History
This device was a metallic[1] huge, cylindrical satellite device to send a hypnotic ray to Earth's surface from its orbit.[2][1] Once activated, any person directly affected by the ray[1] would become a zombie-like slave of the ray's user, effectively covering the whole Earth in little time.[2][1] Doctor Doom developed this machine ensuring that a number of defenses could protect against it, to avoid being affected himself. The Ray could be remotely operated from a control room at Castle Doom,[2] where the operator could command the device to rotate before sending the ray.[1] Doom also had a lunar base where he could operate the device from.[2]
Doom's megalomaniac rival Red Skull staged an intricate scheme to steal Doom's designs.[2] By pretending to be an agent from foreign powers, the Skull bought weaponry from Doom in the international market and provided the devices to his technicians so they could reverse-engineer Doom's technology. With it,[1] the Skull took over Latveria from Doom and took control of Doom's devices, including the Ray. Ironically, the Skull had infiltrated his own men in Doom's selected building team, and supervised the construction from the moment diggers collected the material for mines. The Skull also redesigned the controls so that they would only answer to the Skull's bioprint.[2]
The Skull secured his position as ruler of Latveria by defeating pretender-to-the-throne Rudolfo Fortunov and up-and-coming superhero Shroud. Meanwhile, in American exile, Doom was recruited by the Skull's enemy Captain America and they both infiltrated Latveria. The Skull intercepted them with Doom's Rainbow Missile and leave them for dead - however, they were only reduced in size. The Skull then tried to recruit Sub-Mariner for his cause in Doom's throne room; Shroud, a prisoner there, insisted that the Sub-Mariner should know about the Hypno-Ray. Domm and the Captain attacked the Skull, and Doom convinced the Skull to activate a machine to return him and the Captain to their common sizes. The Shroud, who mistrusted Doom, confronted Doom when the other heroes insisted that the Skull was the main threat at the moment.[2]
The Skull retreated to the throne, where he activated a protective force field and tried to activate the Hypno-Ray. Prince Rudolfo sabotaged the process and teleported the Skull to the lunar base. The Skull recovered and tried to reconfigure the device from the moon,[2] using his technicians there. The process would take him one hour, a time his enemies used to prepare an attack: Doom piloted the Doomship to reach the base, with Shroud as his passenger. While Shroud sabotaged the satellite itself, Doom was to confront the Skull to keep him busy.[1]
Making use of the Hypno-Ray satellite's metallic hull, the Shroud reached the hardware using his magna-rang. He then used his mystical senses to try and find key circuits under the hull but apparently the item had some kind of defenses that identified the probe and reacted to it. The Shroud was forced to obliterate the satellite causing a massive, internal feedback that left him blasted and unconscious at point-blank. Adrift in space among the debris of the Hypno-Ray, Shroud was then rescued by Captain America in a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle, while Doom defeated the Skull.[1]