Dr. Mid-Nite I

DR. MID-NITE I

Real Name: Charles McNider

Class: Human mutate / technology-user

Occupation: Author, physician

Group Affiliation: Justice Society of America, formerly All-Star Squadron

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: All-American Comics #25 (April, 1941)

Powers: Dr. Mid-Nite possessed perfect night-vision, and the infrared lenses of his goggles allowed him to see in the light, which normally blinded him. His primary weapon was the "blackout bomb" which released pitch-black gas, blinding his opponents. Dr. Mid-Nite was a superb fighter and athlete. For a time he used a weapon called a "cryotuber" which could either control the nervous system of an opponent, or fire bursts of heat or cold.

History: Dr. Charles McNider was asked by the police to treat an important witness against mobster "Killer" Maroni who had been shot in the back. As McNider operated on the witness, one of Maroni's thugs threw a grenade into the operating room. The explosion blinded McNider, but he soon discovered that he had somehow gained night-vision. McNider developed infrared goggles that allowed him to see in the day, and adopted the identity of Dr. Mid-Nite to bring Maroni to justice. After taking down Maroni he took on a second career as a magazine writer in order to expose criminals. To protect his secret identity he only wore his infrared goggles as Dr. Mid-Nite and pretended to be completely blind in his civilian identity.

Dr. Mid-Nite was recruited by the Justice Society of America, and also served with the All-Star Squadron during WWII.

(DCU Holiday Bash #2) - <December 24, 1944> Mid-Nite and the Justice Society put on the Justice Society Canteen for troops home for the holidays. They helped foil nazi sabateurs that tried to blow up the canteen, thanks to the help of Ensign James Gordon.

(All Star Comics I #36) - At a JSA meeting Mid-Nite and the JSA learned of formerly respectable men were creating a nationwide crime-wave, and the team split up to capture the men. Hawkman went to an eastern city and fought Professor Saul Philpotts, who was stealing gold from banks using a gold-magnet. Mid-Nite defeated the Professor with help from Calvin Stymes. Mid-Nite received a message from Wonder Woman and brought the Professor to JSA hq. Green Lantern learned the criminals were turned evil by Calvin Stymes, who exposed them to Koehaha, the Stream of Ruthlessness. Calvin wanted to see the men in jail or dead, so when the JSA brought the criminals to the Stream, Stymes set off an explosion. The JSA survived and a landslide crushed Stymes. The JSA knew the effects of the Koehaha would wear off and offered to testify at the criminals' trials so they would be found innocent by reason of temporary insanity.

(JSA #68) - <October 13-15,1951> Mid-Nite and the Justice Society appeared before HUAC, where they were accused of having ties to the reds because they’d associated with a communist to bring in saboteurs. HUAC demanded they prove themselves good Americans and reveal their secret identities. They all refused, and Green Lantern teleported them out of Washington. At JSA hq they discussed the fact that they’d be wanted men and women if they didn’t reveal their identities. They decided it was for the best to disband the Society.

(JSA #69-71) - <October 28-30,1951> McNider saw Gigi with Myra, and had his chauffer drive her home because he was worried after learning the Shadower was loose. At home McNider was greeted by the time-traveling Dr. Mid-Nite II. McNider was positive Mid-Nite II would never even consider lying from the sound of his voice, so he believed him when he told McNider he had to return to action as Mid-Nite to stop Per Degaton from altering history and ending the Justice Society’s legacy forever. McNider picked Mid-Nite II’s brain about all the innovations in medicine to come in the future then left with him to go after Degaton. They met up with the rest of the reformed Justice Society and the time-traveling JSA at the Justice Society brownstone. Hourman informed them Per Degaton was going to assassinate the President. The Justice Society and JSA went to Washington to warn Truman that his life was in danger. Degaton and the Red Morgue attacked Washington, but the teams were ready for him. Degaton used a time-disc to speed up Atom’s metabolism and turn him into a nuclear bomb ready to go off. If he exploded millions would die, but J.J. Thunder and Johnny Thunder summoned the Thunderolt to turn Atom back to normal. Mid-Nite and the other heroes defeated Degaton, who fled into the timestream. The resulting time distortion caused Mid-Nite and the other Society members to forget their adventure with the JSA.

(JSA #40 (fb)) - <1953> Mid-Nite’s arch-enemy the Shadower murdered Myra mason and left her body for Mid-Nite to find. Mid-Nite never realized the depths of his feelings for Mason until she had died.

(JSA #40 (fb, BTS)) - <1960s> Mid-Nite finally brought the Shadower to justice, but the Shadower taunted Mid-Nite from behind bars. He wrote Mid-Nite letters mocking the murder of Myra mason for years.

Dr. Mid-Nite joined the revived Justice Society and aided the new generation of superheroes, the Justice League of America, on many cases.

(Starman II #11) - <13 years ago> Dr. Mid-Nite joined Green Lantern I, Hourman I and Flash I in aiding Starman I's effort to stop the murderous cult of the Rag Doll. Mid-Nite rescued two infants that the cult had kidnapped.

(All-Star Comics I #58, 59) - Brain Wave informed the JSA that he was going to cause disasters in Seattle, Washington, Peking, China and Capetown South Africa that would cause a chain reaction that would destroy Earth. They split up, with Hawkman and Dr. Mid-Nite trying to stop an earthquake in Seattle. They found themselves unable to deal with the disaster, although youthful hero Star-Spangled Kid stopping the catastrophe. Similar circumstances averted the disasters in Capetown and Peking, with new heroes helping the JSA. Power Girl suggested that Brainwave set them up to fail but didn’t foresee the interference of the new heroes, whom Power Girl dubbed the Super Squad. The JSA and Squad confronted Brain Wave aboard his space station, and learned that he'd sapped the willpower of the JSA that they displayed in averting the disasters to return will and youth to Per Degaton. When the JSA had the villains on the ropes, Brain Wave used his mental powers to send Earth on a collision course with the sun, demanding they submit or see the planet die. Power Girl sent Brain Wave's space station toward the sun, overheating it and causing the villain to pass out. The JSA decided to take in the Super Squad so they could learn from each other.

(All-Star Comics I #61) - Mid-Nite and the JSA watched firefighters put out the blaze Vulcan started at JSA hq. After Vulcan collapsed a building on Fate they dug him out of the rubble while Star-Spangled Kid and Hawkman destroyed Vulcan. Dr. Mid-Nite examined Fate and determined that he was dying.

(All-Star Comics I #62) - Mid-Nite hooked Fate up to a machine that kept him alive using the cosmic power from Star-Spangled Kid's cosmic rod. Green Lantern and Flash went to Egypt to try and find a way to save Dr. Fate's life.

(DC Comics Presents #29) - Mid-Night caught a crook trying to steal drugs from Memorial Hospital, but was disturbed by the fact that his infra-red goggles were no longer working properly, and even using them he was almost blind. He contacted his old friend opthamologist Gordon Ogilvy, but Gordon had been murdered by one of his clients who wanted his special seeing-eye glasses that let the blind see outlines of objects. Mid-Nite tracked the killer, Tim, who was using the glasses to pull of an art heist, and apprehended him. Mid-Nite hoped to use Ogilvy’s technology to restore his infra-red goggles to working order.

(Zero Hour #4, 3)-During Zero Hour the villainous Extant advanced the ages of the JSA, including Dr. Mid-Nite. Mid-Nite's body could not take the shock, and he passed away.

(Starman II #37) - Dr. Mid-Nite befriended Starman VII in the afterlife. Starman brought his brother Starman VIII to a banquet in limbo attended by Mid-Nite and several other deceased mysterymen. Mid-Nite talked about his regrets that he never researched ways of adapting his infra-red goggles to aid the blind.

(Day of Judgment #2) - When several heroes traveled to the gates of Heaven to meet Jim Corrigan, Dr. Mid-Nite and other dead JSAers met their old friends at the gate. They enjoyed a brief reunion.

Comments: Created by Charles Reizenstein & Stan Asch

In the pre-Crisis DC Universe Dr. Mid-Nite I lived on Earth-2.

Mid-Nite received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #6. He received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12 under the Justice Society of America entry.

Mid-Nite had a cameo appearance in Hourman #5. A portrait of Dr. Mid-Nite was seen in the JSA Headquarters in Green Arrow III #13 and JSA #54, 57 aand 67 nd his cowl was on display in the JSA Museum in JSA #6. A statue of Mid-Nite was seen in the JSA Museum in JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice and JSA #82.

There was a flashback of Mid-Nite and the JSA’s battle with Ian Karkull in JSA #7.

Mid-Nite had a cameo in JSA #11, in which Flash I described Mid-Nite’s death at Extant’s hands.

Sentinel created a green flame duplicate of Dr. Mid-Nite to battle Extant in JSA #13.

JLA #5 and JSA #15 showed a memorial to Mid-Nite in Valhalla, the superhero cemetery.

A photo of the Justice Society of America was shown in Red Tornado I’s home in JSA #55.

Mid-Nite had cameos in DC Comics Presents #30, JSA #56 and JSA All-Stars #8.

JSA #67 showed a HUAC poster of Dr. Mid-Nite and the Justice Society of America declaring them enemies of the state.

Mi-Nite was pictured on the cover of Titans #18.