Professor Thorton

Professor Thorton is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

One account claimed that his true name was Truett Hudson and that he was the son of Frederick Hudson II as well as being a descendant of the Hudson family. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #33)

During the closing days of World War II, Thorton worked for Weapon Plus where he was part of the Allied forces that went to liberate the camps run by the Nazis. Whilst looking through an abandoned laboratory, he found a book titled the "Journal of Nathan Essex" that interested him. Through the journal he learnt about the existence of Mutants and began a period of study in this field of research. For years, he had been passed for advancement within the Weapon Plus program until he was finally given control over his own version that became known as Weapon X. He would get Dr. Abraham Cornelius and Carol Hines to help support him in his experiments. (Weapon X v2 #23)

In 1933, it was known that his program came to form an alliance with Dracula with the Professor looking to find a means of overcoming the Vampire's sensitivity to light. Thus, the secretly established a base of operations at the Ravencroft Institute where they began to experiments on the patients at the facility. Their actions drew the attention of Captain America and Bucky leading to a battle at the asylum. This culminated in the destruction of their experiments and the death of Jonas Ravencroft. (Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula v1 #1) It was said that the Professor was secretly working for a criminal mastermind by the name of Romulus who sought to upgrade Wolverine. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #33)

Thorton and his team took advantage of Logan's false memories implanted by the C.I.A. during his time as a Team X operative, setting up a warehouse in Ontario, Canada, where new false memories would have been filmed through cinematographic sets and special effects and implanted in the minds of Logan and his former teammates, which were either contacted or captured by Weapon X Program. (Weapon X v2 #20) Some time later, Thorton recruited psycho talent Aldo Ferro in order to implant the fabricated memories directly with his psychic powers, avoiding spending resources and money on building set scenarios. (Weapon X v2 #63) Logan would be brainwashed into Experiment X and Professor Thorton would deploy him in the isolated town of Roanoake where he was sent to massacre the population. Dr. Cornelius would not approve of slaughtering civilians but the Professor claimed that it was simply a test as the success of Experiment X could see the deployment of these soldiers to eliminate entire armies. He also had Weapon X burn the rest of the town and orchestrate the destruction as a disaster that killed the 116 civilians preventing anyone from knowing of the massacre. (Weapon X v2 #24)

Around 20 years ago, the Weapon X Project was said to had lost track of Silver Fox. (Wolverine v2 #50)

With Hines accompanying him, the pair went to a hidden control room in order to direct the actions of Shiva. They observed remotely as Wolverine attempted to uncover more about his past leading to him battling the Shiva robotic avatars. The control room was infiltrated by Silver Fox who knocked out Carol Hines and came to learn the truth about the false memory implants placed in her mind. This allowed the Professor an opportunity to take the gun from her but he failed to do so and he was seemingly killed by her. The Professor's dead body was then discovered by Hines when she regained consciousness where she saw that his claw had triggered the reset button on Shiva who was then sent on the next person on its kill-list which was Sabretooth. (Wolverine v2 #50)

Overview

Personality and attributes

One account claimed that his name was Truett Hudson. (Wolverine: Origins v1 #33) A false memory implant subject scenario had his first name as being Andre. (Wolverine v2 #50)

When questioned by Cornelius on how he could sleep at night, Thorton responded by saying he did so on two pillows and a quilt sewn by his late aunt Trudie. (Weapon X v2 #24)

Notes

• The Professor was created by Barry Windsor-Smith and made his first appearance in Marvel Comics Presents v1 #73 (March, 1991).
• The Professor's real name as Truett Hudson was revealed in Wolverine: Origins v1 #33; before this revelation, he was named Andre in one of the memory implants featured in Wolverine v2 #48 and later Professor Thorton in Weapon X v2 #23.

Alternate Versions

• In Heroes Reborn: Weapon X & Final Flight v1 #1 (2021), an alternate version of the Professor appeared in the Heroes Reborn 2021 reality set on Earth-21798 in the Multiverse.

In other media

Television

The Professor from X-Men: The Animated Series.

The Professor in X-Men: Evolution.

The Professor in Wolverine and the X-Men.

• In X-Men: the Animated Series, the character made an appearance in the Episode "Out of the Past". He was shown as one of the leading scientists of Weapon X who intended to use Professor Oyama's Adamantium bonding process on the captured Mutant Wolverine. After the procedure, Logan would break through containment forcing the Professor to flee and he managed to evade Wolverine who escaped from the explosions that engulfed the laboratory.
• In X-Men: Evolution, the character made an appearance in the episode "Grim Reminder" where he was voiced by Campbell Lane. He was shown as the scientist responsible for placing Adamantium within Wolverine at his Mount McKenna facility on behalf of unknown parties. As part of the Weapon X Project, Thorton placed an implant within Wolverine's brain designed to control behavior and also erased his memories. Wolverine broke free from containment and went into a berserker rage where he devastated the facility before escaping. In the modern day, Thorton would get the services of Sabertooth who he would often derogatively called Sasquatch much to Creed's annoyance. He would activate the implant in Wolverine's head sending him into a berserker rage from the pain leading to erratic behavior when he was at the Xavier Institute. Through Professsor Xavier, Wolverine would learn part of his past linked to Mount McKenna where he unwittingly brought Kitty Pride and Kurt Wagner with him. Wolverine would be captured by Sabretooth for Professor Thorton who stated his surprise on Logan not figuring out who was responsible for the Weapon X program. His implant would temporarily turn Wolverine against Shadowcat and Nightcrawler until Kitty convinced Logan to turn against it. He would attack the Professors laboratory where Thorton managed to incapacitate Wolverine by putting the implant on full power until Shadowcat phased through the equipment creating a chain reaction that destroyed he facility seemingly killing the Weapon X scientist.
• In Wolverine and the X-Men, the character made an appearance in the episode "Stolen Lives" where he was voiced by Tom Kane. He was shown a one of the leading scientist of the Weapon X Project and a superior to Dr. Abraham Cornelius with the two being in charge of Team X. They sought to create the perfect Mutant hunters and refined the Adamantium process that they intended to implant into one of their Mutant operatives. Weapon X sought to conduct the process on Mystique but James Howlett intervened to save her but he was attacked by his team mate Sabretooth though they failed in stopping Mystique to escape. As a result, James went through he Adamantium bonding process and had his memory erased as well though he would escape whereupon he became known as Wolverine who joined the X-Men. Despite this development, some of his genetic material was used to create a young female named X-23 which Thorton controlled. Weapon X dispatched Maverick to retrieve his daughter Kristi Nord for experimentation but the operation was interfered with by Wolverine and Mystique who tracked the kidnappers to the Weapon X facility. Once there, he met with Professor Thorton who had X-23 with him with the two managing to get away along with Cornellius before the base exploded
• In Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the character made a guest appearance in the episode "Behold...The Vision" where he was voiced by Tom Kane. He headed a secret Weapon X facility that came under attack from the Vision who effortlessly managed to pass through the defenses in order to retrieve the Adamantium stored at the base. This was under the commands of his creator Ultron who intended to use the metal to construct a new indestructible body for himself.

Films

• In Hulk Vs, the Professor made an appearance in the setting of the animated film where he was voiced by actor Tom Kane. Thorton was shown as the head of the Weapon X Project that experimented on Wolverine where the implanted Adamantium in him and erased his memory. Wolverine would escape and in his berserker rage he would cut off Thorton's right hand that was replaced with a cybernetic claw. Part of his detail consisted of Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red and Deadpool who were dispatched to capture the Hulk as the Professor intended to turn Bruce Banner into a weapon. He intended to conduct the same experiments on the Hulk that would include controlling his mind. Wolverine would also be captured with the Professor intending to turn him back to Weapon X and ordered his subordinates to leave him alive much to the dissatisfaction of Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike. He would later catch Lady Deathstrike threatening to kill Logan whereby the Professor ordered her to stop but was sliced in the back by Sabretooth who along with his allies intended to proceed to kill Wolverine.

Video games

• In X2: Wolverine's Revenge, a character named the Doctor appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Don Morrow. After Weapon X breaks free following the Adamantium-bonding procedure, he confronts Professor Thorton restraining him at claw-point while telling Abraham Cornelius and Carol Hines to take their leave. Professor Thorton reveals that all Weapon X subjects were implanted with a dormant and deadly virus known as the Shiva Strain as a failsafe. He also revealed that the virus would kill a normal human in one year, but has no idea how long the virus would kill a human mutant. Professor Thorton was seen again after that scene.
• In X-Men: Legends, the character made an appearance though he was only referred to as the Director who was voiced by Earl Boen. He was shown in a flashback sequence when Wolverine talks about his time at the Weapon X Facility where he awoke with Adamantium implanted in his body. According to the Director himself, he believed Mutants to be freaks and it was his right to conduct experiments on them. Logan would break free forcing the initially impressed Director to flee for his life and went deep into the base. Ultimately, Wolverine managed to track him and the last sequence of the flashback was of Wolverine approaching him in a berserker rage with the Director screaming for his life.

Appearances

• Marvel Comics Presents v1: (1991)
• Wolverine v2:
• Wolverine: Origins v1:
• Wolverine v3:
• Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula v1: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.