DOCTOR MIDAS
Real Name: Dr. Midas (first name unrevealed)
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: Head of the Midas Foundation
Group Membership: Midas Foundation
Affiliations: Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Exterminatrix, Mindless Ones, Orb, Sons of Yinsen (including Sun-Tao), Wong-Chu, Ho Yinsen;
formerly S.H.I.E.L.D.
Enemies: Avengers (Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Luke Cage, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Falcon/Sam Wilson, Hulk/Bruce Banner, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Thing/Ben Grimm, Thor/Odinson), Daredevil (Matt Murdock), Nick Fury, Noh-Varr, Nova (Sam Alexander), Plex Intelligence, S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Uatu the Watcher, X-Men (Firestar/Angelica Jones, Iceman/Robert Drake, Magik/Illyana Rasputin, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett), any other creature that caught his interest;
formerly Exterminatrix, Mindless Ones
Known Relatives: Oubliette Midas (Exterminatrix, daughter), unidentified wife (deceased)
Aliases: Cosmic Man, "Great Salvager"
Base of Operations: Midas Foundation HQ
First Appearance: Marvel Boy II#1 (August, 2000)
Powers/Abilities: After five years exposure to cosmic radiation, the man only known as Midas, could turn anything he touched into gold. He wore a golden armor that resembled the first armor of Iron Man (he obviously created it from designs he received from Ho Yinsen). It possessed like most of Iron Man armors repulsor emitters in the armor's gauntlets. Although he seemingly possessed some degree of resistance against injury and maybe even superhuman strength it was further enhanced by his armor. For years he searched for a higher dose of cosmic radiation, which he needed to complete his transformation.
After receiving the high dose of raw cosmic radiation he needed, Midas possessed the amplified combined powers of the Fantastic Four (fire, stretching, force fields, rock skin, superhuman strength, etc. --- shades of Super-Skrull). He also possessed a healing factor and was able to connect himself on a molecular level to other lifeforms. Using this power he enhanced his powers even further by absorbing some of the vast memories of the Plex Intelligence.
Besides his many powers Dr. Midas was a psychotic and sadistic human being. He was merciless and used his fortune to hunt down anything that could expand his fortunes or power. Like he said:"I can turn anything to my advantage."
History:
(Marvel Boy II#1 (fb) - BTS) - A long time ago the man now known as Midas deliberately exposed himself for five years to cosmic radiation. Afterwards he had to wear an armor because everything he touched was turned into gold. This power gave him the idea to change his name into Midas (like the legendary King Midas). Due to his powers he became an influential multi-trillionaire businessman with connections to the US government, S.H.I.E.L.D. and many other influential beings all over the world. As the boss of the Midas Foundation he collected or hunted everything that could be turned into money.
(Iron Man Annual 2000 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Dr. Midas struck a bargain with the brilliant young scientist Ho Yinsen. Midas financed his experiments, if in return Yinsen's brain became his property the day Yinsen died.
(Fantastic Four VI#48 (fb) - BTS) - Due to his experiments with cosmic radiation he was unable to conceive children. It is unknown whose DNA Midas used to impregnate his wife.
(Marvel Boy II#5 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Midas turned the body of his wife into a chemical hothouse of information-rich toxins designed to artificially accelerate her daughter's development. When Oubliette outgrew the poisonous womb Doctor Midas tore her from his wife's womb to save the child, killing his wife in the process. Oubliette cursed in eight languages immediately after her birth and the first thing she remembered was the iron hand of her father.
(Original Sin#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Midas set up a summer home on Saturn.
(Original Sin#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Midas saw Uatu the Watcher.
(Marvel Boy II#4-5 (fb) - BTS) - Midas raised his daughter in a greenhouse. When she was 8 he scarred her face in a duel to make her stronger.
(Fantastic Four VI#48 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Midas burned her with Badoon acid.
(Marvel Boy II#4-5 (fb) - BTS) - From this day on he made her wear a leather mask to hide her "deformed face". Over the years he trained her to kill everything that ever tried to live.
(Iron Man Annual 2000 (fb)) - When Ho Yinsen was shot by Wong-Chu's soldiers after helping the American Tony Stark, Dr. Midas and two of his men opened a portal to his location and took Yinsen's dying body from the prisoner Sun-Tao, who had the order to bury Yinsen and had just taken Yinsen's journal, and left with Yinsen's body through the portal. Midas didn't tell Sun-Tao his name, but he told him that he turned everything to his advantage while leaving.
Over the years Midas also did business with Wong-Chu. Years after Yinsen's death Midas sent a mediator to Wong-Chu and the Sons of Yinsen (they were founded by Sun-Tao and Yinsen's 11 remaining students) to offer them in an auction the brain of Ho Yinsen. Wong-Chu won the auction, but Midas sent the mediator to the Sons of Yinsen and offered them to learn the identity of the buyer for the price of their losing bid. They took the offer and learned that Wong-Chu was the winner of the auction.
(Marvel Knights: Hulk#3 (fb) - BTS) - Doctor Midas and Doctor Doom supported A.I.M. with their vast resources to build an army for both of them for a secret war between them.
(Marvel Knights: Hulk#3 (fb)) - Midas and Doom contacted M.O.D.O.K. to discuss Project: Miru prototype Nikoleta Harrow, who was far too rebellious in Midas' opinion. M.O.D.O.K. tried to sell Nikoleta's murderous behavior as a success, but Midas only mocked him and his top scientists for their obvious failure. Doom agreed with Midas, who ordered M.O.D.O.K. to terminate Project: Miru so he and Doom could find someone more competent to fight in their secret war. Midas threatened M.O.D.O.K. with repercussions, but they already came when Nikoleta murdered nearly everyone at the base and escaped, confirming Midas' doubts about the project.
(Marvel Boy II#1) - When the Midas Foundation received the SOS messages from the Kree vessel Marvel, Dr. Midas ordered to scatter the transmission and shoot down the ship.
Dr. Midas visited Noh-Varr, the only survivor from the Marvel, in his lab where he was kept in a Bubble. He explained to Noh-Varr that he was now property of the Midas Foundation and that they would take him apart to learn everything they can from his body. He further explained to him how the things he would take from the Marvel would triple his wealth overnight. Speaking about his origins, Dr. Midas revealed that he wasn't born with the name Midas, but that he had it changed due to his power to turn everything into gold. During his conversation with Noh-Varr, the Marvel disappeared from its crash site in Grover's Mill, New Jersey and five of Midas' men died.
Some time later Midas, who needed the Marvel's Cosmic Ray Engine to complete his mutation, talked to a doctor about their progress with Noh-Varr. He didn't like that his daughter's eyes kept drifting when she saw Noh-Varr, but she explained to him that she wanted to identify his weak points. Midas was disappointed when he learned that their torture didn't work because Noh-Varr was rerouting the pain into his auditory cortex.
After Noh-Varr had escaped the Bubble, Midas ordered to lock down and sterilize the building and to get his daughter out. Noh-Varr took down helicopters with a stolen jet and then shot two missiles into Midas' office. Before they exploded Midas mumbled that he could turn anything to his advantage.
(Marvel Boy II#3 - BTS) - Midas armed his daughter Oubliette and sent her after Noh-Varr. Two police officers found Noh-Varr and Oubliette told them her father's secret military code "Golden Rule" they left immediately.
(Marvel Boy II#4) - Oubliette informed her father when Noh-Varr had escaped her in the subway system. He was afraid that she felt something for Noh-Varr, but she denied it and ran up a skyscraper with her Vibranium soles on advice of her father Midas, who kept reminding her that Noh-Varr was just prey. Midas knew that she thought differently. After another struggle with Oubliette, Noh-Varr stole a bus and drove directly into Midas' trap. Midas watched as the bus and then Noh-Varr were attacked by his many agents in an area Midas had turned into a movie set as a cover. His daughter joined him and Midas continued with his overprotective father-talk. Midas reminded her that she was everything for him and that he scarred her face so many years ago to make her strong. He put her mask back onto her face and he told her that he would rip out Noh-Varr's heart for her, so she could shoot it with the golden bullet he gave her. Midas beat up Noh-Varr and was ready to deal out the deathblow when his daughter suddenly turned on him and shot the golden bullet through Midas' hand. Oubliette escaped with Noh-Varr in the chaos of an explosion (Caused by the gauntlet of Midas' armor or energy released from his wound. I'm not sure! -- Markus Raymond). Midas' wound was bandaged and once he knew that in the end everything would turn to his advantage because his daughter would lead him directly to Noh-Varr's ship.
(Marvel Boy II#5) - Midas shut down the New Yorker subway system and received help from S.H.I.E.L.D. in form of psi-operatives. He explained to him that they were hunting an extraterrestrial, who had his daughter. He followed the signal from his daughter's mask to find the ship. Together with armed agents and psi-operatives he got closer. A S.H.I.E.L.D. psi-agent wanted to know more about the monstrosity his team were brought in to control, but Midas kept talking in riddles and only told him that they were going to release it later (it was a Mindless One) and then shot a hole into a wall to save them a mile or two of walking through tunnels. Midas and his men found the ship and attacked. He entered the ship after the Plex Intelligence's tank was destroyed and ordered it to be burned. Midas then went to the Cosmic Ray Engine Chamber after he was informed where it was. An agent gave Midas his daughter's mask and he was shocked. Oubliette contacted him and told him that she hated him. Meanwhile the shields of the Cosmic Ray Engine were falling. Midas ordered to release the Mindless One to kill his daughter and Noh-Varr and to destroy everything else. He then entered the Cosmic Ray Engine Chamber to be reborn.
(Marvel Boy II#6) - From outside Midas was warned that not even the Richards party (the Fantastic Four) had ever endured exposure to raw cosmic radiation and it was suggested to Midas to leave the chamber, but Midas didn't want to listen because he could turn everything to his advantage. His armor was destroyed when he touched the energy core, but he didn't care about the pain.
Dr. Midas emerged from the chamber reborn as Cosmic Man and killed all his agents in front of it. With the combined powers of the Fantastic Four, Midas returned to the Plex Intelligence to absorb its knowledge. He invaded the Plex Intelligence on a molecular level and started the absorption process. He saw memories of other realities, but couldn't finish the process when he was suddenly shot in the head by the returning Noh-Varr. Although his connection to the Plex Intelligence was lost, Midas wasn't injured. He wanted to kill Noh-Varr and then turn the Marvel into his pirate ship on the sea of realities. Midas was too powerful for Noh-Varr and was going to squash him inside a force field. In that moment Midas' daughter shot Midas with the Mindless One's head through the chest. Midas tried to reason with her while his wound healed, but Oubliette shot him again and again until her father was gone.
Midas wasn't dead. He had been transported to the home dimension of the Mindless Ones. Healed again and stranded on a floating rock he was attacked by several dozen Mindless Ones attacked and Midas didn't know how he could turn this to his advantage.
(Original Sin#2 (fb) - BTS) - Midas somehow returned from the Dark Dimension with a contingent of Mindless Ones.
(Marvel Knights: Hulk#4) - Doctor Doom won the game against Doctor Midas, who cursed him for playing recklessly and relying on chance by using the Hulk. Doom countered that he knew that the Hulk's involvement would give him the win and asked if Midas was interested to play another game. Midas wasn't.
(Original Sin#3 (fb)) - Orb approached Doctor Midas and told him about his dreams and suggested an alliance to rob the Watcher's home of its secrets. Midas agreed to it after Orb told him that the Watcher kept his secrets in his eyes.
(Original Sin#1 - BTS/Original Sin#7 (fb)) - Orb, Exterminatrix, Doctor Midas and a bunch of Mindless Ones invaded Uatu's base, which allowed Orb to just enter it. When the Watcher discovered the invasion he confronted the villains and they tried to murder him.
(Original Sin#2) - The Avengers surrounded the warehouse the Mindless Ones, Exterminatrix, Doctor Midas and Orb were hiding in. Midas kept mutating and felt worse every day like he would explode eventually. Orb took him to the outside to confront the Avengers. He and Orb wondered how they would be able to get the secrets out of Uatu's eye.
(Original Sin#3) - Midas and Exterminatrix were present when Orb released the Watcher's secrets from the stolen eye, which washed over the city and all the present heroes.
(Original Sin#3 - BTS) - Midas escaped with his daughter and the Mindless Ones.
(Original Sin#6) - Midas and Exterminatrix hijacked a ship and forced the captain to bring them to a certain location in the ocean. Upon arriving there Midas slew the captain with his golden touch. The rocket ship Midas 17 rose from the ocean and Midas approached it to return to the Moon with it and steal the rest of Uatu's power.
(Original Sin#7) - Back on the Moon Midas, his daughter and the Mindless Ones approached Uatu's citadel. Midas promised to take everything after gaining the Watcher's powers.
(Original Sin#8) - Midas, his daughter and the Mindless Ones entered the citadel and Midas approached Uatu's corpse planning to drink his blood to absorb all his powers, but Nick Fury stopped him by shooting off Doctor Midas' right hand. The Mindless Ones attacked Fury and Midas ordered his daughter to put a golden bullet in Fury's head, but Oubliette instead took her father's shot off hand and left her father behind. The other heroes from Nick's space station soon took over the fight against the Mindless Ones giving Fury the chance to again go up against Midas, who was already absorbing more of Uatu's energies. Midas told Fury to give him Uatu's eye and Fury obliged, pressing the eye against Midas, who was overloaded by the eyes' energies and exploded.
Comments: Created by Grant Morrison & J.G. Jones.
Eventually the Sons of Yinsen got the brain of Ho Yinsen from Wong-Chu with a little help from Iron Man (Tony Stark).
I wonder how old Midas was? He had to be an old geezer in Marvel Boy because according to the flashbacks in Iron Man Annual 2000 he was already known as the rich businessman Midas when Ho Yinsen was still a young, brilliant scientist. When Yinsen died he was an old man himself. Maybe Midas aged slower due to the cosmic radiation he was exposed to for five years.
Midas had his own military code that allowed him to do whatever he wanted without consequences. He could shut down the New Yorker subway system. He could order soldiers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to aid him. This character was designed to become one of those megalomaniacal supervillains like Dr. Doom or Magneto with the only difference that Midas was backed by the "good guys".
I'd like to know what had happened to the properties of the Midas Foundation. Where these aliens and technologies just forgotten or did someone get hold of this stuff. S.H.I.E.L.D. maybe?
Doctor Midas' chess game with Dr. Victor von Doom was reminiscent of a similar game Doom had with the Prime Mover.
Zzutak was among Midas' collection of aliens in Marvel Boy II#1. A Skrull and possibly a Badoon were also visible (and a Xantha).
--Zerostar
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Holly LaDonna should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Marvel Boy II#1, p10, pan1 (main image)
Marvel Boy II#6, p6, pan1 (head shot before full transformation)
Marvel Boy II#6, p20, pan4 (fully transformed)
Original Sin#8, p17, pan5 (empowered by Uatu's energies)
Appearances:
Marvel Boy II#1 (August, 2000) - Grant Morrison (writer), J.G. Jones (artist), Joe Quesada (editor)
Iron Man Annual 2000 (2000) - Joe Quesada & Frank Tieri (writers), Dan Panosian & Paul Ryan (pencils), Bud LaRosa, Walden Wong, Harry Candelario & Mark Pennington (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Marvel Boy II#3-4 (October-November, 2000) - Grant Morrison (writer), J.G. Jones (artist), Joe Quesada (editor)
Marvel Boy II#5 (December, 2000) - Grant Morrison (writer), J.G. Jones (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Joe Quesada (editor)
Marvel Boy II#6 (March, 2001) - Grant Morrison (writer), J.G. Jones (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Joe Quesada (editor)
Original Sin#1-2 (July, 2014) - Jason Aaron (writer), Mike Deodato (artist), Tom Brevoort & Wil Moss (editors)
Original Sin#3 (August, 2014) - Jason Aaron (writer), Mike Deodato (artist), Tom Brevoort & Wil Moss (editors)
Original Sin#6-8 (September-November, 2014) - Jason Aaron (writer), Mike Deodato (artist), Tom Brevoort & Wil Moss (editors)
First Posted: 01/18/2004
Last Updated: 11/05/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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