Do you feel that? That is the strength of science. Since I was orphaned as a child, I have devoted myself solely to the study of that sacred power. I learned to channel the white-hot fire of the supernova. The speed of the comet. The quantum might of the supermassive black hole. I baptized myself in the waters of super-science so I might be reborn. Reborn as the cure for cancer. The cancer that is magic. The disease that is you, Doctor Strange. 
- —Imperator[src]
History
The man who would become the Imperator lived in a dimension where Shuma-Gorath was worshipped as a deity. His parents, Hieronymus and Abbadona Hellgore were prosecuted by the Blood Monks, Shuma-Gorarth's worshippers, for practicing science and refusing to devote their lives to magic.
The Hellgores created a ship, but the Blood Monks caught up with them before they could escape. Both of them sacrificed their lives to protect their son, sending him away with nothing but the Eyebots as companions.[2]
As an adult, Imperator was fueled by the death of his parents to embark on a crusade to hunt down and kill magic users in different dimensions as the leader of the Empirikul,[3] claiming that magic was a cancer to the universe.[2] Some of their victims included Ice Duchess, Crimson Gypsy, Dr. Warlock, and Magister Szandor Sozo.[3]
When they reached the dimension of Doctor Strange, the Empirikul assaulted several magical landmarks of the Earth until they reached the strongest of them all, Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.[4] The Imperator confronted Doctor Strange himself and defeated him even after the sorcerer had siphoned all of Earth's magic to empower himself.[5] The most prominent magic users of this dimension were defeated and brought to the front of the Sanctum Sanctorum to be sacrificed. However, old mage Monako interfered and teleported Strange and his colleagues away to safety at the cost of his own life.[2]
The Empirikul razed the Sanctum Sanctorun and searched the Earth for the sorcerers while Imperator rested in their mothership. When he returned, Imperator confronted the threat of the Sanctum none of his minions had managed to combat, the so-called Thing in the Cellar. While he was battling it, Doctor Strange and the other sorcerers arrived, armed with several items which contained the last traces of magic in the world.[6]
After being weakened and blinded by the milled powder of the Ancient One's skull, Imperator fell to the combined power of Doctor Strange and The Thing in the Cellar. He was imprisoned in the Sanctum Sanctorum afterwards, and forced to become the new Thing in the Cellar.[7]
While in the cellar he began communicating with Doctor Strange's pupil Emily Bright. He hoped he could convince her to free him and make her realize that magic was a curse and she was being brainwashed by Doctor Strange, she told him she did want his protection but that she wasn't going to free him. Instead she gave him the Stone of Shackles so he could mentally escape his prison and be in a peaceful world with a family.[8]Attributes
Weaknesses
Recharge: The Imperator needs to regularly recharge in his mothership.[6]
Magic: Apart from hating magic, Imperator is also weak to magical forces.[7]See Also
- 12 appearance(s) of Imperator (Earth-616)
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Imperator (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Imperator (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Imperator (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Imperator (Earth-616)
- 13 image(s) of Imperator (Earth-616)
- 4 quotation(s) by or about Imperator (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Imperator (Earth-616)