While each Doctor Mid-Nite have different backgrounds, the characters are legacy superheroes who coincidentally have an uncanny history of being physicians blinded in a tragic accident but gained metahuman powers to see in total darkness, serving as premier medical physicians and scientific specialists to various super-heroes and supehero-based teams in the DC Universe.
Fictional character biography
Charles McNider
Once a surgeon, Charles McNider was enlisted to perform surgery on a witness set to testify against mobster Killer Maroni. During the surgery, Maroni throws a grenade into the room, killing the witness and blinding McNider, who survived. Although his career as a conventional physician ends and he becomes a magazine writer who exposes criminals, he discovers he can only see in darkness. Developing special visors to aid him, he becomes the superhero known as "Doctor Mid-Nite". He later joins the Justice Society of America (JSA) and the All-Star Squadron; in 1942, McNider enlists in the U.S. Medical Corps as a physician during World War II, rising to the rank of captain. McNider briefly assumes the role of Starman when the original Starman, Ted Knight, has a nervous breakdown and the JSA disbands. In 1953, McNider's lover Myra Mason is murdered by the Shadower, a foe who had learned Doctor Mid-Nite's secret identity. McNider later rescues a pregnant woman from attack in Sogndal, Norway and delivers her baby, Pieter Cross (the future Doctor Mid-Nite). McNider is among the JSA members who are captured and placed in suspended animation by Vandal Savage before being freed by the Flash. During the storyline Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!, McNider is killed by Extant.
Beth Chapel
A native of Orangeburg, South Carolina whose parents are passionate, Christian church pastor and choir singer respectively and raised alongside four brothers, Beth Chapel eventually becomes a medical physician mentored by McNider in his later years as one of his two best students. When Chapel is blinded in an oxygen explosion but is rescued by Hourman's son Rick Tyler, she is operated on by McNider. Unable to restore her ordinary vision, he manages to allow her to see in complete darkness like him. After being released and contemplating her next goals, she dons the Doctor Mid-Nite codename and costume. Along with a new Wildcat, Chapel and Tyler apply for membership in Infinity, Inc, eventually gaining admission; however, the association was short-lived, as Infinity, Inc. disbanded shortly thereafter, though Chapel and Tyler had a romantic relationship during their tenure. Doctor Midnight and Wildcat are subsequently recruited by the U.S. government for a mission to defeat the supervillain Eclipso, only for Chapel to die on the mission along with Wildcat, Creeper, Commander Steel, Peacemaker, and Major Victory.
Eventually, Beth is revived due to the precursor the Lazarus eruption returning her to life alongside Wildcat. She aids in operating the All-Star Clinic. She also served on the Justice Society of America once again, first helping the team battle Per Degaton while reluctantly helping Yolanda Montez stave off Eclipso's possession in secret, preferring to ask Doctor Fate and the team for aid. Once Eclipso emerged, he is defeated swiftly by time-displaced Huntress and a younger version of Mordru. She is also present to help the Justice Society battle a new iteration of the Injustice Society, who sows discord in the team internally and is captured. Beth takes a hiatus from the team to help Pieter Cross in the All-Star Clinic.
Pieter Cross
A Norwegian-born physician, Pieter Anton Cross is a medical prodigy with great respect for the original Doctor Mid-Nite, who saved his mother and delivered him as an infant. Differing from his predecessors, the character's connections and wealth helps provides healthcare to those outside typical medical circles and those whom unorthodox medicine has failed, has his own medical team to assist him, and runs the All-Star Clinic. Cross is also a devout Christian. During his appearance from the 1999 JSA series until at least 2008, the character was remarked to be in his thirties at the timeframe. As an adult, Cross is unable to save his mother from Chagas disease, which she catches in Brazil while visiting him.
Cross's crime-fighting career begins as he runs a free clinic in Portsmouth, Washington. His work leads him to investigate a new street drug called A39, an accidental derivative of the steroid-like Venom. The drug, he soon learns, is produced by an evil corporation named Praeda Industries, run by the Terrible Trio. Cross is drugged by company enforcers and soon involved in a car accident. After the accident, he finds that he can only see in pitch darkness. Stripped of his license to officially practice medicine, Cross takes the name Doctor Mid-Nite and resolves to fight crime. Cross joins the newest incarnation of the Justice Society of America, and has a brief romance with teammate Black Canary.
Cross is usually portrayed as being a physician first and vigilante second, setting up a clinic to help him treat patients who cannot afford conventional health care. Scanners in his cowl-lenses identify health risks as well as threats. He is a vegetarian and practices yoga (JSA). Cross carries high-tech medical equipment in addition to weapons (including blackout bombs). Some individuals whom Cross assists eventually come to aid him in his work as both crime fighter and community surgeon. Allies gained in this way include reformed street kids Nite Lite and Ice Sickle, and writer Camilla Marlowe. Mid-Nite also serves as a mentor to Jaime Reyes, the third Blue Beetle.
The Justice Society encounters Gog, who restores Cross's vision. Although initially a blessing, this works to Cross's disadvantage in the field, as he has lost his infrared vision and can no longer see through his own dark bombs. Eventually, the JSA mounts an all-out assault on Gog, having learned from Sandman that Gog is rooting himself into the Earth. Gog punishes them by taking away his blessings, including Cross's sight.
Powers and abilities
All three version possess powers of night vision, have knowledge in medicine and medical science, and have keen, scientific minds. In addition to those attributes, McNider is also a skilled author and athlete who kept himself condition even into his sixties. Simiarly, Chapel possess unusual strength and is an expert fighter, later trained by the original Wildcat. Cross is uniquely knowledgeable in other scientific fields such as physics, robotics, chemistry, and infrared astronomy, specializes in limb grafting, and has wealth and a network of contacts to provide healthcare to patients with conditions beyond orthodox medicine.
All versions of the character also share gadgetry such as blackout bombs, in which can be used to blind enemies in darkness and allow them to see. Their costumes often includes specialized googles with "ultrasonic" lenses, allowing them to see during the day. Chapel's muted color scheme allows her to better blend into the shadows and her goggles allows her to see other wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, including ultraviolet and infrared. Cross has an improved variant of blackout bombs, his own home, laboratory, and a clinic that assists with his vigilante and physician work. McNider and Cross both also have a trained owl to allow access to otherwise inaccessible places.
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