The next accommodates spoilers for The Sandman Season 1, now streaming on Netflix.
Just like the supply materials it is primarily based on, Netflix’s adaption of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman often showcases the horrifying issues that may occur when mortals meddle with supernatural forces past their comprehension. Nowhere is that this theme extra distinguished than with John Dee, Dream’s first adversary. Whereas the tv collection portrays John as an empathetic however misguided soul corrupted by considered one of Dream’s symbols of energy, the unique comedian presents him as an inherently malicious determine who represents the evil humanity is able to beneath the precise circumstances.
Whereas John’s unassuming look could lead on some to imagine that he is an authentic character created by Gaiman, in fact, he is a re-imagining of Physician Future, one of many Justice League’s lesser-known villains. Initially a gimmicky one-off foe for DC’s flagship superhero group, Gaiman pulled Physician Future out of obscurity and reworked him right into a dwelling nightmare whose utter lack of humanity paradoxically helps Dream discover his.
Physician Future first debuted in Justice League of America #5 (by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs, and Julius Schwartz) as a legal scientist who wore a Grim Reaper-inspired costume and used antigravity know-how to imprison and impersonate Hal Jordan in an try and destroy the Justice League. After he failed, he turned to weaponizing desires, first by means of a psychedelic drug and later by means of a specialised machine referred to as the Materioptikon.
This new type of assault proved far more efficient, with Physician Future utilizing the Materioptikon to summon the varied members of the Justice League’s worst nightmares into the actual world. Whereas the Justice League have been ultimately capable of overcome their nightmares and defeat him a number of instances, his tenacity ultimately compelled the group to take drastic measures. Utilizing hypnosis, the Justice League robbed him of his means to dream, stopping him from utilizing the Materioptikon however dealing a devastating blow to his already fleeting sanity.
Following this “closing” defeat, Physician Future was imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, forgotten by the Justice League and most DC followers. Then, over a decade after his final look, he made a triumphant and terrifying return within the pages of The Sandman, full with an expanded backstory that tied him on to Dream. The DC Vertigo collection revealed that Physician Future was the son of Ethel Cripps, a former mistress of Sir Roderick Burgess, the magus liable for Dream’s close to century-long imprisonment. After breaking apart with Roderick, Ethel made off with the Dreamstone which turned the Materioptikon’s energy supply.
After studying that his mom had handed away, a withered and deranged Physician Future escaped from Arkham and tracked down the Dreamstone, which had change into attuned to him. Realizing that he not wanted a machine to command its energy, he used the artifact to drive the folks of Earth insane with waking nightmares. Watching the chaos unfold from a 24-hour diner, he quickly used the Dreamstone to control the minds of the opposite patrons, psychologically torturing them earlier than driving them to kill one another.
Quickly after the final of his victims died, the not too long ago freed Dream arrived to reclaim the Dreamstone. Drunk on his newfound energy, Physician Future challenged the King of Desires to a duel for the Dreamstone and management of the Dreaming itself. Whereas Physician Future initially appeared to have a bonus over the weakened Dream, his vanity drove him to destroy the Dreamstone, restoring Dream’s energy fully. Relatively than destroy Physician Future, Dream restored the supervillain’s means to dream and returned him to Arkham.
Like many different DC Vertigo authors, Gaiman used the artistic freedom supplied by the label to breathe new life into an in any other case irrelevant character. Earlier than The Sandman, Physician Future was a joke to most DC followers. Nevertheless, the horrifying atrocities that the character dedicated within the temporary time he held command over the Dreamstone, and the utter pleasure and satisfaction he had in doing so, redefined Physician Future as probably the most terrifying and ruthless villains within the DC Universe.