Dr. Hell

"Bend your knees and your wills before I, Dr. Hell!"

One of the most brilliant scientists the world has ever known, the man named Dr. Hell was not always a monster obsessed with the domination of the world. However, a fateful expedition to Bardos Island would spark within him an ambition that would burn like the sun, twisting him from a benevolent biologist to a psychotic supervillain. With his terrible generals and his horrifying Mechanical Beasts at his side, Dr. Hell has arrayed against the forces of Good armies of untold power, ready to unleash them upon the world and take his rightful place upon his throne. His genius is incalculable; his ego and ambition unstoppable. And all that stands in his way is the legacy of his former partner, Juzo Kabuto, and the infinite resolve of the defenders of the Earth.

Background Information
Doctor Hell. Master of life, genius of machines, rightful king of the world, guardian of the world against the Mykene Empire. It is by his hand that the Mechanical Beasts have come into being; it is by his ambition that the dead have been revived for one purpose, and one purpose only - putting him on the throne of the world, to unify it before the Mykene can arrive. He has thrown his lot in with the Divine Crusaders, in order to make certain that he has the resources, the power, and the reach to enact his will, and he will stop at nothing to see it done - because, if he does not, the alternative is too terrible to bear.

Once the partner of Kabuto Juuzo, Dr. Hell had always burned with a secret ambition that matched his unsurpassed genius. Conquering the secrets of life, the hidden biological gears that allow machines to turn, was merely the first step for Doctor Hell's desires, but it was fate that opened the doors of time and allowed Doctor Hell to surpass even his greatest mortal accomplishments.

That fate, those doors, was Bardos Island. The secret place where once the Mykene landed upon Earth and established the base of their power, it was a technological and biological wonderland, a sacred place any scientist worth his salt would long to discover. But it was not any scientists who did so. It was a research team, lead by Doctor Hell...and his partners, Kabuto Kenzo and Kabuto Juuzo. Together with Hell's assistant, Nishikiora Tsubasa, the team found the world of the Mykene opened up to them, and found within machines of unimagineable power, secrets undreamt of by the mortal world. Hell found more than this. He found ambition. "With these machines, a man could conquer the world," he declared.

With the help of Tsubasa, Doctor Hell and his team 'reinvigorated' the twin mummy priests of Mykene - though in reality Hell himself had poisoned them after discovering their terrible secret, melting half of each of them in order to manipulate them into a perfect servant. With the birth of Baron Ashura, Hell's plans came together - he would use the very weapons of Mykene to unite the world in the event that they returned, and destroy them with their own sword. But first, he had to rid himself of the ultimately troublesome Kabuto Juuzo, who had begun...asking questions of Tsubasa and Kenzo. Dispatching Baron Ashura and some of the makeshift Mechanical Beasts he had managed to reinvigorate, Hell drove the rest of the team off the island, and settled in to take control.

For the next year, Doctor Hell oversaw the reinvigoration of the Mykene's base, transforming Bardos from a lifeless prison-tomb into a bustling center of activity. Reviving more servants - the devillish Count Pygman and the fearsome Count Brocken - Doctor Hell plumbed the deepest secrets of Mykene, learning the fine arts of controlling and manipulating the Machine Beasts and uncovering yet more secrets of the ancient world. Hell's plans for world domination were well under way. When the Mykene arrived, they would never know what hit them.

It was, however, not until the genius Bian Zoldark made contact with Doctor Hell that the fearsome conqueror took an interest in the Divine Crusaders. Zoldark's ideas were at least as interesting to Hell as the resources he had at his command - resources Hell could easily utilize for his own ends and goals, his own productions, and his own projects, so long as the end goal was to Zoldark's liking. Indeed, the contract was suitable to Hell - for the moment - and so he decided to take Zoldark up on his offer. The Divine Crusaders would prove to be a fruitful place for Hell to conduct his...experiments...in relative peace (though that Shu Shirikawa getting the lion's bulk of the budget always annoyeed him just a bit). And so long as Hell contributed some of his great strength and wisdom to the Divine Crusaders, they were happy. For a time, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. The only problem in Hell's mind was the spawn of the Kabuto family; the only threat that blocked his looming domination was the Invincible Iron Castle, Mazinger Z, and its pilot, Kabuto Koji. He was content, or as content as a man who burns with ambition can ever be. Time and again, he watched his subordinates, and the servants of the Divine Crusaders, clash with the Earthsphere Federation Alliance and Mazinger Z. Time meant nothing to Doctor Hell. He could take as long as he needed - so long as the ticking clock of the Mykene's arrival did not reach doomsday.

But even with these great resources, even with the power, the knowledge, the understanding Hell had, he could not quite yet achieve his dreams. He could not yet achieve unification under the banner of Doctor Hell. He could not yet protect the world from Mykene...so long as Photonic Power remained out of his grasp. It was necessary; Photonic Power would allow for the unfettered use of his Mechanical Beasts, a power-up that would be necessary for the long siege of Earth the Mykene were certain to bring. So long as Koji Kabuto and Mazinger Z stand in his way, however, he cannot prepare for the Mykene's invasion properly; Juuzo's grandson knows not what is being wrought even now amongst the stars. Every Mechanical Beast that falls, every plan beaten by Koji, is one more sting of the lash of betrayal from the old, dissolved partnership of Hell and Juuzo. Even Dr. Hell could not say that seeing the boy fight so against his wishes didn't remind him of his old, dear former friend.

And so Doctor Hell remains stymied by the legacy of Juuzo; a legacy of betrayal, of short-sighted rebellion, of friendship broken and promises destroyed, and of a great black castle that rises into the sky whenever Mechanical Beasts rear their heads.

Stymied.

But not stopped.

Personality Traits
There is one quality Doctor Hell possesses, one singular, undeniable quality that not merely shapes him, but -defines- him, the way a dictionary defines words, the way reality defines perception (or perception defines reality); it is the overwhelming focal point, the center, the binding part that makes Doctor Hell Doctor Hell.

It is his ambition.

This, more than his genius, more than his ruthlessness, more than his pragmaticism, more than his manipulative understanding of the human mind, is what makes Doctor Hell who he is. It is a burning desire to soothe this ambition that makes Dr. Hell more than the common man could ever hope to be, that puts him so far removed from lesser, 'simpler' geniuses. It is this fire that drives him to discover yet more secrets of the world; it is this flame that urges him to bring the world beneath his will. He may claim that it is for the greater good, that he desires world domination to stop the Mykene from wreaking their hellish vengeance, but his reasoning is just that - an excuse. Doctor Hell's ambition has driven him to heights humans can only gaze upon; it has forced him down depths no sane and moral man would ever consider even looking into. He has brought life to the dead; he has revived ancient machines of alien technology. He has unravelled the secrets of the universe. And still he is not satisfied.

Perhaps nothing CAN satisfy the burning need that lurks in his dark heart. Perhaps there is nothing that Doctor Hell wants but his ambition. But if this is the case - if this is the truth - then the Kabuto family has much to fear.

Of course, it is around this foundation of ambition that Hell's personality is built. It is undeniable that Doctor Hell is a genius in and of himself; his cunning and intellect is unsurpassed - it can only be matched, and even that is no mean feat. With heartless abandon, Hell manipulates his servants to his alien goals, not letting even his most loyal minions off the hook. Indeed, Baron Ashura, Viscount Pygman, and Count Brocken are bound by his biological manipulations, unable to betray or harm the good Doctor so long as he lives. Hell trusts no one; after Juuzo's rebuffing of his great goal, Hell cannot afford to trust. He has had his best friend turn upon him (for admittedly perfectly logical reasons, but bring that up to him at your own peril). He has had his very assistant, with whom he surpassed the barriers of life and death (mostly), turn on him in favor of Juuzo. He has no family. He has no loved ones. There is only Hell, and the World, and as far as Hell is concerned, if the World isn't serving him, it is against him. His machiavellian schemes are the stuff of legends; his plots are far-reaching, with ramifications further and deeper than the average investigation can unearth. Often, only once the plan has advanced to the point where even Mazinger cannot halt it are the wheels that turn in Hell's head visible; sometimes, not even then.

For all his manipulations, for all his cold power, for all his burning ambition, Hell is a surprisingly competent and capable scientist and leader. Contributing discoveries to the Divine Crusaders (those that he sees fit to donate, anyhow; rarely his best work) and sending his subordinates to back up DC forces, and (on rare occasions) actively commandeering them for his own devices, Hell sees the value in the individual soldier as a testbed for his ideas. At any time, anyone may attract his attentions, and those who accept them may find themselves given power beyond their wildest dreams...with the understanding that they bend knee to Doctor Hell, and follow his every order. Moreover, Hell hates to waste resources; rather than throwing minion after minion, Mechanical Beast after Mechanical Beast, or what have you at his foes, Dr. Hell prefers to subtly engineer things to his liking and make certain that he loses as little as possible. Even DC's copious resource flow is not something Hell takes for granted; his incredible mind takes tally of everything, making certain he understands all possibilities of each situation. Hell always makes sure he can find something to do with even the loosest scrap of material; in his hands, even a Zaku or Lion can become a terror.

However, it is biology, not robotics, that is Doctor Hell's first love. His understanding of the mortal frame is quite literally unsurpassed; he has conducted researches ethical and demonic on humans, newtypes, psychodrivers, and everything else that lives and breathes under the sun. Some claim he is capable of resurrecting the very dead, and they are not far from the mark. When Hell turns his eyes upon a virus or vaccine, a plague or a poison, its secrets are soon to be known to the Divine Crusaders; little can hide from his expert eyes. Truly, Dr. Hell has earned his pedigree. Despite his genius, despite his brilliance, despite all his accomplishments, however, Hell is not satisfied. The Kabuto Family still draws breath; Mazinger Z is a poignant reminder of his best friend's betrayal. If there is one failing Hell has, if there is one flaw that he possesses deeper than any other, it is his obsession with ending the legacy of Juuzo and burning it to the ground. Juuzo represents more than a failure to Hell; the Kabutos represent more than obstacles. They are foes he knows in the depth of his soul are both his responsibility and his problem. They are fiends, his fiends, his personal demons, and they must be conquered before he can truly progress with his domination of all known space.

Arguably, Hell's domination is, indeed, for the good of mankind. He threw in with the Divine Crusaders not merely for their reach but for their end goal - the defense of mankind against the alien hordes. Though Hell is not deluded enough to believe that he is some sort of humanitarian, he still recognizes that as it stands, Mankind cannot hope to fend off the united forces of the Mykene, let alone the Balmarians, the Zondar, the Spiral Empire...and so on and so forth. Man got lucky with the Zentraedi; the Mykene will not be so persuaded to stay their hand, and Hell will not be caught with his pants down. If only for his own desire - to conquer all the universe - Hell will unify the world as a blade against the Mykene. If only for his own good, Hell works tirelessly for the good of mankind...whether they damn well want it or not.

Perhaps it is because of this that Hell values his servants so. Forgiving of even the most repeated failure, it takes a great deal for Hell to simply discard an ally who could be useful to him in the future - even outright betrayal may actually play into Hell's masterful schemes in the long run. Moreover, Hell knows how to reward loyalty with shows of 'affection', serving his own plans with minor rewards like special Mechanical Beasts or secret weapons that really cost nothing, but appear to be very important. So long as the allies think they are important, they are loyal, and no one appreciates loyalty like Dr. Hell.

Talents And Abilities
Doctor Hell is, quite literally, the most brilliant biologist ever to walk the face of the Earth. A man who has literally conquered death itself through fully scientific means, before he ever discovered the Mykenese arts, Doctor Hell's understanding of the human biology far surpasses literally everyone else on the planet Earth except *perhaps* Lord Genome and Nishkiori Tsubasa - one a centuries-old geneticist, the other his own student.

Doctor Hell is an equally-gifted roboticist, physicist, and generally omnidisciplinary scientist. He is also an extraordinarily competent manipulator and tactician, as well as being a master magician.

He's kind of crazy.