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Professor Emil Hamilton
Eccentric scientific genius and friend of Superman. Emil Hamilton spent years working on a defense device but was frustrated by lack of research money from the government. Hamilton eventually found out that Lex Luthor had arranged to gain ownership of his research and was offering only token compensation to Hamilton. Driven nearly insane by the frustration and Luthor's efforts, Hamilton confronted Superman with a gauntlet of gadgets. After being treated, Hamilton set up a small laboratory in Metropolis' Suicide Slum area and has provided much scientific help to Superman ever since. Over the years Hamilton has performed some great work. Just to name a few, he analyzed the Eradicator device, assisted Superman with an array of gadgets when he lost his powers to Mxyzptlk's Red Kryptonite, determined the Cyborg that appeared after Superman's 'death' had Superman's DNA, and kept tabs on Superman's amazing solar powered body, being possibly the one man on the planet who knows pretty well how Superman's body really works.
Emil has worked extensively in the past with Metropolis' own S.T.A.R. Labs and on occasion helped out the Special Crimes Unit. Following Luthor's attack on Metropolis, Emil suffered the loss of an arm, which he replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic. He helped save the bottle city of Kandor in the Fortress, worked on repairing one of Superman's "Superman Robots" and gave Superman a contraption which helped him acquire the right state of mind to defeat Dominus.
Emil had dropped out of sight recently getting lost in one project or another and resurfaced shortly after the Brainiac 13 upgrade to Metropolis. He was in his Suicide Slum building when the upgrade occurred and when he finally got his bearings he found himself deep within the bowels of the futuristic cityscape. He had seen some amazing automation under Metropolis and was intrigued by that and simply lost track of time. He couldn't have chosen a better time to return to the surface, as Superman was trying to stop the 'Lunatick' that the Cybermoth's Queen Luna brought back from her trip into the Phantom Zone. The Lunatick escaped Luna's control and kept feeding off the abundant B-13 energy. What kept feeding the growth was Lunatick's connection to the Phantom Zone. Since the B-13 tech upgraded everything in Metropolis this included Hamilton's cybernetic prosthesis. Using the new abilities his attachment gave him and with the assistance of Dr. John Henry Iron's, Hamilton was able to sever the link to the Phantom Zone nullifying the Lunatick's rampage.
Hamilton analyzed the Kryptonian crystal shard that Superman presented to him recently showing the possibility that everything he ever knew about Krypton and its 'destruction' may have been false. Hamilton and Irons engineered a controlled entry for Superman and Lois into the Phantom Zone where he was picking up Kryptonian transmissions. This sent Superman and his bride, back to Krypton. The devices that Emil made to return to the real world were damaged in the events and led Superman and his 'father' Jor-El to improvise on Emil's design from where they were.
Back in Metropolis and teamed with Dr. John Henry Irons, Professor Hamilton will be sure that Superman is well equipped on the scientific front... unless he has other ideas or motives...
