| PER DEGATON | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by John Broome and Irwin Hasen |
Per Degaton
PERSONAL DATA
Occupation: Lab assistant; would-be tyrant
Marital Status: Presumed Single
Base of Operation: Mobile
Group Affiliation(s): Injustice Society of the World; Time Stealers
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 4"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red
First Appearance: All-Star Comics #35 (June-July 1947): "The Day that Dropped Out of Time"
Creators: John Broome and Irwin Hasen
OVERVIEW
Stealing his boss' time machine, Degaton has tried to take over the world multiple times, only to find himself back in the lab shortly before his burglary.
HISTORY
A would-be physicist working for a secret government project, Per Degaton had dreams of grandeur that he would use his "great" knowledge to steal from the project to begin his world conquest. After a disastrous series of actions that set a dinosaur-bodied Ultra-Humanite loose on New York City, he hid his tracks well enough to be able to use information he gleamed to get assigned to a time-travel project in Nazi Germany. Seeing that the Nazis were ready to be invaded by the Allied forces, he covertly escaped to America and became the assistant of a time-travel researcher, Professor Zee.
Zee and Degaton's researches were not achieving results until he persuaded Zee to use a "Chrono-Crystal" that had been used by the time-traveling Mekanique. Knocking Zee unconscious, he stole the now-functioning time machine and...
- He traveled to 335 BCE and caused Alexander the Great to lose a major battle. This affected the time stream and in modern day 1947, things started to morph into earlier version of that item. Degaton would use a cache of modern day weapons to take over the world. The Justice Society, using the Magic Sphere, detected where in time the change had come from and defeated Degaton. Using a fail-safe device, he planned on returning to 1947, only to find...
... he returned to just before stealing the machine, as a lowly lab assistant again with no memory of his temporary triumph.
- ... just before taking the time machine, he recalled his earlier defeat and decided to destroy the mystery-men when they would be at their weakest. Traveling back to December 6th, 1941, with more hidden equipment, he summoned some of the Justice Society's foes just before their defeat and then used them to stop and capture them in small groups. However he missed some of them and with several other unaffiliated heroes, managed to free the group but after the attack on Pearl Harbor. (At a later point in this chronal doppelganger's life, his energies were absorbed by a future version, Degaton-Prime) Using a fail-safe device, he planned on returning to 1947, only to find...
... he returned to just before stealing the machine, as a lowly lab assistant again with no memory of his temporary triumph.
- ... this time, he was caught between dimensions. Rescuing super-powered beings from Earth-3 he devised a new plan. Moving to another Earth with no heroes, he stole nuclear weapons from Soviet ships heading to Cuba in 1963. This caused a nuclear war which wiped out civilization on that Earth. He, along with his allies, The Crime Syndicate were going to attack 1942, but the Syndicate attempted to rush Degaton. He sent them to Earth-One, where they encountered the Justice League of America. Tracking them to 1942, the League, along with the All-Star Squadron were able to stop Degaton and return the missiles to their proper Earth. (At a later point in this chronal doppelganger's life, his energies were absorbed by a future version, Degaton-Prime) Using a fail-safe device, he planned on returning to 1947, only to find...
... he returned to just before stealing the machine, as a lowly lab assistant again with no memory of his temporary triumph.
- ... now, with more time to think, Degaton aligns himself with other powerful villains, Ultra-Humanite, Despero and Black Beetle working together to reach goals. Finally deciding to end the chronal threats of Rip Hunter, they battled Booster Gold before finding themselves defeated. (At a later point in this chronal doppelganger's life, his energies were absorbed by a future version, Degaton-Prime) Using a fail-safe device, he planned on returning to 1947, only to find...
... he returned to just before stealing the machine, as a lowly lab assistant again with no memory of his temporary triumph.
- ... that after killing Zee, the dying man fell into the time machine. Trying to reach it before it disappeared, he unknowingly created a chronal doppelganger, one that traveled with the machine and one that remained in 1947. Learning of a plan for a group of criminals to take over the United States, Degaton joined them, using the weapons he secreted away. Captured with the others, he found himself in prison for several decades. Finally released as an elderly man on a hardship parole, he sought out his former ally Brain Wave to build him a new body. Once again stopped by the Justice Society, Per Degaton returned to prison. Biding his time, he escaped to find the time machine as it returned to Earth. He was confronted with a dying Zee who declared him the murder in front of the Justice Society and the still-young Per Degaton. While the younger Degaton escaped with the machine, the elderly Degaton, instead ended his own life by committing suicide.
The chronal doppelganger escaped with the machine, researching and finding a way to add his other doppelganger's life energies to his own. Changing himself into a powerful being that wielded time-shifting powers internally, he now called himself Degaton-Prime.
POWERS AND WEAPONS
: Per Degaton is a fair hand-to-hand fighter, choosing to have others do his dirty work. He usually carried a dagger and a Luger pistol.
As Degaton-Prime, he wielded concussive blasts and was able to control the flow of time in a confined area.
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of Per Degaton in chronological order click here
PROFILE REFERENCES
Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #17 (July 1986)
Who's Who Update '88 #3 (October 1988)