis

Return to the Golden Age Characters Updates main page!