DOCTOR JOSE SANTINI

Real Name: Jose Santini

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Cardiologist and scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Goliath/Clint Barton, Thor, Vision/Victor Shade, Wasp/Janet van Dyne, Yellowjacket/Hank Pym), Don Blake, Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards-Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Tony Stark

Enemies: Growing Man, Mad Thinker

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Bumbling milksop" (nickname used by the Mad Thinker)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
                                  formerly the Mad Thinker's hideout,
                                  formerly his home country

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#68 (November, 1967)

Powers/Abilities: Jose Santini possesses no known superhuman abilities. A gifted physician and cardiologist, he is an expert in chemistry, the development of synthetic tissues and reversing the effects of cosmic radiation.

Height: 6'1" (by approximation)
Weight: 140 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:

(Fantastic Four I#68 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Jose Santini was a world renowned physician, specializing in cardiology, chemistry and cosmic radiation. Deemed to be the most brilliant chemist of his time, he had come up with a substance capable of undoing the effects of cosmic radiation.

(Avengers I#69 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Don Blake was familiar with Santini's work in the field of synthetic tissues, which could theoretically replace damaged or diseased body parts.

(Fantastic Four I#68 - BTS) - Eager to cure the Thing, Reed Richards invited Santini to come to New York City to help him come up with a way to reverse the cosmic rays' effects on Ben Grimm. Santini accepted, but his communications with the Fantastic Four's leader were overheard by the Mad Thinker who decided to use this development to his advantage.

(Fantastic Four I#68) - As soon as Santini arrived in New York, he was kidnapped by the Mad Thinker's androids and brought to the villain's lair. There, the Mad Thinker scanned Santini's body so he could physically replace him, even going on a crash diet to match the slender physician's build. He also used his hypno-lenses to copy all of Santini's knowledge into his own mind, so he could effectively act like the brilliant scientist. Santini was left behind, sedated by the sleep gas that was pumped into his cell.

(Fantastic Four I#68 - BTS) - Pretending to be Santini, the Mad Thinker went to the Baxter Building to help Reed Richards set up machinery that would cure the Thing. However, it was secretly designed to mind control Ben and send him in a maddened rage against his teammates.

(Fantastic Four I#69) - While the FF tried to contain the possessed Thing, Santini awoke in his cell inside the Mad Thinker's base. Desperate to get out, he pleaded to what he thought was a guard standing watch outside, completely unaware it was one of the Mad Thinker's guardian androids.

(Fantastic Four I#69 - BTS) - Left alone in the Baxter Building, the Mad Thinker quickly examined all of Mr. Fantastic's inventions, learning its secrets and reveling in the fact his computer-like brain had predicted this plan would work out to the letter. However, when he stumbled upon the portal to the Negative Zone, something he hadn't taken into consideration, the Mad Thinker figured that if Richards was intelligent enough to have gained access to the Zone, there was a 32 percent chance of him also discovering that he was behind all this. The Mad Thinker hurried home to his base to kill Santini before the FF could come after him.

(Fantastic Four I#70) - The Mad Thinker arrived back at his base, looking up Santini and pulling a gun on him. However, before he could kill the doctor his prediction came true: the FF (minus the Thing) and the police stormed his headquarters. While he sent his androids to deal with the intruders, Mad Thinker faced Mr. Fantastic in direct combat in Santini's cell. The overconfident villain used his statistical mind to correctly predict most of Mr. Fantastic's moves, easily holding his own until Santini involved himself and jumped the Mad Thinker. This bought Reed enough time to stage a successful counterattack, beating the bad guy before the others reached him. Santini, overcome with exhaustion, was presumably taken to safety by the police (see comments).

(Avengers I#69 (fb) - BTS) - After Tony Stark was mortally injured on an Avengers mission trying to fight an Iron Man Life Model Decoy he was taken to New York's Municipal Hospital where Hank Pym's Ultra-Rejuvenator was used to help Stark continue to survive. However, Dr. Donald Blake concluded only doctor Jose Santini would be the one expert able to help him. Thor went out to get the cardiologist.

(Avengers I#69) - Thor brought in Santini who was taken to Stark's hospital room where the Avengers were standing guard. Santini asked them all to step out, just as Wasp spotted a strange, glowing doll underneath a nearby cabinet. She picked up the tiny doll on her way out, tossing it in a garbage bin outside, unaware it was actually a Growing Man left there by Kang the Conqueror. The kinetic energy from hitting the bin caused the robot to activate and grow, bursting through the hospital walls into Stark's room. Santini was unable to stop the android from kidnapping the unconscious and injured Anthony Stark.

(Iron Man I#19 (fb) - BTS) - A little while after the Avengers returned from their mission to rescue Stark, competing in a cosmic game of chance between Kang and the Grandmaster, Santini finally got a chance to treat his patient. The injuries to Stark's already damaged heart were so severe, Santini had no choice but to completely replace the organ with his synthetic tissue. In order to increase the chances of success, Santini used Pym's Ultra-Rejuvenator to accelerate his patient's natural healing.

(Iron Man I#19) - Following the operation, Santini met with Anthony Stark who was in great spirits and feeling like a new man after waking up. The good doctor quickly put a damper on his good mood, explaining the synthetic tissue was still highly experimental and could be rejected by the body at any time. He advised his patient to avoid any unusual stress, jokingly stating that shouldn't be a problem for a man in Stark's position, adding: "after all, it's not like you were Iron Man or anything!"

(Avengers I#146 (fb) ) - Even though he ate some of the Assassin's poisoned cookies, Iron Man was still able to face the villain. Tony Stark realized the poison had less of an effect on him because of the synthetic heart that Santini had built for him.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee (writer), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks).

Doctor Jose Santini is one of those early Marvel miracle scientists who happen to be an expert on anything the current crisis calls for. He started out as a chemist who was also knowledgeable about cosmic radiation only to turn out to be the world's go to guy when it came to synthetic tissue. That's quite the resume, doc... No wonder the Mad Thinker took your name as his most commonly used alias. That must have made going through airport security a challenge for the good doctor.

The end of his first Fantastic Four arc is a bit of a dangler. He is freed by the FF, disappears off panel and then never showed up again to do what he actually came to the United States to do: attempt to cure Ben Grimm using that special substance he came up with.

For some reason, I always felt Santini should have shown up as part of the Avengers Support Crew when they were introduced following Avengers I#300, however Keith Kincaid was appointed chief medical officer.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Jose Santini should not be confused with

• "Dr. Jose Santini", the Mad Thinker posing as Santini @ Fantastic Four I#68
• Or any other "Jose" or "Santini" characters

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#68, p3, pan3 (main image)
Fantastic Four I#68, p4, pan1 (closeup)
Fantastic Four I#70, p11, pan5 (fights the Mad Thinker)
Avengers I#69, p3, pan5 (with the Avengers)
Iron Man I#19, p09, pans2-3 (advises Anthony to avoid unusual stress)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#68 (November, 1967) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#69 (December, 1967) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#70 (January, 1968) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Avengers I#69 (October, 1969) - Roy Thomas (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Iron Man I#19 (November, 1969) - Archie Goodwin (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Johnny Craig (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Avengers I#146 (April, 1976) - Tony Isabella (writer), Keith Pollard & Don Heck (pencils), John Tartag (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)