Dr. Spectrum (gh)

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• Containers and barriers of Monstrous Material Strength
• Carrying Monstrous loads (up to 80 tons)
• Hands and limbs with Monstrous Strength

During a mission in outer space, Ledger found a disabled spacecraft and rescued its only occupant, a member of the Skrull race. As a token of gratitude, the SkruII gave Ledger a gem, which became known as the power prism. The prism grant ed Ledger fantastic powers and he became the costumed superhero Doctor Spectrum. After a successful career as a solo crimefighter, he and the Skrull he rescued, (known simply as “the Skrull”) became founding members of the Squadron Supreme.

Doctor Spectrum, as well as most of the rest of the Squadron, succumbed to the enthralling power of the entity known as the Overmind. This collective mind entity, working together with the demonic being Null, the Living Darkness, used the Squadron as pawns to rule the Earth. One member of the Squadron retained his freedom, however; Hyperion managed to travel to another Earth and recruit the superteam known as the Defenders to help him. Together, the Defenders and the Squadron finally defeated the Overmind and Null, freeing the Earth from thralldom.

This battle left the Squadron’s world in an economic and political mess. The Squadron decided to take over America for a year and implement their Utopia Program. They intended to use their powers to solve all of the country’s problems. As a gesture of good faith, the members of the Squadron revealed their true identities to the people of the world, assuring them that the Utopia Program would succeed. One member of the group, Nighthawk, disagreed with the majority and began planning to thwart the Squadron’s plans.

Nuke, a member of the Squadron, watched his parents die of cancer from the radiation that he naturally gave off. Nuke stopped participating with the team and Doctor Spectrum was assigned to find out what Nuke was doing. Ledger found Nuke planning to kill Tom Thumb, the Squadron’s scientific genius, because the diminutive scientist had been unable to save his parents. To stop Nuke, Doctor Spectrum encased him in an energy bubble. Trying to escape, Nuke kept blasting until all the oxygen had been used up and he suffocated. Guilt-ridden because of Nuke’s death, Spectrum vowed never to use his powers in combat again.

As part of the Utopia Program, Tom Thumb created a behavior modification machine. With the machine, the Squadron reformed their criminal foes, including a woman named Foxfire, who became strongly attracted to Doctor Spectrum. The Golden Archer, a good friend of Dr. Spectrum, was found to have been using the machine to brainwash Lady Lark, a fellow team member. He was expelled from the Squadron.

Meanwhile, Nighthawk had gathered his own group of dissenting heroes and villains, who were named the Redeemers. The Golden Archer joined this team and took the name Black Archer, to reflect his change of heart.

A way of reversing Tom Thumb’s machine had been created and was used on Foxfire. She also joined Nighthawk’s team, but hesitantly, because she had fallen in love with Doctor Spectrum.

In the climactic battle between the Squadron and the Redeemers, Black Archer and Doctor Spectrum battled each other. Spectrum’s hesitancy to use his powers against a foe that he recognized as a friend al lowed the Black Archer to get in one shot, which smashed the power prism. The fragments of the prism were imbedded in Dr. Spectrum’s body.

Foxfire, in an attempt to prove her loyalty to the Squadron, killed Night hawk. In retaliation for that, the Mink struck down Foxfire, killing her. En raged, Dr. Spectrum wanted to strike out at the person who had struck his love; to his surprise, a beam of concussive force flew out of his body and struck the Mink. The power of the prism was now his to control without the actual prism.

The Squadron gave up and con ceded defeat. They promised to dismantle the Utopia Program and return the fate of America to the average person.

Following the battle, Doctor Spectrum again fell into a depressed state because of the deaths of his friends.

The next great test of the Squadron occurred when a white being of immense size began to grow and threaten to devour the Sun. The Squadron mounted a last-ditch effort to save their world with the help of one of their greatest enemies, Master Menace.

Doctor Spectrum was one of the four heroes who flew into space with a device designed to contain the growing creature. Unfortunately, all efforts to fight the white entity failed. Their universe was saved when Arcanna’s son, Benjamin, traded places with the white being, who turned out to be Thomas Lightner, the Nth Man, who had been turned into a living hole in space. He had devoured seven universes before happening across the Squadron’s universe.

The infant Benjamin Thomas Jones was slated to become this universe’s next Sorcerer Supreme. He opted to trade places with the white being and thus stop Lightner from devouring worlds. As a consequence, the powers of Sorcerer Supreme were conferred upon Thomas Lightner. Benjamin left the Squadron’s dimension, set on undoing all the damage that Lightner had caused.

On the way back to their Earth, the Squadron was transported to the main Marvel Universe Earth by Lightner. He obviously didn’t want the Squadron around to challenge his newly acquired powers.

The Squadron ran into Quasar and they were taken to Project Pegasus. They consulted with Reed Richards to see if his time machine could help, but that attempt failed. Then, Dr. Strange came to Project Pegasus to send them home magically. But Lightner had laid a magical trap for the Squadron that caused half of their bodies to stay on Earth and the other half to be flung into the space between dimensions. They were rescued from this horrible death by Quasar and Dr. Strange.

Dr. Spectrum and the other Squadron members trapped on Earth are now waiting for Arcanna’s son, Benjamin, to finish repairing the Nth Man’s destruction through the dimensions. Once Benjamin returns to Earth, the Squadron should be able to return home with Benjamin’s help.