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No use to struggle, No use to flee - Your Fate is written, It strikes through me!
~ Doctor Fate.
Fate is never alone! Along the twisted paths I walk, others are ever at my side -- in spirit if not in fact! They are those who serve the cause of justice!
~ Doctor Fate.
I share my friends' frank appraisal. They speak of the wonder of being super-men. The sheer, glorious, thank-God-I'm-alive, this-never-gets-old, unbelievable, astonishing sensation of being members of the Justice Society. It kept us going through the toughest moments. The compensation of feeling blessed. We thanked fate and fortune and the stars every day that we were getting to do the things we were doing. We were lucky we ever got to do them at all. Just once would have been an utter privilege. We were damn lucky we got to spend our whole lives doing them. Now we're getting to be those people again, one last time. And we're going to savor every second of it.
~ Doctor Fate.

Doctor Fate (real name Kent Nelson) is a fictional character, superhero and sorcerer from the DC comics and universe, appearing as the main protagonist of the titular comics and a major character of the Justice Society comics.

Nelson was selected to become the new Doctor Fate after his relatives moved one, and became an agent of Lords of Order. His wife aids him in his heroic tasks. With his new identity, he has magical powers, and became a founding member of the Justice Society of America. At one point, Doctor Fate fought Karkull and imprisoned him to the Inner Pit.

He was created by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, and first appeared in More Fun Comics #55 in May of 1940.

Background[]

Overview[]

He contemplated on his duty when his enemy returned regarding that no matter how hard he tried, evil would always be present. Doctor Fate gained hope after seeing Superman's determination and helped him defeat Karkull. Fate teamed with Aquaman and promised Solomon Grundy that he could help him find his soul if they defeat Ichutulu. Grundy sacrificed himself to destroy the Old ones. Fate later joined the Justice League after Earth was invaded by Thanagarians.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Kent Nelson is the son of archeologist Sven Nelson and Celestine Babcock, and was born before the 1920s. Kent took an interest in his father's profession, and the two went on expeditions and adventures.

Becoming Doctor Fate[]

Around 1920, the two were exploring the Valley of Ur in Mesopotamia when they discovered an unground pyramid. Kent released Nabu, an ancient immortal from the planet of Cilia, but doing so released a poisonous gas that killed Sven. Nabu had engineered the trap to gain a new host, and decided to mentor Kent in the secrets of the universe. Kent became an agent of the Lords of Order, and was trained by Nabu, who gave him powers through molecular control, and took away his grief.

After finishing his training, Nabu gave Kent an amulet, cloak and helmet to become a champion known as Doctor Fate. Kent went on many adventures as Fate, but would awake with little memory of his exploits, but was guided by Nabu's spirit. Later in his life, Kent met Inza Cramer, a college student while traveling through Alexandria. The two became close, and she became his long-time romantic partner and confidant. Kent's first battle was against Wotan, a sorcerer who struck at him through Inza using an agent named Thomas Frawley.

Heroic Career[]

Kent and Inza went on to fight more evil threats, such as stopping Magno the Mighty, defeated and locked Wotan away, defeated two species of space men, and stopped the Norns. Eventually, Doctor Fate was challenged by Karkull, who later joined forces with Wotan to defeat Kent, but failed. Afterward, Kent was challenged by Mister Who, and later encountered other villains like Red Sage and Clock. Later on, Kent decided to become a real medical doctor, and became engaged to Inza.

Doctor Fate later encountered Spectre, and the two worked together to destroy a military gateway to a netherworld of demons. During World War II, Doctor Fate and others helped stop an assassination attempt on President Roosevelt's life. Afterward, Roosevelt requested that Fate and the other heroes formed a group, and they decided to name it the Justice Society of America. During this time, Kent found the helmet becoming more and more possessive of him, and decided to create the half helm. Though his powers were severely limited, he still had the ability of flight, invulnerability and superhuman strength. When Spectre went missing, Kent donned the helmet one last time, and discovered that Spectre was under the control of Kulak and in a titanic battle.

During this, he was defeated and the helmet of Nabu was lost somewhere in the netherverse, but Kent would recover it during the 1960s. During this time, Kent retired from his persona and became a physician, but returned as Doctor Fate when he recovered the helmet. He later fought the Egyptian priest Khalis, and later rejoined the Justice Society of America in 1963. As the JSA members aged, Kent and Inza seemed immortal, due to their magic fate virtually stopped their aging process. The two also received a small portion of Ian Karkull's power, which gave them even more vitality.

In the "Zero Hour" storyline, Doctor Fate was reformed and assisted the Justice Society into fighting Parallax's minion, Extant. The team was defeated by supervillain, and the latter used the Lords of Chaos and Order to split Doctor Fate's helmet and amulet into the netherverse. Both Kent and Inza attempted to get the items from the mercenary Jared Stevens, who would become the new Fate after the Kent's battled Kingdom's demons. Kent would reanimate into a Black Lantern during the "Blackest Night" storyline, but was destroyed when a bomb went off in New York City.

Prime Earth[]

On Prime Earth, Kent's grand nephew Khalid Nassour would take on the moniker of Doctor Fate, and the former assisted him in fighting an Egyptian creature. Nelson's history was later erased until was restored by Wally West, who used the power of Doctor Manhattan to fix time by merging timelines together.

Portrayals[]

Film[]

  • In the 2022 DC Extended Universe film, Black Adam, he is portrayed by Pierce Brosnan, who also played James Bond in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day, Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair and Chiron in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief.

Television[]

  • The DCAU version of Doctor Fate was voiced by George DelHoyo in Superman: The Animated Series, with Oded Fehr voicing him in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.
  • In Smallville, he was portrayed by Brent Stait.
  • In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, he was voiced by Greg Ellis, who also voiced Cait Sith in Final Fantasy VII, Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown, and Jet-Vac in the Skylanders franchise.
  • In Young Justice, he was voiced by the late Edward Asner.
  • In Mad, he was voiced by Kevin Shinick.
  • In Justice League Action, he was voiced by Erica Luttrell (who also voiced Keesha Franklin in The Magic School Bus, Candy in Dave the Barbarian, Sapphire in Steven Universe, and Emily Kaldwin in Dishonored 2) in his child form.
  • In Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash, he was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who also voiced Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: Demolition, Cobra Bubbles and Gantu in Lilo & Stitch, Maurice in The Penguins of Madagascar, General Monger in the Monsters vs. Aliens animated series, and Bulkhead in Transformers: Prime.

Video Games[]

  • In Injustice 2, he was voiced by David Sobolov.
    • Sobolov reprised his voice for the character in Lego DC Super-Villains.

Quotes[]

Sometimes I think a good fight accomplishes more than all the learning in the world.
~ Doctor Fate.
Then for the sake of all worlds, I will continue to seek a better way.
~ Doctor Fate in the animated series.
We all exist for a purpose! Mine is to guard men from an unknown evil!
~ Doctor Fate.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Doctor Strange from the Marvel comics is based on him.
  • He has been credited as being one of the top twelve most powerful heroes in the universe.
  • Prior the New 52 reboot, Nelson had a doctorate degree in both medicine and archeologist and, though he vastly preferred the latter in most continuities.
  • From the New 52 onward, Nelson is fully an archeologist proper and isn't a medical doctor any longer yet seemingly still possess a doctorate in archaeology.
  • In brazilian portuguese, his name was localized to "Senhor Destino" (lit. "Mister Fate"), because the literal translation of his name, "Doutor Destino", was already being used in the localized name of Marvel's Doctor Doom.
  • In more recent stories, Nabu's magic can keep him appearing in his prime even after nearly a century. In the past, both he and Inza had a new, young bodies created for them and left behind their old ones.

Navigation[]

           Logo Justice Society Template Heroes

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Main
Atom | Black Canary | Doctor Fate | Doctor Mid-Nite | Flash | Green Lantern | Hawkman | Hourman | Mister Terrific | Sandman | Spectre | Starman | Wildcat

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Black Adam: Black Adam | Doctor Fate | Hawkman | Atom Smasher | Cyclone | Adrianna Tomaz | Amon Tomaz

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Aquaman | Atom | Batman | Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance | Dinah Drake) | Cyborg | The Flash (Barry Allen | Wally West) | Green Arrow (DC vs Vampires) | Green Lantern | Hawkgirl | Hawkman | Martian Manhunter | Superman | Wonder Woman

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Adam Strange | Agent Liberty | Alan Scott | Amanda Waller | Amazing Man | Ambush Bug | Amethyst | Andrew Bennett | Animal Man | Antaeus | Andy Curry | Atomica | August General in Iron | Avery Ho | Azrael | Aztek | B'wana Beast | Batgirl | Bart Allen | Batwing | Batwoman | Beast Boy | Big Barda | Black Adam | Black Condor | Black Lightning | Black Orchid | Blue Beetle | Blue Devil | Blue Jay | Booster Gold | Bronze Tiger | Captain Atom | Captain Cold | Catwoman | Commander Steel | Congorilla | Conner Kent | Cassandra Cain | Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) | Creeper | Crimson Fox | Damian Wayne | Deadman | Detective Chimp | Doctor Fate | Doctor Light | Doctor Mist | Donna Troy | Element Woman | Elongated Man | Emiko Queen | Equinox | Etrigan | Faith | Fire | Firehawk | Firestorm | Frankenstein | Freedom Beast | General Glory | Geo-Force | Guardian | Guy Gardner | Gypsy | Harley Quinn | Hank Heywood | Hourman | Huntress | Ice | Jace Fox | Jackson Hyde | Jade | Jaime Reyes | James Gordon | Jericho | Jesse Quick | Jessica Cruz | John Constantine | John Stewart | Jon Kent | Katana | Kid Flash | Killer Frost | Kyle Rayner | Lex Luthor | Lightray | Lobo | Lois Lane | Madame Xanadu | Man-Bat | Maxima | Mera | Metamorpho | Mister Miracle | Miss Martian | Mister Terrific | Mon-El | Moon Maiden | Natasha Irons | Nightmare Nurse | Nightwing | Nubia | Offspring | Oracle | Orion | Pandora | Pariah | Phantom Girl | Phantom Stranger | Plastic Man | Power Girl | Poison Ivy | Powerhouse | Question | Raven | Robin | Red Arrow | Red Hood | Red Robin | Red Tornado | Rhonda Pineda | Rocket Red | Ryan Choi | Saturn Girl | Shade the Changing Mann | Shazam | Silver Sorceress | Star Sapphire | Simon Baz | Sojourner Mullein | Starfire | Stargirl | Starman | Steel | Steve Trevor | Supergirl (DC vs Vampires) | Swamp Thing | Tasmanian Devil | Ted Kord | Tempest | Tomorrow Woman | Triumph | Vibe | Vixen | Wildcat | Wonder Girl | Yara Flor | Zatanna | Zauriel

Theatrical Movies
Justice League: Justice League (Superman | Batman | Wonder Woman | The Flash | Cyborg | Aquaman) | Alfred Pennyworth | James Gordon | Mera | Lois Lane | Hippolyta | Zeus | Artemis | Green Lantern Corps
Zack Snyder's Justice League: Justice League (Superman | Batman | Wonder Woman | The Flash | Cyborg | Aquaman) | Alfred Pennyworth | James Gordon | Mera | Lois Lane | Hippolyta | Nuidis Vulko | Martian Manhunter | Zeus | Artemis | Green Lantern Corps
DC League of Super-Pets: Krypto | Ace | PB | Merton | Chip | Keith and Mark | Superman | Batman | Wonder Woman | Green Lantern | The Flash | Aquaman | Cyborg | Lois Lane

Direct-to-video Movies
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox: The Flash | Batman | Thomas Wayne | Cyborg | Kal-El | Cole Cash | Godiva | Steve Trevor | Lois Lane | Etrigan | S.H.A.Z.A.M. | Samuel Lane
Justice League: War: Justice League (Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Shazam, & Cyborg) | Steve Trevor | Freddy Freeman |Sarah Charles | Thomas Morrow | Silas Stone
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis: Aquaman: | Atlanna | Mera | Justice League (Batman, Cyborg, The Flash, Green Lantern, Shazam, Superman, & Wonder Woman) | Steve Trevor | Lois Lane
Justice League vs. Teen Titans: Teen Titans (Raven, Robin, Starfire, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, & Nightwing) | Justice League (Batman, Cyborg, The Flash, Superman, & Wonder Woman)

           Justice League International Heroes

Members
August General in Iron | Batman | Batwing | Black Canary | Blue Beetle | Booster Gold | Captain Atom | Captain Marvel | Doctor Fate | Doctor Light | Fire | Green Lantern | Hawkman | Hawkwoman | Huntress | Ice | Kilowog | Martian Manhunter | Mister Miracle | Olympian | OMAC | Rocket Red | Vixen

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