Who is an Über-Doctor?
May 31st, 2006
Some more thoughts on the concept of the über-doctor. As far as I’m concerned, to be considered an über-doctor, a character must meet three criteria:
- Hold a doctorate, a medical degree, or the equivalent.
- Multiple instances of demonstrated expertise outside their stated field of study (or expertise in everything if no specific field of study is mentioned)
- The ability to build wicked-cool gadgets
Using these criteria, who would be considered an über-doctor?
- Reed Richards. Of course.
- Charles Xavier. Geneticist, but has shown expertise in chemistry and medicine (though his medical skills leave a lot to be desired). Built Cerebro.
- Victor von Doom. His degree may be questionable, but let’s face it, Victor is good in everything, including chemistry, biology, robotics, medicine, and — unlike Reed Richards — magic. Built the Doombots, among others contraptions.
- Braniac 5. Holds an “X.D.” Good at absolutely everything, except maybe personal relationships. Built many technologically advanced items such as a forcefield belt. Has a monkey.
- Hank Pym. Doctorate in biochemistry, but has also shown expertise in robotics, entomology, and medicine (“Don’t worry Firestar, I know why you’re sterile.” Wink wink). Built Ultron.
- Henry McCoy. Doctorate in Biochemistry, but has shown expertise in almost all sciences, mathematics, and medicine. Built the power-
dampenerdamper to hold Dark Phoenix in check.
Characters who are NOT über-doctors:
- Dr. Strange. Mystic and former medical doctor.
- Doc Samson. Psychiatrist, strongman and pontificator.
- Tony Stark. He’s a scientific genius and can build neat things, but he really doesn’t stray outside his field of engineering. I don’t think he holds an advanced degree.
- Dr. Mid-Nite. Gifted physician, but stays within his field of expertise.
- “Ultimate” Reed Richards. A gifted polymath, but has he received an advanced degree…or even an undergraduate degree?
Characters Who May Be…the Jury is Still Out (or my knowledge is incomplete):
- Michael Holt. I know I mentioned he was an über-doctor yesterday, but on second thought, I’m not so sure. He meets criteria #2 and #3, but does he hold the requisite advanced degree?
- Moira MacTaggert. Meets criteria #1 and probably #2, but what about #3?
- Geist (from Aquaman). Meets #1 and #2, but I’m not sure about #3.
- Dr. Bruce Banner. My knowledge of the Hulk is pretty much limited to the Peter David years where he doesn’t qualify. He may qualify ibased on earlier or later stories, but I suspect not.
- Lex Luthor. If “mad scientist” implies an advanced degree, then the Golden and Silver Age Luthors qualify. The more corporate modern Luthor would not.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:35 pm
What about Dr. Kurt Connors or Dr. Otto Octavius?
May 31st, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Conners is a geneticist and has general medical training, and Octavius has a degree in nuclear physics and clearly has some engineering skills (he built his robot hands, yes?). But neither stray outside their established fields, which is the main criteria.
And I’d argue that Modern Luthor does too count. Yes, he has a business degree, but he also has a engineering degree, and has enough biology under his belt to develop cures for rare diseases, make near perfect and imperfect clones of Superman, use kryptonite radiation to “call” ancient kryptonian artifacts, and in general be as smart as the plot requires. Just cause he uses his Twelfth Level Intellect to make himself in the richest man in the world doesn’t mean he’s NOT a super-genius. Arguably, that makes him the smartest guy in the room.
June 1st, 2006 at 12:18 am
What about the infamous Dr. Demonicus? A PhD in genetics, this guy has created giant monsters, cyborgs, undersea bases, stopped the spread of his own skin cancer, force fields, and drilled a hole in the earth’s crust in order to make a volcano that would spew lava and create his own nation, Demonica. He should call himself Ãœber-Doctor Demonicus! If he wasn’t so darn crazy you can bet Reed Richards would have him on speed dial.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:01 am
Well, post-Crisis Luthor didn’t make Bizarro - he employed a scientist named (if I can recall correctly) Dr. Teng during the “Man of Steel” series. If they later made it so that Luthor himself did the scientific stuff, then that is news to me, but since he built a battlesuit and generally started acting all scientific without any real prompting I guess that makes sense.
And everyone knows Doom got his PhD from the University of Arizona’s fine distance learning program.
June 1st, 2006 at 4:05 am
As I recall, Michael Holt was described as an M.D. One of the scenes I remember (but can’t verify at the moment) is that the despaired after the death of his wife because as a physician (& all-around genius) he should have been able to help her - if he hadn’t been the one crashing the car (or at least involved). So he ought to be qualified for the Über position.
June 1st, 2006 at 8:16 am
I was wondering about Doc Ock: in Fantastic Four, Reed goes to him as an expert in radiation when Sue is having difficulties with the birth of their second child. That would seem to imply some medical knowledge. But, in Secret Wars, Doc Ock bags out of helping an injured teammate, as he’s not that kind of doctor. However, that could be explained away by Ock being mean and/or lazy.
June 1st, 2006 at 8:57 am
Official Comment
Doc Ock is an atomic researcher which I’ve always taken to mean he has a doctorate. No medical degree — I suspect Reed Richards called him for his nuclear knowledge, not his medical knowledge.
June 1st, 2006 at 10:24 am
I can’t wait for us to meet “Accomplished Perfect Physician” from the Great Ten.
Now THAT is a title to put on a business card…!
June 1st, 2006 at 12:36 pm
except for #3, House and his team seem to qualify.
June 1st, 2006 at 12:47 pm
For my money, Bruce Banner is an uber-doctor. First of all, think back–he built the gamma bomb. John Byrne really fleshed out how brilliant he was and, in the relatively brief time the Hulk had Banner’s personality, had him making all sorts of crazy inventions. There was even an Avengers annual that Steve Ditko drew & Bryne inked that was based around his inventions–Reed Richards, the Beast, Hank Pym, and others were brought in by the government to analyze all the stuff he made, and the Fixer was trying to steal it.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:45 pm
“Henry McCoy… Built the power-dampener to hold Dark Phoenix in check.”
sigh.
Does it keep Dark Phoenix in check by getting her wet?
Damper. Please. I’ll give you a cookie.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Official Comment
Changed, but let me point out that the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language suggests that “dampener” can be used a noun version of the verb “dampen” in regards to its second definition: “To deaden, restrain, or depress”
June 1st, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Heh. Okay, I will grudgingly concede that the word has fallen into common usage and there’s really no stopping it now, but I will counter with this:
While the effect can be described as dampening, the device that produces the effect is a damper.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=damper
damp·er Audio pronunciation of “damper” ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dmpr)
n.
1. One that deadens, restrains, or depresses: Rain put a damper on our picnic plans.
2. An adjustable plate, as in the flue of a furnace or stove, for controlling the draft.
3. Music.
1. A device in various keyboard instruments for deadening the vibrations of the strings.
2. A mute for various brass instruments.
4. A device that eliminates or progressively diminishes vibrations or oscillations, as of a magnetic needle.
And that’s enough of that. I really like your site, Scott. It’s always an entertaining and educational read. Good job.
June 1st, 2006 at 4:34 pm
P.S. I owe you a cookie.
June 1st, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Dr Strange is sort of a mystic uber doc. Sure, he knows magic and used to be a plastic surgeon, but he also knows kung fu.
Holt holds PhD’s. I’d bet my stack of JSA’s on it.
Moira MacTaggert built the cage to hold her son. Really, is there any Clairmont character that hasn’t done #3?
You forgot John Irons, I think. I don’t know if he has a degree, but he’s an engineer pulled into STAR, apparently, to ID bodies? Sounds uber doc to me.
June 2nd, 2006 at 9:02 am
Official Comment
In the latest issues of 52 they refer to John Irons as “Dr. Irons” at one point…
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:11 am
He’s been Dr. Irons from the beginning though, in reference to his degree in physics and engineering.
June 2nd, 2006 at 12:08 pm
I could swear Moira’s invented some cool stuff, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:12 pm
Tony may be primarily an engineer, but he clearly goes beyond just crafting mechanical devices. He’s also well ahead of the curve when it comes to practical physics, since he’s used a variety of power sources for his armors over the years, and developed a variety of weapon systems based on electro-magnetic radiation. He’s a master computer scientist, creating all his own Armor operating systems over the years and coming to his initial fame for his use of transitors and miniaturization. You have his clear knowledge of medicine, shown by his ability to build a torso suit to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart, along with creating skintight systems to enhance his natural skills. None of his stuff is off-the-shelf, after all.
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:21 am
Tony Stark makes you feel he’s a cool exec with a heart of steel.
June 5th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
[…] He then goes on to list those Ãœber-Doctors that appear in comics from time to time. […]
June 11th, 2006 at 8:25 am
If Michael Holt is an MD or PhD, why is he called _Mister_ Terrific?
Why not Doctor Terrific?
(This is a rhetorical question. :) )
November 5th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Years late and dollars short, but you could probably add Forge in. No medical degree that I know of, and I’m not certain of the advanced degree status, but how can one design so many prosthetics and genetics-affecting objects without some medical knowledge? Although, as noted in his Wikipedia article, and something I noticed in the comics, he’s kind of like the tinkerers in Wild Cards in that he doesn’t really understand what he does - he just builds something that works and afterwards has to reverse-engineer it just to see how it works.
November 5th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
So where does the Leader and the Mad Thinker rank? Also, the creepy doctor from Spider-man who kept inventing new villians for money.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:46 am
The elseworld Red Son’s Luthor clearly qualifies as über-doc.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
The General Science emphasis is a broad-based science degree requiring 19 semester hours acceptable for a minor in each of two fields selected from biology, chemistry, and physics, plus 8 semester hours from the third field.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~chem/images/pdf/upper-science-general.pdf
I graduate with this degree in May. First step in becoming a superscientist, you know.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Mr Freeze must have some cryogenics knowledge and maybe some kind of advanced medical training as a result of that? Add on some major skill at engineering.
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