James Bradley (Earth-616)

Doctor Nemesis
Name	James Nicola Bradley
Current Alias	Doctor Nemesis
Aliases	Doctor Death, Nemesis
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Legionaries, Agents of Wakanda Formerly X-Men, Hope's X-Force (formerly Cable's), X-Club, Battle-Axis
Relatives	Grandparents: John Price (maternal grandfather, deceased) Mary Price (maternal grandmother, deceased) Parents: Catherine Price (mother, deceased) Dr. Nicola Bradley (father, deceased) Spouses: Mary Strong (former fiancée) Ex-wife (unknown if Mary Strong or other) Children: Human Torch (Jim Hammond), Volton ("sons"/creations)
Marital Status	Divorced
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′11″ (1.8 m)
Weight	170 lbs (77.11 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Blond, Dyed Black (formerly)
Unusual Features	His eyes are cybernetic miniature cameras, the top of his hair is composed of fungi
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant Cyborg
Living Status	Alive; formerly deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	San Francisco, California
Cause of Death	Vaporized by Legion and the Xorn twins (resurrected by “The Five”) Cut in half by Mother Righteous (resurrected by "The Five")
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American, Krakoan
Occupation	Adventurer, scientist; former terrorist, Nazi hunter, Nazi agent
Education	MD; Extensively self-taught in biochemistry and robotics.
Base of Operations	Krakoa, Pacific Ocean Formerly Abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Pericles, Mid-Pacific; Utopia, San Francisco Bay, California; Graymalkin Industries, Marin Highlands, San Francisco, California; Argentina; New York City, New York; Secret Nazi base beneath the Mojave Desert in California; San Francisco, California; South America
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Harry Anderson, Roy Thomas, Dave Hoover
First	Lightning Comics #6 (February, 1941) (First appearance; Ace Magazines) Invaders (Vol. 2) #1 (March, 1993) (First Marvel appearance)
First	Lightning Comics #6 (February, 1941) (First appearance; Ace Magazines) Invaders (Vol. 2) #1 (March, 1993) (First Marvel appearance)

Miss: I am attempting to explain a device so profoundly complex that even if you were functionally immortal...which praise the singularity you are not...the universe would collapse long before you grasped even how to switch it on. Pay attention or I shall feed you to my lab.

—Doctor Nemesis[source]

History

Early Life

Birth of James Nicola Bradley

James Bradley was born on December 1st, 1906 in San Francisco, where his mother Catherine Price died during childbirth due to complications from placenta previa, and, unknown to his mother, he was delivered by his future self to ensure that his future would play out as it should. His father, Dr. Nicola Bradley, created a power source for the first first sentinel, and was impaled during its subsequent rampage. James was presumably raised by his maternal grandparents, John and Mary Price. At some point, James' mutant powers manifested, granting him an enhanced, intuitive intellect. This enabled James to become a polymath, highly competent in a wide variety of scientific disciplines.

Working with Professor Horton

Working with Professor Phineas T. Horton

During his education, Bradley was mentored by Dr. Lionell, a distinguished physician honoured for his service during World War I. After completing his degree, he entered the field of medicine and became a business partner to Professor Phineas T. Horton. Together, they worked on the creation of androids, including the one that would later become the Human Torch, aka Jim Hammond. While Horton pursued fame and financial backing, Bradley focused on developing a second android independently. In 1939, Bradley warned Horton against publicising their work after discovering that exposure of Horton Cells to air caused the Torch to spontaneously combust. However, Horton disregarded his concerns and revealed the creation to the public, seeking recognition. Feeling betrayed, Bradley dissolved their partnership and took the unfinished second android with him. Over the next two and a half years, he completed the android, which unaware of its true nature briefly operated as the superhero Volton from late 1941 to early 1942.

Doctor Nemesis

Doctor Nemesis adventures were retconned into Earth-616..

By early 1941, Bradley, now a doctor at Mercy Hospital in New York City and a colleague of nurse Mary Strong, decided to take on crime directly. Equipping himself with a hypodermic gun and donning a surgical mask, he assumed the identity of Doctor Nemesis. His first major public action came when he aided in the aftermath of a train wreck, where he cleared an innocent passenger, Mack Keller, of wrongful murder charges by exposing the true culprit, Bumps Burke. Nemesis later took on a series of cases, exposing the corrupt practices of contractors McNulty and Mirch, preventing foreign agents from attacking a government official at Mercy Hospital, and stopping Blackie West’s gang from using a stolen knockout gas formula. He also uncovered an automobile insurance scam orchestrated by an executive and his accomplices, dismantled an extortion operation run by Dr. Conn of Mercy Hospital, and thwarted a Nazi bacteriologist, Dr. Riek, who was spreading disease at Camp Williams. In another notable case, while working at City Hospital to develop a cure for a deadly "Black Plague," Bradley discovered that a criminal known as the Surgeon was deliberately spreading the disease using trained rats. As Doctor Nemesis, he defeated the Surgeon and exposed him as Dr. Blackston, the corrupt superintendent of City Hospital.

Nazi Agent

Some time after the incident, Bradley was approached by agents of the Third Reich who wanted to recruit him to their cause. Disillusioned by his life and feeling that his talents were underappreciated, Bradley agreed. Under their orders, he organized the Battle-Axis, a team made up of other disillusioned superheroes (plus Volton). At this point, he started calling himself Doctor Death and adapted a decisively more malevolent demeanor. The Battle Axis embarked on a complex scheme that would force the USA to withdraw from the war. Known as Project Mojave, it revolved around the oscillotron, a device that Bradley invented. It was designed to cause a severe earthquake on the west coast that would destroy war industry plants and release poison gas from underground storage. The idea was that the USA would have to leave the war to deal with the resulting crisis. Knowing the Invaders might be able to stop them, Battle Axis tried to neutralize the heroes first. Ultimately, the Invaders were able to stop their plan. During the battle, Volton switched sides and attacked Doctor Death with electric blasts. Bradley was left for dead.

Nazi Hunter

After World War II, many Nazi super-scientists fled to Argentina to continue their experiments. Determined to stop them, Doctor Nemesis relocated there and began his relentless pursuit. During one of his hunts, he confronted Futurführer Nachtersteller, the creator of the Futurführer's Genetikorps dozens of tube-grown super-Nazis. In a brutal encounter, Nemesis drove his thumbs into Nachtersteller's eyes, possibly killing him. His crusade against the Nazis led him to various conflicts, including one against Nazi dolphins. He also slaughtered Nazi dinosaurs, reverse-engineered Aryan Influenza, and sabotaged the SS clone labs in Peru. He even managed to outplay the Kosmic Kommandant at Quantum Chess. Throughout his long battle against Nazi remnants, Doctor Nemesis enhanced his own body, inventing biochemical processes to extend his lifespan and rebuilding his eyes to improve his vision. His war against these remnants lasted sixty years, ultimately ending with their destruction.

X-Club & X-Men

Bradley's chemical cocktails ensured that he remained physically fit until the 2000s. He was one of the few mutants who kept their powers on M-Day.

Warren Worthington and Hank McCoy approached Dr. Bradley while he was in Buenos Aires, hoping to recruit him to help them undo the "spell" that had turned the X-Gene off. However, Bradley had no interest in helping them, as he was busy hunting test tube Nazis and super scientists.

After an attempt on his life, Bradley decided to join the X-Club. They also gathered Madison Jeffries and Yuriko Takiguchi before returning to San Francisco to meet with Kavita Rao and discuss ways to save mutantkind. Nemesis admitted that he might have joined the X-Men out of nostalgia because they were settled in San Francisco, his place of birth. The first step was to look at pre-mutant DNA from Namor's era to discover what caused an evolutionary leap, and it was revealed by McCoy and Bradley that his parents were the best candidates of study on that subject, as he was born in 1906.

X-Club traveled to 1906 to gather blood samples from James' parents. Though they succeeded, his father was killed during the rampage of the first sentinel that caused the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Before dying, Nicola asked for Nemesis' name, "James", finding it a good name for a boy. Before returning to the present, James told his mother to bury the samples in Golden Gate Park, as they couldn't come back with them. They later found that the Dreaming Celestial was standing on top of the samples. Nemesis then returned to the past to ensure his own birth, witnessing his mother's death.

When Norman Osborn and his Avengers began policing the mutant population in California, Doctor Nemesis and the X-Club were key to Cyclops' plans. After rescuing Beast and Professor X from Osborn's prison, Nemesis and the rest of the X-Club joined the X-Men on the risen Asteroid M, renamed Utopia. Soon after the X-Men's relocation, they mourned the death of Yuriko Takiguchi. Later he and the X-Club were charged with preventing Utopia from sinking back into the ocean.

Dr. Nemesis and the rest of X-Club became instrumental fixtures on Utopia, helping to keep the island running and providing medical assistance and other valuable aid to the island's embattered population.

With the arrival of Hope Summers, attacks by Bastion and the Human Council became more severe. Doctor Nemesis and the rest of the X-Club were led into a trap that took them off of Utopia, where Bastion created an energy sphere blocking the entire San Francisco area from the outside world. Despite aid from the Avengers, the X-Club was still unable to breach the barrier. Bastion was eventually defeated by Hope, undoing the barrier and allowing X-Club to return to Utopia.

Schism

In order to counter the massive unleashing of Sentinels around the world, Nemesis worked on the project of a Sentinel-specific EMP.

During the attack at the Museum of Mutant History, Cyclops granted command of Utopia to him.

As the X-Men leaders were waiting for Cyclops' decision over fighting or evacuating due to the approach of a giant Sentinel, Nemesis was in favor of evacuating the island, and later tried to diffuse the conflict between Namor and Wolverine.

Avengers vs. X-Men

When Hope projected blasts of energy, with the form of the Phoenix, Nemesis was the one to confirm to Cyclops that that energy was a signal, and that others would notice it.

During the Avengers/X-Men conflict, Doctor Nemesis stood with his people, battling Iron Man after having taken down Quicksilver. He regrouped to the X-Diaspora after the initial battle on Utopia.

Doctor Nemesis

As Hope created a device to make herself appear to telepaths at five different locations, Nemesis was sent to Wakanda along with Rachel Summers, Magma, Danger, and Storm. He was shot with Black Widow's neurotoxin dart, making him delirious and incapacitated for a time. He participated in tracking Hope and the Avengers along with the Phoenix Five, fighting in the Arctic Circle.

When the Phoenix Five began losing control and the Avengers realized their mistake in preventing Hope from hosting the Phoenix, the X-Men and Avengers united to stop the Phoenix Five. Bradley was among them, but wasn't seen during the final brawl.

At the end of the conflict, he postulated on joining the faculty staff of the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning, but wasn't selected by Kitty Pryde.

X-Force

He then retired into a well-guarded laboratory to perform science on his own, until Cable came to him, suffering from the depletion of his telepathic powers, and recruited him into his X-Force, banding with Domino, Hope, and especially Forge, in order to help Cable.

Driven by precognitive visions of the future, Cable and the rest of the team found themselves outlaws for a while, but managed to clear their names and save the Earth from impending doom. X-Force was soon reformed however, as Cable brought a new team together after he and Hope found themselves the targets of an international arms dealer by the name of Volga. Now forced to house his consciousness in cloned bodies, Cable brought Nemesis on board to help him find a way to cure both him and the comatose Hope.

Cable also used X-Force to protect the interests of mutantkind, pushing the group into ever more questionable territory. When team member Fantomex went insane and betrayed the team, Hope took charge of the team. They successfully defeated Fantomex, and Hope permanently replaced her father on the team, with Nemesis staying with them.

Krakoa

Doctor Nemesis was of the many mutants that joined the mutant nation of Krakoa upon its creation. He was seen alongside many other Krakoans grieving Charles Xavier dead at the hands of anti-mutant superhuman criminals that had infiltrated Krakoa and killed many of its residents, including Xavier.

Nemesis was a key member of Krakoa's science corps and responsible for the creation of the Krakoan miracle drugs that bought the fledgling mutant nation international recognition. Continuing his experiments with Krakoa's plantlife, he began growing consciousness-altering psychedelics from his own cerebellum.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Mutant powers

• Mutant Enhanced Intelligence: Doctor Nemesis is a mutant and possess what he describes as a "self-evolved intellect" Which is an, in reality, instinctively Intuitive Genius much along the lines of Forge and Box (to his ultimate chagrin) being an advanced polymath specializing in various experimental fields ranging towards genetics, computer programming, handheld weaponry, temporal physics, interdimensional travel, and more.

Bio-technological enhancement

While his abilities are strictly intellect based, they've allowed him to master many scientific and medical domains, and permitted him to create several inventions and granted him the following abilities:

• Cybernetic/rebuilt replacement eyes: Having rebuilt his own eyes, Nemesis possess numerous abilities, which can be active simultaneously. He stated once that they were organic.
  • Genetic Anomalies Detection: Able to detect mutations or genetic abnormalities in living beings (i.e. clones, mutants, etc).
  • X-Ray vision: Can see muscles and organs below the skin level.
  • Hyper optics: Able to see clearly over a distance of 200 meters.
  • He was also able to see invisible beings.

Biological enhancement

• Eugenics Manipulation: Being a scientific genius, both learned and instinctive; has enabled Doctor Nemesis to make amazing strides in the pharmaceutical, patrimonial, and biological fields. So much so that he's been shown to easily augment the physiological structures of both himself and others.
  • Advanced Longevity and Enhanced Immune System: Using regular injections of various chemicals, Nemesis granted himself advanced longevity and resistance to fatigue and diseases.
  • Biomolecular Alteration: Through a precise, yet unidentified means of DNA Manipulation, James is able to produce an augmentative mutation in various living organisms making them grow to disproportionate sizes as well as increasing their strength all while maintaining precise control over said monstrosities akin to a beast master.

Abilities

• Genius Intelligence: Doctor Nemesis is an accomplished scientist in several fields including genetics, robotics, chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc.

Weaknesses

Arrogance.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Cybernetic replacement eyes: Doctor Nemesis possesses enhanced eyes granting him further abilities.
• Chemical Compounds:
  • Slowed aging process and enhanced immune system cure: Granting him advanced longevity. These effects require regular injections to be effective.
  • Concentrated truth serum
  • 'Super-sedative'
• Miscellaneous: White fedora, surgical mask, white trench coat, various sedatives and narcotics.

Weapons

Conventional firearms, hypodermic needle gun firing darts loaded with "science narcotics", and a super-sedative gun.

Notes

• Originally an Ace Periodicals character first appearing in Lightning Comics #6 (April, 1941), Dr. Nemesis lapsed into the public domain. Roy Thomas decided to use a new version of him in the 1993 Invaders (Vol. 2) mini-series after editor Mark Gruenwald told him that he could not use minor Timely Comics superheroes as members of the Battle Axis. As per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #4, his non-Marvel appearances are canon to Earth-616.
• It is common for his eyes to be thought to be his mutation, as Graydon Creed who told him to "enjoy those eyes while [he] still can", while thinking he was going to depower him.
  • It is possible that Marvel writer Simon Spurrier made that mistake himself, as Nemesis said earlier in the issue that his eyes were "organic marvels". They may indeed be part or all organic, as they are stated to be "rebuilt".
  • As the origin and function of those eyes is unknown, it could be assumed they are of mutant source, or need his mutant powers to process.
  • Although, he was stated to be a Cyborg by Steve Rogers.
• Doctor Nemesis once stated that he should be able to cure Vampirism in ten years and with a billion dollars in funds.
• Doctor Nemesis created the Krakoan drugs that was distributed throughout the human world.

See Also

• 193 appearance(s) of James Bradley (Earth-616)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of James Bradley (Earth-616)
• 3 minor appearance(s) of James Bradley (Earth-616)
• 16 mention(s) of James Bradley (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) in handbook(s) of James Bradley (Earth-616)
• 98 image(s) of James Bradley (Earth-616)
• 18 quotation(s) by or about James Bradley (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Doctor Nemesis at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe