DOCTOR MID-NITE I (Charles McNider)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Charles Reizenstein and Stanley Josephs Aschmeir

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Charles McNider
Occupation: Author and physician. Former Captain in the US Army Medical Corps
Status: Deceased
Citizenship: American
Known Relatives: None
Base of Operation: New York and later Los Angeles
Group Affiliation(s): Justice Society of America, All-Star Squadron (former member)
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 179 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
First Appearance: All-American Comics #25/5 (April 1941)
Creators: Charles Reizenstein and Stanley Josephs Aschmeir

"There are no dark corners for evil to hide in... no shadows too deep for the ever-vigilant eyes of Dr. Mid-Nite to penetrate"

OVERVIEW

Gifted with the ability to see in total darkness by a criminal attack, Doctor Mid-Nite became the bane of the gangster and common criminal. Either from his popular newspaper column or from the night time roof tops he was an effective force. While in later years he was the one physician that both Infinity, Inc. and the Justice Society of America turned to in emergencies. He died in battle against the time-travelling villain Extant.

HISTORY

Doctor Charles McNider was a world class expert in medical research as well as a practicing physician. Therefore it was not unusual for him to be called out during the night. On one such night, he was called out by the local police to attend the bed of an informant vital to the prosecution of Boss "Killer" Maroni, who had been shot. In order to finish the job, one of Maroni's stooges threw a hand grenade through the window. The informant and his wife were killed along with the police officer, but somehow McNider survived. Eventually, McNider was released from hospita,l but flying glass had robbed him of his sight, rendering him blind. With the help of his nurse and love-interest Myra Mason, he continued his research and began a second career as an author, publishing sensational attacks on Marconi and his kind. While angered by this, the gangster decided to try and ignore the written attacks.

Not naturally given to self pity, McNider found himself with a lot of free time on which to reflect upon his condition. One such night he sat alone in his darkened study, when, quite suddenly a majestic owl accidentally crashed though the window. The surprised McNider accidentally loosened the bandages covering his eyes and discovered that he could see perfectly in the pitch black of the night. However, when he turned on the light, he found himself blind once again. In effect, his eyesight had been inverted, he could see as well by night as a normal man could by day and vice versa. McNider adopted the owl who he named "Hooty" and began researching lenses for glasses that would let him see in the daytime. Based on an infra-red compound, the infra-red specs shielded his eyes in the daytime effectively making it look like night time.

Angered by Marconi's continuing campaign of terror and rackets, McNider decided to put his new-found ability to good use. Hiding the fact that he could see from Myra he began putting together the identity of Doctor Mid-Nite. Inspired by the bomb that had blinded him he mixed trace amounts of explosives with other ingredients to create his signature Black-out Bombs, a compound that he would later share with his successor (Dr. Midnight) and the Batman. These bombs rendered the entire area in a fog as dark as night that still allowed his altered vision to see through. Donning an old masquerade costume and gloves (to hide his fingerprints) he was, along with Hooty, ready to confront Marconi.

After saving the life of an important witness against Marconi (by operating as a physician in the dark rather than a mystery man), Dr. Mid-Nite tracked down the gangster to his hideout. Blowing the fuses so that he could operate in the dark and too confuse his opponents, he attacked, easily taking down the blinded thugs. Marconi was soon out cold and all wrapped up, complete with evidence for the police. Keeping the identity of Dr Mid-Nite secret, McNider was able to watch Marconi brought to trial with his own commentaries covering the affair in the paper.

As a caped crusader Doctor Mid-Nite was an enigmatic and constant force against the various gangsters and criminals of New York City. However, by day, he maintained the image of the blind doctor and newspaper writer. Driven by his need to undermine and topple the gangsters, Mid-Nite avoided collecting a colorful rogues-gallery like many of his contemporaries. When Green Lantern I (Alan Scott) and Hourman I (Rex Tyler) stepped down from the Justice Society of America, the team asked McNider and Starman I (Ted Knight) to join them against the evil scientist Professor Elba. Then when the United States fully entered World War II, he was a founding member of the superhero team All-Star Squadron until the Justice Society disbanded to allow the individual members to enlist in the regular army.

Despite his blindness, McNider served as a special consultant to the US Army Medical Corps with the rank of Captain in the South Pacific war theater (he even brought Myra along with him). In due course, the war department reformed the Justice Society as the Justice Battalion and McNider once again became Dr Mid-Nite. Times changed and the Doctor found himself up against true super-criminals with the likes of original Doctor Light, who used light-based technology to even the odds. He stayed with the team after the war ended.

In 1951, the original Starman had mental problems after the murder of his girlfriend and because of his guilt in taking part of the development of the atomic bomb. Using the technology of Ted Knight, McNider, Robotman and others equipped McNider with the gadgetry he nedded in order to briefly fill in as Starman II. He soon gave up this identity to Ted's time-travelling son David Knight.

Doctor Mid-Nite was one of the members present at the HUAC hearings where the JSA refused to unmask. After the JSA diabanded, Doctor Mid-Nite was retired (mostly), but Doctor Charles McNider continued his research. Unfortunately, his eye-sight began to deteriorate with age and despite the occasional use of gadgets, the Doctor was rendered truly blind.

In 1953, Myra was murdered by his enemy the Shadower. McNider spent most of the following decade tracking him down.

During his retirement McNider took on the recently graduated physician Dr. Beth Chapel, the daughter of a South Carolina minister. She became his progeny and secretly discovered that her mentor had been Doctor Mid-Nite (she did not let on until years later). She eventually carried on his legacy as the second Dr. Midnight in Infinity, Inc. When the Justice Society came out of retirement Doctor Mid-Nite had occasion to join them but for the most part he left the crimefighting to the younger generation.

Shortly after the Crisis event, Doctor Mid-Nite came out of retirement to join the Justice Society in limbo, battling against the end of the world. After the Justice Society eventually was brought back from limbo by Waverider during the event know as "Armageddon: Inferno", McNider set up a new free clinic with fellow physician Doctor Louisa Soliz. He stayed with the Justice Society, helping them battle the Ultra-Humanite and others.

It was during a battle with Vandal Savage that Mid-Nite and the rest of the JSA were pulled into the Zero Hour where the villain Extant was using the chaos created by the plans of Parallax for his own purposes. The assembled JSA met Extant at the Vanishing Point of the Linear Men. However, against his mastery of time, they had little chance. Extant systematically removed each of the checks, spells and processes that had kept the JSA members young beyond their years. When Mid-Nite and Hourman attacked Extant they took the full brunt of his chronal powers. In the battle, Hourman and Atom were killed outright while Doctor Charles McNider (alias Doctor Mid-Nite) died three hours later in hospital.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Don't let the dark glasses fool you. Athletically fit and expertly trained, Dr Mid-Nite was more than a match for most opponents. Over the decades, he has trained his body, hearing and mind to adjust for his blindness to the point where many privately wondered if he was blind at all.

Beyond that he also had a true super ability in that he could see perfectly in absolute darkness and with special goggles he could see in infra-red during the daytime. In his advancing years, Mid-Nite's eyesight worsened to the point where he could no longer use the IR goggles during the daytime. In order to level the playing field during the daytime, Mid-Nite used specially designed Blackout Bombs as described above.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Doctor Mid-Nite in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #6 (August 1985)