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Quote1 For centuries men have harnessed the Sun's power! But now I have discovered its ultimate application! By using gold... Glowing, yellow gold... I can harness an amplified, unlimited amount of raw power! Gold is the key! My armor and the entire ship absorb sun-strength from its radioactive gold-coating! With gold, I am invincible! Quote2
Doctor Regulus src

Doctor Regulus was the committed arch-enemy of Sun Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Doctor Zaxton Regulus was a scientist under the supervision of nuclear power plant overseer Derek Morgna and spent a considerable amount of his time on developing a side-project to absorb and amplify solar energy using radioactive gold isotopes. One day, a lab accident caused an explosion that killed one of the plant's workers. However, rather than take responsibility, Regulus blamed his supervisor's son Dirk, who was on the scene, for distracting him. Regulus was fired and vowed revenge, striking back by constructing combat robots to brutalize Dirk and trap him in his father's nuclear reactor. Improbably, Dirk did not die from radiation poisoning, but gained the power to absorb and channel solar radiation, later joining the Legion of Super-Heroes as Sun Boy. Regulus created a suit of radioactive gold armor to simulate powers similar to Sun Boy's and vowed to exact his revenge on Sun Boy. In his first outing as a costumed villain, Regulus gave Sun Boy amnesia by causing a minor seismic tremor in the area and created more chaos in Metropolis until the rest of the Legion came out in full force. Regulus allowed the Legionnaires to board his Golden Galaxacruiser and systematically neutralized them with the ship's defenses, planning to execute them afterwards and move on unchallenged to conquer the universe. However, Sun Boy regained his memory on his own in the meantime and turned the tables on Regulus, forcing him on the run.[1]

Regulus attacked the Legion again on Sun Boy's birthday, seemingly collapsing and dying from a redirected blast of solar energy. With his "last" breath, Regulus requested that Sun Boy should personally deliver his body to the Arion Star as its final resting place. However, Regulus revived once in the star's orbit, revealing that he required regular visits to the Arion Star to revitalize his life-force ever since he gained his power. However, Sun Boy expected this eventuality when he researched Arion and discovered that it was an artificial star known to have been created by Regulus. As such, Sun Boy arranged for other Legionnaires to stage an ambush on Regulus and knock him out.[2] Regulus returned months later, more dangerous than ever before. Regulus kidnapped Sun Boy and encased him in a suspended animation casket as the first part of his plan. Then, Regulus formed an alliance with a psychotic mutant called The Immune to take over the private planetoid of R.J. Brande and spread a spore plague over Titan that would cause the population to rapidly shrink to tiny proportions and die. Regulus's intention was to blackmail the United Planets for the antidote to the spore plague, which he secretly derived from the Immune's blood serum. However, Regulus's scheme spun further out of control, as the theme of "shrinking" led the U.P. military high command to conclude the plague was a potential act of Imskian separatist bioterrorism. Consequently, the Legion received orders to visit Imsk to question the planetary government about the epidemic, frustrating Legionnaire Shrinking Violet with U.P. leadership. Nevertheless, Regulus struck the star-cruiser that the majority of the Legion were gathered on for the Klordny Week festival and captured them. Fortunately, Shrinking Violet and Saturn Girl had the foresight to switch costumes before going into battle, causing both Legionnaires to be placed into containment units ineffective against their powers. Saturn Girl therefore telepathically awakened Sun Boy, who made short work of Regulus and exposed the plague as Regulus's doing, while elsewhere Brainiac 5 tricked the Immune into entering a catatonic state and synthesized the antidote from his blood sample.[3]

Doctor Regulus made his comeback while much of the Legion, including Sun Boy, were on R.J. Brande's planetoid for a vacation. Regulus destroyed the security satellite orbiting the planetoid and sabotaged the primary star manufactory of Brande's corporation, planning to destroy the entire planetoid, kill Sun Boy and the Legion, and absorb the energy emitted by the titanic thermonuclear explosion. Although Regulus had internalized enough radiation from the plant to overcome most of the Legionnaires present without effort (including Superboy, who was felled by red-sun energies), Sun Boy overwhelmed Regulus and entered the plant to stabilize the fusion reactor. Sun Boy was ultimately successful, and while Regulus escaped the planetoid on his ship, he was possessed of sufficient morbid anticipation that he stayed nearby (in relative terms) to witness the detonation. This gave Dawnstar an excellent opportunity to catch his trail and track him down, and Lightning Lad and Colossal Boy easily captured the villain.[4]

Powers


Weapons

  • Golden Galaxacruiser[5]


Related

Footnotes


Legion of Super-Villains 02
Legion of Super-Heroes Villain(s)
DC Bullet 2024

This character or group of characters is or was primarily an enemy of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 31st Century, and may have existed in any of the various Legion continuities, including but not limited to the Original Legion, Reboot Legion, and the Prime Legion. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Legion of Super-Heroes villains" category.

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