Doctor Destroyer

Doctor Destroyer is the most powerful villain in the Hero Universe. He first appeared in the adventure module The Island of Dr. Destroyer in 1981 and has remained a stable part of the Champions role-playing game ever since.

Fictional biography

Doctor Destroyer is portrayed as being born Albert Zerstoiten, son of a Bavarian dollmaker in 1917. He was a child prodigy who was enrolled in college by the age of twelve and had two Ph.D's by twenty. His intellect soon made him feel like a god among other human beings, however. He went to work as a scientist for the Third Reich, but when the Allies began to win World War II he sold out his employers to the French Resistance. Zerstoiten thought no more of betraying them than he did his Nazi employers and tried to flee to South America, but was captured by British forces and extradited to America. Despite his crimes his intelligence was sought by the US military and Zerstoiten was put to work on a new generation of atomic weapons.

Zerstoiten had already realized he was destined to rule the world, and escaped to South America with success. There he began building a network of spies and soldiers and formally became the villain known as Dr. Destroyer. One of his disciples, Hernan Cortez, so idolized Zerstoiten that he created a similar guise for himself and became known as Professor Muerte, but Cortez ultimately developed the drive to conquer the world himself and broke away from Destroyer to form a team of terrorist supervillains called Terror, Incorporated. Destroyer went on to attempt many sweeping plans of global domination and in the process would frequently battle the world's greatest superheroes and peacekeeping organizations such as UNTIL.

Powers and Resources

Doctor Destroyer possesses access to the most advanced technology known to man, some of it his own work, some stolen from other scientists. His suit of powered armor is the most powerful in the world giving him vast superhuman strength, an array of energy weapons and sensor equipment. His various bases are governed by an artificial intelligence dubbed Sennacherib.

Destroyer employs numerous scientists and commands a small private army of soldiers and robots called Destroids. He also employs at least two supervillains: Gigaton, a former member of the United States military who gained great strength and the ability to fire blasts of nuclear energy from an experiment intended to develop a suit that would protect soldiers from nuclear explosions, is his chief of security. An illusionist named Rakshasa is one of his primary spies. Both first appeared in Day of the Destroyer, although at the time Rakshasa belonged instead to a villain team called Villains International.^[1] He became Destroyer's subordinate in the game's fifth edition. One of Dr. Destroyer's other chief agents was Menton, the most powerful psionic villain in the world, but when Destroyer was believed dead after the "Battle of Detroit" in the latest edition of the game, Menton escaped and struck out on his own. Destroyers newest assistant was Hellscream. A young man named Lester who lost his love for another man and was replaced by anger. Hellscream beholds the power of anger and pain. He is now a loyal servant to Dr. Destroyer and an local enemy to the super team, The Champions.

Alternate versions

In the supplement "Champions in 3D", an alternate heroic version of Doctor Destroyer called Professor Preserver is introduced. He comes from a mirror-world called "Backworld" where the counterparts of heroes are villainous and the counterparts of villains are heroic.

Appearances outside the game

Dr. Destroyer appeared in three issues of the comic book The Marksman, which was based in part on the Champions game. He was assembling a team of international supervillains, including Professor Muerte, with which to launch an attempt at world domination. The League of Champions tracked his henchmen to their island lair and managed to capture some of the other villains, but they lacked sufficient power to breach Destroyer's personal force field and he escaped by submarine.^[2]

Video game

Destroyer is a fixture of Champions Online.^[3]

References

• Peterson, Steve and George Macdonald (1981). The Island of Dr. Destroyer. Hero Games.
• Bennie, Scott et al. (1989). Classic Enemies. Iron Crown Enterprises.
• Bennie, Scott (1990). Day of the Destroyer. Iron Crown Enterprises.
• Long, Steven (2002). Conquerors, Killers and Crooks. DOJ.
• Long, Steven (2008). Book of the Destroyer. DOJ