Thaddeus Sivana (DC Extended Universe)

Doctor Thaddeus Sivana is a genius inventor and scientist; who had been summoned by the wizard Shazam as a child, but was not chosen as his champion, leading Sivana to spend his entire life trying to unlock the secrets of magic. After discovering Billy Batson was the wizard's new champion, Sivana attempted to steal his powers with help from the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, but was ultimately defeated and imprisoned in his pursuit.

History

Early Life

Ethan Pugiotto Mug — Young Sivana at the Rock of Eternity

Thaddeus Sivana was born into a wealthy family during the early 1960s. His father was neglectful, often allowing Thad's older brother Sid to berate him without consequence. One night while driving to visit relatives Thad was playing with an 8-Ball and being mocked by his father and brother. Thad's 8-Ball suddenly began to show him strange symbols, resulting in him being transported to a mysterious fortress known as the Rock of Eternity. Upon venturing further into the lair Thad discovered what looked like a throne room with seven seats, all but one of which were vacant. A man was sitting in the middle throne and stood after seeing Thad. The man introduced himself as the last of the Council of Wizards who were sworn to protect the realms of existence from the Seven Deadly Sins. The Wizard was dying after millennia of life and sought a champion to inherit his magic and replace him as the protector of the realms.^[1]

The Wizard demanded that Thad should take a test to prove his worthiness. At that point the Wizard allowed the Seven Sins to enter Thad's mind so he could prove his willpower. Thad fell for their manipulations, attempting to free the Sins from their imprisonment so that the power they possessed could be his. The Wizard stopped the young Thad and, seeing that he was not worthy, sent him back to his car.^[1]

Upon arriving back at the car his father and brother believed that Thad had never left the car. Thad caused a commotion, screaming for the Wizard to let him back into the fortress. Thad's distress caused his father to loose focus, causing a collision where Thad's father was paralysed from the legs down. At the same time, Sivana spotted a message in his 8-Ball stating "find us" (presumably sent by the Sins), resulting in him dedicating his life to trying to unlock the secrets of magic and return to the Rock. The accident distanced Thad further from his family, the neglect and torment he faced turned Thad into a remorseless man.^[1]

Servant of Sin

Reuniting with the Wizard

Years later, Sivana became a physician at his father's company, where he funded Dr. Lynn Crosby's research on those who were approached by the Wizard to become champion under the pretenses of a study on "mass hysteria". During one interview with a woman who was summoned by the Wizard, Sivana watched a recording of the moment she was taken to the Rock and ended the interview afterward. Sivana headed back to his office with Dr. Crosby demanding an explanation from him, causing him to reveal the truth behind her research and that he had realized from the woman's footage that the symbols needed to open the door to the Rock repeated themselves seven times.^[1]

After writing the symbols out on the door to his childhood room, Sivana believed that he had finally created a gateway back to the Rock, though Dr. Crosby doubted him; however, in doing so, she put her hand on the door frame and ended up disintegrating, thus confirming Sivana's belief. He proceeded to return to the Rock, where he met the Wizard again, asking him if he remembers who he is. The Wizard did so and demanded that Sivana leave as he was not worthy to wield his power, though Sivana rebuffed him, asking if he knows what telling a child that they are not good enough does to them. Deeming himself not pure of heart like the Wizard said, Sivana took the Eye of Sin, resulting in it fusing to him and replacing his left eye, much to the former's horror.^[1]

As a result, the Sins were freed from their imprisonment and entered the Eye of Sins as the Wizard attempted to stop Sivana, only to be blasted and defeated by the latter's energy bolt instead. Sivana then left the Rock with the Sins in tow, while also leaving the Wizard behind.^[1]

Enacting Revenge

The next day, Sivana returned to Sivana Industries and interrupted a board meeting held by his father and brother. Locking the door and ignoring his father's order for him to leave, Sivana went on to state that his father had always looked down on him even before the accident that cost him his legs and that he now had proof of everything he had claimed during the said accident. Sid confronted Sivana and threatened to throw him out of the room, and in response, Sivana handed him the 8-Ball and told him to ask it what his chances are of doing so. As Sid and the other board members laughed him off, Sivana suddenly grabbed his brother and killed him by throwing him out the window, remarking that his chances were "not good".^[1]

Following this, Sivana unleashed the Sins from his eye and used them to slaughter the remaining board members, leaving only his father alive. As his father cowardly begged for Sivana to spare him, offering to give him everything from wealth to the entire company, Sivana pointed out his greed and sarcastically remarked if he thinks any of the materials he has accumulated give him "real power", stating that the power given to him by the Sins is real power and that only he has it. Right after this, the Sins alerted Sivana to the fact that the Wizard had chosen a new champion and that he must kill him before he realized how to harness his abilities, which Sivana agreed to do. He then recalled the other Sins and left the room, leaving Greed behind to kill his father. Inside the elevator leading to the bottom floor of the building, Sivana saw an ad for Sivana Industries ironically claiming that the company valued family over all else, and smashed the screen showing in rage.^[1]

Confronting the New Champion

Shazam meets Doctor Sivana — Sivana confronts the Wizard's new champion.

Sivana was able to find the new champion after he accidentally caused a bus to crash and subsequently saved it. Approaching the champion, Sivana demanded that he give him his powers, though Sivana was subsequently brushed him off, prompting the Doctor punch and knock the champion into a car. Sivana goes on to state that the only thing that can hurt a magical being is magic while blasting two police officers and again demands that the champion hand over his power. However, the champion punched Sivana in the groin instead and arrogantly began taunting him, driving an enraged Sivana to drag him into the atmosphere. As the frightened champion tries to apologize, Sivana remarks that he is groveling like a child, with the champion remarking that he actually is one before being thrown to the ground. The champion saves himself by realizing how to fly at the last minute, although Sivana continues to attack him.^[1]

Sivana and the champion's battle takes them to a mall, where the champion begins running away upon realizing that he can't beat Sivana, transforming back into his natural state and escaping into the panicked crowd in the mall before he can be caught.^[1]

Taking Hostages

Sivana soon notices an adolescent boy named Freddy yelling out to his foster brother Billy, and Sivana, while watching news coverage of Freddy and the new champion's earlier conversations, deduced that Freddy knows who he really is. Sivana captured Freddy and used the boy to lead him back to the Vasquez household, where he met Billy's other foster siblings and captured them. Sivana then called Billy using Freddy's phone, asking him to come home. Billy transformed and rushed off to the Vasquez house, where he found Sivana holding his foster siblings captive.^[1]

Sivana then unleashed the Sins from his eye and forced Billy to comply with his demands by threatening to kill his family, making him reluctantly agree to giving up his powers. Once Sivana took Billy to the Rock of Eternity, Sivana punched him over to the Wizard's former throne and forced him to hand over the latter's staff so he could use it to transfer his powers. Billy attempted to reason with Sivana by stating that he knows how he feels about chasing something that he thinks will make him finally good enough while also pointing out that the Sins were merely using him for their own ends, though Sivana ignored him. Before Billy could transfer his power, his foster siblings arrived to stop Sivana with makeshift weapons, Freddy hitting him with his replica Batarang, which, to Billy's surprise, left a gash on Sivana's head that healed as soon as the demons returned to his body. Before Sivana could attack Billy's family, Billy stabbed him with the Batarang and throws him into a wall, knocking him out.^[1]

Defeat

Billy and his siblings rushed to escape from the Rock with Sivana in pursuit, eventually fleeing when the former remembers how he left the Rock last time, quickly imagining himself and his siblings inside the "Gentleman's Club" he visited earlier. Billy and the others ran off to the Winter Carnival, where the former accidentally attracted Sivana's attention by transforming back into Billy Batson. Sivana hovered over the crowd and called Billy out for hiding behind innocents like a coward, and tried to bait his enemy out by causing the carnival's Ferris Wheel to tip. Billy deemed that he had to save his family and so transformed back into the champion and confronted Sivana, while the other foster kids deduced that Sivana got his power from the Sins and that he is weakened when they leave his body.^[1]

In order to help Billy, the other foster kids goaded Sivana into setting the Sins free to chase them while he and Billy fought, resulting in Billy turning back into Billy to escape Sivana, only to end up being drowned in a pool of water by Thad instead. One of the foster children, Mary, attempted to shoot Sivana with a BB gun, which distracted him long enough for Billy to get out of the water and transform, though the Sins were able to capture all the children in doing so. With all the children captured by the Sins, Sivana again tried to force Shazam to surrender his power; however, Billy knocked Sivana away and used the staff to turn his family into heroes like himself before breaking it. Enraged, Sivana unleashed the Sins to fight Billy's family while he took Billy on by himself with their battle leading them into the city.^[1]

While on a roof with Sivana, Billy noted that only six of the seven Sins have been released, and cleverly goads the final Sin, Envy, into leaving Sivana's body, stripping the latter of all his remaining power. Sivana began to plummet, though Billy saved him after using his lightning to deal with Envy. Billy flew back to the carnival with Sivana and took him to the downed Ferris Wheel, where he forcibly removed the Eye of Sins from Sivana, both returning him to normal and entrapping the Sins once again. Shazam and his family then returned the Eye to the Rock, keeping it from Sivana for good.^[1]

Partnership with Mind

Sometime after being convicted for his crimes, Sivana is seen inside his prison cell, drawing out the symbols meant to open a door to the Rock over and over in an effort to free himself. However, the chalk he is writing with breaks, causing him to have a meltdown. To his confusion, Sivana then begins to hear a voice mocking him and turns around to see Mister Mind; an evil worm of unknown origin that had escaped from the Wizard's captivity when he had freed the Sins. Mind informs him that there are more ways to acquire magic and that together, they will soon take over the Seven Magical Realms.^[1]

However, it would take two years for Mister Mind to come back to Sivana's cell to announce the progress in their plan. When Sivana expressed his frustration, Mister Mind defensively said it took him a long time to get to places due to his size. When the caterpillar alluded that the plan would soon come to fruition, Sivana excitedly asked what it was, only to be enraged when Mister Mind left to do one final thing.^[2]

Personality

As a child Sivana suffered from terrible abuse from his father and brother, causing him to live a life of mental pain under the shadow of his family. The constant abuse from his family turned Sivana into a very cynical person who doesn't see good in others and lacks any empathy for anyone, which in turn made him vulnerable to the temptation of the Seven Sins. As an adult, Sivana hates the concept of families, as when he held Billy's foster siblings hostage he described them and their family photos as disgusting. Sivana is a rather vindictive individual, as he went out of his way to get revenge on the Wizard for rejecting him and then his own family for abusing him as a child.^[1]

Ever since Sivana was rejected by the Wizard after which he caused a driving accident, he became obsessed with proving that magic is real and released the Seven Deadly Sins, whom he felt were the only ones that appreciated him. Sivana has little care for human life, casually shrugging off the death of Lynn Cosby, a colleague of his. Upon obtaining the powers of the Deadly Sins, Sivana became malevolent and slightly psychotic, he enjoyed using his newfound powers to hurt others. He particularly enjoyed sadistically taunting his brother and father about magic being real before killing both of them in cold blood.^[1]

Upon learning that the Wizard had found a new champion Sivana became infuriated and devoted to stealing Shazam's power. Sivana displayed a strong hatred towards Billy Batson, who he mercilessly hunted. He was also willing to take Billy's foster siblings hostage and threaten their lives. Billy, however, noted that Thaddeus is envious of Billy, not just for being chosen by the Wizard but also for having a family that appreciated him while Sivana had previously been rejected and never saw any affection from his own family. Sivana doesn't have much of a sense of humor and had little patience for Billy Batson's childish antics.^[1]

After Sivana lost his magic and was imprisoned, he fell into a full psychotic obsession with recovering magic, spending his time drawing symbols on the walls of his cell desperately trying to return to the Rock of Eternity.^[1]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Abilities

Investigation
Genius Level Intellect: Sivana is a brilliant inventor and scientist who has been running a large scale research operation for years to find the Wizard.
- Tactical Analysis
- Surveillance
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): Sivana possesses enough skill in hand to hand combat that he is able to defeat Billy in a fight.

Other Characteristics

Dependency: Sivana's power is dependent on the Sins. If they leave his body, he is left powerless.

Notes

This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the DC Extended Universe and is an adaptation of Doctor Sivana. The original character was created by Bill Parker and C.C. Beck and first appeared in Whiz Comics #2.
Doctor Sivana is played by Mark Strong. Young Thad was played by Ethan Pugiotto.

Trivia

A deleted scene shows that he has two twin sisters.