DOCTOR PAINE
Real Name: Dr. Thaddeus Paine
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Physician
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Dr. David
Langford, Orderlies;
formerly Martine Bancroft
Enemies: Martine Bancroft, Mindless Ones, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), Morbius (Dr. Michael Morbius), Clea Strange, Venom (Eddie Brock), numerous patients/victims
Known Relatives: None
Base of Operations: Innsmouth Hills Sanitarium in Long Island, New York;
formerly New York City, New York
First Appearance: (BTS) Morbius the Living Vampire I#1 (September, 1992); (seen) Morbius the Living Vampire I#4 (December, 1992)
Powers/Abilities: Dr. Paine
is completely unable to experience tactile sensations, making him immune to all
forms of physical pain or pleasure. Paine wore metal gloves with
detachable surgical tool fingertips. He later replaced his hands with clawed, metal hands. He needed to consume phenylethylamine to survive.
Dr. Paine has a
group of trained foot soldiers, dubbed his "Orderlies" to carry out
missions for him.
History:
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#4 (fb)) - Thaddeus Paine
was a brilliant surgeon, who fell victim to a horrible accident involving an
experimental anesthetic. Losing all tactile sensation, Paine became obsessed
with medical freaks, falling prey to madness as his own inability to experience
pleasure or pain took hold. Perhaps seeing that his own condition seemed
meaningless, Paine began seeking out terminally ill individuals in the hopes
that he could take their deaths and give them some sort of importance or
meaning. Backed by a group of thugs that he dubbed the Orderlies, Paine began
conducting ruthless experiments on his "patients," experiencing a visceral
thrill from operating on them without anesthesia.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Paine's network of contacts eventually included Dr. David Langford, a corrupt biochemist who befriended Martine Bancroft, the estranged fiancée of Michael Morbius. Langford promised to aid Bancroft in finding a cure for Morbius's bizarre form of pseudo-vampirism and was given access to the man's many unpublished papers. Langford intended to kill Morbius and sell his papers to Dr. Paine, who grew increasingly curious about the Living Vampire's condition. Langford's plan never came to fruition, however, as Bancroft uncovered his deception and turned on him. Forced to kill Morbius's lover, Langford soon fell victim to the Living Vampire's wrath and was slain.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#3
(fb) - BTS) - Learning of
Langford's death, Paine dispatched the Orderlies to capture Morbius. The
Orderlies managed to locate him during an altercation involving Spider-Man and
Simon Stroud. Morbius was reeling from a series of tranquilizer darts fired into his
system from Stroud and was unable to avoid being taking away by the Orderlies.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#4) - Paine began an in-depth study of Morbius, holding the Living Vampire prisoner. Deprived of blood, Morbius was too debilitated to resist as Paine began sharing his life's work with him. Paine viewed Morbius as a colleague, admiring much of Morbius's research and his relentless drive to survive. Paine allowed Morbius to tour his facility and forced the man to watch as Paine conducted brain tumor surgery without any anesthesia for the victim. Paine's philosophy that "Life is Pain" infuriated Morbius and the Living Vampire only grew more angry when Paine revealed that Morbius's disease was not in remission at all -- in fact, it was still killing him. Morbius used a tremendous rush of adrenaline to break free at this point, overwhelming the Orderlies as Paine rushed to safety. The mad doctor escaped that night, though Morbius swore that he would eventually bring an end to the horrific experiments of Dr. Paine.
(Venom: The Hunger#2) - Paine re-established himself in Long Island, opening the Innsmouth Hills Sanitarium. There, he was contacted by Bellevue Hospital, who sought his consultation on the matter of a John Doe that had been brought in by the police, ranting about brain-eating aliens. The John Doe was actually Eddie Brock, who had been temporarily separated from the symbiote that shared his existence as Venom. Though Paine initially believed that Brock was mad and suffering from Organic Brain Syndrome, a series of painful experiments proved otherwise. Finally accepting Brock's story at face value, Paine began coveting the symbiote for its medicinal purposes. He forced Brock into a hypnotic state, during which he was able to learn more about the symbiote's need for human brains and its mindset at the time of separation. Paine then allowed Brock to escape, in the hopes that he would eventually lead them to the alien lifeform. Paine had placed an implant inside Brock without the patient's knowledge, one that would allow the doctor and his Orderlies to track his movements.
(Venom: The Hunger#3) - Thanks to the tracking device, Paine continued to monitor Brock's attempts to track down the symbiote. Soon afterwards, Brock managed to locate his "Other" and was in the process of re-bonding with it when the Orderlies arrived, knocking out Brock and stealing the symbiote.
(Venom: The Hunger#4) - After making his rounds at the Sanitarium (during which he refused to end one suffering patient's life because "physician-assisted suicide is highly unethical), Paine learned that the symbiote had arrived. After conducting a series of torturous experiments on the symbiote, Paine was forced to temporarily call a halt to the proceedings when Brock returned, seeking to free his 'Other.' Brock succeeded in doing so, killing many of the Orderlies in the process. When Paine informed the re-formed Venom that physical torture would not work on him due to his lack of pain sensitivity, Venom injected a portion of his alien body into Paine's brain, sucking it dry of phenethylamine. This sudden deficiency mirrored Venom's own hunger, one that could be filled only by the ingestion of human brains -- and lots of them. Filled with a ravenous hunger, Paine began devouring the brains of his patients and Orderlies in order to survive.
Presumably, Dr. Paine is still out there, conducting his sordid medical experiments -- but now also cursed with a desire to feast upon the brains of his victims.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
|
(Strange III#5 (fb) - BTS) - The Innsmouth Hills Sanitarium closed down and Doctor Paine infected his men with the same deficiency he was suffering from to research it further and possibly find a cure. As a result the Orderlies had to kidnap people to supply themselves and Paine with brains to consume. Kidnappings in New York City caught the attention of Moon Knight and Clea Strange, who learned from one of the Orderlies about the goings-on at the Sanitarium. (Strange III#5) - Doctor Paine attacked Moon Knight while Clea Strange freed the kidnapped people. Clea then stuck Paine to a wall and listened to the rambling of the cannibal. She stopped Moon Knight from killing him and instead sent Paine to another dimension where Paine was hunted by Mindless Ones. |
Comments: Created by Len Kaminski, Ron Garney, and Mike Witherby.
Way to solve the problem, Venom! Take a guy who enjoys
torturing people and has access to helpless patients, and give him a desire to
consume human brains!
--Snood.
Profile by Barry Reese. Update by Markus Raymond.
Clarifications:
Dr. Paine should not be confused with:
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1 - BTS) - Langford phoned one of Paine's Orderlies and told him to inform Paine that everything was going according to plan.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1) - Three Orderlies confronted Langford after he failed to kill Morbius. Langford insisted that he had created the serum according to Paine's instructions. Martine Bancroft eavesdropped and threatened Langford with a gun, but Langford shot her.
Langford and the Orderlies were attacked by Morbius after he found Martine and killed them all to avenge Martine's death.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#3) - Five Orderlies found Morbius unconscious after he and Spider-Man were tranquilized by Simon Stroud. Two of them shot Stroud in the back and then picked up the unconscious form of Morbius. Paine was informed by one of them that they had Michael Morbius.
(Morbius: The Living Vampire I#4) - Two Orderlies took Morbius to the operation table for Doctor Paine.
Paine showed his clinic to Morbius, who was in a wheelchair and got pushed around by one of the Orderlies. Paine ordered two Orderlies to take another subject to surgery. After the test subject died during the operation the Orderlies took her away. Morbius broke free and Paine escaped while Morbius fought his way through at least a dozen Orderlies.
(Venom: The Hunger#2) - Eddie Brock was transferred to Innsmouth Hills Sanitarium where Paine's Orderlies watched over the patients. When he arrived he attacked two of them, but was knocked out with a cattle prod. Two Orderlies then took him to Doctor Paine and led him wherever Paine wanted him.
On his way back to his padded cell Brock knocked out two Orderlies and fought his way through more Orderlies to escape, which was part of Paine's plan.
(Venom: The Hunger#3) - Orderlies kept surveilling the readings of the implant Paine put inside Brock.
Paine and four Orderlies found the still separated Brock and Venom symbiote in the sewers and knocked them out. Paine only took the symbiote.
(Venom: The Hunger#4) - Two Orderlies took the symbiote to a tank where Paine could examine it. Brock soon returned to the Sanitarium and fought his way through Orderlies until he finally freed the symbiote and reunited with it. The Orderlies had no chance against Venom.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Strange III#5 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Innsmouth Hills Sanitarium closed down. Doctor Paine infected his men with the need to consume brains, the same condition he was suffering from since his encounter with Venom, to research it further and possibly find a cure. They started kidnapping people to supply themselves with nourishment. They stayed loyal to not get cut off from the supply.
For some time Orderlies kidnapped people from New York City.
(Strange III#5) - Two Orderlies ran afoul Moon Knight and Clea Strange, who interrogated them about the kidnappings. One of them told them what they needed to know after Clea threatened him with the horrors of the Dark Dimension.
In the ruins of the Innsmouth Hills Sanitarium Clea and Moon Knight fought their way through Orderlies.
--Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1 (Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1, 3-4, Venom: The Hunger#2-4, Strange III#5
image:
Venom: The Hunted#2, p12, pan3 (main)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1, p1 (head shot)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1, p6, pan5 (with Morbius)
Strange III#5, p16, pan1 (fight with Moon Knight)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#3, p22, pan2 (Orderlies in yellow)
Venom: The Hunted#2, p19, pan1 (Orderlies in white)
Strange III#5, p14, pan3 (Orderlies as cannibals)
Appearances:
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1 (September, 1992) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#3 (November, 1992) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#4 (December, 1992) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Venom: The Hunger#2-4 (September-November, 1996) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ted Halsted (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Strange III#5 (October, 2022) - Jed MacKay (writer), Marcelo Ferreira (pencils), Roberto Poggi (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First Posted: 02/26/2005
Last Updated: 10/21/2022
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