KALKI

Real Name: Ashok Desai

Class: Human mutate

Occupation: Biochemical physicist

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Arani Caulder (daughter), unnamed wife (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Worldwide

First Appearance: Doom Patrol II #1 (October, 1987)

Powers: Kalki was a genius who held sway over a worldwide empire with bases in India, Jamaica, California and Ireland. The containment suit he wore made his deformities bearable and also possessed a number of weapons built into it. Kalki’s body is a living dimensional gateway that opens up to a world populated with demons. While wearing his containment suit Kalki has some measure of control over them.

History: (Doom Patrol vol. 2 #1-3)-Ashok Desai was a street-urchin hustling tourists in the streets of Calcutta until Lloyd Chippings, a science teacher from the exclusive Morton’s Public School in England discovered him. He was taken by Ashok’s intelligence and arranged a scholarship to Morton’s for him. In under a year Ashok had surpassed all his classmates, and he entered Oxford University at 16. His specialty was biology, and by the time he graduated with a doctorate he gained fame in the experimental field of molecular biology. He returned to India to continue his work for the next ten years, and marry a young woman he had fallen in love with. His wife died in childbirth, and he blamed the child Arani for her death. He left his daughter in the care of servants and returned to his work with a vengeance. Several years later Ashok began working with Niles Caulder, and a friendship began between the two geniuses. Within weeks Ashok believed he had perfected the formula he had spent so many years working on. Unwilling to risk another life in testing it, he used himself as a guinea pig. The serum altered his genetic structure, transforming his body into a living gateway to a dimension inhabited by demonic creatures. Caudler created a containment suit that could keep the creatures at bay, but the serum kept altering Ashok’s body, twisting and crippling it. In time his mind would be eaten away by the serum as well. A handful of faithful servants helped Ashok disappear from the world. Ashok now believed himself to be an incarnation of the Indian god Kalki, who was prophesized to bring about the destruction of Earth. He converted many followers with demonstrations of his power, and soon a worldwide empire was born. With his newfound wealth he began building a satellite which would blanket the planet in deadly energies and end life on Earth. Kalki sought out his daughter now called Celsius, leader of the Doom Patrol to witness his triumph. In the final battle with the Doom Patrol, Celsius damaged his containment suit, and the unleashed demons turned on him, presumably ending his life.

Comments: Created by Paul Kupperberg & Steve Lightle

Kalki had a flashback cameo in Doom Patrol V #21 and Teen Titans III #32

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