Doctor Fate

Kent met college student Inza Cramer, who became both his romantic partner and ally in the battle against dark magic. Together, they faced such threats as Magno, Ian Karkull, and Mister Who, as well as recovering and destroying the lost Book of Thoth. It soon became apparent that when wearing the helmet of Nabu, Doctor Fate seemed like a different person from Kent Nelson... almost a new persona. Doctor Fate eventually met and allied with other superhuman beings as the Justice Society, facing evil both supernatural and in the form of the Axis forces in World War II. However, around this time, Kent realized the helmet was asserting ever more control over him. Alarmed, he remade it into a half-helmet, which reduced his powers significantly.

After the war, one of Doctor Fate's Justice Society allies, the Spectre, a supernatural being who was the personification of the wrath of God, went missing. Doctor Fate found him and discovered he was under the control of an evil being called Kulak. Doctor Fate donned his full helmet once again and engaged in a massive battle with the possessed Spectre. He succeeded in freeing the Spectre, but in the process, the helmet of Fate was lost in a mystic dimension. Kent became a full-time physician and married Inza, and they lived a normal life for a while, but ultimately, Kent found the helmet again, indicating that the bond between them was strong enough to transcend the bounds of reality. Another sign that their lives were irrevocably tied to magic was that Kent and Inza did not seem to age.

Doctor Fate continued to fight threats both superhuman and supernatural, including the emotion-manipulating Psycho Pirate and the undead Solomon Grundy. But the Lords of Chaos struck at him through what they thought was his weakest link: his wife, Inza. Capitalizing on existing strains in their marriage from Kent's increasing distance as he focused on the supernatural, the Lords of Chaos orchestrated a situation where Inza left Kent just as a Lord of Chaos and a renegade Lord of Order teamed up to conquer the universe. However, Inza returned, their love proving stronger than supernatural manipulations, and merged her consciousness with Kent's in the Helmet of Fate. Together, they defeated the two entities and renewed their commitment to each other.

At times, others have taken on the mantle of Doctor Fate, including Inza Nelson, Eric and Linda Strauss, and mercenary Jared Stevens. When Kent or Inza has not been the avatar of Fate, they have usually been mystically advising whoever serves in that role, even when their physical bodies were dead. However, Kent and Inza ultimately always seem to return to the role of Doctor Fate. Having resolved the problem with the full helmet exerting too much influence (apparently through uniting Kent and Inza), Doctor Fate served with a modern-day incarnation of the Justice Society of America, battling such threats as Eclipso, Gog, and the evil sorcerer Mordru.

More recently, Egyptian-American medical student Khalid Nassour became the newest avatar of Fate, though Kent Nelson continued in the role of Doctor Fate as well. Nassour joined the Justice League Dark as the team faced Degaton, a time-traveling enemy of the original Justice Society, as well as the creature called Insomnia, who attacked in dreams and brought nightmares into the real world. With the number of supernatural and other-dimensional threats to Earth increasing daily, it appears there is plenty of room for more than one Doctor Fate.