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    Doctor Mid-Nite

    Character » Doctor Mid-Nite appears in 536 issues.

    A medical doctor who lost his sight, Dr. Pieter Cross can see spectrums of light in total darkness. He works with the JSA to train the heroes of tomorrow, as well as to use his medical knowledge for unusual cases.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Doctor Mid-Nite last edited by abdullah5122 on 12/12/20 02:45AM View full history

    This page is for the current Dr. Mid-Nite, Pieter Cross.

    For the original Dr. Mid-Nite, Charles McNider, see: Doctor Mid-Nite (McNider).

    For the second Dr. Mid-Nite, Beth Chapel, see: Doctor Midnight.

    Creation

    Dr. Mid-Nite was created by Matt Wagner and John K. Snyder III.

    Origin

    Pieter Anton Cross is the Norwegian born son of a noted scientist, the late Theodoric Cross. Pieter was delivered as a baby by the original Doctor Mid-Nite, Charles McNider, who had just rescued his mother from vagrants. As an adult Pieter is later unable to save his mother from Chagas disease, which she catches in Brazil while visiting him. Cross otherwise has no known relatives.

    Current Events

    • Dr. Cross is currently a doctor in Seattle and stitches Green Arrow up when he needs it and was saved by Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Katana when the hospital was being taken over by John King, he is currently just a doctor without any apparent powers.

    Character Evolution

    Modern Age

    No Caption Provided

    A mysterious woman, who is speaking of her addiction to a drug known as A39, a steroid, is waiting in the dead of the night, to score the drug from a dealer called "Cracky". It does not come easy to this woman, and she feels like a naughty school kid, edgy and nervous. She continues to wait in the dark for "her man" alone or so she thinks. Cue Dr. Mid-Nite or Dr Cross as he is known at the moment. He advises her that she should not be smoking, as it leads to cancer, lung disease, etc... At the moment the mysterious women thinks the doctor is there to score. "Cracky" shows up, looking like a young hip crack head- chains, sunglasses and his cap slanted to the side like some urban night-crawler gangsta. The deal goes down but the doctor does not partake in the deal, and after the deal is done, Cracky calls upon his friend Nite Lite to catch up with the girl as he has other things to attend to.

    Major Story Arcs

    Dr. Cross Begins

    We learn her name is Camilla Marlowe. She moved to Portsmouth 7 years ago, and her reasons for moving included affordable housing, escape from crime, better quality of life. She lives in a small part called Parkway, which she loves "cuz people mind their own business". She is a web-designer, which suits her because she can work at night. Some day she wishes to be a mystery writer, but she holds a pessimistic attitude to this, and fills her mind full of doubts and depression. When she returns home the doctor is at at her desk, which spooks her, causing her to panic. She bumps into Nite Lite and this only contributes to her fears. He settles her down quickly, and assures her that he is only there to commandeer the A39 sample, so that he may help her with her condition, "Xenoodera Pigmentosa" or acute sensitivity to light. When just a young girl, she found out she had the disease when all her hair and skin were severely burned due to the sunlight.

    The doctor then walks us through his evening rounds, in which we see his greatest work: he helps the poor people hit by the activities of the local criminal underworld, especially those who are addicted to drugs. He also gives his money to missionaries who help the poor and the hungry. We see him in one scene where he is handing out condoms to the local prostitutes, where he asks "How's business?" They say, "You should come see for yourself sometime, Doc". The doctor tells Camilla that she should come to his house for treatment in two days. In this time, Camilla works frantically to get some background information, and we learn the history behind Dr Cross.

    During the next few scenes we are guided through a sub-plot including "Cracky" and a mysterious man called Largo. "Cracky" tells Largo about his encounter with Dr Cross. We see Largo's fury and learn that his goal is to mass produce the Drug A39. He sees the Doctor as a threat and sends two associates to deal with him and find out more. They kidnap a friend of the Doctor, and a hot car chase follows. The car chase ends in a pile up, and the associates of Largo are admitted to a hospital. The two henchman were examined by Doctor Cross and found to be under the influence of A39. Soon after he leaves the hospital the two henchmen are visited by a hitman working for Largo and are killed.

    Doctor Cross goes out on the town to think, because his lab usually distracts him. The bartender, working for Largo, spikes Dr. Cross's drink with a huge dose of A39. As he is driving home his adrenaline is heightened from the steroid and he has an episode and causes a car accident. When he finally comes around, in a hospital, he is blind. This causes him to give up on society, until Camilla comes around to persuade him to get up and go, but he shrugs her off. He has a deep thinking session, during a walk. On this walk he gets attacked by an owl. After shooing it off, he feels something is not right, and when he removes the bandages, he is astonished to see that he can see. He realizes that the low level spectrums, those not normally seen by the human eye, are clearly available to him. He develops some equipment to enhance this new natural ability and creates a costume. The owl also becomes his trained pet. He unveils his new costume to Camilla and dons his new identity of Doctor Mid-Nite.

    Justice Society of America

    The new Doctor Mid-Nite joined the Justice Society of America, where he struck up friendships with a few of the members, including Black Canary. Dr. Mid-Nite and Black Canary went on a date at Coney Island and discussed where their relationship was going. Mid-Nite was also present when the JSA welcomed the recently resurrected Hawkman aboard as a returning member. During the Imperiex War, Mid-Nite, the JSA and the JSA reserves were given a mission by President Luthor to disrupt Imperiex’s link to his ship’s power supply. The JSA not only cut off Imperiex from his power, but they managed to blow up his ship as well.

    Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific examined a woman under a sleeping spell that their JSA teammate Dr. Fate believed to be his wife Lyta. They had no idea how to treat her, so Fate screamed at them and made an exit to search for his own solution. Mid-Nite also got caught up in a battle between Atom-Smasher and probationary JSA member Black Adam. Captain Marvel arrived at JSA HQ and physically restrained Black Adam and calmed him down. Because of a dispute between current JSA chairman Sand and Hawkman, the JSA elected Mr. Terrific as their new chairman, and immediately afterwards Mid-Nite and most of the JSA were teleported by Roulette to her House. Roulette forced Mid-Nite and his JSA teammates to battle each other for the amusement of a crowd of supervillains. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific were strapped into chairs and pitted against each other in a game of chess, with Roulette promising death to the loser. Mid-Nite and Terrific intentionally played to a draw, then escaped. The JSA wrecked Roulette’s House, so she teleported them back to JSA HQ with a promise that they would play in her games again.

    Mid-Nite and the JSA later investigated the death of supervillain Shakedown. Batman joined them, letting them know Shakedown and his partner New Wave had kidnapped Jessica Weintraub, the infant daughter of a recently bankrupt Gotham computer whiz. When the villains realized they weren’t going to get paid their ransom they turned on each other. Batman and the JSA saved Jessica and captured New Wave. Black Canary left the JSA and told Mid-Nite she needed to break off their relationship because an old flame had reentered her life. Mid-Nite gave returning member Power Girl a full physical and determined that her powers were not magic-based as she previously believed. Mid-Nite and the JSA welcomed Johnny Thunder, who claimed to have had a miraculous recovery from Alzheimer’s. In truth it was the Ultra-Humanite in possession of Thunder’s body.

    The Ultra-Humanite used Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt to conquer the world, and imprisoned Mid-Nite and virtually every superhuman on Earth in stasis tubes, only reviving them when he needed mind-controlled slaves to serve in his personal guard, the Thunderfront. Mid-Nite served as a member of the Thunderfront when they attacked the JSA, the only heroes not under the Humanite’s control. The JSA used a device that disrupted the braincaps Humanite used to control the Thunderfront, freeing them from Humanite’s mental domination. Mid-Nite and the JSA later defeated the Humanite, and afterwards attended the funeral of Johnny Thunder, whose body gave out after he was freed from the Humanite’s control.

    Identity Crisis

    Pieter and Mr. Terrific were called upon to perform an autopsy on the corpse of Sue Dibny, who had been killed at the start of the story. It was through their examination that they revealed that the killer used the same shrinking technology used by Ray Palmer, the Atom.

    Pieter's Vision Restore

    Pieter can see
    Pieter can see

    When the Justice Society encounter Gog, last survivor of the Third World, the benevolent being restores Pieter's vision. Since his gift of sight Pieter has not been able to effectively use his blackout bombs as he cant see anymore then those he uses them on. As well he feels more blind now then ever as he could not see with the ability he could prior to returned sight, and thus could not perform surgery on Lance when he was mortally wounded. Mid-Nite returns to work at the hospital only to find that his loss of his ability via the gaining of his sight, makes him more handicap then ever as he can no longer successfully determine the accuracy of a patients ailment. When the rebellious half of the JSA shows up to tell the other half what Gog is doing to the planet, a battle ensues. For the JSA's defying of Gog and his will, he undoes all the "miracles" he has done for them. Thus returning Cross's blindness. After being contacted by current Teen Titan leader Beast Boy, Dr. Mid-Nite is called in to help Raven when she is attacked and possessed by an unknown demonic entity. Appearing in Titans Tower via hologram technology, Dr. Mid-Nite and Static are successfully able to drive the demon from Raven's body. Mid-Nite has been a mentor to the young superhero Blue Beetle.

    New 52

    Pieter Cross is a doctor in Seattle who helps Green Arrow at some point.

    Powers & Abilities

    Cross possesses specialized enhanced vision and various skills in multiple fields ranging from medical to combat skills.

    Super Sight

    Cross's eyes were altered by a chemical injection, allowing him to see the infrared spectrum.

    Strength / Agility / Stamina level

    Doctor Mid-Nite possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise. He is also an expert on yoga further improving his physical condition, stamina and agility. He can casually perform feats like doing acrobatic moves in the middle of a battle or keep up with a Robin while swinging from rooftop to rooftop.

    Unarmed Combat / Pressure Points Knowledge

    Cross is a superb athlete and martial artist capable of fighting off multiple trained soldiers. He is also an expert on pressure points. He was able to humiliate a metahuman strongman just by applying specific pressure on his wrist.

    Expert Surgeon / Physician

    Doctor Mid-Nite is DC Earth's most prominent superhero doctor. As a top physician Cross is capable of all maner of various surgeries, including doing it in the dark. He is often called upon when an autopsy is needed, or when a hero needs major surgery. Among Cross' notable achievements as a physician includes determining Alan Scott was composed of the green flame of the Starheart, giving Power Girl her annual checkups as well as testing her powers, emergency surgery on Hourman, removal of the Brainiac virus from Oracle, the autopsy of Sue Dibny during the Identity Crisis storyline, and removing the sniper bullet that wounded Lois Lane in Umec. He is also called upon by other medical agencies, such as S.T.A.R. Labs, when emergencies or dilemmas appear.

    Intellect

    Cross is also highly intelligent, thought to be the second most intelligent person on the JSA (after Mister Terrific) by Rulette. She chose him to face Mister Terrific on a deadly chess game.

    Weaknesses

    Partial Blindness

    Doctor Mid-Nite is blind to visible light.

    Weapons and Equipment

    Cross wears a special suit to aid him in his super hero activities and special lenses that allow him to see.

    Special Lenses

    Doctor Mid-Nite possesses the superhuman ability to see perfectly in the dark. Using special ultrasonic lenses, Mid-Nite can see in light; later in his life, his lenses became more ineffective as his eyesight continued to deteriorate further, lowering his ability to see in daylight.

    Doctor Mid-Nite Suit

    Cross wears a special caped suit that aids him in his activities and hosts some of his equipment.

    Doctor Mid-Nite Gauntlets

    Cross's gauntlets carry a wide variety of chemicals, medicines, and small-scale equipment. They also host a variety of scalpels and other sharp instruments that Cross can use either in surgery or in combat (such as the time when Cross managed to liberate the entire JSA from Kandaq using his gauntlets blades).

    Grappling Hooks, Blackout Bombs and Thrown Blades

    Doctor Mid-nite uses his trademark Blackout Bombs to take away his opponents ability to see leaving them at his mercy. They can be used both as an offensive weapon or a means of escape.

    Cross also uses grappling hoops to climb or swing from building to building similar to the way members of the Bat Family do.

    He also uses some sort of thrown blades in the shape of a half full moon, similar to Batarangs.

    Physical Characteristics

    Height: 5'10"

    Weight: 175 lbs.

    Eyes: Blue

    Hair: Black

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