Pieter Cross (New Earth)

Sogndal, Norway; The pregnant wife of noted surgeon Theodoric Cross as attacked by vagrants but saved by Dr. Mid-Nite. She went into labor, and Mid-Nite delivered the baby boy, whom she named Pieter. Pieter grew up to be a brilliant doctor, graduating Harvard at age 19, and later immigrated to America and worked under Dr. Charles McNider (Dr. Mid-Nite). Pieter began investigating A39, an accidental derivative of the steroid-like Venom, produced by an evil corporation called Praeda Industries, run by the Terrible Trio. The narcotic plagued the residents of Portsmouth City. The druglords behind A39 knocked Pieter out, injected him with the drug ad placed him behind the wheel of a moving car. Pieter woke up just as the car struck and killed a woman. Pieter found that the drug made him blind, but gave him the ability to see in the dark. He took on the identity of Dr. Mid-Nite and brought the druglords to justice.

Mid-Nite joined the JSA.

Aboard Hourman’s timeship Metron explained to Mid-Nite and the JSA that Extant used stole Metron’s Moebius Chair to travel to the end of creation and create a new universe of his own making. Unless the JSA stopped him, Extant’s new universe would go backwards through time and erase the current universe.

Dr. Mid-Nite and Black Canary went on a date at Coney Island and discussed where their relationship was going. Mid-Nite and the JSA welcomed the recently resurrected Hawkman aboard as their newest member.

During the Imperiex War Mid-Nite, the JSA and the JSA reserves were given a mission by President Luthor to disrupt Imperiex’s link to his ship’s power supply. The JSA not only cut off Imperiex from his power, but they managed to blow up his ship as well.

Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific examined a woman under a sleeping spell that their JSA teammate Dr. Fate believed to be his wife Lyta. They had no idea how to treat her, so Fate screamed at them and made an exit to search for his own solution.

Mid-Nite got caught up in a battle between Atom-Smasher and probationary JSA member Black Adam. Captain Marvel arrived at JSA hq and physically restrained Black Adam and calmed him down. Because of a dispute between current JSA chairman Sand and Hawkman, the JSA elected Mr. Terrific as their new JSA chairman, and immediately afterwards Mid-Nite and most of the JSA were teleported by Roulette to her House.

Roulette forced Mid-Nite and his JSA teammates to battle each other for the amusement of a crowd of supervillains. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific were strapped into chairs and pitted against each other in a game of chess, with Roulette promising death to the loser. Mid-Nite and Terrific intentionally played to a draw, then escaped. The JSA wrecked Roulette’s House, so she teleported them back to JSA hq with a promise that they would play in her games again.

Mid-Nite and the JSA investigated the death of supervillain Shakedown. Batman joined them, letting them know Shakedown and his partner New Wave had kidnapped Jessica Weintraub, the infant daughter of a recently bankrupt Gotham computer whiz. When the villains realized they weren’t going to get paid their ransom they turned on each other. Batman and the JSA saved Jessica and captured New Wave. Black Canary left the JSA and told Mid-Nite she needed to break off their relationship because an old flame had reentered her life.

Mid-Nite gave new JSAer Power Girl a full physical and determined that her powers were not magic-based as she previously believed. Mid-Nite and the JSA welcomed Johnny Thunder, who claimed to have had a miraculous recovery from Alzheimer’s. In truth it was the Ultra-Humanite in possession of Thunder’s body.

The Ultra-Humanite used Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt to conquer the world, and imprisoned Mid-Nite and virtually every superhuman on Earth in stasis tubes, only reviving them when he needed mind-controlled slaves to serve in his personal guard the Thunderfront. Mid-Nite served as a member of the Thunderfront when they attacked the JSA, the only heroes not under the Humanite’s control. The JSA used a device that disrupted the braincaps Humanite used to control the Thunderfront, freeing them from Humanite’s mental domination. Mid-Nite and the JSA later defeated the Humanite, and afterwards attended the funeral of Johnny Thunder, whose body gave out after he was freed from the Humanite’s control.

Dr. Mid-Nite is one of the most prominent physicians in the world, along with his JSA teammate and colleague Mister Terrific. They are often called upon when an autopsy is needed, or when a hero needs major surgery. Among Cross' notable achievements as a physician includes determining Alan Scott was composed of the green flame of the Starheart, giving Power Girl her annual checkups as well as testing her powers, emergency surgery on Hourman, removal of the Brainiac virus from Oracle, the autopsy of Sue Dibny during the Identity Crisis storyline, and removing the sniper bullet that wounded Lois Lane in Umec. He is also called upon by other medical agencies, such as S.T.A.R. Labs, when emergencies or dilemmas appear ^[1]

The Kingdom

When the Justice Society encounter Gog, last survivor of the Third World, the benevolent being restores Pieter's vision.

Since his gift of sight Pieter has not been able to effectively use his blackout bombs as he cant see anymore then those he uses them on. As well he feels more blind now then ever as he could not see with the ability he could prior to returned sight, and thus could not perform surgery on Lance when he was mortally wounded.

Mid-Nite returns to work at the hospital only to find that his loss of his ability via the gaining of his sight, makes him more handicap then ever as he can no longer successfully determine the accuracy of a patients ailment.

When the rebellious half of the JSA shows up to tell the other half what Gog is doing to the planet, a battle ensues. For the JSA's defying of Gog and his will, he undoes all the "miracles" he has done for them. Thus returning Cross's blindness.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Infrared Vision: Cross's eyes were altered by a chemical injection, allowing him to see the infrared spectrum.

Abilities

Expert Martial Artist: Cross is a superb athlete and martial artist

Master Physician: as well as a top physician. Capable of all manor of various surgery. Excelling in Surgery in the dark. The most prominent surgeon on the planet and secondly a hero.

Genius-Level Intellect

Strength level

Athlete: Doctor Mid-Nite possesses the strength level of a man his age, size and weight who engages in intensive regular exercise.

Weaknesses

Blind: Doctor Mid-Nite is blind to visible light.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Mask lenses: Utilizing special infrared lenses, Cross can see in light; Cross can also equip special ultrasonic lenses, as well as receive images from a camera strapped to his owl, Charlie.

Blackout Bomb: which release pitch-black gas that blinds villains; these "blackout bombs" are improvements over those used by his predecessors.

Gauntlets: Cross's gauntlets carry a wide variety of chemicals, medicines, and small-scale equipment.

Transportation

As a member of the JSA, Doctor Mid-Nite had access to the Steel Eagle.

Notes

Although Norwegian by birth, Pieter Cross is a naturalized American citizen.

Footnotes

Trivia

Doctor Mid-Nite owns a pet wood owl, which he named Charlie. Charlie was named after Cross' mentor and predecessor, Charles McNider. McNider also kept company with a pet owl, though this one was named Hooty.

Doctor Mid-Nite has his own web-site where he provides free medical advice to registered users.

The original concept sketches for Doctor Mid-Nite showed him wearing a full mask that covered his head entirely. However, he has never actually used this mask, and has only worn the half-mask that he is traditionally known to wear. ^[2]

Doctor Mid-Nite is a Vegetarian and practices Yoga

Links and References

Footnotes

Justice Society of America member
This character is or was a primary member of the Justice Society of America in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice Society of America members" category.

Copy Edit Needed

This article suffers from a lack of quality writing. You can help the DC Database Project by copy editing this page, improving grammar and sentence structure to bring this article to a higher standard of quality.
This template will categorize articles that include it into Category:Copy Edit.And don't call me "chief".

[0] JSA Classified #19-20

[1] JSA Secret Files and Origins #2

[1]

[2]