DC Comics has some of the coolest magic users. Sure, Marvel has Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, but neither of them can hold a candle to the coolness that is John Constantine and Zatanna. These two characters have shown the different sides of the DC magical world — Zatanna was a legacy hero who had been at the forefront of the superhero community while battling the biggest magical threats. Meanwhile, Constantine was on the dirtier side of things, and he has had to do terrible things to survive. Having both those characters opened doors to worlds readers never would have seen without them.
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However, neither of them is even DC’s best magical hero. That happens to be one of the publisher’s oldest characters: Doctor Fate. Fate ended up joining the Justice Society and becoming a legend, creating a mantle that has passed through numerous hands. There are many amazing magical DC characters, but there’s something about Fate. He scratches a similar itch to Marvel’s greatest magic users, but he does it in a way that really sets Fate apart and makes him into one of DC’s best kept secrets.
Doctor Fate Has Had an Amazingly Varied History
I’m going to level with you right here at the beginning: Doctor Fate is a character who seems deceptively simple. DC continuity can get rather confusing, and Fate has sometimes been a victim of that. I’ll start with the simple parts. Nabu was a Lord of Order, a powerful magic being who ended up on Earth back in Ancient Egypt. He helped defend the world, fought alongside the future Hawkman Prince Khufu and Black Adam, and eventually placed himself within the Helm of Fate. It gave the wearer the power of the Lord of Order, along with the spirit of Nabu talking to the bearer.
The Helmet was found by Kent Nelson, and because if was the Golden Age of Comics, he put it on and became a superhero. Back then, he was honestly on Superman’s level, power wise. He had super strength, flight, and magic powers that did anything the story needed them to. He would return in the Silver Age with the rest of the Golden Age heroes, and he was basically a less interesting version of Doctor Strange, appearing in the yearly JLA/JSA team-ups at times, doing magic stuff, and that was it. He was never one of the focuses of the stories and was sort of left in the dust in the ’70s when DC started putting out Earth-Two-based series.
The character mostly floundered until after Crisis on Infinite Earths. 1987’s Doctor Fate miniseries introduced Eric and Linda Strauss, who replaced Nelson when he was killed. This version would join the Justice League International and get an amazing series from J.M. DeMatteis and Shawn McManus. The mantle of Fate was played up to the highest levesl fo teh magical community (Fate’s appearance in the first Books of Magic series is shockingly brilliant), and it would become a hot potato over the years, going from the Strausses to Inza Nelson to Jared Stevens to Hector Hall to Nelson again, and now with Khalid Nassour.
Reading all of that could turn you off to the character, but there’s something about the modern version. Fate as a mantle is intriguing. Nabu is a wonderful presence in the various stories, and Nassour stepping into the mantle and trying to live up to it is amazing. Fate has a lot of the common elements of superhero sorcerers like the Tower of Fate, a magical library that can travel to other dimensions, the Amulet of Anubis, and the Cloak of Destiny. There’s all the familiar superhero sorcerer cheese and it builds an extremely interesting character. Fate works in every kind of magic story you can imagine. I’m partial to Nassour and Hector Hall as Fate; both of them have had to deal with different pressures because of the nature of the mantle and what it means.
This is my favorite aspect of the character. Becoming Doctor Fate changes the dynamic of the story. We’ve gotten Nabu as a basically benevolent presence, manipulative Nabu, and sometimes malevolent Nabu. Each of the different Fates had to deal with that while also enmeshed in magical mayhem, as powers beyond them move against them. In a lot of ways, Fate is a better Doctor Strange than Strange himself; the hero does the same things, but with the added fun of Nabu and a much more varied magical universe. Add in his long, corny, but endearing existence, and Fate is the best of the best.
DC Should Push Doctor Fate Again
Golden Age DC is brilliant, and Doctor Fate is one of many examples of why. The character started out as one of many cookie cutter superheroes of the Justice Society, “evolved” into a bland magic user that tried and failed to be Doctor Strange, and finally became a magical hot potato that had more hits than misses (seriously, the DeMatteis/McManus series is brilliant, and JSA Vol. 1 and the current volume two show off why the character can be so intriguing; there’s layers to it you sometimes don’t get elsewhere).
DC has the best magic characters in comics, in my opinion. The publisher has spent way longer showing what magic is all about, and there are so many corners to explore. Fate is the perfect explorer, especially with newbie Khalid Nassour, who could be the perfect character to explore it all in the modern day. DC is doing a lot in the last few years to show off just how great their B-list heroes and villains are. It’s time for their best magical character to get a new chance to shine in the blue and gold person of Doctor Fate.
What do you think about Doctor Fate? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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