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Nerds United

Fresh Content Day 2: Doctor! Doctor! Gimme the News!

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What is my obsession with doctors? If you go back about eighteen months, you’ll remember that I already wrote about Doctor Strange and the topic of today’s post, Doctor Fate.

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been feeling “great” lately. But I finally made an appointment to see a doctor. Granted, I can’t get in to see him until April 4. And when I was calling to make the appointment, I was taking the approach of “well, I’m older. I need to be seeing a physician regularly.” The lady on the other end of the line was surprised when I said I hadn’t seen a doctor regularly since I was still seeing a pediatrician. So figure…half of my life I haven’t been going to a doctor with any regularity. But more like on an “as needed” basis.

Well, I’m 34, and that’s not going to fly anymore.

So I have doctors on the brain.

Yesterday (late), you got the Doctor Strange movie post. It was a brief overview of a truly enjoyable movie-watching experience.

Today, I want to talk a little bit more about Doctor Fate, and why he might be the most powerful character in the DC Universe.

Think about it. When you think of “powerful characters” on the DC side, you typically think of the Last Son of Krypton. And you know his weaknesses…the glowing green rock that doesn’t glow when not exposed to a Kryptonian, a red sun, and magic. Or as SupeFan98 wrote on ComicVine (HEY! It’s better than Wikipedia):

While not so much an actual weakness, Superman’s invulnerability offers no protection against magic. The explanation for this is simple; Superman’s powers, extraordinary as they are, are the result of natural phenomenon, not supernatural. As a result, spells cast on Superman affect him the same as they would anyone else.

That’s a sizable weakness, when there are Doctor Fate’s and John Constantine’s out there. The constant Marvel/DC battle line is drawn between Superman and the Hulk, because they both have ridiculous strength and they can both leap incredibly long distances.

And we’ll never know the outcome of *THAT* fight. Just like we will never see Superman and Doctor Fate do battle.

But since Doctor Fate also shares traits like super-strength, flight, and invulnerability, but also has telekinesis, telepathy, and of course, spellbinding. It’s an outlandish thing to say, but since Fate’s powers seem to align with Superman’s weaknesses, it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.

And this all came to mind from the announcement I saw that Doctor Fate was coming to Injustice 2…so you get a fun video of that, too.

So that’s that. Tomorrow – I’m hoping to talk about something that’s not Doctor-related. But as for tonight, I’m going to record a new Five Heart Podcast and probably watch Doctor Strange again.

And check out the on-going title Doctor Fate, which started in 2015. I’m currently reading it.

Nerds United

#ToughCallTuesday 5 – The Better Doctor

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The 11th Doctor, the 9th Doctor…Tom Baker?

NAY!

This post is not to choose between Doctors Who. Rather (and probably easier), this week’s post is about Doctor Strange versus Doctor Fate.

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Doctor Steven Strange, one-time renowned neurosurgeon, now the Supreme Sorcerer. He serves as Earth’s protector against threats both magical and mystical. Created in 1963 by legendary artist Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange was a member of the Avengers, the Order, the Defenders, and the Midnight Sons. He was trained in the mystical arts by the Ancient One, and harnessesing the powers of numerous artifacts, most recognizably being the Eye of Agamotto, the Cloak of Levitation, and the Book of Vishanti. Doctor Strange has been called the most powerful “humanoid” by the Marvel Universe. Literally. “Eternity,” the sentience of the Marvel Universe said so.

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Strange’s powers include, but are not limited to energy projection and manipulation, matter transformation, animation of inanimate objects, teleportation, illusion-casting, mesmerism, thought projection (DEEP BREATH), astral projection, dimensional travel, time travel and mental possession.

Doctor Strange has appeared in several cartoons and video games, like the 1990’s Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons. He was in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance video game. He had a straight to video animated movie made about him. There was a movie in 1978…

And, of course, we will see Benedict Cumberbatch star in a Marvel Studios production of Doctor Strange in November 2016. They are set to begin production next month.

Doctor Fate has been around longer. Created in 1940 by Gardner Fox, Doctor Fate would eventually join several other Fox creations in the Justice Society of America. Fox also created or co-created the Jay Garrick Flash, Hawkman, Starman, and Sandman (Wesley Dodds). Fate draws his power from the Amulet of Anubis, the Cloak of Destiny, and the Helm of Fate, naturally.

Many have claimed the name of Doctor Fate since 1940. The powers of Doctor Fate lie primarily in the Helm of Nabu, which contains the soul of the Lord of Order, bonding it to the wearer and taking over the body. The benefit of powers being relatively transitive is that as stories, times, or characters change, others can take up the mantle. Long before there was a female Thor, there was a female Doctor Fate. There have been other diverse characters to don the Helmet of Fate, including  Khalid Ben-Hassin and Khalid Nassour.

Fate’s powers include spellcasting, flight, super-strength, invulnerability, telekinesis, telepathy, fire manipulation and lightning manipulation. A downside to Doctor Fate’s abilities are that he is unable to counteract a spell against him once it has been cast.

Doctor Fate has also been seen on television, in animation, and video games. He is a playable character in DC Universe Online and Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. And he makes a cameo in Injustice: Gods Among Us. There were a few episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited that required the talents of Nabu. Doctor Fate was also on the Young Justice series, as well as a two-part episode of Smallville, titled “Absolute Justice.”

There was even a glimpse at the Helmet of Fate in the pilot episode of NBC’s short-lived Constantine series.

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This is certainly another Tough Call. But I think there are a few points that tilt the decision towards our winner this week, which is:

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Doctor Strange is one man who was trained to protect the Earth and beyond. He was not merely bestowed with magical artifacts. He conditioned himself into a living weapon, the Supreme Sorcerer. From his home at 177A Bleecker St in Greenwich Village (the Sanctum Sanctorum), Strange continues to use his gifts to defend the world from unbelievable, if not outright impossible, evils.

Of course, maybe the greatest of the all is Doctor StrangeFate…

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But that’s a story for another day.

**I apologize for the delay in not getting this published yesterday. As always, if you agree or disagree, sound off in the comments. And if there’s a tough call you want me to tackle, let me know in the comments as well.