History ComicBook / DoctorFate

* BigGood: Sometimes. He's on an extreme end of the power scale in DC comics, such that few characters can directly face him and survive. Memorably, in ''ComicBook/CosmicOdyssey'' Fate casually mind controlled ''ComicBook/Darkseid'' with little effort. On a cosmic level, his only superior is ''ComicBook/TheSpectre'' who is even more prone to GoodIsNotNice.

* GoodIsNotNice: Played with. In most cases, Dr. Fate's about as close to BigGood as anyone gets, even [[ComicBook/Superman]]. It's just that when someone seriously crosses him, he's not above ruthless measures. MoreThanMindControl is on the kinder end of the spectrum when he gets angry.

* BigGood: Sometimes. He's on an extreme end of the power scale in DC comics, such that few characters can directly face him and survive. Memorably, in ''ComicBook/CosmicOdyssey'' Fate casually mind controlled ''ComicBook/Darkseid'' with little effort.

* GoodIsNotNice: Played with. In most cases, Dr. Fate's about as close to BigGood as anyone gets, even [[Comic/Superman]]. It's just that when someone seriously crosses him, he's not above ruthless measures. MoreThanMindControl is on the kinder end of the spectrum when he gets angry.

* OrderVersusChaos: An early-[[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] {{retcon}} marks Fate as an agent for the [[SufficientlyAdvanced Lords]] [[EnergyBeings of Order]], while his nemesis, Mordru, is an [[AGodAmI actual Lord of Chaos]].

** His Golden Age enemy Mister Who specifically had "evolving any new power based on the situation" as his power.

* TokenEvilTeammate: The ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' version of Nabu is alarmingly close to this. After [[spoiler: what happened with Zatanna and Zatara]], Captain Marvel firmly believes he doesn't even belong on the League. Others on the League seem inclined to agree with him, before Nabu himself remarks that [[spoiler: Zatara]] wants him on the League because he doesn't trust Nabu and wants him kept an eye on.

* ContinuitySnarl: It's not particularly clear how the Dr Fate of ''Comicbook/BlueBeetle Rebirth'' (who is [[spoiler: Nabu in his ''Comicbook/KingdomCome'' floating-helmet-and-cloak form, but is somehow powered by a ''very'' reluctant Kent Nelson]]) fits in with the near-concurrent ''Dr Fate'' series (where [[spoiler: Kent can manifest his own duplicate of the Helm of Fate, and therefore doesn't have to listen to Nabu at all, while his nephew Khalid has the real deal]]).

* CosmicEntity: What Dr. Fate is during the times when it's directly channeling Nabu's power and personality. Nabu is a Lord of Order and before New 52's retcon, the Lords of Order and Chaos are [[Creator/MichaelMoorcock Moorcock-style gods]] [[AnthropomorphicAbstraction that are primordial beings of the universe and were one of the major sources of magic in the universe]]

* CosmicEntity: What Dr. Fate is during the times when it's directly channeling Nabu's power and personality. Nabu is a Lord of Order and before New 52's retcon, the Lords of Order and Chaos are [[Creator/MichaelMoorcock Moorcock-style gods]] [[PersonifiedAbstractions that are primordial beings of the universe]]

He's one of the few non-A-list DC characters to have appeared in ''six'' recent animated adaptations: ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', ''WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay'', and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction''. Additionally, he has appeared in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' and the helmet of Nabu had a cameo in the pilot for ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. He will also appear as a playable character in ''VideoGame/Injustice2''.

* HermeticMagic: More often than not, Dr. Fate has practised this type of spell-casting, if not the writer's own hodge-podge of [[VancianMagic "rules" for his magic]].
* MagicAIsMagicA: Played straight in that, being an Agent of Order, there are seemingly rules and limitations to Fate's powers. He's been shown memorizing particular incantations, setting up complicated ritual magic and also researching particular foes.

* UpgradeArtifact: For anyone who is able to wear the Helmet of Fate. ''Anyone''. Even [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Detective Chimp]]. Just not evil people, because, [[MindRape well...]]

He's one of the few non-A-list DC characters to have appeared in ''five'' recent animated adaptations: ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction''. Additionally, he has appeared in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' and the helmet of Nabu had a cameo in the pilot for ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. He will also appear as a playable character in ''VideoGame/Injustice2''.

He's one of the few non-A-list DC characters to have appeared in ''five'' recent animated adaptations: ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction''. Additionally, he has appeared in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' and the helmet of Nabu had a cameo in the pilot for ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. He will also appear as a playable character in ''VideoGame/{{Injustice 2}}''.

* BackFromTheDead: The Jared Stevens Fate was reintroduced in ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' as a Dr. Fate analog living on Earth-13, a very dark and predominantly magic based universe. He's a member of that world's JusticeLeague, the League of Shadows.

He's one of the few non-A-list DC characters to have appeared in ''four'' recent animated adaptations: ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'', and ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice''. Additionally, he has appeared in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' and the helmet of Nabu had a cameo in the pilot for ''Series/{{Constantine}}''. He will also appear as a playable character in ''VideoGame/{{Injustice 2}}''.

* BadassBoast: the ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' version was particularly prone to this.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: To ComicBook/DoctorStrange.

->- Khalid Nassour, an [[ButNotTooForeign Egyptian-American]] medical student and the Doctor Fate of the New 52's main Earth, who first appeared in a ''Doctor Fate'' title (2015-ongoing).

* ContinuitySnarl: It's not particularly clear how the Dr Fate of ''Comicbook/BlueBeetle Rebirth'' (who is [[spoiler: Nabu in his ''Comicbook/KingdomCome'' floating-helmet-and-cloak form, but is somehow powered by a ''very'' reluctant Kent Nelson]]) fits in with the near-concurrent ''Dr Fate'' series (where [[spoiler: Kent Nelson can manifest his own duplicate of the Helm of Fate, and therefore doesn't have to listen to Nabu at all]]).