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The Doctor, Jeroen Thornedike, was the latest in a long line of Shamans of Earth, a powerful sorcerer whose power grows with every reincarnation. He was a member of the Authority. After his death, he was succeeded by Habib bin Hassan.

Jeroen Thornedike was "a multimedia millionaire by twelve, a dot-com billionaire by twenty, and staring into space in a psychiatric home by the age of twenty-one". The rigors of fame and fortune proved to be too much for him, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. He eventually gave away all his money and tried to have an ordinary life until the original Doctor died and Jeroen inherited his abilities. Jeroen refused to accept the responsibility and instead spent his days shooting heroin and playing Sonic the Hedgehog. Jeroen was first contacted to join The Authority by Jenny Sparks and Swift, but refused to join and teleported them away. After contacting him a second time, Sparks shot herself in the head, forcing Jeroen to use his powers to revive her.[1] He joined the Authority soon afterwards.

During the events of "Earth Inferno" Jeroen married a pop diva, Lola, and overdosed on heroin while on his honeymoon in Sydney, Australia. He fell into a coma, unable to help while many disasters hit around the world. The cause of the disasters was later revealed to be the Earth itself, which had panicked after being attacked by God several months earlier, and which had been convinced by the Renegade Doctor, Thorndyke's genocidal predecessor, that exterminating humanity was the only way to ensure its own self-preservation. A blood transfusion from the Midnighter revived him, but his teammates harbored serious doubts about his fitness to serve in the Authority.[2][3] In order to halt the Earth's rampage, he agreed to relinquish his powers to the Renegade Doctor for one hour.[4] At first, the other members of the Authority believed that he'd lost his mind, but the Renegade Doctor's second coming lasted only an hour before he was overwhelmed by hyper-empathy. When his powers returned to Thorndyke, he was quickly dispatched.

When the Authority were forcefully replaced by the G-7 Authority, Jeroen was replaced by The Surgeon, a French alchemist who was given control over the Doctor's powers. He was carried around in The Surgeon's pockets, in the form of a doll, and used to scrub out stains from the man's underpants.[5] The Surgeon was never accepted by the collective consciousness of the previous Doctors, because he brought in contractors to the area where the former Doctors met. Said invaders bulldozed ancient shrines and shot at and or killed the entities found there. The Surgeon even supervised "Religimon," an entity designed to be a new corporate religion.[6] The Surgeon died when The Midnighter shot him in the head. Jeroen instantly recovered his powers.[7]

During the events of John Clay's religious ascension as "Godhead", Jeroen was infected by Clay's powers and became a celebrity disciple of Clay's "Church of Transcendence".[8] However, Jeroen with his link to the past Doctors and the Garden of Ancestral Memory managed to free himself, allowing him to psychically hijack Clay's psionic control network and invert it. Enormous, the Doctor plucks the beaten Clay up, and swallows him. With Clay's defeat Jeroen creates the Church of the Shaman, seeking to provide a religious alternative for many of those who had felt disillusioned by conventional religions in the wake of Clay's cult.[9]

However, after the wake of the Authority's control of the United States, Jeroen's religion became the focus of attack from the American people led by the Sons of Liberty. These attacks cause deaths among Shamanists in which disturbs and saddens Jereon, in which he then further realized that religions even among used by the previous Doctors doesn't always resolve to help the world.[10] After Washington, D.C. was destroyed and the Authority's disbandment Jeroen dismantles his Church of the Shaman by turning all his churches into butterflies.[11]

Three years after the Authority gave up their sole leadership of the United States and disbanded, Thornedike died from a drug overdose given to him by Rose Tattoo on orders from Henry Bendix, who then captured his soul to point him to the next Doctor, Habib bin Hassan.[12] Thornedike's soul was later freed by Jenny Quantum and resides with the original Doctors in the Garden of Ancestral Memory.

Powers

  • Magic: There is always only one Doctor at any given time, who is the latest in a long line of shamans protecting the entire planet. Each doctor is as powerful as the sum of all preceding Doctors, each of whom was also as wise and powerful as the sum of all preceding Doctors, hence, each new Doctor is more powerful than his immediate predecessor. The Doctor's vast magical abilities can do almost anything, as long as he can conceive and believe in his abilities in poetic terms, although more powerful feats can take their toll both on the Doctor and the planet's ecosystem. His power is to move things from here to there, change this thought to that thought, step behind the scenes and rearrange the set remix reality. All he has to do is draw a detailed mental picture and reality builds it for him. Instead of a village he currently works on a Planetary scale to protect mankind. The Doctor can alter reality through magic. He can also heal others but doing so actually takes bits of lifespan from the Earth itself.
  • Enlightened Senses: The Doctor through natural evolution of his position has developed fifteen new senses, making him completely enlightened. He cant help but be naturally empathize with every living creature in existence.
  • Reincarnation: As the Shaman of Earth is literally unending, it is almost impossible to kill him and even if one is to succeed, upon his death, the singularity opens up around the next in line and he will know everything that all the doctors through time has, therefore experience is not required.
    • Garden of Ancestral Memory: When a Doctor dies, their spirit goes to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, where they can be visited by the current Doctor, and advise him. It is his connection to this realm that allows the doctor instant understanding of anything that happens on earth. Its a tether to the Earths consciousness on a spiritual level. Thus this knowledge comes as more of a intuitive feeling as well as actual given knowledge. The Garden is in the dimension known as the Dreamtime, (a metaphysical place of ancestral memory on a alternate plane.) It is made up of everything good and bad about the human race. It contains every birth, every death, every idea, every triumph, every failure, every murder, every mutilation, every kiss, every caress, all the love, all the hate.
  • Racial Memory: The Doctor has access to the racial memories of humanities' ancestors, their entire lives from birth to death flow through him.

Abilities

  • Genius Level Intellect: For all intents and purposes, the Doctor is a master of all trades though it usually falls to what he chooses to know out of his long existence on the earth.

Weaknesses

  • Vulnerability to Psionics: Any advanced use of Psionics that has the effect of disrupting his interpretation of his "ancestral memory" can disrupt his ability to use his abilities all together.

Other Characteristics

  • Drug Addiction: Jeroen was addicted to drugs. He has since relieved himself of the addiction after becoming the Doctor. However; his addictive tendencies have transcended his new condition and may leave him vulnerable at times.


Transportation

Related

Footnotes


The Authority Vol 1 20 Textless
Authority member
DC Bullet 2024

This character is or was a member of The Authority, a team of superheroes initially appearing in WildStorm Comics who declared themselves beyond the government, taking justice into their own hands.
This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Authority members" category.

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