DOCTOR CLAW
Real Name: Dafydd ap Rhys
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Former Ministry of Defence research scientist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Fong, Pygmy Riders
Enemies: Captain Britain, Julie Vane, Zampa, General Mayhew, Bert Bullard
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Eden Island, formerly Great Britain
First Appearance: Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain#239 (September 7th, 1977)
Powers: Claw like hands and feet, toughened skin that enabled him to survive crawling through molten lava. The usual array of mad scientist gizmos including: a shrink ray, a flying heavily armed wheelchair, giant mutant scorpions and enormous rotating flowers????
History:
(SSM & CB#241(fb)) - Little is known of Doctor Claw's past other than he was a government scientist employed by the British Ministry of Defence to test a new tropical insect repellent. However, the so-called insect repellent was actually a bio-chemical warfare agent, which penetrated through his protective suit, burning him severely and changing his limbs into clawed twisted things. Believing himself ugly beyond belief, Claw swore he would have revenge for what Britain and its government had done to him. Setting up a base on the tropical island of Eden, Doctor Claw set his plan in motion. For his revenge, Claw selected five famous Britons to represent the country that had betrayed him, consisting of Captain Britain, Julie Vane the movie actress, Bert Bullard the soccer player, General Mayhew of the British Army and Zampa, a famous London crimelord. He then sent out tickets to them, offering them a free week of 'sun and fun' in the tropical paradise that was Eden Island. All five accepted the offer and flew out to the island on Doctor Claw's private plane.
(SSM && CB#239) - Captain Britain and his fellow passengers arrived on Eden Island, only to find no one waiting for them. As they waited, their plane took off at the hands of one of Doctor Claw's robot henchmen and exploded in mid-air. Before they could react, the jungle foliage parted to reveal a giant scorpion about to attack. Thinking quickly, Captain Britain, used a nearby tree to dig out a large hole for them all to hide in, while he projected a force field over the hole. After a while, the scorpion left, and they all clambered out, spotting a large house in the distance. As they approached the building, they stumbled across a giant flower which as they got near began to rotate, spinning the ground it was on and flinging the small group in all directions. (Curse those flowers!!! If only Doc Doom had one of them, the FF would have been defeated no bother at all) Using his star sceptre to fly to safety, Captain Britain rescued his fellow travellers, only to be attacked by one of Doctor Claw's mutations. Defeating the mutation by hurling a poisonous lizard at it, Captain Britain continued on to the house where they were greeted by Doctor Claw and his henchman Fong. Before anyone could react, steel vines sprang out of the underbrush and captured Captain Britain.
(SSM & CB#240) - Doctor Claw had Fong take his prisoners down to his lanoratory, where he shrank them down to the size of insects. Fong then released them from the Doctor's machine and they were immediately attacked by his pet cat! Escaping through a rat hole, they made their way outside, where they were immediately attacked by a colony of ants. Defeating the ants, Captain Britian was then forced to rescue General Mayhew from a mutated monkey. Hardly having time to breath, they then saw Doctor Claw arrive, who had Fong release a hawk to hunt them down.
(SSM & CB#241) - The hawk grabbed Captain Britain in its talons and swooped down towards a thorn bush, planning to impale him on the thorns. Using his force field to protect himself, Captain Britain defeated the bird and flew to safety, only to find his fellow prisoners being attacked by miniaturised natives flying on trained wasps. The natives carried off the prisoners back to Doctor Claw, followed closely by Captain Britain. Once back inside Doctor Claw's lab, they were restored to normal size by the evil genius, so that he could have his henchman Fong battle Captain Britain in his own arena.
(SSM & CB#242) - Defeating Fong, Captain Britain was then confronted by Doctor Claw himself and his flying wheelchair. Blinding him with a beam of intense light, Doctor Claw attempted to claw Captain Britain's face with his mutated hands, but was pushed back by his star sceptre. The Doctor then fired several missiles at the Captain from his wheelchair, which the hero easily evaded smashing into the Doctor, sending him flying backwards. Captain Britain was then distracted, as he went to rescue his comrades from the now recovered Fong, and the Doctor made good his escape. Defeating Fong again, Captain Britian followed Doctor Claw down into an extinct volcano. Knocking the Doctor back into an electric panel, Captain Britain discovered a hidden jet plane which he then used to fly his allies back to the safety of 'good old blighty'. Meanwhile the evil doctor was last seen crawling through scalding lava to the mouth of the volcano, where his mutates were waiting to attack.
Comments: Created by Jim Lawrence, Larry Lieber and Ron Wilson
I've got to admit, as an Englishman, I'm ashamed of this story. It is terrible! It seemed as if, in the last few stories of Captain Britain's original run, the writers were just going through the motions, and especially in this story, just used up their bag of unused cliches and hackneyed storylines and blended them together. These stories in Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain are only worth reading for the sake of completeness. The stories in his own original magazine were much better, but never as good as the later Alan Moore run, which should be compulsory reading.
Claw's real name was revealed in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#2.
Profile by Mark Caithness
Clarifications:
Fong has no connection to:
Doctor Claw has no relation to the million-and-one other Mad Doctor's that infiltrate the Marvel Universe.
Fong: A typical, mad scientist's henchman, his dialogue was usually limited to "Yes master", "No master" and "Now, you all will die!". He apparently had more than normal strength, as he held his own with the good Captain for more than five minutes before being beaten. He served as nothing more than a stereotypical mad scientist's lab assistant and all-around thug in the vein of Igor's everywhere.
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Other appearances:
Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain#240 (September 14th, 1977) - Larry Lieber & Jim Lawrence (writers), Pablo Marcos Studio (artist), Larry Lieber (editor)
Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain#241-242 (September 21st-28th, 1977) - Larry Lieber & Jim Lawrence (writers), Ron Wilson (pencils), Fred Kida (#241) & Pablo Marcos (#242) (inks), Larry Lieber (editor)
Last updated: 08/02/02
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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