Dr. Cranium

A powerful and scheming mentalist, Dr Cranium MD, PhD, OB/GYN is a prisoner in his own body, relying on his mechanical exoskeleton for all physical activities.

Arena Origin

Artwork © 2001 by Aziza Manga.

Intro. The being called Dr Cranium is certainly one of the strangest of the Contenders. His grotesque appearance is every bit the equal of his overgrown brain’s power and perverse evil. A mental presence and force of will second to none, Cranium is a force to be reckoned with. God help anyone that under estimates his power.

“What is Dr. Cranium? A man, a genius, a demon, an accident, another stage of human evolution, or realization of something predestined in the helix of our DNA? What drives Dr. Cranium? Evil, destiny, hatred, vengeance, pride, spite, or greed? It is not for you to know, I am beyond you all. Know Dr. Cranium and know fear. Fear of powers beyond mortal ken, the fear that a man pays to his master. Think of of Cranium and think of these, for I am your master, and the power at my command will humble you all.”

Backstory. As a student at Central State University Fraiser Krane, Lester to his friends, was known for his wild often dangerous schemes. After graduating top of his class in Bio-Chemistry and Genetics he took a job with Dow Chemicals as head of their fledgling Genetics Department. He almost single-handedly set up the department and masterminded its greatest successes while taking night classes to finish a medical doctorate and, in an attempt to get dates, an OB/GYN. When Dr. Krane became bored with experimenting on animals and started pushing for clearance to use human DNA, Dow officials became worried about the possible PR implications and refused. Dr. Krane quit the project and began as many mad scientists do working out of his home and joined the secret Scientific Elite. Krane was the unchallanged master of genetics, a fact which was borne out by the decision of the SE to turn a catured super-being over to him for study. Then his house burned down. He would have died were it not for heroism of fire-fighter Wess Kindross. Even though he was horribly scarred and deformed, Dr Krane lived. Borrowing a lab and assistants from one of the other SE members, Krane cloned himself a new body and transplanted his brain into it. Dr Krane made a slight mistake in the cloning process, he used DNA from the captured super-being, who Krane assumed died in the fire. Something went wrong with the clone’s growth hormones causing its body to shrivel to uselessness while his brain swelled to fantastic proportions. Even though he gained great mental powers, Dr Krane was forced to use the last of his remaining money to buy a Mitsubishi Motors roboid body to accomplish even the simplest of physical tasks, such as moving and picking up small objects. Dr Krane has renamed himself Dr Cranium and sworn the world will bow before his misshapen form.

Features

Dr Cranium relies on his mechabody to support his gigantic brain and atrophied body. The mechabody is equipped with hoverjets, a force field projector, and two refrigerated waldo arms.

History

Episode 3 :: Dr Cranium wins second place and $400k in the King of the Hill contest.

Episode 5 :: Gangrel is teamed with Dr Cranium for the three-way Lake of Fire battle. Despite being heavily favored at the start of the match, both Dr Cranium and Gangrel were eliminated shortly after the arrival of the strange meteor bearing Dwarfstar to Earth.

Episode 7 :: Dr Cranium refutes claims that he is evil in an interview with Donna Sullivan. Dr Cranium then volunteers to help recapture Curse, but attempts to capture Psion during the course of the mission. Although unable to capture Psion, Dr Cranium does abduct Overdrive moments after the mystic amulet brings Curse’s rampage to a close.

Episode 13 ::

Episode 16 :: Dr Cranium is assaulted after hours by Overdrive, the Arsonist, Eliminator, Synthoid CCU, the Patriot, and Inferno. Although things look bleak for Cranium, he is rescued by Ultimus and Omar.

Episode 20 :: Dr Cranium unveils his mental amplifier, which is powered by other psionicists — hence the kidnapping of Psion, Overdrive, and Khan. Although Team America tries to prevent Dr Cranium from using it, he is able to globally implant the notion into humanity that Ultimus is God. Ultimus swiftly rewards Dr Cranium by setting off a concealed bomb at the base of his brain, then leaves. Major Roc then crushes the life out of Dr Cranium with a forklift and Valence destroys the remnants of his body.

Episode 37 :: Dr Cranium inexplicably found himself in an actor’s trailer on location of the filming of El Hombre de los Ringes. Using his mental powers to dominate some crew members, Dr Cranium commanded his new found servants to tear down the walls of the trailer and remove him (as his mechabody could not pass through the trailer’s small doors). They then transported him in a prop truck to the nearby town of Christtown, where he took over the mayor’s home.

Episode 41 :: Dr Cranium, as the Fat Man, makes arrangements with the Mayor of Queenschurch to visit and tour his town. The Fat Man is hampered somewhat, in getting suitable transportation from Enterprise Rental, which suprises the Mayor of Queenschurch. “Why don’t you just have them send you the truck you had before?” Eventually arrangements are made for a Uhaul type truck, so Dr Cranium can tour Queenschurch the following day. A little later, the escaped Mexicans show up at the Mayor of Christtown’s (F. Crikey) home looking for the “giant brain” that commanded them to return there. Although one of their number fails to recognize Dr Cranium through his mental illusion, the others gladly prostrate themselves before him. This turn of good fortune for Cranium was soon marred by the arrival of Jose with the Sheriff of Queenschurch and his deputy. Not fooled by the mental illusion, the lawmen quickly open fire on the “giant brain monster” the Mexicans had reported earlier. However, their bullets bounced harmlessly off of the force field generated by Dr Cranium’s mechabody, allowing him to bend the wills of the officers and Jose to his own. Order restored, Cranium implanted the posthypnotic suggestion into the Sheriff to tell all who ask about “the Fat Man” that he’s the best thing to ever happen to the town. The deputy, on the other hand, was sent into a fit of depression, for having shot at Dr Cranium, and commanded to masturbate furiously whenever someone asked him the time.

Episode 51 :: Dr Cranium unveils the start of his herd of spider-sheep — eight-legged and -eyed, the sheep are carniverous and spinning a big web in the barn. Dr Cranium places the Crikey brothers in charge of the civilian aspect of his new company. Cranium wants volunteers for the next stage, human enhancement. Jose wants a large, large johnson. Military aspect is operating as Nature Conservancy Institute. also wants volunteers Cure for Cancer to work on. Dr Cranium requests genetic samples from the UN study of superbeings. Genetic samples sent to NZ for study. Plans to work on giant cows to feed the world.

Episode 54 ::

Episode ? :: Edward Skallagrimson, head of STARTASK, is revealed to be Dr Cranium.

Episode ? :: Dr Cranium is offered the chance to ally himself with a mysterious voice in his head. The voice promises a demonstration of power, where Cranium is incapacitated for several minutes, his mental contact with Inferno and his Chinese Clone broken, and an assassination attempt is made on his life.

Episode 82 :: Dr Cranium agrees to work with the mysterious voice in his head. He also thwarts an attempt on his life by Alienator, who has come looking for his weapons and armor. Dr Cranium’s clone in Portugal is killed by a tsunami that shifted the coastline 40 miles inland. At the STARTASK offices in Cairo, Egypt, one of Cranium’s clones manages to capture Oktober.

| link | Jun 11, 2004 | /characters/main | no comments

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