John Murdoch

Real Name: (possibly) John Murdoch

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Unknown

Affiliations: Inspector Frank Bumstead, Dr. Daniel Schreber

Enemies: Mr.Hand, Mr.Book, Mr.Wall, Mr.Rain, Mr.Sleep, Mr.Quick, the Strangers

Known Relatives: Emma Murdoch (wife, perhaps), unnamed parents (perhaps), Karl Harris (uncle, perhaps)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The City

First Appearance: Dark City (1998)

Powers/Abilities: John Murdoch is a powerful telekinetic. As well as being able to move objects by thought alone, he can use this ability to levitate himself. In conjunction with the Strangers' machines, he can warp reality.

History: John Murdoch doesn't remember who he really is. Along with thousands, perhaps millions, of other humans, he was kidnapped from Earth by an alien race, the Strangers, and placed into an artificial city floating through space. The Strangers inhabited the corpses of some of the humans, and used the expertise of scientist Dr.Daniel Schreber to wipe their victims' memories, and implant fake new ones. Then the photo-sensitive extra-terrestrials set their captives loose within the darkened, forever night city, monitoring their actions as part of a vast experiment. Every time the clocks reached midnight again, the humans were sent to sleep, and adjustments were made, as the aliens fine-tuned the experiment; Schreber would alter some memories, and the Strangers would combine their psychokinetic powers to restructure the landscape.

Murdoch's most recent adjustment was intended to make him a serial killer on the run, but when Schreber attempted to implant the new memories, Murdoch's own psychokinetic abilities awoke. He subconsciously knocked the syringe containing the new memories away from him, and Schreber fled. Thus Murdoch awoke, amnesiac, in a strange and dark city, pursued by both the police for the crimes they believed he had committed and the Strangers who viewed him as a dangerous loose cannon. Gradually he began to uncover the truth, learning that Schreber had deliberately set things in motion so that the Strangers could be stopped; at the same time Murdoch's powers grew, until they surpassed those of his alien kidnappers. Eventually he faced them and destroyed them, freeing his fellow humans from further manipulation, if not their captivity, and giving the city it's first sunrise.

Comments: Created by Alex Proyas. Played by Rufus Sewell.

Thanks to Michael Cody for corrections.

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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