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Doctor Destroyer is the most powerful villain in the Hero Universe. He first appeared in the adventure module The Island of Dr. Destroyer in 1981 and has remained a stable part of the Champions role-playing game ever since.
Biography[]
Albert Zerstoiten was born the son of a Bavarian dollmaker in 1917. He was a child prodigy who was enrolled in college by the age of twelve and had two Ph.D's by twenty. His intellect soon made him feel like a god among other human beings, however. He went to work as a scientist for the Third Reich, but when the Allies began to win World War II he sold out his employers to the French Resistance. Zerstoiten thought no more of betraying them than he did his Nazi employers and tried to flee to South America, but was captured by British forces and extradited to America. Despite his crimes his intelligence was sought by the US military and Zerstoiten was put to work on a new generation of atomic weapons.
Zerstoiten had already realized he was destined to rule the world, and escaped to South America with success. There he began building a network of spies and soldiers and formally became the villain known as Dr. Destroyer. One of his disciples, Hernan Cortez, so idolized Zerstoiten that he created a similar guise for himself and became known as Professor Muerte, but Cortez ultimately developed the drive to conquer the world himself and broke away from Destroyer to form a team of terrorist supervillains called Terror, Incorporated. Destroyer went on to attempt many sweeping plans of global domination and in the process would frequently battle the world's greatest superheroes and peacekeeping organizations such as UNTIL.
Powers and Resources[]
Doctor Destroyer possesses access to the most advanced technology known to man, some of it his own work, some stolen from other scientists. His suit of powered armor is the most powerful in the world giving him vast superhuman strength, an array of energy weapons and sensor equipment. His various bases are governed by an AI dubbed Sennacherib.
Destroyer employs numerous scientists and commands a small private army of soldiers and robots called Destroids. He also employs at least two supervillains: Gigaton, a former member of the United States military who gained great strength and the ability to fire blasts of nuclear energy from an experiment intended to develop a suit that would protect soldiers from nuclear explosions, is his chief of security. An illusionist named Rakshasa is one of his primary spies. Both first appeared in Day of the Destroyer, although at the time Rakshasa belonged instead to a villain team called Villains International. He became Destroyer's subordinate in the game's fifth edition. One of Dr. Destroyer's other chief agents was Menton, the most powerful psionic villain in the world, but when Destroyer was believed dead after the "Battle of Detroit" in the latest edition of the game, Menton escaped and struck out on his own.
Appearances Outside the Game[]
Dr. Destroyer appeared in the comic book based on the Champions game. He was assembling a team of international supervillains, including Professor Muerte, with which to launch an attempt at world domination. The League of Champions tracked his henchmen to their island lair and managed to capture some of the other villains, but they lacked sufficient power to breach Destroyer's personal force field and he escaped by submarine.
Destroyer is a confirmed fixture of Champions Online.
Champions Online Profile[]
Origin[]
Born in 1917 to a poor Bavarian dollmaker and his wife, Albert Zerstoiten was a precocious child who quickly became aware of his own intellectual superiority.
Albert's intellect and Aryan good looks attracted the attention of the Nazi government, which offered him a job working on secret military projects. When it became obvious to him that Germany would lose the Second World War, Zerstoiten defected.
After a brief period during the Cold War spent creating America's next generation of atomic destruction, Zerstoiten retreated from civilization and built a criminal empire in the jungles of South America. His sales of advanced weaponry, smuggling operations and dummy corporations amassed vast sums of wealth, and powerful underworld figures across the world knew him only by the English translation of his name – Doctor Destroyer™.
Destroyer was prepared to begin his conquest of Earth in earnest. Creating the most advanced suit of power armor ever invented, he formed an army of robotic death machines and monstrous minions and made multiple attempts to take over the world.
In 1992, he launched a doomsday device designed to obliterate most of North America. Confronted by the combined might of the world's superheroes, Destroyer was defeated, but not before triggering an orbital cannon that destroyed the city of Detroit and killed thousands.
After years of silence, Doctor Destroyer has recently reappeared. But is this in fact Doctor Destroyer, or a malevolent new villain assuming Destroyer's foul mantle with the intent of picking up where the nefarious master villain and mass murderer left off? This Destroyer has the same dark ambitions to conquer the world and annihilate all who oppose him, but now wears a new costume and commands vastly enhanced powers.
Destroyer's new armor and weapons appear to utilize a strange energy that UNTIL forces have been unable to identify, as do his newly-designed legion of robot followers. It is unclear whether Destroyer has made yet another technological breakthrough, or if this energy has another source. Destroyer certainly isn't saying, and anybody who investigates too deeply into these mysteries is likely to turn up dead.
About Doctor Destroyer[]
Destroyer is arrogance personified. He knows that he is superior to all other beings and that as such it is his right to rule the planet.
He is believed to be the most technologically advanced and adept person on Earth and the technology in his robots, bases, vehicles and weapons is far beyond what is considered state of the art. Much of Doctor Destroyer's technology is made of Destreum, a super-strong alloy he invented.
The improved technology in Doctor Destroyer's redesigned power suit allow him to use a multitude of different energy attacks, from his own Destroyer Beams to particle cannons. Destroyer has armor jets for flight, a sensory overload cannon to overwhelm enemies and a tangleweb projector to ensnare foes during battle. He is utterly ruthless in combat and will take a life, or many lives, as casually as taking a breath of air.
The heroes in Champions Online will be on the front lines of the fight against Doctor Destroyer. Foil his plots, stop his servants and ultimately battle Destroyer himself. The fate of the world is in your hands.
Champions RPG[]
Dr. Destroyer (1985)
Dr. Destoyer on the cover of a Champions GM Screen
Dr. Destroyer was introduced as the main antagonist in the first adventure supplement for the Champions RPG called The Island of Dr. Destroyer in 1985.
Dr. Destroyer was originally Dr. Albert Zerstoiten. Zerstoiten was the secret mastermind behind the Nazi nuclear weapons program. Months before his secret unit was ready to test its device, Hitler, in one of his more paranoid moments, had the entire unit shot. Zerstoiten escaped with the help of the French underground. The doctor betrayed the underground unit to the SS in exchange for passage to Argentine. He boarded his passport to freedom just weeks before the armistice was signed.
Over the years Zerstioten ran laboratories doing secret test of all sorts and selling his wares to whoever was willing to pay. There he gain the name Dr. Destroyer. He some gain access to massive funds through investing in companies that would benefits from victories gained by the weapons he sold.
He access to unlimited funds, unknown technical secrets, international criminal contacts and his own brilliant mind. Through this he utilized his incredible intelligence to create the ultimate mind control device, the hypnoray satellite.
Dr. Destroyer sits in his island fortress, preparing for the missile launch that will make him ruler of the world. He plans his revenge on the system that rejected him, the people who shunned him, and the world that hunts him still.