Professor Radium
DC | Character
Professor Radium (formerly Professor Henry Ross) was the villain in some of the Batman comic books and movies: first appearing in Batman #8 in January 1942.
The backstory explains that Ross had been working on a project that would give immortality through a radium serum. Convinced he had a breakthrough he experiments on himself and is accidentally transformed into a ‘human radium ray’ – his very presence could irradiate and kill!
Subject ID: 66775
MoreProfessor Radium (formerly Professor Henry Ross) was the villain in some of the Batman comic books and movies: first appearing in Batman #8 in January 1942.
The backstory explains that Ross had been working on a project that would give immortality through a radium serum. Convinced he had a breakthrough he experiments on himself and is accidentally transformed into a ‘human radium ray’ – his very presence could irradiate and kill!
Luckily there is an antidote: something known as Volitell which would reduce the radium in his blood. To afford this incredibly expensive substance Ross turns to a life of crime – robbing pharmaceutical companies in Gotham City.
At first, anxious not to hurt anyone he dons a radiation suit but soon enough, without the ability to control his newfound powers, he ends up killing people including (accidentally) his girlfriend, Mary Lamont.
He eventually goes insane with guilt and after a long chase and struggle is apparently killed by the Dynamic Duo who have coated themselves in thin layers of transparent rubber to protect themselves from radiation.
Ross returns sometime later and joins a subgroup of the villainous society known as the Nuclear Legion (which other than Professor Radium also includes Reactron, Neutron, Nuclear, Geiger, and Mister Nitro)
This was not the last time radium is featured in Batman. In the 1943 black and white 15-chapter theatrical serial (the first filmed appearance of Batman) radium features as a plot device.
Subject ID: 66775
Subject ID: 66775
