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WOTAN
Created by Gardner Fox

PERSONAL DATA

  •   Name: None
  •   Height: 5'10 1/2"
  •   Weight 151 lbs
  •   Eyes: Green
  •   Hair: Green
  •   Family: Unknown
  •   Residence: Mobile
  •   Occupation: Sorcerer/Scientist
  •   1st Appearance: More fun Comics #56
  •   Post-Zero Hour Fate: The current whereabouts of Wotan are currently unknown but he is no longer considered a threat to mankind. Doctor Fate II (Linda Strauss), Nabu and a avatar of God helped convert Wotan from his evil ways.

    HISTORY

    Wotan named himself after a Teutonic god and had a physical incarnation precious to his current one. In this former incarnation, Wotan battled Nabu the Wise who was later known as the original Doctor Fate. Wotan's main goals was to conquer the world. He utilized both ancient methods of sorcerer and advanced technology. to achieve his goal.

    Just after Kent Nelson first donned the helmet of Nabu, he encountered and defeated Wotan in Egypt and freed Inza Cramer. Later when Fate and his friend Inza Cramer were in America, Wotan unsuccessfully tried to kill them both. Doctor Fate again defeated Wotan, but Wotan escaped and attempted revenge by blowing up the Earth. Doctor Fate thwarted Wotan and placed in underground in a mystical trance.

    However, Wotan's spirit contacted one of Doctor Fate's foes, the scientist Ian Karkull who freed Wotan from his trance. Wotan and Karkull formed an uneasy alliance and constructed advanced weaponry with which to attack the nations of the world. But in trying to destroy Doctor Fate, Wotan instead destroyed his own base.

    Wotan and Karkull escaped, and Wotan aided Karkul in his attempt to assassinate numerous future United States Presidents (See All-Star Squadron Annual #3) Later, Wotan sough to conquer the British Isles, only to be defeated by the Shinning Knight. After working in alliance with Per Degation, Wotan was trapped in another dimension

    When Zatara the Magician died, Wotan intercepted and captured his soul. Wotan thereafter put into effect a plan to return to Earth by stealing the body of Zatara's daughter Zatanna and infusing it with his essence. The Spectre made a bargain with Wotan by which Wotan returned to Earth but Zatanna regained her body and Zatara's soul was freed.

    In the late 1980's Wotan tried to kill Nabu (using Kent Nelson's body) but was successfully stopped by Linda Strauss (Doctor Fate II), Nabu and a avatar of God. Wotan is currently living in a monestary, blinded by the vision of God.

    UPDATE 98

    Wotan was a member of a primitive tribe who, after being raped and beaten, sought refuge with an old sorceress who begun teaching him/her the mystic arts. Eventually, in order to escape death, he/she learned how to extend his/her life mystically through soul transference. Some time after that, and thousands of bodies later, he/she took on the name of Wotan, after the ruler of the gods in Germanic and Norse mythology. Mixing science and sorcery throughout the years, Wotan tried in vain to conquer the world.

    His "death" in the DeMatteis and McManus run of Dr. Fate was actually an attempt to take on the body of The Avatar whom, Wotan claimed, had abandoned his most recent body twenty years ago. The Avatar was supposedly the essence of God on Earth in human form and it would manifest itself as the leader of great religions. Dr. Fate and the Justice League tried to stop him but he defeated them. After encountering the power of the Avatar he said he had been spiritually changed and that he would never menace anyone ever again. He then met a man who had served The Avatar for years and they strode off to begin life anew.

    POWERS

  •   Powers: Wotan is a master of sorcery and a brilliant scientists and inventor.

  •   Limitations: Unknown.

    PRINCIPLE ADVERSARIES

    • Doctor Fate I
    • Spectre I
    • Zatanna
    • Zatara
    APPEARANCES

  •   Golden Age

    • More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940)

  •   Silver Age to Modern Age

    • All-Star Squadron #1 (Sep 1981)
    • All-Star Squadron #3 (Nov 1981)
    • All-Star Squadron #48-49 (Aug - Sep 1985)
    • All-Star Squadron Annual #3 (1984)
    • Doctor Fate v2 #14-15 (Feb - Mar 1990)
    • JLA: Year One #12 (Dec 1998)
    • Justice League of America #193 (Aug 1981)