James Bradley (Earth-616)

Early Life[]

James Bradley was born on December 1st,^[8] 1906 in San Francisco,^[9] where his mother Catherine Price died during childbirth, and, unknown to his mother, he was delivered by his future self to ensure that his future would play out as it should. His father, Dr. Nicola Bradley, created a power source for the first first sentinel, and was impaled during its subsequent rampage.^[8] James was presumably raised by his maternal grandparents, John and Mary Price.

At some point, James' mutant powers manifested, granting him an enhanced, intuitive intellect. This enabled James to become a polymath, highly competent in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.

World War II[]

During WWII, Dr. James Bradley worked with the late Phineas Horton in the creation of the Human Torch, aka Jim Hammond. The two ultimately parted ways and James struck out on his own, taking an unfinished android prototype they created together. Bradley activated the android and told him that he was Guy Newton, a young inventor who had discovered a way to generate electricity in his own body. Taking his word for it, the android began adventuring as a costumed hero named Volton.^{[citation needed]}

Needing to earn money, Bradley became a doctor at Mercy Hospital in New York City. Somewhere along the way, he decided to become a superhero. Wearing a surgeon's mask and armed with a hypodermic needle gun of his own design, he fought crime as Doctor Nemesis.^{[citation needed]}

In 1942, Bradley went up against a villain known as the Surgeon, who used trained rats to spread a version of the Black Plague on unsuspecting populated areas. He managed to stop the villain, only to discover that he was actually Dr. Blackston, the superintendent of another city Hospital.^[10]

Nazi Agent[]

Some time after the incident, Bradley was approached by agents of the Third Reich who wanted to recruit him to their cause. Disillusioned by his life and feeling that his talents were underappreciated, Bradley agreed. Under their orders, he organized the Battle-Axis, a team made up of other disillusioned superheroes (plus Volton). At this point, he started calling himself Doctor Death and adapted a decisively more malevolent demeanor.^[1] The Battle Axis embarked on a complex scheme that would force the USA to withdraw from the war. Known as Project Mojave, it revolved around the oscillotron, a device that Bradley invented. It was designed to cause a severe earthquake on the west coast that would destroy war industry plants and release poison gas from underground storage.^[11] The idea was that the USA would have to leave the war to deal with the resulting crisis. Knowing the Invaders might be able to stop them, Battle Axis tried to neutralize the heroes first.^[12] Ultimately, the Invaders were able to stop their plan. During the battle, Volton switched sides and attacked Doctor Death with electric blasts. Bradley was left for dead.^[13]

Nazi Hunter[]

Unbeknownst to the Invaders and his Nazi superiors, Bradley survived.^[7]

Repentant, he returned to his civilian job and resumed fighting crime as Doctor Nemesis.^[7] Continuing his war on crime, he became engaged to his co-worker, Nurse Mary Strong. The majority of his later wartime activities remain unrecorded.^{[citation needed]}

When World War II ended, the still-repentant Bradley invented a biochemical processes to grant himself an extended life span, rebuilt his eyes to enhance his visual capabilities, and set out to track down escaped Nazi scientists in South America to stop them (and their creations), including Futurführer Nachtersteller and his cloned Genetikorps, from doing any harm. He eliminated them after sixty years of fighting.^[7]

Among his adventures, he at some point battled Nazi dolphins.^[14]

X-Club & X-Men[]

Bradley's chemical cocktails ensured that he remained physically fit until the 2000s. He was one of the few mutants who kept their powers on M-Day.^[15]

Warren Worthington and Hank McCoy approached Dr. Bradley while he was in Buenos Aires, hoping to recruit him to help them undo the "spell" that had turned the X-Gene off.^[16] However, Bradley had no interest in helping them, as he was busy hunting test tube Nazis and super scientists.^[17]

After an attempt on his life, Bradley decided to join the X-Club. They also gathered Madison Jeffries and Yuriko Takiguchi before returning to San Francisco to meet with Kavita Rao and discuss ways to save mutantkind.^[18] Nemesis admitted that he might have joined the X-Men out of nostalgia because they were settled in San Francisco, his place of birth. The first step was to look at pre-mutant DNA from Namor's era to discover what caused an evolutionary leap, and it was revealed by McCoy and Bradley that his parents were the best candidates of study on that subject, as he was born in 1906.^[19]

X-Club traveled to 1906 to gather blood samples from James' parents. Though they succeeded, his father was killed during the rampage of the first sentinel that caused the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Before dying, Nicola asked for Nemesis' name, "James", finding it a good name for a boy.^[9] Before returning to the present, James told his mother to bury the samples in Golden Gate Park, as they couldn't come back with them. They later found that the Dreaming Celestial was standing on top of the samples. Nemesis then returned to the past to ensure his own birth, witnessing his mother's death.^[8]

When Norman Osborn and his Avengers began policing the mutant population in California, Doctor Nemesis and the X-Club were key to Cyclops' plans. After rescuing Beast and Professor X from Osborn's prison, Nemesis and the rest of the X-Club joined the X-Men on the risen Asteroid M, renamed Utopia. Soon after the X-Men's relocation, they mourned the death of Yuriko Takiguchi. Later he and the X-Club were charged with preventing Utopia from sinking back into the ocean.^{[citation needed]}

Dr. Nemesis and the rest of X-Club became instrumental fixtures on Utopia, helping to keep the island running and providing medical assistance and other valuable aid to the island's embattered population.

With the arrival of Hope Summers, attacks by Bastion and the Human Council became more severe. Doctor Nemesis and the rest of the X-Club were led into a trap that took them off of Utopia, where Bastion created an energy sphere blocking the entire San Francisco area from the outside world. Despite aid from the Avengers, the X-Club was still unable to breach the barrier. Bastion was eventually defeated by Hope, undoing the barrier and allowing X-Club to return to Utopia.^{[citation needed]}

Schism[]

In order to counter the massive unleashing of Sentinels around the world, Nemesis worked on the project of a Sentinel-specific EMP.^[20]

During the attack at the Museum of Mutant History, Cyclops granted command of Utopia to him.^[20]

As the X-Men leaders were waiting for Cyclops' decision over fighting or evacuating due to the approach of a giant Sentinel, Nemesis was in favor of evacuating the island,^[21] and later tried to diffuse the conflict between Namor and Wolverine.^[22]

Avengers vs. X-Men[]

When Hope projected blasts of energy, with the form of the Phoenix, Nemesis was the one to confirm to Cyclops that that energy was a signal, and that others would notice it.^[23]

During the Avengers/X-Men conflict, Doctor Nemesis stood with his people, battling Iron Man after having taken down Quicksilver.^[24] He regrouped to the X-Diaspora after the initial battle on Utopia.^[25]

As Hope created a device to make herself appear to telepaths at five different locations, Nemesis was sent to Wakanda along with Rachel Summers, Magma, Danger, and Storm.^[26][27] He was shot with Black Widow's neurotoxin dart, making him delirious and incapacitated for a time.^[28] He participated in tracking Hope and the Avengers along with the Phoenix Five, fighting in the Arctic Circle.^[29]

When the Phoenix Five began losing control and the Avengers realized their mistake in preventing Hope from hosting the Phoenix, the X-Men and Avengers united to stop the Phoenix Five. Bradley was among them, but wasn't seen during the final brawl.^[30]

At the end of the conflict, he postulated on joining the faculty staff of the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning, but wasn't selected by Kitty Pryde.^[31]

X-Force[]

He then retired into a well-guarded laboratory to perform science on his own, until Cable came to him, suffering from the depletion of his telepathic powers, and recruited him into his X-Force, banding with Domino, Hope, and especially Forge, in order to help Cable.^[32]

Driven by precognitive visions of the future, Cable and the rest of the team found themselves outlaws for a while, but managed to clear their names and save the Earth from impending doom. X-Force was soon reformed however, as Cable brought a new team together after he and Hope found themselves the targets of an international arms dealer by the name of Volga. Now forced to house his consciousness in cloned bodies, Cable brought Nemesis on board to help him find a way to cure both him and the comatose Hope.

Cable also used X-Force to protect the interests of mutantkind, pushing the group into ever more questionable territory. When team member Fantomex went insane and betrayed the team, Hope took charge of the team. They successfully defeated Fantomex, and Hope permanently replaced her father on the team, with Nemesis staying with them.

Krakoa[]

Doctor Nemesis was of the many mutants that joined the mutant nation of Krakoa upon its creation. He was seen alongside many other Krakoans grieving Charles Xavier dead at the hands of anti-mutant superhuman criminals that had infiltrated Krakoa and killed many of its residents, including Xavier.^[33]

Nemesis was a key member of Krakoa's science corps and responsible for the creation of the Krakoan miracle drugs that bought the fledgling mutant nation international recognition. Continuing his experiments with Krakoa's plantlife, he began growing consciousness-altering psychedelics from his own cerebellum.^[34]

Mutant powers[]

• Mutant Enhanced Intelligence: Doctor Nemesis is a mutant and possess what he describes as a "self-evolved intellect" Which is an, in reality, instinctively Intuitive Genius much along the lines of Forge and Box (to his ultimate chagrin). Being an advanced polymath specializing in various experimental fields ranging towards genetics, computer programming, handheld weaponry, temporal physics, interdimensional travel and more.

Bio-technological enhancement[]

While his abilities are strictly intellect based, they've allowed him to master many scientific and medical domains, and permitted him to create several inventions and granted him the following abilities:^[7]

• Cybernetic/rebuilt replacement eyes: Having rebuilt his own eyes,^[7] Nemesis possess numerous abilities, which can be active simultaneously.^[7] He stated once that they were organic.^[14]
  • Genetic Anomalies Detection: Able to detect mutations or genetic abnormalities in living beings (i.e. clones, mutants, etc).^[7]
  • X-Ray vision: Can see muscles and organs below the skin level.^[14]
  • Hyper optics: Able to see clearly over a distance of 200 meters.^[7]
  • He was also able to see invisible beings using those.^[14]

Biological enhancement[]

• Eugenics Manipulation: Being a scientific genius, both learned and instinctive; has enabled Doctor Nemesis to make amazing strides in the pharmaceutical, patrimonial and biological fields. So much so that he's been shown to easily augment the physiological structures of both himself and others.^[35]
  • Advanced Longevity and Enhanced Immune System: Using regular injections of various chemicals, Nemesis granted himself advanced longevity and resistance to fatigue and diseases.^[7]
  • Biomolecular Alteration: Through a precise, yet unidentified means of DNA Manipulation, James is able to produce an augmentative mutation in various living organisms making them grow to disproportionate sizes as well as increasing their strength. All while maintaining precise control over said monstrosities akin to a beast master.^[36]

• Genius Intelligence: Doctor Nemesis is an accomplished scientist in several fields including genetics, robotics, chemistry, physics. mathematics, etc.

Arrogance.

• Cybernetic replacement eyes: Doctor Nemesis possesses enhanced eyes granting him further abilities.
• Chemical Compounds:
  • Slowed aging process and enhanced immune system cure: Granting him advanced longevity. These effects require regular injections to be effective.^[7]
  • Concentrated truth serum^[7]
  • 'Super-sedative'^[7]
• Miscellaneous: White fedora, surgical mask, white trench coat, various sedatives and narcotics.

Conventional firearms, hypodermic needle gun firing darts loaded with "science narcotics",^[7] and a super-sedative gun.^{[citation needed]}

• Originally an Ace Periodicals character first appearing in Lightning Comics #6 (April, 1941), Dr. Nemesis lapsed into the public domain. Roy Thomas decided to use a new version of him in the 1993 Invaders (Vol. 2) mini-series after editor Mark Gruenwald told him that he could not use minor Timely Comics superheroes as members of the Battle Axis. As per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #4, his non-Marvel appearances are canon to Earth-616.
• It is common for his eyes to be thought to be his mutation, as Graydon Creed who told him to "enjoy those eyes while [he] still can", while thinking he was going to depower him.^[14]
  • It is possible that Marvel writer Simon Spurrier made that mistake himself, as Nemesis said earlier in the issue that his eyes were "organic marvels".^[14] They may indeed be part or all organic, as they are stated to be "rebuilt".^[7]
  • As the origin and function of those eyes is unknown, it could be assumed they are of mutant source, or need his mutant powers to process.
  • Although, he was stated to be a Cyborg by Steve Rogers.^[3]
• Doctor Nemesis once stated that he should be able to cure Vampirism in ten years and with a billion dollars in funds.^[37]
• Doctor Nemesis created the Krakoan drugs that was distributed throughout the human world.^[34]