Doctor Phosphorus

Doctor Phosphorus
Doctor Phosphorus Art by Marcos Marz
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #469 (May 1977)
Created by	Steve Englehart
In-story information
Alter ego	Dr. Alex Sartorius
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Supervillains
Abilities	Burning skin Toxic fume emission Radiation manipulation

Doctor Phosphorus (real name Dr. Alexander Sartorius) is a fictional character who has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. Primarily an enemy of Batman, the supervillain exists in DC's main shared universe, known as the DC Universe.

Doctor Phosphorus first appeared in Detective Comics #469 and was created by Steve Englehart.

A crack in a reactor core causes Dr. Alex Sartorius to get "five million slivers of (radioactive) red-hot sand" into his body. Nuclear reactions caused the silicon in the sand to be booted up by one proton each, to phosphorus. Burning forever, he starts a quest for revenge against the people he blames for his terrible fate, getting into conflict with Batman on a few occasions.

During the Underworld Unleashed storyline, he is one of many villains to sell his soul to the demon Neron. In exchange for his soul, he is granted greater power and more control. For example, he can now wear normal clothing without it bursting into flame.

In James Robinson's series Starman he is initially hired by the Mist to kill the original Starman, Ted Knight, but is defeated by the retired hero. However, they face each other a second time; this time, Phosphorus has given Knight a significant dose of radiation, which gave him terminal cancer. In a third and final confrontation, Knight is determined to ensure that Phosphorus would harm no one else. During the battle, he uses his cosmic rod to tear the pavement from beneath Phosphorus and drive him into the earth, apparently killing him.