Super Hero Of The Week, 5/26/12

Super Hero Of The Week: 

Beth Chapel aka "Doctor Midnight" (DC Comics)

Doctor Mid-Nite (also Doctor Midnight) is a fictional superhero physician in DC Comics. The figure has been represented in the comics by three different individuals, Charles McNider, Beth Chapel and Pieter Anton Cross. Dr. Mid-Nite was originally created by writer Charles Reizenstein and artist Stanley Josephs Aschmeier in 1941. The hero, represented first by Charles McNider, appeared for the first time in All-American Comics #25 (April 1941).
The character typically appears in stories of teamwork. Like many Golden Age heroic characters, the original Doctor Mid-Nite appeared as a member of DC's Justice Society of America. His two successors were also represented as members of the group or an offshoot. Doctor Mid-Nite has never appeared the solo protagonist of a regular title magazine, but the figure has been the subject of an anthology and a mini-series (see below).
All three characters who have represented the heroic Doctor in the DC Universe have exhibited the same basic features: a cowled costume featuring a crescent moon symbol, keen ability to see in the darkness at the cost of near or total blindness in sunlight, and the use of special visors and “blackout” smoke bombs to gain tactical advantage in combat. All three have been physicians who see not only to the needs of normal human beings but also to the needs of DC's "metahumans" (superheroes). All are skilled in martial arts. Two of the doctors have been accompanied by sidekick owls.
Doctor Mid-Nite is widely regarded as the first superhero in comics to exhibit a physical impairment (blindness). (The figure pre-dates by over twenty years the arrival of Daredevil, also a blind character, in Marvel Comics.)

Abilities
Perfect night vision; can see in light through infrared lenses

Beth Chapel
Upon McNider's death his student and protégé, Beth Chapel, an African-American medical doctor, steps into the role of Doctor Midnight (note different spelling). Beth Chapel is a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Her father is a pastor. Her mother sings in the church choir and crafts her daughter's hero costume from a choir robe. Chapel has four brothers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Chapel first appears when Jade of Infinity, Inc. is rushed to the hospital for treatment after Mister Bones' cyanide touch. Her superhero career soon kicks into fast and full gear. During the onset of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Beth is blinded by an oxygen explosion. She is rescued by Hourman's son Rick Tyler, who has taken his father's drug that enhances ability to see in the dark. Like McNider, Beth discovers that she can do the same. She and Rick assume the mantles of their predecessors as Doctor Midnight and Hourman.
Along with a new Wildcat, Chapel and Tyler apply for membership in Infinity, Inc. They are not immediately accepted but eventually both gain admission. The association is short-lived, though, as Infinity soon disbands. Doctor Midnight and Wildcat are recruited by the U.S. government for a mission to defeat the supervillain Eclipso. By now Chapel has begun a romantic relationship with Rick Tyler.
Beth Chapel dies on the mission, though, along with Wildcat, the Creeper, Commander Steel, Peacemaker and Major Victory. She is survived by her family.

Via Wikipedia.org