Origin
Silver Age
An early incarnation of Vril Dox II appeared in Superman #167. Vril Dox II is a native Coluan and the adopted son of Brainiac. He became unhappy with being the son of an evil computer so he escaped and is never heard of again.
Modern Age
The Vril Dox II of L.E.G.I.O.N. is the re-imagined version of the original silver age character. The difference being that Vril Dox II is a clone of Brainiac and not just his adopted son.
New 52
A son of Vril Dox (Brainiac) appeared in Superman #23.2. In this version he is the natural son of Vril and Lysl Dox. He and his mother were among the people trapped by Brainiac in the reduced city of Yod-Colu, prior to their destruction. In this appearance he still was an infant.
Creation
Silver Age
Silver Aged Vril Dox II is the creation of Edmond Hamilton and Curt Swan.
Modern Age
Modern aged Vril Dox II is the creation of writer Keith Giffen and artist Todd McFarlane. He first appears in Invasion #1 in 1989.
Character Evolution
Vril is the founder of L.E.G.I.O.N., an intergalactic police force. Using his vast intelligence, Vril became a cold, calculating leader who cared only for the task at hand. He turns L.E.G.I.O.N. from a non-existent group into a force to be reckoned with. He briefly lost control of L.E.G.I.O.N to his son Lyrl Dox, and has recently lost control again to Starro the Conqueror. Both times he formed a subsidiary group to retake L.E.G.I.O.N. called R.E.B.E.L.S.
Major Story Arcs
Colu
The computer tyrants of Colu have been brain washing the Coluans for centuries as a means of control. Every so often, a genius is born among the Coluans. Recognizing the opportunity, computer tyrants would not brain wash these high level intellects unless he/she refused to serve them willingly (which would be unfortunate because the brain washing damages their intellect). These intellectuals would serve the computer tyrants in exchange for not being brain washed. Vril Dox I, or Brainiac, was one such genius who chose to willingly serve the tyrants.
Vril Dox II was also spared the effects of brain washing as the tyrants believed he would serve them too. He grew up watching his father betray their race and despised him for it. However, Brainiac never much cared for the boy and considered him a poor progeny. Vril developed a machine to increase his intelligence and soon was nearly as intelligent as Brainiac himself. The computer tyrants gave him to the Dominators in order to cement an alliance between the two races when the Dominators were beginning their invasion of Earth. Eventually, Vril rebelled against the Dominators, leading an escape from Starlag and joining the fight against them during their invasion of Earth.
Vril Dox II returns to Colu with the handful of survivors who fled the Starlag with him. They infiltrate the inner workings of Colu’s vast network and seemingly destroy the computer tyrants. Vril Dox II saw this as his revenge against the horrible artificial intelligence that enslaved his world. Colu would become one of the first planets to be protected under the soon to be formed L.E.G.I.O.N. police force. Before this could happen, Vril Dox II set his sights on his next target, Cairn.
Cairn
Cairn was a drug infested world that was the home of Vril Dox II’s friend, Garryn Bek. Vril Dox II, and his new “friend” Lobo, leads a coup to take over the Cairn police force and use it against the drug lords of Cairn. These drug lords have been sucking the planet dry of its resources while they bathed themselves in lavish luxury. Vril Dox II executes Kanis-Biz, the leader in the hierarchy of the drug lords and also Garryn Bek’s father-in-law. The other drug lords attempted to retaliate against this attack against their way of life. The newly reformed Cairn police fought back with a renewed sense of duty and were able to defeat the drug lords. Cairn was now free of the influence of these drug lords. Vril Dox II decides to turn the Cairn Police Headquarters into the site of his new intergalactic police force, L.E.G.I.O.N. Vril Dox II appoints Lyrissa Mallor as his head of day-to-day activities. Lobo becomes Dox’s chief enforcer, often being assigned the dirtiest jobs which seemed fit for someone the likes of Lobo.
Dox and Lobo
It seems hard to fathom that someone as uncontrollable as Lobo would follow a meticulous, intelligent leader like Vril Dox II. When Vril Dox II first met Lobo, Lobo was in the middle of trying to kill Garryn Bek who had nearly killed one of his precious Space Dolphins. Vril Dox II offered to protect and feed all of Lobo’s Space Dolphins in return for him signing a contract to work for L.E.G.I.O.N. and Dox. Lobo agrees to this because he sees Dox as someone nearly as cold hearted as himself. In the Lobo mini-series of 1990, Dox sent Lobo on an escort mission to transport a Czarnian to Cairn. Lobo thought he was the last Czarnian alive so he was quite angry to find out that not only was he not the last Czarnian but the other Czarnian was one of his grade school teachers. As Dox expected, Lobo is a man of his word. Vril Dox II told Lobo that the prisoner must be delivered alive and into the custody of Dox. As soon as Lobo fulfills his contract he promptly snaps the neck of the Czarnian woman and says that he fulfilled his end of the contract.
This is just an example of the shaky history between these two characters. Lobo dislikes Dox because Dox is responsible for Lobo losing the ability to spawn an army of clones using his own blood. Since Lobo is a man of his word, he is compelled and often times forced to follow Dox’s every word. Sometimes Lobo loses his anger and he fights Vril Dox II. In the first of such fights, Dox was actually able to defeat Lobo and knocked him out in a bout of hand-to-hand combat. This leads to Lobo harboring further resentment towards Dox.
Blackest Night
In Blackest Night, an unknown Sinestro Corps member was killed by Black Lantern Stealth. The ring then chose Vril Dox as its replacement. Even with the ring, Vril could not defeat the reanimated corpse of his child’s mother with out a Green Lantern light accompanying it. He then transported to Hatorei, Starro’s homeworld. Soon after, the ring rejected him due to his repeated refusal of Sinestro‘s mandate for all Sinestro Corps members to report to Korugar. Vril Dox declared that he had been discharged from the Sinestro Corps.
Powers and Abilities
Intelligence
Vril Dox II as a genetic clone of Brainiac designed to be his lab assistant has a 10th-level intellect making him one of the most intelligent beings in the universe. Though not as intelligent as his “father” and several others he has managed to outmanauver smarter opponents due to his guile and cunning. His out of the box lateral thinking has saved him many a time. His talent for profiling an opponent and usung their own character against them or using the drives of an ally as a means of contoling them has won him many battles.
Personality
Dox is highly distrustful and has faith in little to nothing but himself. To that end he rarely allows others near, or into his plans. he has been known to have shielded himself from the powerful telepaths in his team with equipment he has designed and purpose built. His orders are systematically organized to appeal to the emotional drives of his operatives so that their actions represent only his wishes. Dox’s manipulative nature has resulted in most of his top line operatives not trusting him and questioning his every move and yet he still manages to make them do what he wants, when he wants. If not by maipulation, than by coercion of complete control. If that control has to come by mechanical means like the device he implanted in the brain of Tribulus or by subliminal programming done to the populous of Colu or his own L.E.G.I.O.N troupes.
Charisma
Although despised by most he meets, Dox has a way of making friend and foe alike bend to his intentions. This is never clearer than when he is before a media crew.
Personal Shield
Dox carries with him a powerful force field at all times. When combined with his sentient liquid computer (Silica), it becomes form fitting.
Gear
Asside from his personal computer/shield (silica) Dox has been know to carry telepathic shields (neither Telepath or Captain Comet could read him when they were members)
Various other devices that impede the powers of members of his L.E.G.I.O.N ( when “Phase Phantom Girl” joined the team during the time she was displaced from the 30th century and amnesiac he developed a device that prevented her from phasing, when the Durlan and he argued he activated a device in his belt that stopped him from shape shifting and caused him immense pain in the process). He prepares for every contingency in case even the closest of his teammates cross him.
Sinestro Corps
Dox for a brief stunt was in possession of a Sinestro Corps Ring, which allowed him to make solid light constructs of fear, along with flight, force fields, and communication. He longer has it in his possession.
Technical Proficiency
Vril Dox II is without equal in his abilities as a computer scientist. He has never come across a technology that he could not understand and manipulate. This level of proficiency is probably due in part to his 10th-level intelligence.
Dox is also a brilliant geneticist, his actual field of expertise is in the genetics of botany. This however has not prevented him from doing some pretty amazing things in limited time spans with the genetics of intelligent life. he was able to alter the genetic code of Lobo enough to “neuter” his ability to create another full version of himself from every drop of blood spilled. After his death at the hands of Stealth ( his son Lyrl’s mother) the clone he had been creating was used to transfer his intellect into. Dox altered teh settings on his generator so that it was enhanced enough to actually go toe to toe with Lobo in a H2H battle and win.
Personal Information
- Alter Ego: None
- Known Relatives: Vril Dox I (Brainiac, Father), Lyrl Dox (Brainiac 3, Son), Querl Dox (Brainiac 5, descendant)
- Occupation: Interstellar Operative
- Group Affiliation: L.E.G.I.O.N., R.E.B.E.L.S.
- Base of Operations: Cairn (L.E.G.I.O.N. Headquarters)
Physical Attributes
- Height: 5′ 10″
- Weight: 160 lbs
- Eye Color: Blond
- Hair Color: Green
Other Media
Video Games
Lobo, 1996
Vril Dox II was set to appear in Ocean Software’s Lobo for the SNES and Sega Genesis in 1996. It was to be a fighting game that featured many characters from Lobo’s comic series. This game was eventually canceled prior to its release.