Doctor Cyber

Context

Doctor Cyber is a Bronze Age  DC comics villainess who clashed with Wonder Woman. She appeared in spurts from 1968 to 1984 (“Bronze Age” gets complicated in Wonder Woman’s case). There were further appearances, but this profile only covers the pre-Crisis version of the character.

Cyber is originally a typical high-tech international mastermind with a few twists (chiefly her gender). She’s not far from the most out-there James Bond villains, really. This makes her useful for gamemasters looking for a recurring opponent in low-level campaigns.

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Dr. Cyber runs an international criminal empire with enormous resources. She has :

• Hundreds of agents.
• Numerous and very expensive bases and vehicles (such as underwater bases serviced by a fleet of submarines).
• Significant paramilitary assets.
• An entire espionage network.
• Etc..

Her assets tend to be concentrated in world capitols. But she also has more out-of-the-way installations, such as a Swiss village where everyone worked for her.

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Skills

It is unclear whether Cyber is the technologist behind the more remarkable designs used by her organisation. She might have substantial technological skills. Or she might rely on hired scientists and engineers, plus black market super-technologists.

In any case she doesn’t have medical or biological skills, relying on Dr. Moon for those. Even if she’s not a trained scientist and/or engineer, she’s competent in operating advanced equipment.

While early on Dr. Cyber was comparable to a James Bond villain — though one with a lot of resources and some very advanced Gadgets — she later evidenced a surprising and variable array of abilities while fighting Wonder Woman. These lacked coherence from one appearance to the next, as detailed in our game stats.

History

Doctor Cyber was the head of one of the major international criminal organisations of the mid- and late-1960s. Being secretive and chiefly known through her works, she was often assumed to be a man. High-tech criminal masterminds of the female variety were rare back then.

Cyber’s organisation seemed to revolve around a core run by Cyber herself and crewed by her agents. Orbiting around this core was a number of allied gangs and mobs. These allies tended to be more traditional. They were male-dominated, and using more conservative technology and approaches. However, the best-known allied gang was led by Lu Shan, a woman using some unconventional methods.

The allied mobs are kept on a tight leash, and made to fear Cyber – those who failed her too badly would be eliminated.

Extreme prejudice

By 1968, Cyber’s crime empire was a concern for a number of law enforcement and counter-intelligence agencies. US military intelligence engineered a complex ruse to have Col. Steve Trevor denounced as a traitor so he could infiltrate Cyber’s organisation. Alas, the mission failed. Trevor was nearly killed by the servants of Cyber.

Cyber’s organisation is also known to have launched a paramilitary raid at the monastery where the mystic and teacher I-Ching used to reside. In so doing, they stole a fortune in gems and precious metals. Both the time and place are unclear, but it is reasonable to assume that this occurred somewhere in China, and somewhen circa 1967 or 1968.

At around the same time Cyber’s operatives killed one Archy Miles, the partner of private investigator Tim Trench.

These attacks resulted in an alliance between three persons who became Cyber’s determined enemies.

I-Ching was determined to stop Cyber’s long-term plans, but was too aged to fight by himself. Therefore, he trained and recruited Trevor’s friend — Diana Prince, formerly Wonder Woman — and they set out to foil Cyber’s plans. They would soon be joined by Trench, looking to avenge Miles.

Situation calls for karate, part 1

Before being shot by Dr. Cyber’s henchwomen, Trevor had learned about a plot to use booby-trapped toys to kill the children of Congressmen. Before passing out he told Diana and Ching, who successfully stormed the base building the toys.

The kung-fu duo took out the criminals manning the factory. Dr. Cyber then took remote control of one of the trapped toys to kill the crew’s leader, punishing him for his failure and removing a potential lead for her enemies. Cyber then had one of her agents try to kill Diana in a tricked-out taxi, but that didn’t work.

Interested in Prince’s skills, Cyber tried to recruit her. She set up an ambush in a sinister and isolated mansion, kidnapping the hospitalised Steve Trevor as bait. This also failed, though she captured Trench. At the same time, I-Ching captured one of Cyber’s agents and used hypnosis to have her take them to Cyber’s submarine base.

He and Diana rescued Trench and destroyed the base, but Cyber and her servants successfully evacuated it.

Using information Trench had overheard while he was a prisoner, the trio tracked Cyber down to Bjorland, a Swiss-like country. They discovered a bit too late that everybody in the village was working for Cyber. Cyber herself came to buy off the greedy Trench. Trench agreed to leave with the money and stop hounding her.

Situation calls for karate, part 2

I-Ching and Diana proved less tractable. Cyber and her agents unleashed a dozen hunting falcons before leaving. After I-Ching and Diana narrowly beat the falcons, secret Cyber agent Reginald Hyde-Whyte came in as a good Samaritan to help treat the wounded Ching. His job was to seduce Diana and destroy her.

Thanks to Hyde-Whyte, Diana and I-Ching swiftly reached London to keep hunting Cyber. But her machinations let her conserve the initiative. She sacrificed an unwitting agent to deliver a bomb that killed an ally of Ching and nearly killed Ching himself. Meanwhile Hyde-Whyte vamped Diana, and took her and Ching into another trap.

Lady Rothwell, one of Cyber’s agents in London, tried to stop them. But Diana and I-Ching defeated all opposition and derailed Cyber’s plot to rob wealthy nobles at the conclusion of a society event she and Rothwell had set up.

Hyde-Whyte then betrayed Cyber out of love for Diana. But upon realising that she had been manipulated Diana just beat him up in anger and left. Presumably, Cyber later had Hyde-Whyte eliminated for betraying her.

(It is presumably at that point that the flashback in Wonder Woman v1 #221 takes place. Cyber’s lover, reportedly the only man she ever loved, overhears her ordering the death of an entire security detail who failed to stop Diana Prince. Fed up with Cyber’s bloodthirstiness, the man leaves and calls her a monster. Cyber eventually decides that it was all Prince’s fault.)

Hong Kong gardens

During the next few months, Dr. Cyber set up at least two conspiracies.

One was the construction of six earthquake machines hidden throughout Hong Kong. Though proper power sources for those had to be stolen from third parties, Cyber intended to destroy Hong Kong with her machines, then blackmail other metropolises.

Cyber’s other plan was to have her revenge upon Diana and I-Ching. The boss of one of the Cyber-affiliated mobs, one Lu Shan, was the daughter of I-Ching. Lu Shan wanted to kill her father to avenge her mother. She had apparently joined Cyber’s empire for her shot at this.

Cyber arranged for Lu Shan to procure the power units for the earthquake machines, and dupe Diana and I-Ching into helping her ferry the units to Cyber. The plan was successful, and Lu Shan delivered the goods and their enemies right into Cyber’s Hong Kong base.

Cyber then allowed Lu Shan to take her revenge. The young woman gunned I-Ching down. At this point, things went wrong for nearly everyone.

Disfigured

Luring I-Ching and Diana in had relied on making them believe that Lu Shan was an innocent businesswoman hounded by the murderous Tiger Tong. Once the ruse was over, the leader of the Tong came to Cyber to demand a much bigger payment than had been agreed to. The annoyed Cyber triggered hidden harpoon launchers that slew the tong men.

However, one of the Tiger bodyguards fired an uncontrolled burst as he died. as a result Cyber was hit in the face by a heavy brazier, which then set fire to the room. In the confusion, both Lu Shan and Diana fled to bring their respective mentors to a hospital.

Cyber was now severely disfigured and under intensive care at a secret hospital. But she was still conscious and had Lu Shan activate the rest of her plan. Soon, Hong Kong was rocked by earthquakes that killed thousands. The heavily-armed Cyber soldiers were then deployed to hunt down Diana and her allies, and quash resistance.

Furious over her accident, the heavily-bandaged Cyber issued demands to be made world ruler rather than go with her original blackmail-for-money plan.

Diana forced Cyber agents to reveal where the earthquake machines were. Though Hong Kong had been badly damaged by quakes and tsunamis, she thus saved the city from destruction.

Cyber briefly captured Diana, but she got too close as she absolutely wanted to show Diana her hideously burned face. The two women fought and Cyber was seemingly killed in the collapse of the base housing the last earthquake machine.

(After the Hong Kong case, Cyber’s criminal empire never seemed to be as extensive as it used to be. She kept her core resources, but it is possible that the mobs once allied with her gradually drifted away as Cyber became obsessed with getting her revenge against Diana Prince).

The beauty hater

Cyber survived, and her organisation recovered from the Hong Kong defeat within months. For a while, Cyber was somewhat insane, and went on a strange crusade against those who exploited female beauty. In order to do this she set up the Tribunal, an American morality organisation terrorising owners of businesses such as strip club.

Eventually, Cyber regained her composure and dropped that crusade. She started focusing on capturing beautiful young women. Her intent was to have unconventional surgeon Doctor Moon transfer her brain into the body of one such subject.

As it turned out, the Tribunal proved useful. One of the club owners they terrorised hired Johnny Double and his friend Diana Prince for protection. Cyber decided to use that to draw Diana into a trap, planning to have her revenge by having Moon transplant her brain into Prince’s body.

Using a newly developed hypnosis serum, she turned the club owner into her catspaw and Double and Prince were captured.

Cypher ordered Moon not to use anaesthetics on Diana for the operation, but Prince used her mastery of yoga to escape from the operating theatre. She knocked Moon out and fought Cyber. The villainess accidentally stabbed herself in the sternum with the scalpel she had picked to fight her hated enemy.

Get Prince

Though Prince and Double assumed that Cyber was dead, Dr. Moon saved her life. His medical ministrations allowed her to make a full recovery.

Moon’s surgeries also rebuilt parts of Cyber’s face. Though she was still obviously disfigured, the facial muscles could be restored. This in turn allowed Cyber to start wearing a technological device called a polymask, allowing her to simulate lifelike, animated images of faces.

However Cyber was still bitter, and wanted to have a real face. This quest led her to develop an interest in the work of Gustav Renault. This famous cosmetician had developed an experimental product would could help rebuild Cyber’s epidermis.

As she prepared to kidnap Renault with the help of a criminal Asian princess, Cyber spotted Diana Prince. Diana was at Renault’s hotel on an unrelated UN mission.

Cyber used machines to drain Renault’s chemical knowledge. She then turned to vengeance against Diana Prince, whom she discovered was Wonder Woman whilst monitoring her. Using Renault’s corpse as bait, she drew Wonder Woman into a trap. But as the Amazing Amazon easily fought off Cyber’s robotic servants, the computer holding Renault’s knowledge was accidentally destroyed.

In anger, Cyber killed her ally then set up another trap for Wonder Woman. She wanted Dr. Moon to harvest Wonder Woman’s face so she could use it to finish restoring her own. However, the chemical Cyber had dosed Wonder Woman with to make her lose control was too potent. This left the Amazon in a state of homicidal rage despite the attempts to subdue her.

Cyber ended up having to flee in fear for her life. Not realising that Diana had regained her composure at the last moment, the crimelord apparently fell to her death.

Revenge !

Cyber survived yet again, and reemerged some years later. This time she had acquired magical skills and was sporting an electronically-enhanced suit of armour.

Determined to have Moon implant her brain within Wonder Woman’s body, Cyber sent her laser-toting agents to capture Wonder Girl and draw Wonder Woman in. Once the Amazon came in piloting the invisible plane, Cyber used her sorcery to take telepathic control of the aircraft and bring Wonder Woman to her base.

Wonder Girl was held hostage to force Wonder Woman to submit to the surgery. But the Amazon only feigned compliance, as she had arranged for Wonder Girl’s teammates the Teen Titans to follow her. Though Cyber’s armour allowed her to engage the Titans in a fight, she was outmatched by Wonder Woman and arrested.

Cyber eventually escaped, and reportedly became an arms dealer selling her wares to developing nations.

The nuclear option

Doctor Cyber returned for yet another revenge plot against Wonder Woman. Exploiting her knowledge of the Amazon’s secret identity, she disguised herself as Diana Prince, infiltrated the military and stole nuclear launch codes. This ensured that Prince would be hunted down as a traitor.

To keep Wonder Woman busy Cyber issued a few nuclear launch orders, forcing the Amazing Amazon to intervene and prevent WWIII. As a further means to delay her opponent, the daring Cyber installed her current HQ right in the basement of a supposedly highly secure US military installation. She then captured Sofia, a reformed criminal who had been adopted as an Amazon, to scan her mind for intel.

Nevertheless, both Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor located Cyber’s hideout. Though Cyber managed to hold her own, her plans were wrecked by the intervention of a god. Eros came barging in, claiming to be the real Steve Trevor. He then violently assaulted Cyber for having him murdered him years before.

In the confusion and as Wonder Woman restrained Eros, Cyber’s getaway aircraft was accidentally hit by one of the automated turrets she had activated to cover her retreat. Once again Doctor Cyber appeared to perish in an explosion.

Crisis

Cyber survived, of course. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, she was recruited to help the Anti-Monitor’s forces on Earth-S. Cyber and T.O. Morrow where the two main allies who helped Dr. Sivana capture and gag the entire Marvel Family in human form.

This plan was wrecked when a small team of heroes from Earth-1 (the Martian Manhunter, Platinum of the Metal Men, and the Atom (Ray Palmer)) freed the Marvel Family so they could join the universal fight for survival.

Description

Dr. Cyber was originally a beautiful woman. She was usually dressed in a way more befitting to a luxurious tropical lounge than a high-tech crime base. She usually wore her black hair in a bob, liked mascara and enjoyed wearing local fashions while operating abroad.

She enjoys luxury, and is usually found in swank locations wearing posh outfits.

Personality

Cyber is your typical high-tech criminal mastermind of those days, with an extra dose of viciousness and vindictiveness. For undisclosed reasons she prefers to have her agents all be attractive, young and fashionable women. She will even consider recruiting opponents who happen to match this description.

Cyber seemed to consider that women were automatically more competent than men. Though she apparently considered keeping Tim Trench as a servant of a more intimate nature at one point.

Cyber is not a fan of loose ends. If somebody is no longer useful to her, she’s almost guaranteed to have them killed. She doesn’t seem to enjoy watching such executions, but she will almost never hesitate to give the order. This includes ordering the death of those agents of hers who failed her.

Cyber doesn’t always want her opponents dead. Initially she was interested in hiring Diana Prince, and she successfully bribed Tim Trench off since that was less messy than having him slain. Still, her preference for only leaving bodies behind likely help explains why her organisation resisted law enforcement efforts so well.

Other traits

Generally, Cyber prefers subtlety and intricate plans, back-up plans, back-up plans for back-up plans, and deathtraps. She’s fond of drawing her opponents into traps by engineering situations where everybody, enemies and supposed allies both, turns out to be Cyber agents having run an elaborate charade.

If her opponents have demonstrated genuine competence, she will assume that they’ll somehow survive her next attempt to kill them. Thus, Cyber will have a back-up plot to dupe them and lead them into her next trap. Which will have a back-up plan.

After her disfigurement, Cyber becomes even more venomous and hateful. She hates conventional depictions of female beauty to the point of enjoying the destruction of costly works of art representing beautiful women. She gets fixated on Diana, both because she’s beautiful and because she irrationally blames her for her disfigurement.

Cyber, who took pride in being gorgeous, wants to find a way to restore her looks – which is impossible through any conventional surgery. She tends to think a lot about beauty, power… and revenge against Wonder Woman.

After the “mod karate era” ends, revenge against Wonder Woman and stealing Wonder Woman’s beauty become her one constant bit of characterisation.

Quotes

“My empire is far-flung, as you have guessed ! I am able to contact any part of it instantly ! […] Soon, I shall be powerful and rich enough to topple whole governments !”

“Remember — Cyber does not extend generosity twice !”

“This is a message to the people of Hong Kong — and the world ! What you have seen demonstrated here in Hong Kong can be duplicated by me anywhere in the world ! My earthquake machines can level every city on Earth ! The governments of Earth have but one way out – they must declare me supreme ruler !”

“Meanwhile, I’ll give orders for the Tribunal to disband ! It has served its purpose — to deliver into my hands the person I hate the most ! Revenge, dear doctor — it is a lovely thing !”

“I fight for what is rightfully mine ! You destroyed my face — it is only correct that I take yours !”

“So keep struggling, Wonder Woman, and my revenge will be complete… when every inch of your flesh is as scarred as my own disfigured face !”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Wonder Woman volume 1.

Helper(s): Ethan Roe, Darci.

Writeup completed on the 30^th of March, 2011.