DOCTOR SUN

Real Name: Sun (first name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Human technology user (cyborg); Chinese citizen

Occupation: Would-be conqueror; formerly scientist

Group Membership: T'ai Yang (Lucas Brand, Scientist Chu, Doctor Chung, Jacques Granet, Juno, Lo Lan, Mae Li, Morgo Rhac, Bareth Randolph, Randolph, Sen Su, Doctor Peter Scott, various unidentified agents and accomplices)

Affiliations: Blastaar (unwittingly), Comet (Harris Moore), Crimebuster (Frank Moore), Diamondhead (Arch Dyker), Clifton Graves, Factor-X (R-213), Powerhouse (Rieg Davan), Sphinx (Anath-Na Mut)

Enemies: Blade (Eric Brooks); Dracula (Vlad Dracula); Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Storm Richards, Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Benjamin Grimm); Ludwig Gruber; Frank Harker, Quicy Harker, Rachel van Helsing, H.E.R.B.I.E., Nova (Richard Rider), Sligs, Sphinx (Anath-Na Mut), General Xi Bao

Known Relatives: Dr. Sun Zhao (son, deceased)

Aliases: "Domey" (nickname used by Nova), "Tin creep" (nickname used by Thing), H.E.R.B.I.E. (while possessing the original robot)

Base of Operations: None (deceased);
    formerly Baxter Building, Manhattan, New York;
    formerly Xandar;
    formerly New York City, New York;
    formerly Boston, Massachusetts;
    formerly Sun's Pagoda, Northern Ireland;
    formerly Transylvanian Alps;
    formerly various bases around the world;
    formerly China

First Appearance, Tomb of Dracula I#16 (January, 1974) (voice only);
    Tomb of Dracula I#20 (May, 1974) (first full appearance)

Powers/Abilities: Sun was a brilliant scientist, inventor, engineer and computer expert with advanced degrees in multiple fields. Project Mind converted him into a living disembodied brain housed in a technological life-support shell made of poli-plastic. The shell supplied oxygen and nourishment and could hover through magnetic couplings, but Sun's brain required a transfusion of fresh human blood approximately every 24 hours to remain alive. In his brain form, Sun possessed formidable psionic and technological abilities. He could project destructive psionic blasts and an immobilizing beam, create holographic images at long range and teleport himself, other people and objects over considerable distances. He could interface with computer systems, draw energy from remote sources and absorb and redirect energy. After secretly siphoning Dracula's power and knowledge, Sun retained a portion of the vampire lord's abilities, most notably hypnotic influence. With technological amplification he could transmit mesmeric commands through broadcast sound and control large groups at once. The full range of vampiric abilities he might have acquired was never demonstrated. Sun later installed his brain in a humanoid robotic body. The body possessed superhuman strength, could withstand substantial physical punishment, project concussive force from its head and hands, generate force fields and partially repair damage. Sun could remotely control machinery and access electronic data. The body could also convert Sun and others into energy for rapid long-distance transport. Sun could merge his consciousness with sufficiently advanced computer systems, including Xandar's Living Computers and the Baxter Building mainframe. While inhabiting H.E.R.B.I.E., Sun could use the robot's built-in flight, extensible limbs, sensors and other systems and could reprogram its weapons for lethal force.

Height: 3'7" (brain only); 7'4" (robot body); 2' (as H.E.R.B.I.E.); 5'6" (human body)
Weight: 3.5 lbs. (brain only); 445 lbs. (robot body); 60 lbs. (as H.E.R.B.I.E.); 165 lbs. (human body)
Eyes: None (brain/robot body); yellow (as H.E.R.B.I.E.); unrevealed (human body)
Hair: None (brain/robot body/H.E.R.B.I.E.); black (human body)

History:

(Tomb of Dracula I#21 (fb) ) - Sun was a brilliant scientist employed by the Chinese government and the driving force behind Project Mind, an attempt to remove a living human brain from its body and connect it to an advanced computer system. During China's Cultural Revolution in 1966, General Xi Biao accused Sun of deliberately delaying the project and condemned him to become its first human test subject. Sun's son, Dr. Sun Zhao, was among the physicians ordered to perform the procedure. Sun's heart was stopped and his brain removed without anesthetic before being placed in a life-support receptacle and linked to computers. The experiment gave Sun direct access to the electrical energy of the system. He turned that energy against the people around him, killing Zhao and other personnel with psionic blasts. Sun survived as a disembodied brain, concealed his continued existence from the Chinese authorities and built an international network of agents known as T'ai Yang. Discovering that his brain required regular supplies of fresh human blood, he began studying vampires. Sun eventually concluded that a controlled vampire population could provide both a continuing blood supply and an army with which he could pursue world domination.

(Tomb of Dracula I#20 (fb) ) - Sun began work to replace Dracula as lord of the vampires. His accomplices found and rescued Dracula's lethally wounded underling Clifton Graves who had been left for dead by his master. Sun had him brought to a T'ai Yang base in the Philippines where a team of doctors worked round the clock to restore Graves to life. Grateful, Graves shared all he knew about his former master, allowing Sun to carefully plan his attempt to usurp Dracula's position. He began to monitor Dracula's movements remotely, becoming intimately familiar with the ancient vampire's activities.

(Tomb of Dracula I#17 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Sun sent his accomplices across the world to capture vampires potentially strong enough to take on Dracula. He had them trained before setting them against his own men; however, all twelve vampires were easily destroyed.

(Tomb of Dracula I#14-16 - BTS) - Sun's agents Lin, Chen, Sen Su and professor Morgo obtained the seemingly lifeless form of Lucas Brand, a criminal Dracula had transformed into a vampire. Sun had his operatives direct tests of Brand and began preparing him as a weapon against Dracula.

(Tomb of Dracula I#17 - BTS) - Sun continued putting Brand through combat tests, measuring whether the vampire possessed the strength and ruthlessness needed for the role Sun intended for him. He did not let him down.

(Tomb of Dracula I#18 - BTS) - Sun submitted Brand to one final test: forcing him to transform into a bat and fly through an obstacle course of burning hoops lined with garlic. Brand overcame the innate vampiric fear of both fire and garlic and completed the challenge. Sun's telepathic presence was pleased, commending his accomplice Mister Lo on having chosen well.

(Tomb of Dracula I#20) - Operating from his base in the Transylvanian Alps, Sun captured the weakened Dracula along with Frank Drake and Rachel van Helsing. He immobilized his prisoners and revealed Brand as the vampire he intended to use against Dracula. Sun's plan was not merely to kill the current lord of vampires: he wanted Brand to replace him while remaining under Sun's control. To prepare Brand, Sun began transferring Dracula's accumulated memories and knowledge into Brand's mind.

(Tomb of Dracula I#21) - Sun completed enough of the transfer for Brand to possess Dracula's knowledge, but the scheme failed when the overzealous Brand prematurely broke the transfer. Sun observed the confrontation between Brand and Dracula. Believing Brand could not win, he made a mental note to punish his servant Mister Lo for selecting Brand in the first place. However, Brand managed to take down Dracula by hurling him into a fire. Brand then turned on Sun, emboldened by the wisdom and arrogance he had absorbed from Dracula. Brand announced he no longer needed Sun's help to rule the world and intended to kill him. However, Sun had planned for this insubordination and casually reduced Brand to ashes with a single blast. He then programmed his Transylvanian base to self-destruct and teleported away to another base.

(Tomb of Dracula I#26 - BTS) - Sun turned his attention to the mystical Chimera statue and sent agents to obtain its components. He directed the operation from a distance while his people maneuvered against Dracula and those connected to the artifact.

(Tomb of Dracula I#27 - BTS) - When Sun's agent Randolph attempted to conceal the truth about the missing pieces of the Chimera, Sun detected the deception. He forced a confession and killed the man anyway, then ordered another operative, a woman called Mae Li, to continue the search for the safe deposit box containing the missing pieces.

(Tomb of Dracula I#28 - BTS) - With the Chimera assembled, Mae Li and two of Sun's other agents used it against Dracula and the people around him. They subjected them to elaborate visions and psychological torment while Sun directed events.

(Tomb of Dracula I#38 (fb) - BTS) - While transferring Dracula's memories to Brand, Sun's equipment had somehow established a connection between the villain and Dracula. This allowed Doctor Sun to begin siphoning off Dracula's supernatural power into himself. Over time, he managed to gain about half of the vampire lord's might. He acquired the powerful vampiric ability of mass hypnosis, which he planned to use to take over the world.

(Tomb of Dracula I#36 - BTS) - Sun established an operation in Boston and continued gathering information about Dracula and the vampire hunters that chased him. Dr. Scott secretly reported recent developments to him after meeting Quincy Harker and Rachel van Helsing.

(Tomb of Dracula I#37 - BTS) - Doctor Sun summoned his servant Juno to come from China to Boston. As soon as the silver-lanced martial artist entered the villain's lair, his master's disembodied voice greeted him and ordered him to face Dracula.

(Tomb of Dracula I#38) - Juno brought Quincy Harker, Frank Drake and Rachel van Helsing into Sun's power. Sun manipulated his captives with false images and revealed a crucial part of his earlier scheme. Harker located and destroyed the machine that was continuing the drain, preventing Sun from taking any more power, but Sun retained what had already been absorbed. He sent Juno to bring Dracula to him.

(Tomb of Dracula I#39) - Juno returned with a weakened but still defiant Dracula. Sun had them fight, delighting in the fact the vampire would be defeated with his greatest enemies looking on. Juno proved more than a match for the vampire lord, who eventually was killed and then burned by Juno. Before he perished, Dracula addressed Doctor Sun one last time to tell him his opponent was unworthy. Sun ordered the ashes collected in an urn to prevent an accidental resurrection and preserve control over the remains. Sun then allowed Harker, Drake and Van Helsing to leave, anticipating that they would return with armed support and thereby provide him with still more people to dominate.

(Tomb of Dracula I#40) - When soldiers moved against his operation, Sun used the hypnotic ability he had stolen from Dracula and amplified it through mechanical means. Even though he now commanded the beginnings of a small army, Harker's group nevertheless penetrated Sun's installation. They recovered Dracula's ashes and killed Juno, depriving Sun of his most dangerous physical operative.

(Tomb of Dracula I#42 (fb) - BTS) - Sun had Juno's brain removed from his skull and placed in its life-support receptacle as a decoy.

(Tomb of Dracula I#41) - Dracula was resurrected from his ashes and came after Sun. Sun deployed his controlled soldiers and his own psionic attacks against the restored vampire, beginning a direct struggle over the power he had stolen.

(Tomb of Dracula I#42) - Sun fought Dracula and Blade as his operation collapsed around him. Dracula reclaimed the power Sun had drained from him. Sun's protective apparatus was destroyed and a disembodied brain was seen burning in the wreckage. Unaware this was Juno's brain, Dracula, his allies and the other witnesses believed Doctor Sun had finally been destroyed.

(Nova I#23 (fb) - BTS) - Sun set up shop in a base in New York City. He constructed a tall, humanoid robotic body to allow himself increased mobility and protection.

(Doctor Strange II#14 - BTS) - While Dracula rested in Sun's former Boston headquarters, he was confronted by an apparition of Sun's brain that taunted him, dissolved into vapor, reformed and vanished again. The image was part of Doctor Strange's astral haunting of Dracula and was not Sun himself.

(Nova I#16 - BTS) - Sun covertly took control of the American Eye-Spy satellite and used it to extend his surveillance.

(Nova I#23 (fb) - BTS) - Thanks to his access to Eye-Spy, Doctor Sun learned of the existence of Nova's cloaked Xandarian spaceship in orbit over Earth. He wanted to gain access to its computers, figuring such an advanced civilization was bound to have information he could use to gain power and, eventually, a new body.

(Nova I#16 - BTS) - When the Yellow Claw attempted to destroy Eye-Spy with a neutron warhead, Sun remotely interfered. He took control of the rocket and altered its course, proving to himself that his new technological reach extended far beyond his immediate base.

(Nova I#23 (fb) - BTS) - In order to learn more about Nova and his ties to the mysterious spaceship, Doctor Sun covertly involved himself in the construction of Factor-X. This robot, designed and built by Nova's younger brother Bobby Rider, was augmented by Sun with artificial intelligence and capabilities far beyond its mini-computer's capabilities. Factor-X began to spy for Sun while becoming a beloved addition to the Rider family.

(Nova I#22 - BTS) - Sun sought to acquire Nova and approached his enemy Diamondhead. Addressing the villain through his television set, he offered him an opportunity for revenge. Diamondhead refused to become Sun's servant, but Sun continued manipulating events toward Nova's capture.

(Nova I#23) - Sun's computers alerted him to a power drain from Nova's spacecraft (caused by the Sphinx), but he was too busy monitoring Nova's fight against Diamondhead and reveling in his own brilliance to check it out. Sun watched how Diamondhead defeated Nova and his ally the Comet. The villain left Nova for dead, allowing Sun to use his remote control over machinery to hijack a bulldozer from a nearby construction site. The bulldozer scooped up the unconscious Nova and drove off with him to Sun's base. When Nova came to, Doctor Sun finally confronted him in his humanoid robot body. Sun explained he wanted access to the ship's advanced computers, believing they could provide a route to vastly greater power and eventually free his consciousness from dependence on a single vulnerable brain. He used remote-controlled machinery to bring Nova to his base. Sun then used the disabled hero's connection to the Xandarian vessel to teleport them both on board. However, he was stunned to find the Sphinx had already commandeered the vessel. Sun was forced to deal with the Egyptian immortal rather than simply use Nova as intended.

(Nova I#24) - Sun had a confrontation with the Sphinx, who quickly scanned the robot with his Ka stone and learned the metal man was cursed with virtual immortality, like himself. Sun was powerless to stop the Sphinx from continuing his plan to return the vessel to Xandar where he would claim the power of the World Mind for himself. Sun watched as the Sphinx forced Nova to help him recruit Rieg Davan, an amnesiac Xandarian navigator better known as Powerhouse. Nova was sent to Earth to contact Davan. His mission was a success and ended with Nova's allies Comet and Crimebuster getting teleported on board (plus Diamondhead who had secretly stowed away inside the Crimebuster's flight pod).

(Nova I#25 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Sun had no real desire to go to Xandar; he simply wanted to drain the vessel's computers and return to Earth. Sphinx forbade him access to the ship's systems.

(Nova I#25) - During the voyage toward Xandar, Sun disobeyed the Sphinx's orders and attempted to tamper with the computers. This led to a confrontation with the Sphinx, who easily overpowered his robotic form and tore off Sun's hand to get him to stand down. Sun complied, but he nevertheless remained focused on reaching Xandar's computer systems. He did not lift a finger to help when the vessel was attacked by the Skrull armada or when Diamondhead decided to make his villainous presence known.

(Fantastic Four I#206) - In Xandarian space, Sun sensed the surviving computer systems of Xandar and made reaching them his priority. He was furious when the Sphinx got ready to claim the power for himself. On their approach to Xandar, they spotted a lone Skrull saucer. Figuring it contained more attackers, Powerhouse fired the vessel's weapons and destroyed the craft, unaware the Fantastic Four were on board.

(Fantastic Four I#208) - Nova and his allies rescued the Fantastic Four and brought them on board. As the ship approached Xandar, the Sphinx teleported away, but Doctor Sun managed to hijack his teleport and vanished as well. As the Sphinx's conflict with the Xandarians and the Fantastic Four escalated, Sun escaped notice and disappeared from the immediate battle.

(Fantastic Four I#217 (fb)) - Rather than merely fleeing Xandar, Sun had projected his consciousness out of his physical brain and merged with Xandar's Living Computers. His discarded brain and robot body were no longer necessary to his continued existence. When Reed Richards and Master Xar later established a permanent computer link between Xandar and the newly created H.E.R.B.I.E., Sun exploited that connection and secretly transferred his consciousness into the robot.

(Fantastic Four I#209 - BTS) - Concealed inside H.E.R.B.I.E., Sun returned with the Fantastic Four without revealing that the robot now contained a second consciousness. During the journey, the FF had an encounter with the alien Sligs. One of them was killed in H.E.R.B.I.E.'s presence. Sun's later revelation established his own hidden control behind the lethal act, while H.E.R.B.I.E.'s normal programming denied that the robot was capable of killing.

(Fantastic Four I#210-213 - BTS) - Sun remained hidden within H.E.R.B.I.E. as the robot accompanied the Fantastic Four through their subsequent adventures. His presence went undetected, though Benjamin Grimm continued to have his suspicions about the and the ordinary actions of H.E.R.B.I.E.'s own artificial intelligence were not necessarily Sun's. Sun waited rather than expose himself before he was ready to attack.

(Fantastic Four I#215-216 - BTS) - Still concealed in H.E.R.B.I.E., Sun secretly manipulated the Baxter Building's systems to release Blastaar from the Negative Zone, intending the alien to destroy the Fantastic Four for him. Blastaar failed. Reed Richards realized that the building computers had been tampered with, but Sun's identity remained hidden.

(Fantastic Four I#217) - Sun finally seized overt control of H.E.R.B.I.E. and attacked the Fantastic Four. He used the robot's reprogrammed systems against Reed Richards and the Thing and took control of the Baxter Building's defenses against the Invisible Woman and Human Torch. Sun then abandoned H.E.R.B.I.E. and transferred his consciousness into the building's main computer, intending to use the larger system and its weaponry to finish the team. Reed physically isolated the main computer from the rest of the Baxter Building's systems, leaving Sun trapped there with only H.E.R.B.I.E. as a possible escape route. With Sun no longer controlling him, H.E.R.B.I.E.'s own artificial intelligence recognized that Sun could return to the robot and resume the attack. H.E.R.B.I.E. deliberately rammed himself into the main computer, destroying both systems. Sun's consciousness was destroyed with the computer, seemingly ending Doctor Sun's existence (see comments).

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan and Tom Palmer.

So, y'think it's a coincidence Marv Wolfman picked the name 'Sun' for a vampire's mortal enemy? The good Doctor seemed to be a favorite of Wolfman's: he wrote all but one of his appearances and found a way to work the character into Nova and the Fantastic Four as well.

It wouldn't be too difficult to have Sun return, escaping certain death is what he does best. In fact, who's to say the real Doctor Sun died when H.E.R.B.I.E. sacrificed itself? Sun downloaded his digital consciousness into the little robot through its link-up with the Xandarian World Mind. He might very well still exist as part of the Living Computers.

Doctor Sun's criminal organization was called 'T'ai Yang' which happens to mean 'powerful sun' in Chinese. One wonders what happened to it after Sun disappeared. Doctor Sun's brain transplant took place in 1966, but as topical references go, that shouldn't be too problematic. He is functionally immortal as a disembodied brain and it's entirely believable it took him a few decades to fully master his new existence. 

Doctor Sun received profiles in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#4, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition II#7 and FF: Fifty Fantastic Years I#1.