The Doctor (Earth-5556)

The Doctor
Name	Unrevealed
Current Alias	The Doctor
Aliases	Theta Sigma, John Smith, Dr Von Wer, Dr James McCrimmon, Doctor Who, The Oncoming Storm, and many other aliases
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Former president of the High Council of Time Lords; occasional scientific advisor to United Nations (later Unified) Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT); former operative of the Celestial Intervention Agency; self-proclaimed protector of the universe, businessman, owner of the St. Louis bar
Relatives	Susan Foreman (granddaughter) Jenny (clone 'daughter') Miranda (adoptive daughter) Amy Pond and Rory Williams (parents-in-law) ;others Known wives include Prof. River Song, Queen Elizabeth I, Marilyn Monroe and Patience
Marital Status	Widowed
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	Variable
Weight	Variable
Eyes	Irises: Variable
Hair	Variable
Unusual Features	Two hearts, respiratory bypass, unique alien biology, regenerative ability
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Alien
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-5556
Place of Birth	Loombanks, House of Lungbarrow, Southern mountains of Gallifrey
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	Gallifrey
Occupation	Traveler in time and space
Education	Prydon Academy, Gallifrey
Base of Operations	Type 40 TARDIS, mobile across the known universe and beyond and all of time
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
First	Doctor Who Weekly #1 (October, 1979)
First	Doctor Who Weekly #1 (October, 1979)
Death	Doctor Who Magazine #285 (December, 1999) (last official Marvel appearance) X-Men: Chaos Engine #3 (unofficial, "Chief Physician")
Death	Doctor Who Magazine #285 (December, 1999) (last official Marvel appearance) X-Men: Chaos Engine #3 (unofficial, "Chief Physician")

History

The Doctor came from the planet Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous, home of the Time Lords. Details of his early life are unknown, but he attended the Time Lord Academy, where his best friend was the man who was destined to become his greatest nemesis, the Master. The Doctor eventually stole an obsolete type 40 TARDIS and fled Gallifrey in it, apparently accompanied by his granddaughter (who took the name Susan Foreman on Earth) in order to experience the universe for himself. Over the years he traveled the universe with numerous companions including Susan, K9, Sarah Jane Smith, Sharon and Ace, meeting allies like the shadow man Shayde, Death's Head, Kroton, Ivan Asimoff, the Free-Fall Warriors, Max Edison and Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer, and battling powerful monsters and villains such as the Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Beep the Meep, the Time Witch, the Malevilus, the demon Melanicus and countless others. Although he was eventually captured by the Time Lords and exiled to Earth in the 20th Century for a time, where he found employment with the paramilitary organization UNIT, he was later given his freedom by the Time Lords after assisting them against their insane former hero, Omega. The Doctor continues to explore and defend the universe across time and space.

The Doctor has extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of science, history, medicine, technology, and many others. He knows how to hypnotize normal humans, is a skilled swordsman and marksman, and has limited telepathic abilities.

Attributes

Powers

Near-immortality: As a Time Lord, the Doctor has a radically slowed aging process and can potentially live for hundreds or even thousands of years before needing to regenerate into a new body. The Doctor's age in the most current accounts is more than 2,000 years but he may be considerably older as he claims to have lost count due to his advanced age. There are also Time Lords who have reached as old as twelve thousand with seven-hundred and fifty considered middle aged. Despite this, he (usually) has the appearance and physical ability of a man in his prime. The Doctor can live indefinitely in one form but has noted he will not always be immune to the effects of aging, such as senility, if he does so.

Regeneration: The Doctor's most famous power is his ability to regenerate into a new body upon sustaining a mortal injury or reaching advanced age. While the physical appearance and personality is changed completely, his memories remain mostly (but not completely) intact. This allows the Doctor to live almost indefinitely. The standard number of regenerations a Time Lord can use is twelve although that can be changed. The early stages of Regeneration also allows Time Lords to regrow severed limbs. Regeneration also allows Time Lords to use powerful energy as a concussive force capable of incapacitating, or even destroying, multiple foes. Although all known incarnations of the Doctor have to date been Caucasian males, a change in racial appearance is possible and at least two Time Lords have been confirmed to have even changed gender , with the Doctor himself not ruling out the potential for such a change in the future.

Accelerated Healing Factor: The Doctor often shows impressive healing abilities. While not on par with someone like Wolverine, Time Lords can heal from broken bones in a few days, nonlethal bullet wounds in a day, survive falls from great heights and even regrow one of their hearts in a few months. As noted, a Time Lord soon after regeneration is able to regrow severed limbs or even survive otherwise-lethal gunshot wounds. Time Lords often slip into comas to recover from extreme damage that made them appear dead.

Telepathy: The Doctor possesses limited telepathic abilities and is a skilled hypnotist. This is a trait shared by all Time Lords and which allows them to communicate and rapidly share information and the Doctor is also able to confer this ability to humans temporarily as well as share information quickly. The Doctor is also capable of wiping out memories and slightly relieving the effects of mental illness. The level of hypnotic ability varies. The Master, for instance, was able to hypnotise an entire country into accepting him as their elected leader.

Alien Physiology: The Doctor's enhanced physiology allows him to survive on less oxygen than a human needs, have an increased resistance to poisons and toxins, and possess radically enhanced senses compared to humans. He can even briefly endure the hard vacuum of space as well as falls that would kill any human. Time Lords also possess extraordinary reflexes and hand eye coordination and dexterity. This grants them skill in athletics and hand-to-hand combat. It has been said that an average Time Lord is superior to a human in peak physical condition. The Doctor is able to survive being strangled due to him having a respiratory bypass system.

Enhanced Senses: Time Lords possess all of the senses of a human being to a heightened level. Their eyes could see in the dark better than humans and see objects hundred of yards away with nearly perfect clarity, they could hear across large distances, could identify objects such as blood and wood age and type by taste, and could even judge what time and location they were in based on smell alone. The Doctor has also displayed the ability to notice jumps in time and could sense the presence of another Time Lord even if they have regenerated although they have been fooled by those who used Fob watches to erase their memories and change their physiology.

Super-Genius Level Intellect: Time Lords are among the smartest species in the Universe and the Doctor shows extensive knowledge of many areas, such as human and alien sciences, technology, history, medicine, mechanics, and engineering, etc. to the point of literally beyond comprehension of what humans and many other aliens are capable of. The Doctor is also an excellent tactician and has taken down many powerful enemies using his cunning.

Chrono Vision: Time Lords are able to see time. To quote the Tenth Doctor, "Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not."

Energy Blasts: this ability is only potential available during the Regeneration process. The process releases vast amounts of Artron energy, which can be directed and channelled "Journey's End". Delaying it makes the energy release more explosive, causing it to, on one occasion, devastate the inside of the TARDIS and on another, be used as an extremely effective weapon, destroying several Daleks.

Weaknesses

The Doctor once claimed Aspirin could kill him. However, various events have triggered the Doctor's regenerations – radiation, Dalek weaponry, falling from great heights, and botched exploratory heart surgery are all examples. It can be assumed that when the Doctor reaches his final life, any of these examples and others would be able to kill him for good. It has also been established that the Doctor can be killed permanently if both his hearts are destroyed at the same time. Regeneration is an unpredictable process that could fail, or render the Doctor with an unsustainable body (i.e. he stated once that he could potentially regenerate with no head).

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Paraphernalia

Equipment

Sonic screwdriver. This innocent-looking device is the Doctor's favorite tool, and was once described by the War Doctor as a scientific instrument. The Doctor can reprogram it to manipulate sound and matter in nearly infinite combinations. Plus, the Tenth Doctor claims it doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim, but is very good at opening doors (as long as they aren't made of wood).

Weapons

Few to none. The Doctor prefers using brain instead of brawn, but he is an expert swordsman, crossbowman, marksman, and wrestler. When in his third incarnation, the Doctor stated he practised a form of martial arts known as Venusian Aikido. He has only been witnessed wielding guns on exceedingly rare occasions, sometimes using them as lethal force, sometimes not. On one occasion, he wielded a water pistol to stun creatures who were weak against water. He once successfully fended off Robin Hood in a duel using a combination of Venusian Akido and a large spoon.

Enemies

The Master The Doctor's arch enemy, a rival Time Lord and a master hypnotist. His super-genius level intellect combined with his charisma and his insanity makes him one of the universe's greatest threats. He once managed to take over Earth for a year (which was later reversed) and decimated the population using the Toclafane, humanity's descendants from the end of the universe. He used advanced alien technology to temporarily turn humanity into copies of himself, the so-called 'Master Race', before he apparently sacrificed himself to save the Doctor. When the Doctor next met the Master, the insane Time Lord had regenerated into a female form that now called herself Missy (short for "Mistress").

Great Intelligence A member of the Great Old Ones and master strategist. He has a vendetta against the Doctor as well as an obsession with Earth.

Companions

The Doctor rarely travels alone, preferring to share his adventures with the company of others. In his long life, he has travelled with family members (including his granddaughter, one of his wives, and his parents-in-law), humans who have joined him at various points in his travels, the occasional alien (including fellow Time Lords and, at one point, a shape-shifting alien who preferred the form of an Earth penguin), and even androids and a robot dog. To date his twelfth incarnation has only travelled with one known companion on a full-time basis, nanny-turned-schoolteacher Clara Oswald, who during the course of her adventures since joining the Doctor in his eleventh life is the only companion known to have (in some form) encountered every one of the Doctor's known incarnations.

Transportation

Type 40 TARDIS. Short for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, , though "Dimensions" is sometimes used, TARDIS refers to several models of space-time vessels, capable of travelling to any place or time (although the term "TARDIS" has also been identified a nickname Susan came up with specifically for the Doctor's space-time ship). The interior is an extradimensional space that can be much larger than the exterior, usually with cabins, recreational areas, and a control room. It often has a chameleon circuit, which allows the user to change its outward appearance to blend in with the scenery (in keeping with the Time Lords' nonintervention policy). The Doctor's TARDIS, for instance, took on the appearance of a London police call box when he visited Earth in the 1960s, but when the chameleon circuit malfunctioned, it remained in that shape permanently, only ever changing slightly or temporarily. The TARDIS is an "alive", sentient, machine-like lifeform capable of expressing emotion. It holds stated affection for the Doctor. The source of its power is the 'Heart of the TARDIS', connected to the Time Vortex. Looking at the Heart is dangerous, and reverted Blon Fel-Fotch Slitheen into an egg, giving her a second chance. The Doctor stated that if a Time Lord ever looked into the Heart, they would become a vengeful God. This statement was confirmed when Rose Tyler looked into the Heart of the TARDIS in order to save the Doctor from the resurrected Dalek Empire, and in doing so, became the Bad Wolf, which the writer of the episode compared to the Phoenix Force (Earth-616). This comparison was borne out turning the entire Dalek Fleet to dust and permanently resurrecting Jack Harkness. Afterwards, she scattered messages throughout time and space to ensure that she would become the Bad Wolf in the first place and to guide the Doctor in later years. However, due to the fragility of her human body, the power was killing her, forcing the Doctor to take it into himself, initiating regeneration. While on Earth, the Doctor has also been known to drive an antique roadster automobile dubbed "Bessie" and also designed a flying car.

Notes

• Although the title of both the TV series and one of the Marvel comic series is Doctor Who, the lead character is never known as anything but "The Doctor." His real name is a closely guarded secret that has never been revealed in any official media.
  • When he introduces himself as "The Doctor", people often ask, 'Doctor Who?'.
  • Recent episodes of the TV series have expanded further regarding the "Doctor who?" question and its significance.
  • The different incarnations of the Doctor are only once referred to on screen or in the printed page as the First Doctor, Second Doctor, etc. This is a convention developed by fans and the BBC for ease of reference. It is not an official title for the different versions of the character. The Eleventh Doctor was called such once on screen by Clara Oswald

• Marvel Comics first obtained the comic strip/book rights to the Doctor in 1979. Prior to this, several British publishers held the rights for a series of comic strips that ran from 1964 to 1979. There was also a separate comic strip devoted to the Daleks that was published for several years in the late 1960s before merging with the main Doctor Who strip. Marvel primarily published original adventures as a serialized strip in Doctor Who Weekly, later renamed Doctor Who Monthly and Doctor Who Magazine. This strip was later reprinted for North American distribution in several issues of Marvel Premiere and again in a monthly Doctor Who title that ran for several years in the early 1980s. The only non-DWM-related comic material published by Marvel was a one-off miniseries titled The Age of Chaos (written by Sixth Doctor actor Colin Baker), and it also reprinted excerpts from the 1964-1979 comic strip era in DWM and a spin-off magazine titled Doctor Who Classic Comics.

• Marvel Comics ceased to hold the license for the Doctor's comic book adventures in 1999, and consequently some of the information on this page (specifically, anything relating to Doctors introduced from 2005 onwards) was not revealed until after he ceased to be a Marvel character. It is included here purely for the sake of completeness but may not necessarily be relevant to the Doctor of Earth-5556, whose history does not always precisely match that of the original Doctor and whose position in relation to the canon of the television series is debatable. The image on this main page depicts the Eighth Doctor, the last to appear in titles carrying the Marvel UK banner on the cover. Marvel, in one form or another, depicted the adventures of the first eight Doctors in the Doctor Who Weekly/Doctor Who Monthly/Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. The comic strip established by Marvel in October 1979 continues to be published as of 2015 by current license holder Panini, who published on behalf of Marvel between 1996 and 1999. A separate North American-based comic book line was established by IDW Publishing between 2007 and 2013, with Titan Comics taking over this range as of 2014.

• The Doctor first appeared on the BBC Television (later known as BBC1) TV series Doctor Who. His first televised appearance was in the four-part 1963 serial An Unearthly Child in November and December 1963; the original version of Doctor Who ran until December 1989, and the Doctor appeared in all except one of the original series' serials, and all but a handful of the series' episodes. Afterwards, the Doctor appeared in the American made-for-TV film on Fox Doctor Who in May 1996, and then the series was revived in March 2005 for BBC1 (by then called BBC One), still featuring the same character, and continues to air as of 2014; it marked its 50th anniversary in November 2013. All three productions are considered part of the same continuity. Two motion pictures starring Peter Cushing as "Dr. Who" were produced in the 1960s; these were remakes of TV stories and as such are not considered canonical, though some spin-off media have attempted to reconcile their existence and the current production team of the TV series confirmed that the 50th anniversary special at one point was to have established that they exist as movies in the "Whoniverse."
• So far, twelve different actors have played the Doctor on an ongoing basis in Doctor Who: William Hartnell (1963-66); Patrick Troughton (1966-69); Jon Pertwee (1970-74); Tom Baker (1974-81); Peter Davison (1981-84); Colin Baker (1984-86); Sylvester McCoy (1987-89 and the 1996 TV movie); Paul McGann (1996 TV movie and later audio adventures); Christopher Eccleston (2005); David Tennant (2005-2010) and Matt Smith (2010-13). Additionally, Peter Cushing played a reimagined version of the character, Dr. Who, in two 1960s-era films (one of which, Dr. Who and the Daleks, was adapted as a comic book by Dell Comics) which are not considered canon. In 2013, two additional actors were unveiled as playing incarnations of the Doctor: John Hurt, introduced as a previously unknown incarnation, and Peter Capaldi, who took over the role of the Doctor from Smith in December 2013 and as of 2015 is the incumbent in the role; Capaldi has been confirmed to be returning as the Doctor for a second season of episode scheduled to air in the fall of 2015.
• Much of the character background detailed above comes from varied sources of uncertain canonicity with relation to the television series. The BBC, owners of the franchise, have never made a firm statement as to what is considered canon, therefore all spin-offs including Marvel Comics stories, are considered a "grey area".
• Several characters from the Marvel-era comic strips have since been featured in officially licensed Doctor Who audio dramas by Big Finish Productions, most notably Izzy Sinclair, Frobisher, and Maxwell Edison. In 2013, a "mini-episode" of Doctor Who titled "The Night of the Doctor" featured the Eighth Doctor reciting the names of most of his Big Finish audio drama companions; this has been widely seen as confirming that the audio dramas fall within the continuity of the TV series, including those featuring DWM comic strip characters. Further to this, in 2015 Big Finish announced that it had obtained the rights to begin featuring some characters from the 2005-present revival in original audio dramas.
• Two spin-off TV series have been produced by the BBC: Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures; as well as the non-BBC spin-off, K9. No spin-offs have as yet been adapted as full-length comic books by Marvel, although Torchwood was adapted as a comic strip by Titan Publishing for Torchwood Magazine, which later was reprinted by Titan in a monthly comic title for North American distribution; the two publictions were discontinued in 2011.
• The Doctor's exact age is unclear. In the 1963-89 TV series his stated age ranged from 450 in the serial The Tomb of the Cybermen (September 1967) to 953 in the serial Time and the Rani (September 1987). In the 2005-present revival, various episodes (such as "Aliens of London" from April 2005) reset the Ninth Doctor's age to 900 for reasons unknown, and as of the episode "The Time of the Doctor" (December 2013), he is now estimated to be at least 1,500 years of age. In the novels, however, the Doctor was already well past his 1,000th year by the end of the Eighth Doctor era. Current show runner Steven Moffat has stated that the Doctor simply doesn't know his age any more and that he lies about it constantly which accounts for the wildly different and contradicting ages he's given throughout the years. The 2014 season has the Twelfth Doctor claiming that he is now more than 2,000 years old.
• Before the current TV series, the Doctor became involved in the Last Great Time War, in which he was apparently responsible for the destruction of both his own race and the Dalek race. He has "regenerated" thirteen times so far; a process in which a Time Lord can change his physical appearance and cheat death (though in the episode "Journey's End", the Tenth Doctor was able to heal his injuries without changing his appearance). Time Lords can normally only regenerate a maximum of 12 times; however, it's possible for the Time Lords to grant one of their number a new regenerative cycle. This happened to the Doctor in the TV episode "The Time of the Doctor", which aired in December 2013, and allowed him the ability to regenerate for the thirteenth time (although this body is nominally referred to as the "Twelfth Doctor" by official sources, not the Fourteenth) when the Time Lords were able to contact the Eleventh Doctor from a pocket universe the Doctor safely placed them in on the final day of the Time War in the episode "The Day of the Doctor".
• Sydney Newman, one of the show's creators, previously created spy series The Avengers for the BBC's rival network ITV, a show with a cultural impact so great it caused Marvel's The Avengers to be renamed Avengers Assemble for UK release (however, any comics featuring characters from the TV series that are published in the US must use an alternate title, such as Steed and Mrs. Peel, due to Marvel's rights to the Avengers title stateside).

Recommended readings

• About Time, volumes 1-6, by Lawrence Miles and Tat Wood, Mad Norwegian Press
• I, Who: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who Novels and Audios, volumes 1-3, by Lars Pearson, Mad Norwegian Press
• AHistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who Universe 2nd Edition , by Lance Parkin with additional material by Lars Pearson, Mad Norwegian Press
• The Comic Strip Companion 1964-79 by Paul Scoones

Trivia

• The Doctor was exiled at least once.
• 97 episodes of the TV series are missing from the BBC archives, existing only in the form of soundtracks and sometimes short clips. This is due to the BBC's policy in the 1960s and 70s of wiping film stock for re-use. Many episodes, however, have been recovered over the years and concerted efforts are ongoing to recover the rest. Audio recordings exist of all lost episodes, however.

See Also

• 314 appearance(s) of The Doctor (Earth-5556)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of The Doctor (Earth-5556)
• 11 mention(s) of The Doctor (Earth-5556)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of The Doctor (Earth-5556)
• 265 image(s) of The Doctor (Earth-5556)
• 23 quotation(s) by or about The Doctor (Earth-5556)

Links and References

• Whoniverse
• Doctor Who Reference Guide
• Doctor Who Wiki