Ross Webster was the unscrupulous owner of Webscoe Industries and the boss of Gus Gorman, who was hired for his ability to program computers.
History
When Ross discovered that Gorman was embezzling money from the company through the use of his computer skills, he decided to have Gorman become part of his evil schemes to control the world markets and even blackmailed him to do so. Gorman was first assigned to reprogram the Vulcan weather-reporting satellite in order to create destructive weather that would ruin the South American coffee crops market. However, when Ross discovered that Superman has foiled that attempt, he assigned Gorman with the task of recreating Kryptonite, the only substance known to be able to kill Superman. While Gorman failed in his attempt to recreate Kryptonite when he substituted the "unknown element" with tar, the synthetic Kryptonite did affect Superman in changing his moral behaviors, allowing Ross more leeway for his criminal world market schemes and even to fulfill Gorman's plan to build the most powerful supercomputer. When Superman regained his true heroic form, Ross and his sister Vera lured Superman toward the site of what was called the Ultimate Computer, attempting to stop the Man of Steel with a barrage of missiles and even trapping him in an energy bubble that would suffocate him, then finally hitting him with a beam of pure Kryptonite energy. When Ross congratulated Gorman as being the man who killed Superman, Gorman turned against his boss and attempted to shut down the computer manually. However, the computer came back to life by powering itself through absorption of energy from the nation's power grids, causing blackouts nationwide, and used its power to turn Ross' sister Vera into a cyborg zombie, striking down Ross and keeping his assistant Lorelei Ambrosia trapped by its power. Superman eventually destroyed the computer by bringing a canister of chemicals that became acidic when overheated into the computer's core, which freed Ross, Vera, Ambrosia, and Gorman from its control. Ross was then turned over to the authorities.
Notes
- Ross Webster was played by Robert Vaughn in the movie Superman III.
Related
- 2 Appearances of Ross Webster (Donnerverse)
- 2 Images featuring Ross Webster (Donnerverse)
- Quotations by or about Ross Webster (Donnerverse)
- Character Gallery: Ross Webster (Donnerverse)
Footnotes
  This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category." |