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Per Degaton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Per Degaton is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain who can travel through time. Per Degaton made his first appearance in All Star Comics #35 (June-July, 1947) and was created by John Broome and Irwin Hasen.
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Degaton has returned as a foe of the Justice Society, altering history at will. During one of the annual meetings between the JLA of Earth-1 and the JSA of Earth-2 (in 1982), he almost succeeded in blackmailing Earth-2's surrender after having stolen nuclear warheads (with the help of Earth-3's Crime Syndicate of America) from the Cuban Missle Crisis of 1962 on Earth-Prime (which is the 'real' world where superheroes are only fictional characters) and bringing them back in time to Earth-2's 1942; he was beaten by the combined forces of the heroes with some help from members of the wartime All-Star Squadron, also of Earth-2.
For years Degaton had tried without success to alter the course of history for his own good, even thwarting the course of ancient historical events like the wars led between Greece and Persia. It should be noted that since Degaton was disintegrated by the appearance of his younger self, we can assume that the Degaton featured in those adventures was the same Degaton who left 1947 with the recently obtained time machine.
Degaton, frustrated for not being able to harm the JSA chronologically in their next encounter, used his time-travelling abilities to "watch life hurting [his enemies]". Sequentially confronting all the current JSA members (2004) he told them that he saw them die and revealed some hints on their final moments. For example, Degaton provided the revelation of the gruesome punishment that Atom Smasher would suffer at the hands of the Spectre, the breaking down of the relation between Stargirl and Captain Marvel, and it is only due to the intervention of Daniel that Degaton didn't tell Doctor Fate of his final passing.
Now equipped with a time disc, Degaton has the ability to live "between seconds", apparently ageless in an intangible state, from which he can only be forced with the concentrated tachyons found in the hourglass of Hourman.
In JSA #68 (2005) after sending his genetically enhanced agents from the future (the "Red Morgue") to kill all relatives of Stargirl, he caused the JSA's temporary 1950s dissolution to become permanent, and disgraced all the masked crimefighters as traitors, thus erasing from history all subsequent superheroes. Degaton was eventually stopped and beaten to a bloody pulp by Atom Smasher, his hands soaked with the concentrated tachyons of the hourglass. Degaton then retreated into the time-stream, fully committed to watching the death moments of his enemies.
From his comments, Degaton has revealed he is one of the few people aware of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and the multiple timelines that once existed.
Per Degaton was also seen during the massive Battle of Metropolis in Infinite Crisis #7; his role and motives were never explained since he only appeared in one splash page.
Per Degaton possesses a limited "time vision," allowing him to know what will happen in the near future. He is out of phase with normal time, which renders him intangible. Hourman's tachyon filled hourglass has been shown to blur his time vision and allow anyone possessing it to hit Degaton.
It is unclear whether these are innate abilities Per Degaton acquired or if they are the result of his time disc.
Per Degaton travels on a "time disc," a machine that allows him to travel through time as well as having failsafes to return time to normal should his plans fail. It is capable of flight and Degaton has mentioned a camera in it. Degaton also uses small time discs which can be thrown. Upon contact with a person, it speeds up metabolism. The speed is apparently variable; Hourman was sped up an hour until his powers ran out while the Atom was sped up to the point where his atomic physiology would explode.