Polite Dissent

The final spot on the list of Comic Book Doctos Who Actually Practice Medicine should come as no surprise:

#1 – Dr. Mid-Nite

The current Dr. Mid-Nite, Dr. Pieter Cross, is the only comic book physician who not only fights crime, but also maintains a full clinic schedule. When he’s not seeing patients, he’s being whisked off to the moon to treat injured reporters or to perform autopsies. While fighting crime, he just might stop along the way and deliver a baby.

Pieter Cross, a brilliant and conscientious surgeon, was introduced in the Dr. Mid-Nite mini-series by Matt Wagner and John Snyder in 1999. A onetime student of the original Dr. Mid-Nite, Cross ran afoul of some gangsters who injected him with an experimental steroid. This steroid caused blindness…of a sort. Using his new abilities and his medical knowledge, Cross sought revenge on the gangsters as the new Dr. Mid-Nite. In addition to his solo career (both as a crimefighter and a doctor), Mid-Nite is an active member of the JSA and the go-to guy in the DC Universe for medical advice.

Plus what other hero has ever had the opportunity (let alone the chutzpah) to tell Black Canary that “she gives good CPR.”

It is impossible to talk about the current Dr. Mid-Nite without at least mentioning the previous heroes of that name. Dr. Charles McNider, a brilliant surgeon blinded by a grenade, fought crime as the original Dr. Mid-Nite and was a member of the original JSA. Despite his reputation as a brilliant physician, he was rarely shown actually practicing medicine.

One of his students, Beth Chapel, was also blinded in an accident and became the second Dr. Midnight (though note that she spelled it differently). She was shown acting as a physician before her blindness, but not so much afterwards. She was killed by Eclipso, probably because he couldn’t stand her costume.