| Dr. Hormone | |
|---|---|
| 250px Dr. Hormone and his "plucky" granddaughter, Jane. | |
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Real Name: |
unknown |
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First Appearance: |
Popular Comics #54 (August 1940) |
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Original Publisher: |
Dell |
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Created By: |
Bob Bugg |
Origin
Doctor Hormone was an elderly scientist who, having discovered the secret of life itself, injected himself with a "youth hormone" which restored his body to youthful vigor. After agents from Urasia stole his formulas from his laboratory to aid in their nation's wars against its neighbors, Doctor Hormone and his granddaughter, Jane, traveled to the besieged nation of Novoslavia, where he used his scientific expertise to help battle the Urasian invaders, who were using the hormones to create armies of part animal/part human men. Later, Doctor Hormone was employed as a researcher for the United States Army and worked in a laboratory at Fort Knox.
Doctor Hormone was later summoned by a disembodied voice called The Thinker who temporarily endowed him with superhuman powers to fight off an invasion of Texas by the Nazians. Then, The Thinker lured Doctor Hormone and Jane into a mysterious gorge where they descended into the Chaos and fell into a state of suspended animation. The character has not appeared since.
Powers and abilities
Doctor Hormone was a scientific genius who developed powerful "hormones" which were capable of creating great changes in the human body, including restoring youth and transforming people into animals or bizarre human-animal hybrids.
The Thinker endowed Doctor Hormone with powers that included superhuman strength, a stentorian voice, and super-breath. Presumably, this was temporary.
Public Domain Appearances
- Popular Comics #53-60
Notes
- Popular culture historian Ron Goulart calls him "one of the truly wacky creations of comics."
- The character, due to his bizarre adventures and completely obscure nature (even for Golden Age characters), is often thought to be a hoax.