History
A former professor and teacher of both the Zoologist's and the Botanist's alter egos (Dr. Alan Douglas and Prof. Phineas P. Pines, respectfully), Dr. Alexander von Zolos turned to a life of attempting world domination after learning of his former pupil Alan's transformation into the Zoologist. Obsessed with creating an army of animal men from the Zoologist's DNA. After creating and losing his first clone, which would become the PsuedoZoologist, he continued his attempts to perfect the process and soon created six perfect specimens, whom he called his Animal Men. Later transformed into an Animal Man himself by the Botanist in a bid to coerce him into joining the Botanist's Anti-Animal Alliance. However, he rejected him after learning of his plans to destroy all animalkind. Sided with the Zoologist's Pack and subsequently sacrificed himself for the good of all life. Former member of the Botanist's Anti-Animal Alliance. Also creator of the PsuedoZoologist and the Animal Men, and former benefactor of the Poacher and his Trophy Hunters.
Early History
Born towards the end of the 19th Century, Alexander von Zolos dreamed of being free. The son of a former physics professor driven insane and an alcoholic mother, Alexander did not have a lovely childhood. Enraptured in his love for the biological sciences, he quickly excelled in his studies and soon left his home in Europe to travel to America in order to study in some of the finest academies America had to offer. Many years later, he was offered a teaching position at Yale University, where he taught the biological sciences, specializing in veterinary sciences.
During the course of his entire career, Dr. Zolos found no greater bond between himself and his students than during the 1930s when he taught freshmen Alan Douglas, Allison Dawson, and Phineas Pines. Extremely fond of all three, especially young Alan, he was overwhelmed by the love he possessed towards animals, reminding the doctor of himself as a young man. After the three graduated, he offered all three full-time jobs as his teaching and lab assistants. However, that all changed after the fateful trip that seemingly "killed" all three students, leaving the good doctor bitter and alone.
Descent into Madness
Slowly losing interest in teaching over the next few decades, losing interest in life in fact, Dr. Zolos constantly contemplated on the thought of suicide, having seemingly lost the only people who ever truly mattered to him. But, things changed in an entirely different direction when Dr. Zolos learned of an "Animal Man" who seemingly possessed the power of the entire animal kingdom at his disposal. His thoughts soon became obsessed with the idea of a man who could become any animal, use the power of the entire animal kingdom at will, control the very beasts that roamed the Earth, and Dr. Zolos soon became wrapped around the idea of creating an army of animal men, and over the next several years, began building laboratories and testing labs all across the jungles and forests of the world in a bid to learn everything he could. It was sometime around this era that Dr. Zolos shunned his name, now calling himself simply the Veterinarian.
When he learned of poacher Ryan McCatcher's encounter with the Animal Man many years before, Dr. Zolos made a plan to concoct a serum which would restore his vitality and grant him superhuman senses in exchange for loyal servitude. Eagerly accepting after being given the serum, Ryan McCatcher renamed himself the Poacher and soon set out to capture the "Animal Man". However, the Veterinarian was soon shocked by several things when he utilized a special device that could let him see whatever the Poacher was seeing. First, he was shocked by the Animal Man's power. Second, he was shocked that their was an "Animal Woman", whom he correctly presumed to be his mate. And finally, and most shockingly, he quickly realized that the Animal Man was none other than his prized pupil, Alan Douglas!
Personality
While the Veterinarian was a criminal mastermind bent on world domination, Dr. Zolos neither despised or hated the animal kingdom or Dr. Douglas. In fact, Dr. Zolos had always thought of Alan as the son he never had. He treated his minions with respect and understood the animal kingdom well enough to not abuse it's power.
Crimes
- The kidnapping of innocent civilians
- Illegal genetic experimentation on animals and humans
- Theft of several pharmaceutical substances and high-tech genetics equipment
- Holding an animal hospital and its residents hostage
- Attacks on several medical transports
- Infecting the Zoologist and Specia with a highly contagious and aggressive virus
- Transformation of self into an animal man
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Formerly the Veterinarian possessed no true superhuman abilities, relying solely on his scientific genius, intuitive skill in veterinary sciences and medicine, genetic splicing, invention, and a keen criminal intellect. However, after he allied himself with his former student, Professor Phineas P. Pines, now the megalomaniacal Botanist, he genetically spliced his body with a strand of the Zoologist's DNA, and was transformed into an Animal Man similar to the Zoologist.
- Superhuman, Animal-like Physiology: The Veterinarian possessed a superhuman, animal-like physiology, thanks to his gene-splicing experiments with Dr. Alan Douglas’ DNA. This granted him a similar connection to the animal kingdom like the Zoologist possesses, though not exactly the same. As such, his new body granted him animal-like strength, stamina, durability, endurance, resistance, speed, reflexes, agility, dexterity, flexibility, balance, coordination, equilibrium, razor-sharp claws and teeth, superhumanly acute senses, an accelerated healing factor, instincts, pheromone secretion and emission, amphibious adaptations such as underwater breathing and superhuman swimming ability, and the power of flight. However, unlike the Zoologist, the Veterinarian could not tap into the animal kingdom to grant him increased power.
- Superhuman Strength: He possesses incredible superhuman strength (able to lift approximately 100 tons under optimum conditions). He had demonstrated lifting objects 100,000 times his own weight and size, running and smashing through reinforced titanium-steel walls with the force of an entire animal stampede, leaping great distances with superhuman leg muscles, up to 14 feet in a standing high jump, and 24 feet in a standing broad jump, etc.
- Superhuman Stamina and Endurance: The Veterinarian’s physiology had been altered to the point that he no longer generated fatigue cells/toxins, the normal by-products of human locomotion which force the body to rest, granting him phenomenal stamina and endurance. He was able to exert himself at his peak capacity for days on end without succumbing to the effects of fatigue whatsoever and maintain continuous strenuous physical activity and action for an undefined period. His accelerated healing factor helped contribute to regenerating energy quickly. However, he did require nutrition, sustenance, and sleep after about a week of continuous physical activity in order to maintain his peak strength capacity, and could presumably continue long after doing so.
- Superhuman Durability and Resistance: The compositions of the Veterinarian’s skeleton, inter-connected tissues and nervous system had all been greatly enhanced. As such, the Veterinarian possessed phenomenal durability and resistance, able to withstand large amounts of pain, injury, firearms, severe lacerations, temperature extremes, penetration wounds, exposure, burning, drowning and suffocation, electrocution, and even large explosions.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: The Veterinarian was able to regenerate damaged or destroyed areas of his anatomy with far greater efficiency than any ordinary human or animal. The Veterinarian could fully regenerate loss brain cells and tissue. This power even amended psychological wounds inflicted as a result of traumatic experiences.
- Immunity: The Veterinarian's natural and mystical healing also afforded him virtual immunity to poisons and drugs. He possessed a highly efficient immune system, which was part of his accelerated healing factor, rendering him immune against all known Earthly diseases and infections. In addition, the Veterinarian’s healing factor provided him with an extended lifespan, youth, and vitality by virtually halting the effects of the aging process.
- Superhuman Speed: The Veterinarian possessed incredibly enhanced speed, able to move at speeds up to 350 miles per hour while running bipedally and twice as fast when running on all fours, at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour.
- Superhuman Agility: The Veterinarian possessed incredible agility, due to being extraordinarily limber and his tendons and connective tissues were twice as elastic as the average human being's, despite their enhanced strength. He had the combined agility of the most accomplished Olympic gymnasts and the combined acrobatic prowess of the most accomplished circus aerialists and acrobats in history. He could walk a tightrope or a slack rope as easily as most people could walk on a sidewalk. He could walk on his hands for many hours, or perform any complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts such as flips, rolls, and springs imaginable. He could easily match or top any Olympic record at any gymnastics apparatus (such as flying rings, climbing ropes, horizontal bars, trampolines, etc.)
- Superhuman Reflexes: The Veterinarian possessed incredible, lightning-fast reflexes and a superhuman reaction time that were far beyond those of normal humans and most species of animals, dodging bullets and other projectiles at point-blank range with ease, catching multiple objects simultaneously, and even defending against superhuman speedsters. His reflexes were completely and always in synch with his kinesthesia and proprioception. Therefore, he was able to know exactly when and where danger would strike him, how to react to the danger, which direction he should have moved in order to avoid the danger and how to adjust his body’s position in order to safely avoid the danger without any harm becoming to any portion or part of his body.
- Superhuman Dexterity: The Veterinarian could perform almost any task with his prehensile feet as easily as a human would do with his hands, including manipulating and grasping objects. His manual and pedal dexterity were so great that he could write using both hands at once or tie knots in rope with his toes. He was also ambidextrous and able to use both hands and both feet with equal proficiency. His fine motor skills and hand-eye coordinaton had also been enhanced far beyond human levels, granting him uncanny accuracy and making him a master marksman.
- Bipedal/Quadrapedal: The Veterinarian’s physiology had been altered so that he was both a biped and a quadruped, able to run and maneuver on all fours as easily as on two legs comfortably and correctly. He was able to run twice as fast on all fours, running at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour under standard conditions. He was also both a digitigrade and a plantigrade, able to move on both the digits of his fingers and toes or the palms and soles of his hands and feet. As such, he sometimes walked in a gait reminiscent of either a great ape or a big cat.
- Superhuman Kinesthesia and Proprioception: The Veterinarian’s ability to sense the position of any part of his body in correlation to any other part of his body was also enhanced far beyond human levels. This enabled him to determine the status of any of his body’s parts in correlation to their position, which, in turn, aided him in evading and dodging enemies, obstacles, dangers, as well as aid him in aiming and projecting objects and projectiles.
- Superhuman Flexibility: All of the bones in the Veterinarian’s body, including his skull, were malleable and his muscle tissue was exceedingly resilient, making his body extremely flexible and pliant, even with his virtually indestructible bones. He was triple-jointed, enabling him to bend his body in anyway imaginable. It was nearly impossible for him to break a bone or tear a muscle. Hence, the Veterinarian could stretch and bend his body in ways that would tear ligaments and survive impacts that would kill or inflict major injury upon a normal human being with little or no injury to himself. The Veterinarian was extraordinarily limber and his tendons and connective tissues were four times as elastic as the average human being is, despite their enhanced strength. His bone structure was also granted great flexibility, enabling him to stay in a crouched position for an indefinite amount of time and perform virtually any contortionist-type feats without any harm to his spinal column whatsoever. This greatly helped in combination with the rest of his physical prowess, as he was able to move and bend in ways that would normally harm someone without harm befalling him whatsoever, granting him uncanny dodging abilities. He could compress his body very tightly, so that he could fit through tight spaces, about 4 inches in diameter.
- Superhuman Equilibrium: The Vet possessed the ability to achieve a state of perfect equilibrium in any position imaginable. He seemed able to adjust his position by instinct, enabling him to balance himself on virtually any object, no matter how small or narrow.
- Indestructible Skeletal Structure: The Vet possessed a virtually indestructible skeletal structure fortified by the energy granted via the Zoologist’s DNA. Therefore, none of his bones were able to be fractured, broken, or shattered, yet they remained as flexible as the rest of his body. His indestructible skeletal structure also provided him with virtually indestructible claws and teeth, as stated below, and also weighed his blows, dramatically increasing the effectiveness of his punches and kicks.
- Razor-Sharp Indestructible Claws and Teeth: The Veterinarian possessed retractable claws in place of fingernails and elongated, razor-sharp, canine teeth. The claws and teeth were naturally sharp and tougher than that of normal human bone structure, allowing the Vet to cut and tear through most types of flesh and natural materials. Like his skeleton, the Vet's claws and teeth had been infused with the Zoologist’s DNA, making them virtually indestructible. Aside from being virtually unbreakable as well, the Vet's claws and teeth were capable of cutting and tearing any known substance. The Vet's ability to slice completely through a substance depended on the thickness of the substance and the amount of force he could exert.
- Superhuman Jaws: His jaws were much stronger than any regular human's, enabling him to bite through much harder materials without harm to himself or his mouth, gums, and teeth.
- Wall-Climbing: The Vet could climb, walk, and run on sheer, 90 degree-inclined surfaces by wedging his fingers and toes within the smallest cracks in the wall and applying a vise-like grip on them. He could also utilize his razor-sharp, virtually indestructible claws on his feet and fingers to place cracks within such surfaces, even the most durable, and get a grip on the surface.
- Superhuman Senses: The Vet’s physiology had been altered to the point that he possessed superhumanly acute senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch that were comparable to those of certain animals, including:
- Superhuman Sight: He could see at far greater distances, with perfect clarity, than an ordinary human. He retained this same level of clarity even in total darkness; his vision even extended into the ultraviolet and infrared areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, granting him perfect night vision. His vertically-slit pupils allowed a greater range of vision above and below him, enabling him to more easily detect the movements of an opponent and the flicker-fusion rate of his retinas was reduced to such an extent that he could easily perceive fast-moving objects that would appear to others as a blur. He could also see clearly through even the densest and murkiest conditions, including fog, murky waters, duststorms, etc.
- Superhuman Hearing: His hearing was enhanced in a similar manner, allowing him to detect sounds ordinary humans cannot and hear at much greater distances. He could hear a person's heartbeat at a distance of over twenty feet, a whispered conversation through a standard soundproof barrier and hear sounds from up to 5 miles in diameter. By listening to a person's heartbeat, he could detect whether or not they are lying. His hearing was sufficiently acute to detect a sound pressure level change from 2 decibels to 8 dB at a range of 60 feet (24m). Through practice, the Vet was able to control his hearing acuity, mentally blocking out specific sounds like his own breathing and heartbeat, all ambient sounds to a normal human level of perception, or all sounds but a particular sound he was concentrating upon. If taken by surprise, the Vet could suffer more distress from a painfully loud sound than an ordinary human would. Also, beyond a certain size, crowds of people tended to create too many sensory impressions for him to sort through.
- Superhuman Smell: He possessed a highly developed olfactory sense and memory. He could detect odors of an atmospheric concentration of thirty parts per million. Furthermore, his ability to remember smells enabled him to identify any person he had spent at least five minutes with by smell alone, no matter how he or she might have tryed to camouflage his or her natural odor. The Vet was able to recognize people and objects by scent, even if they are well hidden. His powers of concentration were such that he could focus upon a single person's smell and locate them in a city of millions. He could track a target by scent and selectively sort through various odors, even if the scent had been greatly eroded by time and weather factors, with an impressive degree of success. He could detect a subtle alteration in the composition of perspiration that reflect mood or emotions, and was highly sensitive to pheromones. The Vet could also use his keen sense of smell to detect lies due to chemical changes within a person's scent.
- Superhuman Taste: His sense of taste could detect 1 part of foreign matter in 10,000. His ability to remember tastes enabled him to determine every ingredient of a food or drink he tasted, as long as there were at least twenty milligrams of that substance present.
- Superhuman Touch: The Veterinarian possessed a minute coat of fur covering his entire body that acted as vibrissae (“whiskers”), like a cat’s, granting him a superhuman sense of touch, which enabled him to detect minute changes in the temperature and pressure in his immediate environment, as well as minute vibrations traveling through the ground and the motion and/or disturbance of air currents surrounding him. Even with his senses of sight, smell, and/or hearing blocked, he could sense the presence of another living being standing or approaching five feet away from him simply by his or her body heat and disturbance of air.
- Flight: The Vet possessed the superhuman ability to fly by means of his natural wings, which spanned 10 feet from wingtip to wingtip. They possessed a very flexible skeletal structure, enabling him to press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge beneath him. The Vet maneuvered his wings with practiced precision. He could fly through narrow openings such as doorways and windows, and could squeeze up enclosed stairwells or into cramped tunnels. He could perform virtually any aerial acrobatic feat while flying, including hovering, flying backwards, corkscrews, and loop-de-loop maneuvers. The Vet’s normal cruising speed averaged around 100 miles per hour, though he was capable of diving swoops that reached up to 350 miles per hour. He could fly at speeds of up to 190 miles per hour at level flight. Though he generally flied beneath the height of the clouds ([6,500 feet) (1981 meters), he could reach a height of 10,000 feet (3000 meters) with little effort. With effort, he could attain the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight (African geese at 29,000 feet (8840 meters) above sea level).
- Aerial Adaptation: The Vet's entire anatomy was, like his amphibious adaptations, was also naturally adapted for flying. His bones were hollow like a bird’s, making him weigh less than usual for a man of his build. His body was virtually devoid of fat and possessed greater proportionate muscle mass than an ordinary human does. His eyes were specially adapted to withstand high-speed winds which would hurt the average human eye. He possessed a special membrane in his respiratory system that enabled him to extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes.
- Amphibious Physiology: Thanks to the sealable gills on each side of his neck, as well as webbed toes and feet, & fins on the backs of each of his ankles, the Vet was able to breathe and swim at superhuman speeds underwater, as well as return to land at will. He had been seen in ocean depths as deep as 20,000 feet (3.79 miles) below the surface of the water. That amount of pressure is 800 atmospheres, which is enough to turn an ordinary human into a smear of blood and bonedust. It seemed that the Vet had been able to travel as deep as 36,000 feet (6.82 miles) considering that he claimed that his eyes had been adapted to see at that depth. He possessed great freedom of movement underwater, capable of swimming at a consistent speed of 150 knots (175mph) for several hours. The Vet could travel at much faster speeds for short "sprints." He had also been seen swimming at 10,000 feet per second. It's unknown how long he could keep up that amount of speed though. With his incredible speed in the water, the Vet was able to create giant whirlpools. His ability to see in the murky depths of the ocean allowed him exceptional night vision while on land. He had claimed that his eyes were adapted to see at 6,000 fathoms (or 36,000 feet below the surface of the water).
- Pheromone Control and Secretion: The Vet possessed the superhuman ability to secrete virtually any type of pheromone at will. Like many animals (including humans to a small extent), the Vet continually emitted pheromones (natural, airborne hormones secreted primarily through-sweat glands which communicate and stimulate behavior) of great potency and volume at will. Once the Vet's pheromone emissions, released into the atmosphere, reached the olfactory centers of any animal, their hormonal balance was altered, causing them to feel one of various reactions, including aggregation/attraction, alarm, aggression, calming, and warning, as well as activate developmental changes, show territories, paths, etc. The Vet's pheromones were released at a rate of 2,000 parts per million, several thousand times that of a normal human. Consequently, any animal, including humans, within range (about 250 feet downwind, or in the direct path of the emission) were severely affected. Within seconds of exposure to the Vet, animals became submissive and open to manipulation by the Vet, as if hypnotized.
- Zoomorph: The Vet also gained the superhuman ability to alter his body's genetic code, DNA, and atomic structures at the subatomic, cellular, and molecular levels and telepathically/telekinetically reshape and reconfigure them in order to transform into any animal imaginable. He seemed able to transform into any animal that he could imagine or visualize within his mind, including animals that were living, extinct, real, imaginary (imagined by himself or otherwise), fictional, wild, domesticated, futuristic, extraterrestrial, extradimensional, magical, mystical, mythological, supernatural, microscopic, simple, complex, cryptic, monstrous, demonic, and humanoid species. He could also become any species of protozoa, bacteria, and/or zooplankton. There appeared to be no limit to how long the Veterinarian could remain in the form of any animal, as well as no strain on becoming the smallest or largest of animals or instantaneously changing between different forms. He could radically alter his body structure at will without harm to himself whatsoever, enabling him to become animals with completely different body structures from his, to the point that he could transform into animals completely without any organs or tissues, such as the amoeba or Trichoplax adhaerens. Like the Zoologist, he retained his full intelligence, mind, memories, personality, logic, and his ability to speak and reason (regardless of whether the target animal is biologically equipped for speaking or not). However, it was hinted at several times that the longer the Vet remained in a certain animal’s form, the more his mind seemed to transition to the animal’s mind he was in. The Vet also did not possess the ability to alter his gender, self-duplicate, take on multiple animal forms at once, or transform other animals. Also, while in any animal form, he was fully capable of utilizing any of the animal's powers, abilities, characteristics, adaptations, language, sounds, voices, behavior, physiology, survival and predatory strategies and techniques, and/or defenses/defense mechanisms at will.
Abilities
The Veterinarian was one of the most intelligent and influential scientists on the planet, specializing in the fields of veterinary sciences, zoology, and genetic engineering, and possessed an intuitive genius for invention. As one of the top minds in the fields of veterinary medicine and science, the Veterinarian specialized in all aspects of the veterinary practices, including all aspects of animal anatomy, anesthesiology, behavior, dermatology, emergency and critical care, epidermalogy, internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, ophthalmology, neurology, radiology, surgery, and zoological medicine. He also possessed a high aptitude for genetic manipulation, having created many clones and spliced the genes of both animals and humans.
Strength level
Unknown.
Weaknesses
None known.
Paraphernalia
Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: The Veterinarian used a variety of medical and surgical appliances as weapons, including suringes filled with a variety of mutative compounds capable of altering DNA, as well as drugs, hallucinogens, toxins, serums, and muscle relaxants, scapels that he can use and throw with surprising proficiency and accuracy for a man of his age, anesthetic gases, saws, and buzzsaws.
Notes
The Veterinarian was inspired by comic book characters The Jackal and the High Evolutionary, both of whom were from Marvel Comics, as well as the supervillain Hush from DC Comics.
Trivia
- No trivia.
See Also
- Appearances of The Veterinarian
- Character Gallery: The Veterinarian
- Quotations by The Veterinarian
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: The Veterinarian · Dr. Alexander von Zolos · The Veterinarian
Links and References
- None.