Len Zarus
| Dr. Len Zarus | |
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Mad Scientist | |
| Creator: | David 2/Battlerock X |
|---|---|
| First Appearance: | Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight #16 |
| Game: | City of Heroes |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Dr. Leonard Zarus |
| Known Aliases: | Dr. Lazarus |
| Species: | human? |
| Age: | ' |
| Height: | ' |
| Weight: | ' |
| Eye Color: | ' |
| Hair Color: | formerly blond, now white |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | scientist |
| Place of Birth: | ' |
| Base of Operations: | ' |
| Marital Status: | ' |
| Known Relatives: | ' |
| Appearances | |
| Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight | |
| Known Powers | |
| ' | |
| Known Abilities | |
| ' | |
| Equipment | |
| ' | |
| ' | |
Doctor Len Zarus is a medical scientist in the City of Heroes MMO.
Character History
Leonard Zarus was always fascinated with death and life. His favorite movie was "Frankenstein". His favorite bible story was the one of Lazarus being brought back to life. In fact, his morbid fascination with death and life earned the nickname "Lazarus".
But his fascination was combined with his genius intellect and that led him to his specialty in genetic research. He became part of the Nobel-winning team that successfully mapped the human and mutant genomes. And that also led him to work with his colleague, Dr. Dev Ellison, in his dream project: the Omega-Genesis Program, creating artificial life.
There were, unfortunately, several setbacks. Most notably was his dismissal from Crey Industries for unethical and unprofessional behavior. This also cut most of the funding for the program. But Zarus was undeterred, and soon he found a new patron in the form of Doctor Vahzilok. In exchange for providing new material and funding, Zarus promised him a brand new body to replace the rotted husk he was forced to exist in.
Vahzilok's minions provided several "volunteers" for their program, which allowed Zarus to perfect the device that would extract a subject's genetic information and memories. The device would succeed in extracting a person's essence, including their memories and personal traits, but also would kill the subject. When his colleague discovered how they were getting their "samples", Zarus was forced to use the device on Ellison himself, making him the very first subject of the genetic databank.
Months later, a raid by Freedom Corps agents forced Zarus to enact a contingency plan that would awaken all of the viable artificial subjects. But the FC forces moved faster than the program could activate the subjects. Only one was successfully implemented.
Zarus was forced to flee, only to be in a horrible accident and presumed dead.
His one success would become Omega Shift.
But Zarus wasn't dead. Instead, he was saved by Shadowborn, where he continued to work in secret with the Rocinante Group.
Powers and Abilities
(Classified by Vanguard)
Dr. Zarus possesses a keen mind, but also a disturbed one.
Personality
Doctor Zarus is a sociopath. To him, the ends always justify the means. He is oblivious to the suffering of others, believing that it is inconsequential to the end result.
He is well aware of his genius-level intelligence, although he doesn't like to flaunt it. He has come to prefer the relative anonymity of his situation. With the world believing him dead, he doesn't have to worry about validation.
Related Information
Len Zarus was first seen in "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" #16 and played a minor role in the "Galatea Dawning" storyline.
