From what I felt of Spectro's powers, the laughter of the medical world helped to create a monster out of a man who could have benefited all mankind! 
Doctor Spectro, the Master of Moods, is an emotion-manipulating foe of Captain Atom.
History
Doctor Spectro was once a scientist who believed that he could cure disease with light refracted through an experimental device, though his theories were dismissed as absurd or impractical. To continue his research, he took up work as a circus performer, donning a suit with a chest-mounted electromagnetic refractor and prisms on its wrists with which he could project light of differing hues and alter the emotions of circus patrons.[1]
While performing in the Southwestern United States of America, Spectro's act caught the attention of a criminal gang and the superhero Captain Atom, attended in the guise of a civilian. The criminals came to Spectro to recruit him to divert attention from the city's bank while they robbed it, and when he refused, he was struck and fell backwards into the beam of his apparatus. Bathed in red light, Spectro became overwhelmed with induced rage at those who had dismissed him. He swore revenge on the world, beginning by using his prisms to induce sickness in first the criminals and then the incognito Captain Atom, driving them to flee his presence. Spectro projected fear in the city's locals and Captain Atom, and when the hero managed to protect himself with a light-blocking heat-shield, Spectro turned the citizens' emotions to rage, making them turn on Atom. Though the Captain flew clear of the crowd and attacked Spectro, the Doctor absorbed and redirected his attacks until he was thrown into a powerline. Overwhelmed with energy and hatred, Spectro's body vanished in a burst of color.[1]
Doctor Spectro's consciousness, however, survived in incorporeal form, and attempted to regain a physical body by absorbing the energy of a storm. When five lightning bolts struck at once, Spectro was reformed, but in five smaller bodies, each a different color and possessing distinct powers. Hoping to recombine into their original self and seek revenge on Captain Atom, the five Spectros began dismantling satellites to construct an orbital laboratory for the task. From there, they began raiding earthbound facilities for equipment and materials: at a science center in Cape May, the red and blue Doctor Spectros used beams of heat and cold to break open a safe containing rare elements, and to fell Captain Atom when he attempted to stop them.[2]
The next day, the other three Doctor Spectros set forth to steal an atomic battery. While standing guard, the purple Spectro encountered Kathy, a physically disabled young girl who mistook him for a magical creature and asked him to restore her ability to walk. Taking pity, the purple Spectro used his technology for its original purpose and healed her legs, resolving to take control of his reunited body to use his powers for the good of mankind. Meanwhile, the yellow and green Spectros had also been set upon by Captain Atom, and fled with the battery while the purple Spectro warped Atom's emotions, making the hero willing to let them pass. The five Spectros completed their project at the lab, just as the Captain came upon it while searching for the missing satellites. Together, the Spectros overcame Atom and gathered around their device's returno-plate to be reunited as one. Recovering, Captain Atom struck and overloaded the machine, which released a burst of energy that left Doctor Spectro with one body but multiple minds. In this state, Atom returned Spectro to Earth and turned him over to the police.[2]
Later, Doctor Spectro was in Hub City when it was transported to the Blood Moon and sealed beneath a dome, losing his powers like all others within the city. When his abilities suddenly returned, he attempted to blast his way through the dome to no avail, and was confronted by Captain Atom, whose own powers had been restored at the same time. the two were joined in the sky by a mysterious third figure, who Atom took for another villain working with Spectro. When the interloper disappeared, Spectro and Atom's powers went with him, and the Doctor fell to a nearby rooftop.[3]
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Doctor Spectro was one of many villains gathered on Brainiac's Skull Ship over Earth-One by Brainiac and Lex Luthor in an alliance to conquer the five remaining Earths.[4] Spectro was deployed to his home world of Earth-Four, where he was defeated by the Teen Titans and Doom Patrol of Earth-One. When the five Earths' heroes and villains put aside their differences to stop the Anti-Monitor from destroying them all, Doctor Spectro was among the contingent of supervillains sent back in time to the planet Oa to disrupt the apocalyptic experiments of the scientist Krona.[5]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Electromagnetic Refractor: An electromagnetic refractor on the chest of Doctor Spectro's costume can project light and absorb energy.[1]
- Energy Absorption: Doctor Spectro's electromagnetic refractor can absorb and redirect energy from nearby sources.[1]
- Prisms: Doctor Spectro uses wrist-mounted prisms to refract light into different colors of varying effects.[1]
- Photokinesis[1]
- Cryokinesis: When Doctor Spectro was split into five entities, the blue Spectro had the power to project beams of cold.[2]
- Emotional Control: Using different hues of light, Doctor Spectro can induce emotions in others, including happiness, sadness, fear, nausea, and anger.[1]
- Energy Projection: Doctor Spectro can refract light into power-rays.[1]
- The green Spectro had the power to project beams of force.[2]
- Healing: The purple Doctor Spectro also had the power of healing.[2]
- Thermokinesis: Doctor Spectro can refract light into heat-rays.[1]
- The red Doctor Spectro had the power to project beams of heat.[2]
- Photokinesis[1]
Notes
- This version of Doctor Spectro, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
- Doctor Spectro's first DC-published appearance was Crisis on Infinite Earths #9.
- Unlike his Post-Crisis counterpart, the real name of the Earth-Four Doctor Spectro was never revealed.
Related
- 6 Appearances of Doctor Spectro (Earth-Four)
- 1 Images featuring Doctor Spectro (Earth-Four)
- Quotations by or about Doctor Spectro (Earth-Four)
- Character Gallery: Doctor Spectro (Earth-Four)
Footnotes