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Doctor Light (Arthur Light)

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This article is about the supervillain. For the superhero, see Doctor Light (Kimiyo Hoshi).
"Arthur Light" redirects here. For the American prelate, see Arthur Heath Light.

Doctor Light is the name of two characters appearing in media published by DC Comics: supervillain Arthur Light and superhero Jacob Finlay.[1]

Doctor Light
The Arthur Light incarnation of Doctor Light as depicted in Identity Crisis #6 (January 2005). Art by Rags Morales.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceArthur Light: Justice League of America #12 (June 1962)
Jacob Finlay: Secret Origins (vol. 2) #37 (February 1989)
Created byGardner Fox
Mike Sekowsky
In-story information
Alter egoArthur Light
Jacob Finlay
SpeciesMetahuman
Team affiliationsThe Society
Fearsome Five
Suicide Squad
Injustice Gang
Injustice League
Black Lantern Corps
A.R.G.U.S.
Justice League
Abilities
  • Genius-level intellect
  • Skilled hand-to-hand combatant
  • Photokinesis
    • Flight
    • Invisibility
    • Energy blasts
    • Hard light constructs
    • Force field generation
    • Bio-light manipulation

Light's stint as Doctor Light is concurrent with that of a superheroine using the same name and a nearly identical costume, Kimiyo Hoshi.[2] In 2009, Doctor Light was ranked as IGN's 84th-greatest comic book villain of all time.[3]

He made his live-adaptation debut in one episode of the series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, played by David Bowe. He also appeared in the second season of the DC Universe series Titans, played by Michael Mosley. A female version of the character appeared in the second season of The Flash played by the actress Victoria Park.

Publication history

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Doctor Light first appeared in Justice League of America #12 and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.[4]

During the 1980s Doctor Light was transitioned from a serious menace to a comedic villain, a transformation which culminated in the DC Comics Bonus Book appearing in The Flash (vol. 2) #12 (May 1988).[5]

Fictional character biography

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Origin

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Criminal physicist Doctor Arthur Light captures the League with light rays after first drawing them in by capturing Aquaman, then sending the League to different planets based on their weaknesses.[6] He then orders Snapper Carr to write this down before imprisoning him in a light field. He has not realized Superman and Batman impersonated each other, allowing Superman to escape the world he was sent to and rescue the other members. Light fools the League with three duplicates of himself that are apparently committing robberies of light-associated objects, though they are actually placing devices around the world. Green Lantern realizes this trick and fakes his death to track Doctor Light, finally stopping him before he pulls the lever that would have set off the light impulses allowing him to take over the world.

Secret Origins #37 reveals that Light is the second Doctor Light. His predecessor is S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Jacob Finlay, who created a light-manipulating suit and became a superhero before Light accidentally killed him and took the suit and codename.[1]

Through the Silver and Bronze Ages, Doctor Light is a minor but persistent foe for a number of heroes, including the Justice League's former sidekicks, the Teen Titans.[7]

In Justice League of America #136, he is one of King Kull's agents with which the Beast-Man hopes to wipe out humanity on all three Earths, helping in the attack on Earth-S by creating perpetual light and darkness on each side of the Earth, and teaming up with Shade, Joker of Earth-Two, and Weeper. He is petrified by Kull's satellites, but restored when they are destroyed.[8]

He then founds the supervillain team the Fearsome Five, but they are also defeated by the Titans, and Light is violently expelled from the group.[9][10][11]

Suicide Squad

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Driven by self-doubt and guilt, as well as Finlay's ghost haunting him, Light joins the Suicide Squad, a group of incarcerated supervillains who perform dangerous missions for the government in exchange for clemency. During a mission on Apokolips, Light is killed by Parademons and sent to Hell. After being resurrected, Light attempts to rejoin the Suicide Squad, but Amanda Waller rejects him. Subsequently, he joins a short-lived incarnation of the Injustice Gang.

Identity Crisis onwards

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Identity Crisis reveals that Doctor Light is a serial rapist and previously raped Sue Dibny.[1] Zatanna magically alters his mind so that he will no longer pose a threat and inadvertently lobotomizes him. Light later recovers his memories and vows revenge against the Justice League.[1] He joins Alexander Luthor Jr.'s Secret Society of Super Villains before being killed by the Spectre during Final Crisis.[12] In Blackest Night, he is resurrected as a Black Lantern before Hoshi kills him.[13]

The New 52

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In The New 52 continuity reboot, Arthur Light is a scientist working with A.R.G.U.S. and the Justice League who gains light-based powers after his communicator explodes.[14][15] He subsequently joins the Justice League before being killed by Atomica and resurrected as a light entity.[16]

Powers and abilities

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Doctor Light can control light for a variety of purposes. He can bend the light around him to become invisible, generate blasts of energy, create force fields, and fly. By mentally repulsing photons, Light can create areas of complete darkness. Teen Titans #23 implied that Light could "power up" by draining the ambient light in the area.

The limits of his powers are unclear, but he seems to be able to wrest control of anything that emits light.[1] Such things have included Green Lantern constructs, Superboy's heat vision, and magic lightning from Wonder Girl's lasso. He is also able to take the "internal" light away from light powered characters, the heroic Doctor Light and the Ray, leaving them temporarily powerless. He also has the ability to create holographic images. Despite his frequent defeats, he is quite powerful.

Originally, Doctor Light derives his powers from his suit, but over time he internalizes this ability, and could use his powers without having to use his costume.

Arthur Light is mentally brilliant, a genius in the field of physics. However, his mind-wipe by the Justice League reduces his intelligence substantially, along with his skills for creative use of his powers. Light's recovery of his memories seems to have brought his intellect back with them and also his paraphilia.[1] As a result, he becomes a much deadlier opponent.

Other versions

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  • An unrelated Doctor Light who is an enemy of Doctor Mid-Nite appears in All-American #82 (February 1947).
  • Doctor Light makes a cameo appearance in JLA/Avengers as a minion of Krona.
  • An alternate universe variant of Doctor Light appears in Tiny Titans. This version is a science teacher at Sidekick City Elementary School.
  • An alternate universe variant of Doctor Light from Earth-21 makes a cameo appearance in DC: The New Frontier.
  • An alternate universe variant of Doctor Light appears in Nightwing: The New Order.

In other media

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Television

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Doctor Light as he appears in Teen Titans.
 
Doctor Light as he appears in Teen Titans Go!.

Film

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Video games

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Miscellaneous

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Wallace, Dan (2008). "Doctor Light I". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1. OCLC 213309017.
  2. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. p. 98. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  3. ^ "Doctor Light is number 84". IGN. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
  4. ^ McAvennie, Michael (2010). "1960s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. In a tale written by Gardner Fox, with art by Mike Sekowsky, Doctor Light's first [adventure] was almost the JLA's last.
  5. ^ Greenberger, Robert (April 2014). "New Talent and Bonus Babies". Back Issue! (#71): 73.
  6. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  7. ^ Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 125. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  8. ^ Justice League of America #136. DC Comics.
  9. ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Fearsome Five", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 120, ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1, OCLC 213309017
  10. ^ Broderick, George, Jr. (w), Purcell, Gordon (p), Dzon, Timothy (i). "Light at the End of the Tunnel" The Flash, no. 12 (May 1988).
  11. ^ Markstein, Don. "Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  12. ^
    • Teen Titans (vol. 3) #21-23. DC Comics.
    • Green Arrow (vol. 3) #54. DC Comics.
    • Infinite Crisis #7. DC Comics.
    • Justice League of America (vol. 2) #15 (December 2007). DC Comics.
    • Justice League of America (vol. 2) #27 - #30 (November 2008 - February 2009). DC Comics.
  13. ^
    • Blackest Night #1 (July 2009). DC Comics.
    • Blackest Night #3 (September 2009). DC Comics.
    • Justice League of America (vol. 2) #39 (November 2009). DC Comics.
    • Justice League of America (vol. 2) #40 (December 2009). DC Comics.
  14. ^ Justice League of America (vol. 3) #4, DC Comics.
  15. ^ Justice League of America (vol. 3) #5. DC Comics.
  16. ^
    • Justice League (vol. 2) #22 (July 2013). DC Comics.
    • Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger #11 (October 2013). DC Comics.
    • Justice League (vol. 2) #23 (October 2013). DC Comics.
    • Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #1 (October 2013). DC Comics.
    • Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #3 (February 2014). DC Comics.
    • Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #5 (April 2014). DC Comics.
    • Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #6 (May 2014). DC Comics.
    • Deathstroke (vol. 4) #22 (October 2017). DC Comics.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Doctor Light Voices (Teen Titans)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 20, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  18. ^ Campbell, Jacob (August 19, 2019). "Ozark Star Michael Mosley Reportedly Playing Dr. Light on Titans Season 2". Full Circle Cinema.
  19. ^ Martin, Michelle (September 16, 2019). "Easter Eggs You Missed In Titans Season 2". Looper.
  20. ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 2, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  21. ^ "Teen Titans Go! #43 - The Fearsome Five (Issue)". Comic Vine. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
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