PYTHAGORAS DUPREE

Real Name: Pythagoras Dupree

Identity/Class: Human (World War II to Modern Era)

Occupation: Reclusive genius, CEO of Excello Soap

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Master Mind Excello (idolized by Dupree), Olympus Group (Hera)

Enemies: Athena, Amadeus Cho

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Excello, Utah, USA; formerly Mount Athena, New York, USA

First Appearance: Incredible Hercules I#133 (October, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: Pythagoras Dupree had an exceptionally brilliant intellect; his brain has been described as a "hypercomputer." His perception was so great that he could virtually predict actions before they happened. He could also use his mind to create "bubble realities" in which he could hide from others. Within the bubble realities, Dupree could alter the reality as he wished. In his old age, Dupree was infirm and required a motorized wheelchair and oxygen tank; his stamina was also well below average. To compensate for his age, Dupree carried an automatic pistol.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'10")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 175 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Grey, formerly black

History:

(Incredible Hercules I#137 (fb)) - Pythagoras Dupree grew up in an orphange in Mount Athena, New York and never knew the identities of his parents. In the 1940s the orphanage was run by Miranda Minerva (the goddess Athena in a mortal disguise) who taught Dupree and the other children her ideas about the hero's journey. She placed the children through intelligence tests and Dupree excelled above the other children. Seeing Dupree was Minerva's favorite, the other children would bully Dupree. Dupree's best escape from reality was through listening to the serialized radio adventures of the real-life hero Master Mind Excello. When Master Mind Excello disappeared near the end of World War II, Dupree feared that if a genius like Master Mind Excello could fail, the same could happen to him. Dupree fled the orphanage and never looked back.

With Dupree's terrific intelligence he was able to manipulate the stock market and amass a fortune with ease. As an adult, he used his money to buy the entire town of Excello, Utah, a company town which had manufactured Excello Soap for the Master Mind Excello radio program he'd adored. One night, Minerva appeared to Dupree, now in her true form as Athena. Athena told Dupree she needed a champion to face the coming threat of Mikaboshi; rather than a champion of strength such as Hercules, Athena believed her new champion would have to be a champion of the mind. Dupree told her he'd think about it.

When Athena returned to Excello, Dupree set off a bomb that destroyed the entire town in an attempt to kill her. Dupree was paranoid and thought that he would disappear the way Master Mind Excello had seemed to. Dupree believed Athena was afraid of his intellect and only wanted to control him. Developing his mind into a "hypercomputer," Dupree learned how to generate bubble realities in which he could hide from Athena.

In time, Dupree realized Athena would seek out someone else with a hypermind to recruit them as her champion. He resolved to prevent Athena from finding her champion by using the Excello Soap company to sponsor science fairs and other contests to root out the smartest young people in the country, then lured them to Excello, Utah so he could kill them. Dupree received an infusion of capital from Hera of the Olympus Group, who was in opposition to her fellow goddess Athena. In return, Dupree created Continuum, a machine that would destroy the universe and replace it with another, enabling the Olympus Group to determine which people would survive the present reality and continue into the next.

In recent years, Dupree's "Brainfight" game identified Amadeus Cho as the seventh-smartest person on Earth. Amadeus was the highest-ranked genius Dupree had yet discovered. Rather than risk Amadeus getting free on the way to Excello, Dupree arranged to murder Amadeus in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Dupree set a bomb at Amadeus' home and it killed Amadeus' parents but Athena delayed Amadeus so that he wouldn't be present when the bomb went off.

(Incredible Hercules I#133) - Amadeus finally came to Excello, Utah to find answers concerning his parents' deaths. Unknown to Amadeus, Dupree had trapped him in a bubble reality, fabricating a version of Excello that hadn't been destroyed. Athena, in her guise as Agent Sexton, attempted to warn Amadeus but Dupree generated Boltzmann Brains (creatures governed by random fluctuations) to stun Amadeus, as he couldn't predict the Brains' actions. Amadeus awoke in another bubble reality as Dupree, dressed in an imitation of Master Mind Excello's clothing, introduced himself to Amadeus as the sixth-smartest man in the world and that he was going to kill Amadeus.

(Incredible Hercules I#135) - Dupree placed himself and Amadeus in a bubble reality in which they were two children playing a role-playing game, their decisions influencing another bubble reality in which Amadeus was Master Mind Excello and had to rescue Agent Sexton from "Dr. Japanazi." Dupree was the game's gamemaster and boasted that his observations determined the reality of their adventure. However, Amadeus asserted that he was Dupree's equal in intelligence and collapsed the bubble realities back into the actual reality, setting himself and Sexton free.

(Incredible Hercules I#137) - In a shack inside the crater where Excello, Utah had stood, Amadeus confronted Dupree and Dupree explained his history to Amadeus. Amadeus only wanted to know what Dupree had done with his sister Madame Curie Cho, whom he'd recently learned wasn't killed in the explosion in Tucson. This flabbergasted Dupree, who had no idea Amadeus had a sister. Dupree thought Amadeus was trying to confuse him and proposed the two of them play a game "like Russian Roulette. But for hyperminds." Holding a gun on Amadeus, Dupree challenged him to dodge to the bullet to see if they could anticipate each other's actions; if Dupree failed, he would hand the gun to Amadeus and give him the same opportunity. The two men began to calculate their actions but Amadeus resolved that he wasn't going to play the game because he didn't care about proving whether he was smarter than Dupree or not - he genuinely had only wanted to find his sister. Amadeus walked out of Dupree's shack, stating the best punishment for Dupree was for him to live his life and forget all about him: "You'll disappear. Like you never existed at all." This was indeed Dupree's greatest fear; turning the gun to his head, Dupree killed himself.

Comments: Created by Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak and Rodney Buchemi.

This profile was completed on 11/24/2025 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Pythagoras Dupree should not be confused with:

images: (without ads)
Incredible Hercules I#133, page 22 (main)
Incredible Hercules I#137, page 7, panel 4 (face)
Incredible Hercules I#137, page 10, panel 3 (as young man)

Appearances:
Incredible Hercules I#133 (October, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Greg Pak (writer), Rodney Buchemi (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Incredible Hercules I#135 (November, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Greg Pak (writer), Rodney Buchemi (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Incredible Hercules I#137 (December, 2009) - Fred Van Lente (writer), Greg Pak (writer), Rodney Buchemi (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First posted: 09/06/2026
Last updated: 11/24/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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