DOCTOR CROCODILE
DOCTOR CROCODILE
Real Name: Joshua N'Dingi
Identity/Class: Human cyborg, Mbangawi citizen
Occupation: Ruler of the African Kingdom of Mbangawi
Group Membership: Ruler of Mbangawi, Gawan tribe;
former agent of RCX
Affiliations:
Afrikaa,
Askari (Jono Baraka), Black Panther (T'Challa),
Man-Ape,
Moses Magnum,
Princess Zanda, X-Men (Armor/Hisako Ichiki, Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Emma
Frost, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/Logan/James Howlett); Mbangawi soldiers
including M'Buele, Musere, Nagenda
advised by the tribal
Witch-Woman.
Enemies:
Jamie Braddock;
Sat-Yr9;
formerly Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Meggan Puceanu, the Technet, the
X-Men
Known Relatives: Jonas N'Dingi (father, tribal ruler of M'bangawi, deceased), Samuel N'Dingi (ancestor (see Comments), tribal ruler of Mbangawi, deceased)
Aliases: Doc Croc, "halfling" (Gatecrasher's nickname for him)
Base of Operations: Emperor's Compound, Mbangawi, East Africa
First Appearance: Captain Britain II#9 (September, 1985)
Powers/Abilities: Doctor Crocodile's left leg and arm, shoulder and part of his face are cybernetic. His original cybernetic eye did not appear to have any special capabilities, but his newer one glows with triple points of light and may include a laser targeting system.
His original cybernetic left hand was clawlike in appearance,
but his prosthetic did not appear to grant any level of superhuman ability,
rather than simply being functional replacements for the limbs and eye he
lost. The sole gadget that was shown to be inbuilt was a gas dispenser in
his left arm, which can release a cloud of green gas which inflict extremely
realistic, full sensory illusions on those exposed. Somehow Doctor Crocodile
could direct the hallucinations experienced, using them to impart information
and gauge someone's true personality. Since multiple subjects could be made
to see the same illusions, it may be that Doctor Crocodile has some kind
of telepathic or magical ability, and the gas merely renders victims susceptible
to this. His newer arm seems much more lifelike and muscular, and may provide
some superhuman strength. It can also transform to disgorge a giant drill
which can slice through toughened substances such as the superhumanly durable
Fury, ripping them to shreds in seconds. Whether other weapons have been
built in remains to be revealed. His cybernetic leg presumably does not convey
any superhuman speed, if only because that wouldn't work too well when the
other leg is still human.
A former agent of RCX, Doctor Crocodile is highly skilled in combat,
both hand to hand, with melee weapons, and with guns. He favors carrying
a heavy minigun capable of firing hundreds of rounds per second, and is strong
enough to use this one handed with his human arm.
Height: 6'6" (estimated)
Weight: (with bionics) 450 lbs.; (pre-accident) 215 lbs. (both
estimated)
Eyes: (right) brown; (left) glowing orange
Hair: Bald, formerly black
History:
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#5 (fb) - BTS) - When he was young, Joshua N'Dingi heard tales of the Wind Goddess of the Serengeti, a mythical figure whose very name made children smile.
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Joshua N'Dingi was sent by his father to England to be educated.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#1 (fb) - BTS) - He studied at Eton and gained a doctorate in an unspecified field at an unspecified university in the U.K.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#5 (fb) - BTS) - At some point he briefly met Sir James Jaspers.
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb) - BTS) - There he was recruited into RCX, and began working as one of their agents some time shortly after the Jasper's Warp.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb) - BTS) - Mutagenic radiation severely damaged the environment in the aftermath of the Warp, causing xenogenetic births where the offspring radically differed from their parents (and, indeed, regular humans in general). RCX termed them Warpies, and began taking them into care for their own good.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#4 (fb)) - Joshua read RCX's file on Mad Jim Jaspers and the Fury.
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb) - BTS) - Joshua helped RCX in gathering the Warpie children born in the wake of the Jasper's Warp. Presumably feeling his work was important, when his father died he did not immediately return home to assume rulership of Mbangawi.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - Joshua worked with two partners, one an engineer (presumably Agent Gabriel), the other a "social engineer" (presumably Agent Michael) who between them handled the parents. Since Joshua was very fond of children, it was his job to handle the kids.
(Captain Britain II#10
(fb) / Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - Along with Agent
Michael,...
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - and another agent, presumably Gabriel...
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb) / Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - Joshua went to collect Robert Arnold, a young Warpie child, intending to take him into RCX care. Michael ...
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - and Gabriel...
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb) / Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - tried to handle the distraught mother, while Joshua went to take the child from his cot in another room. Joshua talked soothingly to the toddler, but could not stop the frightened child from getting upset. He begins to cry loudly...and then exploded in Joshua's face. Joshua was vaguely aware of pain and extensive surgery, ...
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb)) - and Joshua awoke during at least one of these to see his new mechanical arm while medical personnel worked on him.
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb)) - Eventually he fully awoke to see Michael and Gabriel standing over him. Michael told him not to be too shocked at his new appearance, as the child's spontaneous combustion caused extensive injuries, requiring drastic surgery and unperfected techniques to be employed to save his life. Then Joshua looked in a mirror and saw that much of the left half of his body had been replaced by mechanical grafts and prosthetics, and his remaining skin was now so scarred that it appears almost scaly.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb) - BTS) - Joshua was glad his father had not lived to see Joshua's new face.
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb)) - In spite
of the protests of his fellow agents, who pointed out the vast amounts of
money spent on repairing him, Joshua decided it was time to return home to
govern his country.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#1 (fb) - BTS) - Joshua's new appearance was publicly explained as being the result of being badly burned in a car accident.
(Captain Britain II#10 (fb) - BTS) - With his changed appearance the people of Mbangawi dubbed their new ruler Doctor Crocodile. Despite the dubious sounding nickname, it was apparently meant affectionately.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Crocodile read all of Mbangawi's tribal records, which included information about the Canadian intelligence agent Logan (James Howlett, later Wolverine)'s trips to Africa, including Logan assisting the CIA in assassinating three African rulers. In his capacity as Mbangawi's ruler, he judged men and sometimes killed them.
(Captain Britain II#9 - BTS) - Alerted by his former colleagues in RCX to the depraved criminal activities of racing driver Jamie Braddock, Doctor Crocodile took him into custody when the playboy slaver entered Mbangawi while taking part in the Trans-African Rally. Having been misled to believe that Jamie's brother Brian, the superhero Captain Britain, was likewise involved in these horrific crimes, Doctor Crocodile ordered his government to keep Jamie's real fate a secret, simply reporting the driver as being missing, so that he could lure his "accomplice" into a trap.
(Captain
Britain II#9) - Doctor Crocodile threatened Jamie with torture and had his
captive call Braddock Manor, getting him to inform his brother of his captivity
and to deliver an ultimatum: "If you're not here by Wednesday they're going
to do something savage and unpleasant to me." As Jamie carried out this
instruction, Doctor Crocodile stood and watched his Witch-Woman heat up some
barbed needles in preparation.
(Captain Britain II#10) - Captain Britain and Meggan arrived in Mbangawi and literally gatecrashed the Emperor's compound looking for Jamie. Doctor Crocodile, monitoring their arrival from an unspecified location nearby, allowed them to smash their way in to the empty building, before making a call to a phone in the room they were in. He and the British hero exchange heated words, before the African ruler released his mind-bending gas through the phone. He put Captain Britain through a series of illusions, sharing the experience of the incident which crippled him and made him half-mechanical, then showed Braddock images of his brother's crimes: robbing aid convoys, murder, slave-trading and worse.
Appearing in the visions
as a giant crocodile, Joshua accused Captain Britain of being an accomplice
to these evils, but the hero hotly denied this. Releasing him from the dream
world, Doctor Crocodile asked his tribal sorceress for her opinion. She stated
that Captain Britain was innocent of his brother's crimes.
The enraged hero started to take his anger at the horrors he witnessed out on Jamie, but Doctor Crocodile stopped him, stating that local justice must be allowed to punish these transgressions. He noted that his informants had led him to believe that Brian had sheltered his brother from previous detection, and apologized to the hero for the ordeal he had been put through. A short while afterwards Doctor Crocodile watched as Meggan and Captain Britain flew off, leaving Jamie behind in Mbangawi.
(Excalibur I#15 - BTS) - The Witch-Woman foretold that Jamie would escape and cause terrible harm, and counselled that he should be executed to prevent this. Doctor Crocodile decided to ignore this warning.
(Excalibur I#15) - Hired by Nigel Frobisher on behalf of Sat-Yr9, the Technet traveled to Mbangawi to rescue Jamie Braddock from Doctor Crocodile, whom they were told was a tyrant holding an innocent hostage. Easily entering the heavily guarded compound and overcoming the guard, Gatecrasher, Yap and Joyboy penetrated the heart of the structure, where they found Doctor Crocodile and the Witch-Woman torturing Jamie. Joyboy dealt with the sorceress, and Gatecrasher faced the cyborg, who blasted her in the face with a shot of his hallucinogenic gas. Much like Captain Britain before her, she experienced first hand the evil actions of Jamie Braddock. Released from her visions, she found herself with her hands round Doctor Crocodile's throat, as he calmly explained that she had to be shown the truth about the man she had come to rescue. He then stated that Gatecrasher had honor in her, but those she served did not, and that she had been deceived.
Before the discussion could progress, a terrified Yap teleported the Technet, Jamie and Doctor Crocodile back to the mercenaries' base on Brighton Pier. As Jamie started to wander off, Gatecrasher noted that they had best restrain him until things could be sorted out; and Doctor Crocodile, his head still soundly gripped by Gatecrasher's giant hand, warned her to be careful as his former captive was more than he seemed. This was swiftly demonstrated as they witnessed Jamie inflict terrible agony on Bodybag, the Technet member ordered to take him captive. The rest of the Technet started to move to engage Braddock, only to fall one by one to Jamie's reality warping abilities, powers seemingly released by the torture he had endured.
Doctor Crocodile noted that Jamie still believed he was imprisoned
in Mbangawi, and thought that what he was currently experiencing was just
a dream. Realising the lack of moral constraints this gave Jamie, combined
with his vast new powers, Doctor Crocodile declared that he wished he had
heeded the sorceress' warning and killed the madman when he had the chance.
Slipping his robe off and drawing a knife, he rushed into combat, only for
the pier to be lit up by a huge explosion of light.
Jamie transformed Dr. Crocodile into an actual crocodile, albeit only a tiny one, complete with cybernetic implants. Some time later, Nigel Frobisher collected a victorious Jamie from the pier. He had altered the Technet's memories to wipe out their recollections of the fight, leaving them to believe the mission was a success. However Thug was disgruntled to find his bath disrupted when he found the tiny crocodile in the tub...
(Marvel Atlas#2) - The Witch Woman tracked down the transformed Dr. Crocodile and restored him to human form.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#1 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Crocodile gained an international reputation for having done wonders to improve Mbangawi.
(Civil
War: Battle Damage Report#1) - President N'Dingi was present at the Pan-African
Congress on the Treatment of Superhumans, alongside fellow rulers King T'Challa
(Black Panther) and Queen Ororo (Storm) of Wakanda, Khairi Ngala (Afrikaa)
of Mohannda, Moses Magnum of Canaan, Princess Zanda of Narobia and M'Baku
(Man-Ape), leader of Wakanda's Jabari tribe. They met hoping to reach a consensus
on how to react to the United States of America's implementation of
the Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA), perhaps concerned that the USA would
try to use S.H.I.E.L.D. to export the SHRA worldwide.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#5 (fb) - BTS) - Despite posing in the same publicity photograph as Storm, Dr. Crocodile did not get the opportunity to interact with her at the Congress, nor did he realise she was the Serengeti's legendary Wind-Rider (see Comments).
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1) - The Congress disbanded without having reached an agreement on how to deal with the SHRA.
(Marvel Atlas#2) - Joshua was also good friends with Zanzibar's president Jono Baraka, a.k.a. the former superhero Askari (the Spear). Joshua worked with like-minded African rulers, such as Jono and T'Challa of Wakanda towards the advancement of Africa as a whole.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#2 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Crocodile's cybernetic systems were upgraded, becoming less primitive looking, while additional skin grafts reduced the scaly appearance on his face.
(Astonishing
X-Men: Xenogenesis#1 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Crocodile apparently required to
spend a month of each year out of Mbangawi for medical maintenance. He had
just left Mbangawi for one such period (see comments) when there was an outbreak
of superpowered children being born in the southern Mbangawi village of Karere,
their unrestrained powers causing extensive damage and deaths. When he learned
of the births, he sent some of his troops to Karere.
He swiftly determined that the children were Warpies, and mindful of his own personal experience and the damage already caused, he decided to quarantine the area and execute the children, an action he considered a mercy killing but which he knew would make him hated by the locals.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#1) - Word spread of the "mutant" births, prompting visits by Mutant Sans Frontieres medical personnel and a team of X-Men. Both were confronted by Dr. Crocodile's troops upon arriving.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#2) - Arriving in Karere to find that the X-Men had overpowered his men and forced them to leave, and aware his men were unlikely to be able to defeat the X-Men in a fair fight, the ever-pragmatic Dr. Crocodile took the Mutantes Sans Frontieres staff hostage, introduced himself and politely requested the X-Men depart immediately, strongly implying he would kill the medics if the X-Men did not comply.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3) - X-Men telepath Emma Frost took control over the minds of Dr. Crocodile's men, making them turn their guns on themselves. Undaunted at the tide turning against him. Dr. Crocodile informed the X-Men of his history with RCX and personal experience with Warpie children. He informed them that few Warpie children lived to maturity and that while they lived their lives were full of pain, adding that some exploded. Since his country did not have the facilities to handle a new Jaspers Warp, he felt the only thing he could do was protect his people from their own sick children, a job he did not relish but which he felt was a duty he had been born into. Beast countered that Mutantes Sans Frontieres could care for the infants, but Dr. Crocodile pointed out that there were more being born all the time, and cynically asked what would happen once the X-Men got bored with aiding an African country or distracted by events on American soil and so had to leave. He did not want them to give his people false hope and then inform them of their children's slow, agonizing demise via e-mail. His way was brutal and painful and would leave him hated, but the children would die swiftly and area would be evacuated and sealed off to prevent a similar incident from happening again. When Wolverine derisively stated "African leaders," Dr. Crocodile rebutted his comment, noting he was aware of Wolverine's past involvement in CIA assassinations of African leaders, calling the Canadian mutant corrupt for his mercenary past, and countering that though he had judged and killed men, he had never done so for money nor pleasure, defying Wolverine to say the same. Exasperated at what he considered to the X-Men's arrogance, Dr. Crocodile put his arms up in mock surrender, telling them sarcastically that they had won and to take the children away to America while cursing the Mbangawi people for being backwards tribesmen. Perhaps, he suggested, he might lodge a complaint with the United Nations, since everyone knew how closely African nations were listened to. Beast angrily countered that the X-Men were not leaving until they discovered the source of the radiation, pointing out that it might herald an invasion from another reality and asking rhetorically if Dr. Crocodile's forces could handle a problem like that. Dr. Crocodile responded anyway, noting that if he bombed the region from the air it would be less of an issue, and when Beast insisted he couldn't be that stupid, Dr. Crocodile responded that the world was riddled with holes into multiversal structure and the chance of it being a Ghost Box, and hence a precursor to interdimensional invasion, was coincidental. The Beast then asked Dr. Crocodile if he really believed in coincidence.
Their
debate was ended at that moment as Dr. Crocodile heard gunfire outside the
building. He asked Emma Frost to release his men, and when she did he ordered
them to take up defensive positions outside to protect the townspeople. Exiting
the building, Dr. Crocodile saw one of his army captains running towards
them, and ordered him to report. The man confirmed that he had fired the
shots after seeing something in the woods, a being he had been unable to
see clearly because it had been surrounded by a heat haze. Since locals had
talked of a devil in the woods as the cause of the mutated births, Cyclops
tried to put their bad start aside and asked Dr. Crocodile to let the X-Men
help. Dr. Crocodile pragmatically agreed, and ordered two of his men to accompany
Storm, Wolverine and Beast as they went into the woods to investigate.
(Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#4) - The three X-Men and two soldiers encountered both the cause of the xenogenetic radiation, the reality-jumping Jim Jaspers of Earth-10083, and a squad of pursuing Furies from the same timeline. Storm flew Jaspers to the Mutantes Sans Frontieres temporary hospital while the others fought the Furies, while the other X-Men, Dr. Crocodile and his forces rushed to assist. They arrived just in time to prevent Wolverine being slain, and Dr. Crocodile used to his minigun to join Cyclops in blasting the intruders, before informing them that this was his country. However, the Furies regenerated, more powerful than before, and the X-Men resumed the fight. With the 10083 Furies increasingly resembling the pictures of the Earth-238 Fury he had seen in RCX's files on Jaspers, Dr. Crocodile recognized them for what they were - hero-killing, nearly unstoppable cyborgs - and ordered his men to provide the X-Men with covering fire to get their wounded clear, then to concentrate on terminating the Furies. However, the cyborgs literally ripped through his men, and even the X-Men struggled to slow them down. Though a couple of Furies were destroyed, the battle was clearly going in their favor.
(Astonishing
X-Men: Xenogenesis#5) - Though the Furies continued to slaughter the soldiers,
Armor and Cyclops managed to take down two Furies, after which Cyclops called
for everyone to form up on him. Dr. Crocodile rallied his men, telling them
to reassemble behind the X-Men and chiding them for panicking, telling them
the battle was a typical lunchtime experience for New York City. However,
when a Fury skewered another soldier and lifted the unfortunate man aloft,
then turned to move on another victim, Dr. Crocodile raced forward, and,
announcing that he hated having to do so, he reconfigured his bionic arm
to extrude a giant drill, which he rammed through the Fury while throwing
the Fury's target to the side with his human arm. Witnessing the Fury's
destruction, Cyclops chastised Dr. Crocodile, informing him they needed one
Fury left alive, but Dr. Crocodile queried this, stating that either the
Furies all died or they did. Cyclops, who had learned from Emma that when
another world had succeeded in destroying a squad of Furies pursuing Jaspers
it had subsequently been obliterated by a far larger Fury force in retaliation,
started to explain this, then realized that some Furies were unaccounted
for. One was destroyed en route to Karere by Wolverine and Beast, but the
last remaining Fury reached the village's edge, where it was confronted by
Emma Frost. Moments later Dr. Crocodile reached the edge of the forest in
time to see the Fury racing towards her, but she telepathically forbid everyone
to fire on it, stating she needed it intact, an instruction that Dr. Crocodile
felt was insane. Emma tried to psychically invade the Fury's mind, but as
it loomed closer and raised its gun, she realized she would not be able to
do so before it shot her. However, Dr. Crocodile bodily tackled it just as
it fired, causing the shot to go wide, then wrapped his human arm round its
throat and smashed it in the face with the elbow of his bionic limb, temporarily
stunning it. Emma thanked him for saving her life, and hence the entire world,
then engaged in some psychic surgery on the Fury, convincing it that Jaspers
had been mortally wounded and fled to another reality with the rest of the
Furies in pursuit, leaving this last Fury unable to follow, so that it would
return home reporting its mission completed and nothing of interest on Earth-616.
The Fury departed, and the X-Men and surviving soldiers had their wounds
treated. Having realized Storm was the mythical Wind Goddess of the Serengeti,
Dr. Crocodile informed her that he was honored to meet her, and informed
Cyclops that he would make secure buildings available near the Mbangawi capital
where Mutantes Sans Frontieres could treat the Warpies and irradiated villagers,
adding that he could not allow anyone to stay in Karere until he got strong
advice on the radiation and possible sterilization processes. He then expressed
interest in seeing Jim Jaspers, and Storm and Cyclops took him into the makeshift
hospital to view the unconscious Jaspers, whom Emma Frost had telepathically
sedated to prevent him reality-jumping again. Dr. Crocodile considered the
helpless Jaspers for a moment, then reached a decision. Simply saying yes,
he swiftly pulled his gun and shot Jaspers in the head before either Storm
or Cyclops could stop him. He told the shocked and horrified mutants that
it was his burden to weigh and dispense justice, and when Storm demanded
to know how murdering a child in his sleep was justice, Dr. Crocodile responded
that it was not. However, neither was letting a human dirty bomb wander around
undefused in the midst of his people. He informed the two X-Men that he would
attempt to contain the Warpies given their promised aid, but he would not
permit an adolescent to hold the health of Mbangawi's people at his mercy.
Turning to go back outside, he noted that he now had to arrange to have the
villagers taken to the city, not knowing if they would ever be allowed to
return home, and noted philosophically that no one would care, because it
was only a village in Africa. Everyone wanted to save the world, but nobody
really cared about Mbangawi, no one but him.
Comments: Created by Jamie Delano and Alan Davis. A Marvel UK character.
The exact nature of Doctor Crocodile's official title as ruler of Mbangawi is uncertain. Captain Britain and Meggan find him in "the Emperor's compound" in Mbangawi, but Emperor is a rather grandiose title for the ruler of a small African nation, and it may simply be that this is a holdover from colonial days, when a foreign monarch ruled Mbangawi prior to independence - e.g. the compound used to be the residence of the Emperor when he visited the country, and has retained that name long after the Empire faded. Captain Britain refers to Doctor Crocodile as being considered by his people to be more like a god than an Emperor, but he might simply be making a mistaken titular assumption based on the compound's name. Of course what the writer wanted was for readers to assume Doctor Crocodile was an evil tyrant, in the mold of Idi Amin, and evil tyrants like giving themselves overblown designations, such as Emperor, even when they don't have an empire to be Emperor of. However once you realise that he is actually a caring and benevolent ruler, that designation seems a little unlikely. Perhaps his father was the dictator who granted himself the title, and Joshua has merely inherited it. The Marvel Atlas confirmed that the name Emperor's Compound was a holdover from when Mbangawi was ruled by the British.
Michael tells Joshua
that RCX spent a lot of money fixing him after he was injured. "The prosthetics
alone run into millions." Hmmm. I wonder how many millions? He's had one
arm, an eye and a leg replaced. No basis to this theory, but I'd speculate
it might well be the dollar equivalent of Six Million.
When Captain Britain is put through his paces in the illusionary world and comes out of his trance, Doctor Crocodile looks to the Witch-Woman for analysis of his guilt or otherwise, suggesting that it was she who conjured and controlled the images seen. However when Gatecrasher and Yap are later put through a similar process, the Witch-Woman is indisposed, and it is clearly Doctor Crocodile who directs the experience. Perhaps the gas induces the visions, but the actual displays are magically controlled? The first time round, the Witch-Woman supervises things, but by the time the Technet come calling Joshua has been taught enough to do the job himself?
For several years after his transformation into an actual crocodile, Doctor Crocodile's fate was unknown. Last seen transformed by Jamie Braddock and left in the dubious hands of the Technet, he might even have been eaten by the parahumans! However, after a restored Dr. Crocodile was shown in Civil War: Battle Damage Report, the Marvel Atlas subsequently confirmed that Kura had found and restored Dr. Crocodile to his proper form, a restoration further corroborated when he turned up in Xenogenesis.
The Atlas identified Joshua's father to be Jonas N'Dingi but their exact relationship to prior ruler Samuel N'Dingi was deliberately left vague, as the date of M'bangawi gaining independence from the U.K. was a fixed point (1961), whereas when Jonas died and was replaced by Joshua falls under the influence of the sliding timescale. At the moment Jonas could easily be Samuel's son, but as time passes and the gap between 1961 and the present day expands, that close a relationship will become harder and harder to justify without introducing fantastic elements such as slowed aging to the mix.
Though he was called "Doctor" Crocodile from the outset, it wasn't confirmed until Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#1 that he actually was had a doctorate (Emma Frost calls him Dr. Joshua N'Dingi, and she isn't the kind of person to give him the honorific unless it was genuine). Though shown to be the kind of person who wouldn't give himself undeserved honorifics, Dr. Crocodile was a nickname given to him by others, and some of the world's less savory leaders are well known to gift themselves with titles they have no real claim to (c.f. Idi Amin and his claim to be the King of Scotland).
According to Emma Frost, Dr. Crocodile has to spend a month out of Mbangawi each year for medical maintenance, and was undertaking said maintenance when the incidents of Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis began. At first glance, this might seem to be a falsehood, because the other details the X-Men knew about him, specifically the cause of his injuries (they believed he had been in a car crash and badly burned) and how he had been treated (they only knew he had undergone failed skin grafts, not advanced cybernetic surgery) were both propaganda stories, and because Dr. Crocodile proved to be present in Karere and handling the situation when they arrived. However, the X-Men didn't hear about the Warpie births in Mbangawi until three weeks after the first child was born and blew up the local hospital; even allowing for a time lag between the event happening and word getting to Dr. Crocodile, it seems inconceivable that he wouldn't have stepped in sooner. Dr. Crocodile had already identified the superpowered newborns as Warpies when the X-Men arrived (thinking they were mutants), but if he'd started investigating things three weeks earlier then by the time the X-Men arrived Dr. Crocodile would have already carried out his plan to eliminate the infants.
Though shown together in the same picture in Civil War Battle Damage Report, Dr. Crocodile talks to Storm in Xenogenesis#5 as if it is the first time he has met her (and no, that story couldn't have happened prior to the Congress, based on both the Marvel universe's timeline and the depiction of Dr. Crocodile's cybernetics, which changed between stories). Presumably he simply didn't get the chance to meet her properly at the Congress (she was there with T'Challa, but perhaps left out of the discussions the heads of state had) and didn't realise until he saw her in action that she was the Serengeti's legendary wind goddess. For what it is worth, both Storm and Wolverine also encountered Jamie Braddock's Fury in Uncanny X-Men #447, yet fail to recognize the very similar looking alternate reality Furies when they meet them in Xenogenesis.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS: Doctor Crocodile should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#2, p22, pan1 (main - Dr. Crocodile's current
look)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#4, p12, pan3 (headshot, Dr. Crocodile's current
look)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#4, p12, pan2 (Dr. Crocodile with minigun)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3, p4, pan4 (the pre-cyborg Joshua N'Dingi
in RCX "uniform" just prior to his accident)
Captain Britain II#10, p6, pan 5 (Dr. Crocodile sees himself for the first
time since his encounter with Robert Arnold)
Excalibur I#15, p8, pan 1 (Dr. Crocodile in robes)
Excalibur I#15, p8, pan 5 (headshot, Dr. Crocodile, original cybernetics)
Captain Britain II#10, p7, pan 1 (Dr. Crocodile illusory form)
Excalibur I#15, p8, pan 6 (Dr. Crocodile releases hallucinogenic gas from
his arm)
Excalibur I#15, p19, pan 4 (Dr. Crocodile disrobes in preparation to fight,
providing a more detailed look of his upper body's original cybernetics)
Excalibur I#15, p21, pan 7 (tiny cyborg crocodile Dr. Crocodile)
Civil War Battle Damage Report p1, pan 1 (Pan-African Congress groupshot)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#3, p2, pan1 (close-up view of Dr. Crocodile's
jaw and neck cybernetics)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#5, p4, pan4 (Dr. Crocodile transforms his
arm into a drill)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#5, p6, pan1(Dr. Crocodile skewers and destroys
a Fury with his cybernetic arm)
Excalibur I#15, p19, pan 5 (Dr. Crocodile goes into battle, shows more detailed
look of leg's original cybernetics)
Appearances:
Captain Britain II#9-10 (September-October, 1985) - Jamie Delano (writer),
Alan Davis (artist), Ian Rimmer (editor)
Excalibur I#15 (November, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Alan Davis (pencils),
Paul Neary (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1 (2007)
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis#1-5 (July 2010-April 2011) - Warren Ellis
(writer), Kaare Andrews (art), Daniel Ketchum (associate editor), Axel Alonso
(executive editor)
Last updated: 03/01/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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