Tharok

Tharok is a DC Comics supervillain and an enemy of the Legion of Super-Heroes. He is the leader of the Fatal Five. Tharok and the Fatal Five were introduced in Adventure Comics #352 (January 1967), and were created by Jim Shooter.

Fictional character biography

Tharok is a small-time crook, who tries to impress his bosses by stealing a small nuclear device. It detonates unexpectedly when the local police fire on him, vaporizing one-half of his body. The people of his world, holding life sacred, rebuilt him using robotic parts. This boosted his intelligence dramatically, but left his evil tendencies unchecked. In his early appearances he wore clothing that only covered the organic half of his body. Tharok's cyborg brain also allowed him to control Validus, the mindless monster member of the Fatal Five.

One of the Fatal Five's main attempts to defeat the Legion was masterminded by the Dark Man, the being who organized several teenage refugees from the planet Dryad into the League of Super-Assassins. During this time period, it was revealed that the Dark Man was actually a clone of Tharok. When the scheme to destroy the Legion failed, both Tharok and the Dark Man were seemingly destroyed, and the Fatal Five eventually disbanded.