Nefarious

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"With the clock under my control, I'll be able to wrong all the rights in the universe. Every villain who has ever stumbled will get a do-over. Every protagonist's triumph will be reversed! Until, finally, a new present is created...in which the heroes always lose!"

—Dr. Nefarious' plan to remake history with the Great Clock^[src]

Doctor Nefarious was a robotic mad scientist who hated organic life forms, despite formerly being one himself. He was also the archenemy of renowned intergalactic 'superhero', Captain Qwark, and later a recurring adversary of Ratchet and Clank . Nefarious was the main antagonist in Up Your Arsenal, plotting to turn all organisms into robots, and was defeated, but survived. He made several cameos in further games, recurring more than any villain, and returned as the main antagonist in A Crack in Time, this time attempting to remake history, where he was again defeated.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

In high school, Nefarious attended the same 9th grade Biology class with Copernicus Leslie Qwark. He had been constantly humiliated at the hands of Qwark, who was twenty-six years old and three times Nefarious' size at the time. His treatment included Qwark giving him wedgies, pouring lab beaker liquids on his head, cleaning chalk boards with his pants (while Nefarious was still wearing them), and being called "that freak with the headgear". Later, when Nefarious attempted a career as a scientist, he was called insane. All this lively experience pushed Nefarious over the edge, and he set out to get revenge on all who had mocked him, especially Qwark. While the newly titled captain had risen to fame as a celebrity superhero, Nefarious himself became a mad scientist supervillain.

[edit] Rise to evil

Dr. Nefarious started his campaign by creating the vicious Amoeboid creatures and launching an invasion on Blackwater City. After Captain Qwark defeated his "pets" and saved the burning city, Nefarious and his robotic servant, Lawrence, were forced to retreat in a rocket shuttle. Nefarious swore that he would have his venegeance, "if it takes a thousand years!", as his ship took off. Qwark managed to grab onto the rocket and held his breath tight. He clung to the ship for six days, and it arrived at the doctor's base on planet Magmos. Qwark used disguise to sneak into the base, unaware that Nefarious was watching him. The doctor commented that Qwark's poor disguise made him appear more stupid than he seemed. He decided to wait for the captain.

Fighting through the doctor's defences, Qwark confronted Nefarious on a narrow catwalk overlooking churning gears and machinery. Qwark seemed to have met Nefarious before, but he claimed they hadn't, trying to hide the truth from his nemesis. Qwark soon recognized the doctor as his old classmate in "Mr. Bozell's 9th grade Biology", and reminisced on the "good times" of when he humiliated Nefarious, oblivious to how much his treatment had affected the doctor. Saying he should give Nefarious a wedgie "for old time's sake", Qwark accidentally knocked him off of the catwalk into the spinning gears below. As Qwark made his escape, confident his rival was gone for good, a robotic hand made its way out of the rubble, and Nefarious was forever changed into an advanced robotic being. His transformation caused him to gain an intense hatred for all organic life forms (or "squishies" as he would call them) in the process, favoring his new robotic existence, and he lost what was left of his sanity.

[edit] Vengeance

"This isn't over, Qwark! I swear, I will return some day to destroy you, and bring Metropolis to it's knees!"

—Nefarious vows his revenge to Qwark^[src]

Some time later, Dr. Nefarious attacked Metropolis with a massive horde of Robotic Bugs that consumed various forms of matter. He commanded his creatures to bring him Qwark's head. However, Qwark once again defeated him, confronting his nemesis in close-quarters one-on-one combat. After their battle, Nefarious was greatly damaged and left as a disembodied head. Qwark threw Nefarious' head in a trash can as he screamed his revenge. Nefarious captured Qwark after Lawrence saved him, and they imprisoned him in a secret facility.

Qwark managed to escape to his hideout on the Thrann Asteroid, where he hid until Nefarious allegedly disappeared. In reality, he was being repaired by Lawrence and was given a new body. However, Lawrence mistakenly attached Nefarious' head backwards. The doctor angrily screamed at his butler, causing himself to freeze up and pick up signals from a soap opera, Lance and Janice. Lawrence said that he would need to repair the glitch, then chuckled and said that it would be done "one of these days".

[edit] Biobliterator threat

"Robotic citizens of the Solana Galaxy...the hour of your liberation is at hand! Too long have we robots suffered under the bigotry, the stupidity, the squishiness, and foul stench of organic life forms! Soon, all robots will bask in the liberty and equality of my benevolent, iron-fisted rule! And, as for you filthy organic life forms... You can look forward to being disintegrated!'"

—Nefarious' message to the Solana Galaxy^[src]

Ten years later, Dr. Nefarious started an entire public campaign to rid the Solana Galaxy of organic life forms. Nefarious formed an alliance with the Tyhrranoid race, who served the doctor as his personal army, gullible and oblivious to the fact that they were organic life forms. The heroic duo, Ratchet and Clank, saw a news report detailing an attack on planet Veldin, Ratchet's foster home, by Tyhrranoid soldiers. Dr. Nefarious was believed to be the attack's mastermind. Later, on the Starship Phoenix, that fact was confirmed when Captain Sasha Phyronix, Ratchet and Clank received a message from him on the ship's bridge, where he announced his plot. Nefarious then launched an attack on the Capital City of Marcadia, which Ratchet and Clank managed to stop. Later on, Clank explored Nefarious' Office in his "impenetrable" secret base on Aquatos, and found out that he was a huge fan of the Secret Agent Clank series. Lawrence informed Nefarious of the break-in on his ship, the Leviathan, while he was watching Secret Agent Clank. This outraged the doctor, and caused him to crash again. After being smacked back to normal, he ordered Qwark's Q-Force, which Ratchet and Clank was a part of, annihilated.

after giving a message to the q-force Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence were then seen on planet Daxx on Supervillain Weekly, being interviewed about Nefarious' new top secret superweapon. Ratchet and Clank explored Daxx, though Nefarious had removed all data on the mysterious device. It was revealed, however, that robotic pop star, Courtney Gears, was in league with the doctor. While on Holostar Studios, Clank needed to film a Secret Agent Clank scenario, with Gears as a character. He asked her what Nefarious was planning, and she was able to capture Clank by knocking him out. She then contacted Nefarious, who was greatly annoyed by her calling him "snooky wookums" (showing that she devoted to the doctors plan of robot freedom), and told her to bring him 'Agent' Clank. Nefarious then tried to turn Clank over to his side, as he was a fanatic of the Secret Agent Clank series and believed them to be real, following his missions from the beginning. He even rejected Clank's assurance that the series was just an act, calling the statement "Lies! Squishy LIES!". His anger caused him to freeze and pick up soap opera signals again. Courtney had to smack him to get him back to normal. When Clank refused to join, Nefarious decided to replace Clank with a doppelganger, Klunk.

Klunk, posing as Clank, told Ratchet that Nefarious was aboard the Leviathan. Later on, Nefarious launched an attack on Blackwater City which was also stopped by Ratchet. At the Zeldrin Starport, Ratchet, Klunk and Qwark found Nefarious on his ship. Commenting that Qwark had gained weight and going into yet another crashing sequence, Nefarious activated a self-destruct for the ship and commanded Lawrence to teleport them away. Lawrence left himself, leaving Nefarious, who was not amused by the joke, and was then teleported out the next moment. They had to run to their ship before the spaceship blew up. However, Qwark seemed to not make it out. Back in Metropolis, Nefarious showed Clank Klunk's transmission of Ratchet's actions, meaning he could track the Lombax, and claiming that Ratchet would be killed with Clank having a "front row seat". Nefarious then revealed his superweapon, the Biobliterator, which could transform the whole city into robots. He demonstrated by turning his remaining Tyhrannoid soldiers into robots. At first, however, Nefarious accidentally turned on a video recording of his Galactic Idol audition, angering him, as his butler had not set the switch properly.

Ratchet soon found out that the robot on his back was Klunk and Clank had been captured by Nefarious. The doctor mocked Ratchet before leaving with Lawrence, laughing so hard that his sides ached. Ratchet fought Giant Klunk on the Hover Train they were on and managed to defeat him and save Clank. Nefarious then launched another Tyhrranoid attack on Aridia, which was again stopped by Ratchet and Clank. On Koros, Clank used the Nefarious BFG ion cannon to destroy the Biobliterator while Nefarious was screaming furiously from a video screen. Then Nefarious decided to use his second Biobliterator, more powerful than the first, and fueled it on Mylon, but Ratchet and Clank were able to defeat the last of Nefarious' forces and bested the doctor in combat, despite his surprising powers. He called Lawrence to his aid, and ordered his butler to begin the "transformation". The second Biobliterator changed into a pilotable mechanoid. Laughing maniacally, Dr. Nefarious prepared to use his monstrosity to bring about the Age of Robots. However, he was fired upon by Captain Qwark, who arrived on the scene in his own shuttle. He had survived and decided to come out of hiding to help defeat his nemesis. Distraught at this, Nefarious said "No! I don't believe it!", and Qwark said "Believe it, toaster head!"

Ratchet and Qwark defeated Nefarious in the air, and destroyed the Biobliterator mechanoid. The head of the machine landed on the ground of the battlefield, and Nefarious was greatly humiliated by being defeated at the hands of "squishies", believing he would never live it down. The cockpit's computer then announced that the self-destruct system would activate in sixty seconds. Nefarious bluntly told Lawrence to engage the teleporter. Lawrence asked him to specify a destination, and Nefarious just said "Who cares? Just get us out of here." The computer then said time was up, and Nefarious shouted "What!? That Wasn't even close to sixty seconds!!" The Biobliterator's head then exploded, and in a panic, Lawrence teleported them far away, to an asteroid in space.

[edit] Stranded

"Thanks to you, and your dimwitted friend here, I found myself drifting through the cosmos! Have you ever spent time on an asteroid? It's surprisingly BORING!"

—Nefarious to Ratchet and Clank^[src]

Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence were stuck on the asteroid, unable to teleport to another planet, as they were well out of range. According to Lawrence, it would be five of ten thousand years before something came for them to teleport to. Nefarious shouted angrily in disbelief, then sat on the ground and asked what they should do next. Lawrence sugggested they play rock music to pass the time, and that Nefarious could play drums. The doctor then yelled at his butler in frustration. While Lawrence spent most of their drifting playing his guitar, Nefarious simply sat thinking over and over about his failure, which would continue to haunt him.

Much later, after Ratchet and Clank competed in DreadZone and saved the contestants and fans from the evil Gleeman Vox, Nefarious and Lawrence came near the DreadZone Station, where they hoped to land. Before they could reach the station, it was destroyed by Vox's self-destruct. Nefarious asked Lawrence what was going on, as he said they were coming within range of a space station. Lawrence said he had no idea it would all of a sudden explode, prompting Nefarious to angrily scream, freezing up and triggering the soap opera signal in his brain again. The two were still forced to aimlessly float through space.

However, after a long time (though not as long as Lawrence calculated), the asteroid drifted to the Breegus System in the Polaris Galaxy. It picked up speed and turned into a ball a fire, crashing on the planet Zanifar. The crashed asteroid was stuck in a barricaded crater, and Nefarious and Lawrence sought refuge with the local Fongoid tribe.

[edit] Arrival in Polaris

"How could I have been defeated by the likes of you? Why had the universe been tipped in your favor? I embarked on a crusade to the inner recesses of what you call "the soul"."

—Dr. Nefarious^[src]

While living with the Fongoids on Zanifar, Nefarious tried to find out how he could have lost everything he had worked so hard to accomplish, to his enemies. He even spent one night twitching and craddling himself in a darkened room after drawing several pictures of Ratchet and Clank on the wall, crayons clenched in his hand and mouth. Nefarious decided to go on a spiritual journey to find the answers he sought. He spent his time on Zanifar studying Fongoid meditation, attending numerous anger management classes, and dabbling in yoga. Eventually, he went on a spirit walk on planet Quantos. It was here that he learned of the mysterious Zoni and their ultimate creation, the Great Clock. Nefarious secretly plotted to gain control of the clock to command space and time. He would make it so no villain would ever go through such a humiliating defeat as he did, and eventually remake the present so that heroes would always lose. With this plot, he put his organic life form vendetta on hold, working even with organic villains.

Dr. Nefarious made the Fongoids believe that he was an all loving, kind being, and they came to worship him. He soon asked them to help construct the Tombli Outpost in their Tobolia valley, which he would use as his new base for his plans until the Nefarious Space Station was complete. The doctor also contacted the Pollyx Industries corporation, and formed an alliance with the villainous CEO Pollyx, who signed his company in an exclusive contract to work for Nefarious, and the Terachnoids took up a large amount of command in his army. Due to the companie's influence in the Breegus System he became it's de-facto leader. Working from inside the Tombli Outpost, Nefarious recreated and improved his robotic army of Nefarious Troopers and began his plot to take over the Great Clock. Using Pollyx's holdings he contacted and formed an alliance with the Zoni, fooling them into thinking he was of good intentions just as he did the Fongoids. Pollyx, Lawrence and Nefarious gathered in the Tombli Outpost, where the doctor sent a message to Zoni leader, Orvus, requesting an audience with the fellow scientist. Orvus, a being of etiquette, fell for the trap and was taken prisoner within the outpost.

Nefarious interrogated Orvus about getting inside the Orvus Chamber, the time control room for the entire Great Clock. He tortured the Zoni when he repeatedly refused, as time was not to be tampered with. The doctor had his invention, the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler, blast Orvus, who managed to withstand to an extent, but was greatly weakened. Nefarious shouted at Pollyx when the interrogation continued to fail, as Pollyx was scanning Orvus' brain for the key to the chamber but could not find it. Pollyx believed that the Zoni had erased his own memory, and Nefarious gave him one final chance to reveal the key to the chamber. Orvus again refused, and Nefarious had his device blast him again. Orvus held off the blast, and said that the only one who would enter his chamber was safe from Nefarious' clutches. He then disappeared, and Nefarious frantically asked where he went. Pollyx managed to pull up an image from his memory scanned before Orvus vanished.

The image was schematics to the robot Nefarious had fought long ago: Clank. It was revealed that he was in fact Orvus' heir, and therefore was the key to entering the Orvus Chamber. Nefarious planned to locate Clank and help the Zoni find him as well. When Ratchet and Clank came to Polaris and defeated Percival Tachyon, Nefarious led the Zoni to him. They eventually swiped Clank away and brought him to the Breegus Nebula, where the clock was located, to show him his destiny. At some point, Clank's logic and memory seemed to be disfunctional, and the Zoni called upon the doctor to repair him. He then appeared, slightly silhouetted in the doorway of the room where Clank was being held. He walked down the stairs, being revealed in the light bit by bit, but then slipped on a feather duster, which caused him to fall down the stairs. He then angrily called Lawrence. Ratchet and Talwyn Apogee watched this through the Obsidian Eye on planet Merdegraw, and Ratchet vowed to rescue his friend.

[edit] Great Clock

"Ratchet: So, what is it this time, Nefarious? Are you still trying to turn everyone into robots? Or is it just good old fashioned galactic domination?"
"Nefarious: Part of me wants to let you live long enough to find out. The other part, really wants to kill you. You know, for old time's sake. Decisions, decisions, decisions..."

—Nefarious and Ratchet^[src]

When the Nefarious Space Station was eventually completed, Dr. Nefarious revealed his true villainous colors to the system, and imprisoned the Fongoids in camps and continued to kidnap. He built a large facility expanding off of the Tombli Outpost, and had his troops watch over the Fongoids while he made his new station his home. With Nefarious' army on the rise, an exiled Lombax freedom fighter, Alister Azimuth, began battling his forces to try and save Polaris. He was often hunted by Nefarious, and never successfully bested him in combat. Through his fight with Azimuth, Nefarious discovered the full history of the Lombaxes and Ratchet. He later hired Flint Vorselon, a notorius mercenary, as extra security, giving him command of some of his forces. Vorselon was quite loyal to the doctor, as he was promised to have his original body restored with the Great Clock's power. Nefarious later made a romantic releationship with Cassiopeia of the Valkyries and welcomed her people in his team. Nefarious continued to visit the Great Clock for over a year, and made numerous attempts to get inside Clank's memory banks. He was often opposed by junior caretaker of the clock, Sigmund, who tried to save Clank.

During a visit, Dr. Nefarious mocked the unconscious Clank while he floated in the Mnemonic Station, banging his head and saying "Not so smart now, are you?!". Lawrence told Nefarious that the Zoni had been inquiring about their progress. The doctor was becoming rather annoyed with acting friendly to them. The Zoni then entered the room, and reminded Nefarious that he must fix Clank's memory. He tried arranging Clank's memories to enter his brain's system. He was locked out, as he had been other times he had tried, frustrating him greatly. Nefarious then exclaimed to Lawrence that he would find the Orvus Chamber's key in Clank's brain. Upon hearing this, the Zoni firmly told Nefarious he was forbidden from accessing the chamber, as only Clank was supposed to. His insistence to no avail, Nefarious betrayed them, and activated the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler. It's sonic wave attacks forced the Zoni out of the room. As Nefarious laughed maniacally, the room went completely dark.

A black-out had occurred in the clock, as the equipment was especially susceptible to sonic weaponry, which Lawrence apologized for not mentioning earlier. The back-up generators restored power seconds later. When the lights came back on, Nefarious saw that Clank had managed to awaken from his slumber and escape in the darkness. Nefarious angrily ordered Lawrence to stop him as he fled. Over the loud speakers and appearing on large projection screens beside Lawrence, Nefarious asked Clank to come back so they could discuss things "robot to robot". The doctor's troops, meanwhile, were firing at the fleeing robot. Lawrence informed Nefarious, who frantically told his troops he wanted to Clank alive. The robot soldiers did not obey Nefarious' commands, as damage had been done to their hive mind in the ensuing chaos, and Lawrence needed to reboot them. They also detected that Sigmund was trying to aid Clank's escape. Nefarious ordered Lawrence to reset the locks and track the "meddlesome" caretaker's location.

All the while, Dr. Nefarious' troops were chasing after the Zoni, who continued to flee and evacuated the clock. Upon hearing the dropping number of Zoni from Lawrence, Nefarious told them to come back, exclaiming that he was just kidding, and joking about how they had kidnapped Clank thanks to him. When Clank was nearing Sigmund's location, and Lawrence was closer to finding him, Nefarious threatened Sigmund by saying he would rip off his dome. While Clank escaped his troops, Nefarious told Clank he would not be able to fly to Polaris and that if he wanted to keep his brain, he should surrender. Sigmund's location was eventually discovered to be in a broom closet, and Nefarious had him locked off from Clank for the time being. Clank then stopped at a balcony, with no other escape. Nefarious and Lawrence confronted him on the platform, where Nefarious dared him to jump, and then laughed diabolically. Clank then asked where his old enemy had taken him. Nefarious showed Clank his home, the Great Clock, and described its location and history.

Clank wondered what lie Dr. Nefarious had told the Zoni and believed that the doctor had sought vengeance. Nefarious found it odd how Clank thought he went to all the trouble he did of taking over the clock for mere veangence, and said "They say I'm egomanical". He then said that "it's...all in the past." He had Lawrence use the orb of gratuitous immobilization to freeze Clank and knock him out. Lawrence suggested they use the Mnemonic Station again, but Nefarious said he had better plans. When Lawrence questioned this, he said "Patience, Lawrence. We have all the time in the universe..." Nefarious then returned to his space station and began rehearsing an original play he wrote: Night of the Living Squishies. He used his robot troops as actors to practice scenes, and gave out several script books. He had his soldiers line up at the door outside his personal chamber, where he was rehearsing scene four of act three. In the scene, Nefarious held Captain Qwark at gunpoint while the captain tried to capture him.

However, Nefarious' rehearsal was repeatedly halted when he accidentally killed the troops playing Qwark with the pistol he was using, which was supposed to be unloaded. The more troops went in to attempt the part, the more of them were killed, and the more the line outside shook with fear. Meanwhile, back in the Great Clock, Sigmund was teaching Clank things about traversing through the security systems and dealing with enemies. They encountered the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler, which had been left loose in the clock, crashing into and damaging much machinery even after the Zoni it was chasing had escaped. Upon destroying the sonic device, Clank and Sigmund continued onward through the clock, but were silently being watched by Lawrence, who had remained in the clock to keep an eye on them on Nefarious' orders. He contacted Nefarious via hologram, inadvertently interrupting yet another one of Nefarious' rehearsals, upsetting the doctor. Lawrence reported to him that Clank was en route to the Orvus Chamber.

Dr. Nefarious laughed with delight at this news, as he wanted Clank to lead him directly to the chamber. Nefarious prepared to go back to his play, but Lawrence informed him of another matter:showing him a video camera on vorselons warship of Ratchet and Qwark rescuing the locked up Fongoids they had come to the Breegus System and were fighting the doctor's forces to try and rescue Clank. This revelation greatly angered Nefarious, and again triggered his malfunction, causing him to pick up more radio signals of Lance and Janice. Lawrence had the robot troop in the room whack Nefarious over the head, and he went back to normal. Nefarious ordered Lawrence to kill them so they could not meddle in his plans. Proclaiming he would carry out his orders, Lawrence suggested Nefarious engage the safety on his gun so as not to kill any more troops. Nefarious shouted at Lawrence that the blaster was not even loaded, and tried to demonstrate this by aiming it off to the side and pulling the trigger. A shot did fire, bouncing off the walls of the room until it hit the firghtened robot trooper.

Frustrated by killing another one, Nefarious went over to his desk and hit the red button to buzz the door open, shouting "Next!" to signal another trooper in. As the door opened, all of the shaking troops hesitated to enter, fearing they would end up like those auditioning before them. Through the rest of the Breegus System, Ratchet and Qwark continued their attempts to find Clank, and were eventually assisted by Azimuth, who wanted to rectify his mistakes and bring back the Lombaxes with Ratchet. In Axiom City, Ratchet discovered a large amount of Nefarious' hold on Polaris, and confronted Pollyx himself. Tossing aside the weak alien, Ratchet and Azimuth discovered the location of another Obsidian Eye, which they planned to use to get in touch with Clank. After, they received a transmission from Dr. Nefarious. He was glad to see Ratchet would witness his greatest triumph, and that he had met the "shame" of the entire Lombax race.

Ratchet asked if Nefarious was still up to his old plans, and the doctor pondered whether he should allow Ratchet to find out or just kill him. As Nefarious ended the transmission, an alarm went off in the Pollyx Industries building, alerting that a large destructive machine was tearing through the city: the VX-99. Nefarious had sent it in the annihilate Ratchet and Azimuth, and it was destroying the area to ensure they did not escape. Ratchet did manage to defeat the monsterous machine, and continued to come after Clank. Back at the Nefarious Space Station, Lawrence again contacted the doctor via hologram. They were discussing the procedure to rewind time with clock. In order to reset everything according to Nefarious' needs, Lawrence said Pollyx had estimated that the procedure would take 183 paradoxes, and 184 should the Blarg participate. Since Dr. Nefarious wanted to make it so every hero would lose their battles in the past, it seemed he would enter into an alliance with the Blarg, among Ratchet's defeated enemies.

Lawrence advised that Pollyx's scientists examine the Orvus Chamber before testing the clock. Nefarious then leaped in front of Lawrence's holographic image and said "What's the matter, Lawrence? Chicken?" He then imitated a chicken to mock his butler, and at that moment, Lord Vorselon teleported into the room and loudly announed the doctor's name. The sudden popping up of Vorselon right behind him caused Nefarious to let out a startled scream and jump high into the air. As he fell back down, Lawrence pretended to try and catch him, only for him to fall right through the hologram and hit the floor. Lawrence then sarcastically apologized, and Nefarious starred angrily at him. Going back to his desk, Nefarious listened as Vorselon gave his report. He had discovered that the two Lombaxes had destroyed the VX-99, and he was tracking them. Nefarious deemed this turn of events unacceptable. saying "I practically handed those squishies to you on a silver platter! How could you be so utterly incompetent?!".

Dr. Nefarious threw a small glass globe sitting on his desk at Vorselon in anger, but Vorselon avoided it by teleporting out of its way, leaving it to shatter against the wall, and then reappearing behind Lawrence's hologram, shivering with fear at Nefarious' rage. As Lawrence left them alone, the doctor reminded Vorselon that if the Lombaxes found the clock, their plans would be ruined, and his body would never be recovered. Nefarious declared he would bring in "specialists", and pressed the button to buzz his office's door open. Three large female robots walked in: Cassiopeia, Carina and Libra, leaders of the Valkyrie mercenaries. Nefarious had requested an audience with them at his station. The doctor introduced them individually, referring to Libra with distaste compared to Carine and Cassy due to her masculine voice and behaviour. Nefarious reminded them of how their original colony had been lost decades ago in the tragic Erebus supernova. He requested their services in exchange for returning their lost colony.

The Valkyries accepted, and along with Vorselon, fought against Ratchet and his allies while Nefarious got closer to accomplishing his goal. Eventually, Ratchet managed to contact Clank, and Clank told him to confront Nefarious in the past on Zanifar so that he could save Orvus. Using a time portal projected by Sigmund, Ratchet went through a series of events both in the present and past Zanifar, and eventually got inside the Tombli Outpost in the past, right when Nefarious was interrogating and torturing Orvus. After Orvus vanished and Clank's image appeared, Ratchet exclaimed in confusion, alerting Nefarious to Ratchet's presence. However, Ratchet had taken out a Constructo Bomb Glove grenade, and threw it at Nefarious before fleeing. The bomb exploded inches away from the doctor's face, and as he yelled in agony, it was shown in slow motion that he was knocked back. His right eye was damaged, a crack forming up the side of his green dome, his red pupil knocking loose, and giving Nefarious a scar.

Dr. Nefarious angrily ordered his troops to annihilate Ratchet, but the Lombax escaped back to the present. Back at the Nefarious Space Station, in the present, Nefarious was sitting on his coach with Cassiopeia, laughing while he told her of how he mocked Clank as a prisoner. Cassy grew closer to the doctor, saying "Dr. Nefarious, you have such a wonderful sense of humor, and you're so, so..." However, Nefarious was all of a sudden made aware of what Ratchet had done. The bomb scarring his eye in the past took affect in the present, and Nefarious said "Uh oh..." as the scar formed and his eye fell limp. He then angrily shouted Ratchet's name. Much later, Ratchet fought Vorselon in combat, for the second time, and Vorselon revealed his new suit had been upgraded with a new energy ball attack by Nefarious. He was still defeated, once again escaping, head intact, returning to the doctor's station. In Nefarious' office, the two played against each other in a holo-vid game with Dr. Nefarious fighting Captain Qwark.

Lord Vorselon's Qwark character was at a disadvantage because Vorselon had no arms. Defeating him, Nefarious loudly gloated in Vorselon's face and sat back down. Lawrence then appeared in a hologram and reported that he had captured Clank and the Orvus Chamber, as Clank had unknowingly led them right into it just as Nefarious predicted. Pleased with this news, Nefarious told Lawrence to notify the Valkyries, and the next phase of his plans would take shape: "Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega 91". Lawrence went to inform the Valkyries of the next step in their plot, and Nefarious' door bell rang the next moment. A light voice said that it was time for Nefarious' massage, but the doctor said he did not send for a massage. He told the person at the door to go away, but the voice briefly got deeper and said that he should just open the door. When it opened, a female nurse appeared, and Nefarious' loose eye fell limp again. It was Qwark in another poor disguise, and the doctor recognized him, but played along.

When the Lombax hero and elder antihero arrived, Nefarious was complaining with Cassiopeia about trying to kill Ratchet. Ratchet later successfully defeated Cassiopeia on Vapedia and rescued Clank, the Valkyries finally beaten completely although Lawrence did not know what happened on Vapedia. The reunited duo left the Valkyrie Citadel and headed toward the Nefarious Space Station, where the disguised Qwark aided them in getting inside their enemy's stronghold. Alister was confused what the Great Clock's use left the team. Clank managed to sneak in an air duct and came to a vent above Dr. Nefarious' office. There, Nefarious told his computer to record his dictation: "Things to do once the clock is under my control. Number 1: Double-cross remaining Valkyries and retire Lord Vorselon. Number 2: Reestablish vendetta against organic life forms! And number 3: Iron socks." This revealed that Nefarious never intended to keep his deals with most of his partners and now that Cassy was killed he had no reason to help the remaining Valkyries. Clank successfully scanned the doctor after he was done recording his to-do list. This allowed Ratchet to apply a holo-guise of the doctor and freely explore the station undetected. Despite this, Ratchet's height did not change, but Nefarious' minions still fell for the trick.

Getting updates in Dr. Nefarious' plot from Lawrence, the disguised Ratchet wanted him to order Nefarious' fleet to land at the station. This could not be done until Ratchet destroyed the nearby asteroids blocking the landing bay with the station's Hypernova Defense Laser with help from Pollyx who he sent to the brig Ratchet made sure all the vessels that he could contact landed. After all the ships landed, Ratchet used the laser to destroy every ship as well, giving Nefarious no escape from his station. As Ratchet and Qwark made their escape, they were confronted at the bottom of an elevator by the real Nefarious, flanked by two guards. Qwark, still believing his facade was working, quickly said "You're not Dr. Nefarious!" to Ratchet and slapped him, unintentially deactivating his Hologuise. Ratchet told Nefarious that he could not use the clock, as nothing he could want was worth risking the very universe's existence. Nefarious said that there was, and he had his three greatest enemies to thank for it. He then had several flashbacks that showed everything he had been through since his first defeat at the hands of Ratchet and Clank.

The doctor explained his ultimate goal to the trio, and captured them after a futile escape attempt by Qwark. He attached Ratchet and Clank to an asteroid, prepared to launch from his Asteroid Flinger 5000, which he installed incase he ever needed a "super ironic death scenario". Ratchet said that the doctor was making a mistake, and Nefarious said "Time will tell". Bidding farewell to his old nemeses, Nefarious laughed evilly as he prepared to press the launch button on the machine. However, while laughing, the doctor again froze and picked up Lance and Janice signals. After an awkward pause, a nervous trooper standing by Nefarious took his hand and pressed the button. Ratchet and Clank were flung far away to Morklon, but eventually returned to the station. Lawrence had come from the clock in another ship, and the doctor was preparing to return to the facility to finally complete his plans. He was distraught by the duo's return, thinking they were supposed to be dead, unaware that the Zoni had helped them in the crash.

Ratchet and Clank told Dr. Nefarious to shut down his transport and surrender on behalf of galactic authorities. He approached the duo and mocked Clank for "running right back to playing backpack to a squishy" rather than fulfilling his destiny. He referred to Clank as a pathetic sidekick, prompting Lawrence to sarcastically say "We should hang out some time." Ratchet, angered by his mocking of Clank, then prepared to defeat Nefarious once and for all, and the doctor rose into the air with booster jets in his feet, saying that he would rewind time after killing Ratchet so he could do it over and over again. Before attacking Ratchet, Nefarious ordered Lawrence to fall back to the outer perimeter, allowing no damage to befall their ship. A fierce battle immediately ensued, going around the ring around the station, which was eventually destroyed by the Hypernova Defense Laser after the doctor ordered Lawrence to activate it. The battle then went onto Nefarious' ship as it flew away from the station, setting course for the clock.

Damage to the ship during the fight caused it to speed into an inevitable collision with the Nefarious Space Station, and Lawrence had no control over the auto-pilot. Despite getting assistance from his butler, Nefarious was defeated a second time, and fell screaming to his ship's surface. He then got up and began malfunctioning more than ever before due to the damage he sustained. He fell on his back with his mouth wide open as his brain picked up signals of opera music. He then sprang up as a lottery sound played, and fell forward. As the ship came closer to crashing into the station, Ratchet grabbed Nefarious and urged him to tell how to disengage the auto-pilot. The doctor would not respond, and his eyes continued to spin in circles while eccentric laughter was heard in his brain's signal. Ratchet smacked Nefarious to try and snap him out of it, but this merely caused the doctor to get up and dance to a yodoling tune in his brain. Nefarious then collapsed completely, his eyes popping out and the signals in his brain dying away.

Lawrence abandoned the ship, leaving Nefarious to crash with it after Ratchet and Clank escaped with Azimuth's help. The station's head was given a scar and broken eye just like the original Nefarious after the ship crashed into its dome. It then completely exploded, and Nefarious' villainous plot was finally ended. However, during the game's credits, radio announcers could be heard reporting that Nefarious' remains were not yet found in the station's rubble, leaving his ultimate fate ambiguous.

[edit] Abilities

"When I'm finished killing you, I think I'll rewind time, so I can do it again...and again...AND AGAIN!!!"

—Nefarious before facing Ratchet and Clank once again at the Nefarious Space Station^[src]

After being turned into a robot, Dr. Nefarious acquired a vast array of powers that greatly contributed to his fighting skills. His hands were made into sharp metal claws and hard fists for close-quarters combat. He could fly with a pair of wings retractable from his back, and with booster jets in his feet, keeping the wings deployed even when using the jets to maintain balance. The doctor had skills with guns, wielding two blasters that fired beams Ratchet needed to jump over during their first battle. To top it all, Nefarious had a vast assortment of superpower-resembling abilities. During his showdown with Qwark in Metropolis, he could fire dark blasts of energy that he could rain down in a continuous stream to hit targeted areas, raise up from the ground in a pattern of damaging walls, and move toward a target in a ball-shaped vortex. In his first fight with Ratchet, he could project holograms of himself that would charge directly at Ratchet, trying to slash him with a claw. He could also lob purple energy balls into the air that created shockwaves when hitting the ground. When flying, he could project a blue dome shield, fire a constant energy beam that followed Ratchet, and fire a barrage of missiles that would target all over the ground. At the final stage of the fight, Nefarious could project several holograms of himself all over the battlefield at a time. He could also project the following beam and rocket bunches and then leave them in place while going back on the ground, or continue to initiate either of these attacks in a row. Some attacks seemed to exhaust the doctor, as he would sometimes leave an opening by stumbling backwards and holding his head briefly. His attacks while flying also seemed to take quite a bit of power, as when performing them, Nefarious let out a loud, vicious shout. In his second fight with Ratchet, Nefarious fired his original purple shockwave balls, and could also fire streams of orange energy directly at his opponent, or, while flying around the ring of his space station, throw the energy in a lines across the ground that Ratchet would need to jump over. In the final stage, he also caused purple stream lines to circle around the surface of his space ship and Ratchet would need to jump over those. All the while, Dr. Nefarious had assistance from Lawrence, who used the space station's and ship's laser devices, and from his robot troops, to give Ratchet further distraction.

[edit] Overload

"You really should have that looked at..."

—Lawrence on Nefarious' glitch^[src]

Dr. Nefarious often had the strange habit of overloading in times of extreme stress or excitement. The first visible sign of Nefarious overloading was the gears in his brain speeding up in movement. When he did completely overload, he would freeze, and simultaneously pick up radio signals, particularly the soap opera, Lance and Janice, via his head. His brain gears would also stop turning and be stuck. Each time this happened, he was whacked on the head by an underling, particularly Lawrence, to send him back to normal. According to Lawrence, whacking Dr. Nefarious was always the best part of his day. His first crash was shown at the end of The Shaming of the Q, and he did it numerous times through the course of his campaign in Solana. His freezing continued during Ratchet's search for Clank, until finally, after sustaining significant damage, his overloading caused his body to randomly move about, acting out the varrying radio sounds he picked up. Dr. Nefarious eventually collapsed, and his brain's radio signals faded away.

[edit] Galactic Idol

According to the IRIS Supercomputer, Dr. Nefarious entered Galactic Idol with a song titled Crushin' on Squishies. He was eliminated on the first round and the single sold one copy which was used to torture prisoners on Ebaro. However, before Ratchet battled with Giant Klunk on Metropolis, Nefarious accidentally activated a hologram recording of his original entry, which was a song called You Are My Robot Lover.

[edit] Trivia

• Armin Shimerman, the voice of Nefarious, played a character named Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and voiced Andrew Ryan In Bioshock the former of which Qwark was partially based on.
• Nefarious referred to organic life forms as "squishies", a habit passed onto Klunk, who apparently shared his prejudice of organisms.
• As depicted in images, Nefarious was originally supposed to have a cape before his wings were added.
• In Tools of Destruction when in the arena of planet Mukow, Captain Qwark could be heard over the loud speaker saying: "Will a 'Dr. Nefarious' please report to the concession stand; we recovered your wallet."
• Nefarious appeared in the Dreamtime level as a memoir in Size Matters.
• He appeared on some of the monitors in the IRIS supercomputer.
• Klunk created a copy of Dr. Nefarious, the Robo-Nefarious suit, which he piloted during the final boss fight of Secret Agent Clank. This doppelganger had abilities based on the real doctor's powers. Klunk said that ordering Nefarious around from time to time was "therapeutic" and "fun", suggesting Klunk had a certain dislike for his creator.
• Throughout A Crack in Time, it was referenced several times that Nefarious had become Cassiopeia's "boyfriend". During his boss battle, it is possible to hear him say "That one's for Cassiopeia!" among other sayings if he hits Ratchet. Also, on a Space radio station, it can be heard that he requested a song for her, sending the message through the D.J. "I never thought I'd love again 'til I met you" The D.J. then said "Looks like this doctor's specialty is love." It is unclear why he was going to betray the remaining Valkyries if he loved Cassiopeia and they were fellow robots. It is possible that this was merely out of spite since she was destroyed and they failed to stop Ratchet.
• Because of the Ratchet & Clank series' trend of rarely having recurring villains, Nefarious is the only one to have appeared with at least one speaking part in four games, and has also had at least a cameo in every game since his introduction, making him the most recurring villain. This has made fans consider him the main antagonist of the entire series, a belief backed up by his longtime rivalry with Captain Qwark.
• Nefarious' armor plating seemed to change at certain points. Mainly, it was red, but it sometimes appeared to be orange or dark yellow.
• Nefarious is an unlockable skin for Ratchet both in Up Your Arsenal (multiplayer only) and A Crack in Time.
• Nefarious is taller in A Crack in Time than in Up Your Arsenal.^[source?]
• The blaster Nefarious' action figure comes with is very similar to the blaster Qwark was first seen using in a commercial for Al's Roboshack, demonstrating malfunctioning weaponry.^[1]
• Despite being the main antagonist of two games, Dr. Nefarious is technically not the final boss in either one, only the second to last. In Up Your Arsenal, he piloted the Biobliterator, and Azimuth was the last boss of A Crack in Time.

[edit] Appearances

• Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
• Ratchet: Deadlocked (cameo)
• Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (cameo)
• Secret Agent Clank (appears as robotic suit)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (cameo)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty (cameo)
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

[edit] External links

[edit] YouTube videos

• Dr. Nefarious' Introduction.
• Up Your Arsenal Boss Battle.
• Up Your Arsenal ending.
• Deadlocked cameo.
• Quest For Booty cameo.
• A Crack in Time Boss Battle.

[edit] Sources