Dr. Stratos

Years ago, Dr. Sebastian Stratos was one of the most brilliant meteorologists and atmospheric engineers in the United States. When he hit upon a technique for controlling the weather, Dr. Stratos showed his designs to corporations and government think tanks. They told him his design was absurd, his calculations faulty, and there was no way his device could possibly work. Stratos insisted on building a prototype and performing a full-scale demonstration to prove he was right, but everyone refused, thinking it a colossal waste of time and money. Stratos’ reputation in the scientific community plummeted and people began calling him a crackpot, mentally unstable.
Furious at his detractors and critics, Stratos retreated to an isolated lab in the American southwest to build his working prototype. He turned its power against Nolan Aircraft, one of the corporations that had derided his genius, and forced down one of their experimental planes. He then broadcast his demands—unless he was paid millions in ransom, he would use his power over the weather to ground all air traffic. A new superhero named Captain Thunder found Stratos’ hidden lair and defeated him, however, putting an end to his plans, his career, and his freedom.
Stratos’ scientific genius allowed him to escape from prison on numerous occasions, and he always returned with a new scheme to use weather control for his own ends and to destroy his nemesis, Captain Thunder. One of his greatest plans involved capturing Captain Thunder and other heroes with weather-based powers. He used a device to transfer their powers—amplified many times—into his own body, making him a virtual god capable of commanding weather on a global scale. The heroes overcame Stratos by forcing him to overtax his new abilities, and the powerless super-criminal was returned to prison.
Dr. Stratos eventually achieved a personal triumph. He captured Captain Thunder and revealed the hero’s true identity on worldwide television, also realizing the initial test of his own weather device was responsible for giving Captain Thunder his powers. While soon defeated and imprisoned, the doctor gloated that he’d harmed Thunder more than any thought possible. His mind no longer just focused vengefully on Captain Thunder, Dr. Stratos stumbled upon a startling truth—his weather control devices had never worked! Apparently, the ability to control the weather resided in him all along; his devices merely subconsciously focused his latent power to achieve the effects he expected.
Stratos used his now unleashed abilities to escape from prison once more, going into hiding while he perfected control over his powers. With his old foe Captain Thunder now leader of the Freedom League, Dr. Stratos decided he needed a team of his own, so he joined forces with Dr. Simian to recreate The Crime League. Stratos has been de facto leader of the criminal gang ever since.
Stratos’ struggles against Captain Thunder has passed on to a new generation, the Captain’s son, transformed into the “living lighting” Thunderbolt. Now Doctor Stratos wants to claim Thunderbolt’s power and potential for his own.

Physical Description

Special abilities

Doctor Stratos can mentally change and command the weather in an area some thirty miles across, more than enough to cover an entire city. He can cause unseasonal temperatures, precipitation, or other weather effects.
Stratos can also create intense localized weather disturbances, including blasting targets with lightning bolts from his hands, buffeting them with gale force winds, or subjecting them to intense heat or cold. He routinely surrounds himself with powerful winds that deflect incoming attacks, and hovers high in the air, supported by the winds.
Unwilling to “sully his hands,” Doctor Stratos prefers to attack from a distance with his powers, using them to keep foes from getting too close.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Arrogance is Dr. Stratos’ defining characteristic. He is supremely conceited, originally refusing to believe his brilliant plans for a weather control device could ever be wrong. He now considers himself a demigod rather than a “mere human,” gifted with power and intelligence far beyond that of the “common cattle.” He’s fond of likening himself to Zeus (which provides his associate Medea with no end of amusement). He plans to rule as a god over a scientific and technological utopia created by his genius and structured according to his own logic and “reasoning.”
Stratos is quite vengeful. Even the slightest insult to his abilities must be answered, and those who thwart his plans particularly earn his wrath. He reserves a special hatred for Captain Thunder and all that he represents, which now extends to the Captain’s son Thunderbolt and his friends and protégés in the Freedom League.