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Quote1 I will travel the world, helping those who need help and punishing those who deserve it. Quote2
Clark Savage, Sr.; later[3] taken by Doc Savage as his personal motto[src]

Doc Savage, or Clark Savage, Jr., was a crime-fighter and scientist in the 1930's, trained from birth in both physical and intellectual fields.

He was a predecessor to the super heroes of the Modern Age.

History

In the early 20th century, Clark Savage, Jr., was trained from very early childhood by his father, influent and wealthy Clark Savage, Sr., with strict exercises to improve his muscles, brain and sense. The child became a successful physician, earning his nickname "Doc", and also an expert in many other fields, including sciences, arts, research and martial arts, along with a moral code. Following his father's wishes, "Doc" Savage devoted part of his time to adventuring so as to protect the common man, and surrounded himself with five experts in their respective fields and also succesful adventurers, the Fabulous Five (General Brigadier Theodore Marley "Ham" Brooks, William Harper "Johnny" Littlejohn, Major Thomas J. "Long Tom" Roberts, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett "Monk" Mayfair, and Colonel John "Renny" Renwick) who were eager to help Doc in their quests - even knowing that neither of them could outshine Doc in any chosen field. While Savage, Sr. had spent most of his resources in turning his son into an Übermensch, Doc became, thanks to his training, a successful entrepreneur and owned several buildings, combat vehicles, state-of-the-art technology (frequently designed and developed by himself) and other assets.[1]

Mostly active in the 1930s, Doc Savage occassionally collaborated with Spider-man[4] and, on a different occassion, with The Thing.[5]

Attributes

Abilities

  • Peak Human: An übermensch trained from birth in many areas,[6] He engaged in daily intensive exercise,[7] which included isometrics, calisthenics, and yoga, which in turns included meditation, arithmetical mental exercises,[8] and the sharpening of his sensory abilities.[9] He had very sensitive,[10] directional hearing.[9]
  • Martial Arts: He was an excellent hand-to-hand fighter.[11] Savage is a gymnast,[9] able to overcome several enemies at once.[12] He could dodge projectiles,[6] do acrobatics[7] with tumbling[9][4] and shoot with great accuracy[7] - once, he stopped two throwing knives at short range by shooting at them in flight.[13] He was also proficient in savate[8] and was a great swimmer[2] and diver.[9] Of course, he could be fatally distracted during a fight, particularly if someone else needed help.[3]
  • Stealth: He could move stealthy,[14] hiding to disappear from sight if he was not looked at for a fraction of a second,[3] and had great balance, keeping his footing while other men were falling.[15]
  • Super-Genius Intelligence: Due to his sheer willpower and intellect, he was an expert of most major sciences and engineering.[16] The many academical fields he excelled at included:
    • Medical Degree: He was highly skilled in medicine (he was a Doctor[11] and he specialized in surgery,[9] having innovated state-of-the-art techniques, including a way to perform brain surgery in humans to make them forget specific events, and developed items including artificial heart valves),[9] physiology, biology,[15] anatomy and physiology (especially for investigation purposes).[3]
    • Chemist: He was highly skilled in chemistry[6] (he could identify, with great accuracy, pure elements by sight),[3] bio-chemistry.[14][3]
    • Archaeologist: He was highly skilled in archaeology (being able to recognize specific relics and their previous locations[2] and to identify counterfeit relics).[3]
    • Other Skills: He was highly skilled in the arts, cryptography, geography, history, meteorology.[15]
  • Criminal Investigator: Savage had a police commission, authorizing him to perform research,[12] and he was a fine investigator.[6] He could identify nuances of a voice even through an amplifier speaker's distortion and was a master of disguise.[3] Highly intelligent, he had seen Interpol, Scotland Yard and Surete resort to him in times of need, and his success gave him great fame[7] His reputation was such that scientists who had never had contact with Savage were ready to leave their work if they were informed that Savage thought they were in danger.[17]
  • Engineer / Inventor: Savage was a gifted engineer, able to build state-of-the-art airplanes,[11] zeppelins[15] and submarines[6] or pilot himself.[11] He was the foremost rocket engineer of the United States in his time, having designed one-man rocket sleds (some assembly required).[4] Along with his friend John Renwick, Savage modified his land vehicle Runabout's custom-built engine[3] and made some improvements in the Helldiver's engine (a submarine) to improve the maximum cruise speed.[8] Savage also built a state-of-the-art "second skin" to protect himself from noxious gases - however, this was a 1930 invention of Monk Mayfair, with Savage simply building it.[17] Savage's scientific knowledge allowed him to improvise solutions when facing scientific or technological threats, using what he could learn or infer from his enemy.[4]
  • Pilot: Savage has an almost instinctive ability regarding vehicles. He could drive and operate anything on land such as motorcycles, motorcars, trucks, tanks to a various aircraft such as airplanes, zeppelins, helicopters[11] and any ocean going craft such as ship and submarines.[6]
  • Multilingual: Savage is fluent a number of languages, including English, Mayan,[11] Latin,[15] Arabic, French, and Spanish.[8] He could read Mayan hieroglyphs.[9]
  • Pressure point locator: If Savage could approach a person and press a nerve in the person's neck, he could knock down that person, harmlessly and without further consequences, but this could not be done in combat situations.[18]
  • Leadership: A natural leader, Savage was followed by his highly-qualified team, the Amazing Five, and he called each of them "brother". Savage was so familiar with them that he could easily recognize each of them by their movements.[2] Savage rarely chastised his team but, when he did, he was never replied to.[3] At the same time, whenever the life of any of his brothers was threatened, Savage was angered.[9]

Weaknesses

A son of his time, Savage has been tricked by people who acted in ways that were unthinkable of in his time - e.g. the extradimensional Desinna, whom Savage perceived as harmless because of her ladylike aspect.[4]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Savage had access to several high-tech devices, which he carried along with him if he believed they were going to be useful. Those included a thin bullet-proof vest, an ultra-violet light lantern and goggles,[6] a hand grenade, listening devices paired with gadgets on his ear,[14] a small rubberized shield,[15] a so-called magic lantern to identify chemical traces, oxygen filters, a rapid-fire pistol that could shoot stun pellets,[3] a super-machine pistol (also with mercy bullets)[8] and a wrist radio.[9] He could improvise weapons from almost anything at hand, such as using his own belt as a throwing item to make good use of the metallic belt on a device.[17]

Savage owns a self-designed vest complete with offensive gadgets and protective metal skullcap, but he dislikes using it because he does not want to be overly dependent on devices instead of using his own abilities.[9]

Transportation

Doc commonly moved in his trademark roadster[1][19] but he also has designed and built other vehicles including a pan-continental airplane,[11] the armored tank dubbed Juggernaut[9] and a scout submarine or "helldiver".[6] If needed, he could ride animals, including giant flying animals that were unwilling to have a rider.[9]

Notes

  • Due to his high ethics, he refused to kill, or to allow any of his men to do so.[15] He even disliked shooting stun pellets and got very angry if any of his allies shot to kill.[3]

See Also

Links and References

References

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