After Hath-Set attempted to murder the lovers, the three were exposed to a mutative element during a meteor shower, actually a product of futuristic technology from Thanagar; as a result, Chay-Ara and Khufu were reincarnated each time they died, and Hath-Set developed the powers of regeneration, as well as that of immortality, supposedly with the condition that he would kill both the priestess and prince in each lifetime they lived in order to maintain his powers, although it appeared that the "curse" was misinterpreted in one way or another, as no future incarnation of Chay-Ara resurfaced after Kendra Saunders became a time-traveler, while Khufu's eventual reincarnation Scythian Torvil served Hath-Set as a loyal servant. At some point, Hath-Set assumed the name "Vandal Savage" and began his lifelong quest to kill each of his enemies' incarnations in each lifetime, managing to do so 206 times over the next 4000 years to maintain his own immortality.
Publication Information
- Flash : Vandal Savage
- Multiverse : Earth One
- Version : The Flash Series
- Known As :
- Vandal Savage : efore 1700 B.C
- Hath-Set / Curtis Knox : 2021
- Sasha Mahnovski : 1975
- Type :
- Formerly ancient Egyptian priest
- Formerly Ally of the Time Masters
- Formerly Regent in the Kasnia
- Formerly Dictator of Earth
- Formerly Leader of his order
- Formerly Military advisor
- Formerly Psychiatric doctor
- Formerly Arms dealer
- Formerly Tutor
- Relative :
- Gail Knox : Wife in 1958
- Unnamed : Wife in 2166
- Cassandra Savage : Daughter in 2166
- Unnamed children
- Affiliation : Ancient Egyptian Priest
- Gender : Male
- Origin : Earth One
- Season : The Flash
- First Appeareance : The Flash Season 2 Episod 8 : Legends of Today
- Last Appeareance :
- Number of Appeareance :
- Potrayer : Casper Crump
- Main View : Full Episod
Ancient Egypt
Hath-Set was born in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt at some point before 1700 B.C. and became a priest and adviser to Ramses II but Hath-Set despised the pharaoh and secretly wanted his power. As the priest it was his job to make offers to the Egyptian God Horus, along with the Priestess Chay-Ara, and spare the land of his wrath from the celestial rocks. Hath-Set fell in love with Chay-Ara, but she was in love with the pharaoh's son Prince Khufu.
Next 4000 years
Some time in the next two decades, Savage discovered that Chay-Ara had reincarnated but retained no memory of her previous life, her lover Khufu or even her real name. Much to Savage's joy this version of Chay-Ara fell in love with him and they lived happily together for years without knowing he was the very man who killed her. At some point however Savage discovered that Khufu had also reincarnated and found Chay-Ara and helped her remember who she really was.
1800s
Around 1831 Savage encountered the current incarnations of Khufu, now Hannibal Hawkes, and Chay-Ara, though her name at the time is unknown, and stole back Chay-Ara's original bracelet. Sometime later Savage caught up to them and murdered Hannibal while his wife managed to escape but lived out the rest of her life alone until her death sometime after 1871. At some point while hunting down the next incarnations of Khufu and Chay-Ara, Vandal traveled to China in 1887 but for reasons unclear encountered difficulty and instead caused the Yellow River to flood trying to kill Khufu and Chay-Ara and succeeded, whilst also killing 2 million other civilians.
1910-1930
In 1914 Vandal met and manipulated Gavrilo Princip into assassinating Franz Ferdinand which led to World War I. In 1925 Vandal hunted the latest incarnations of Khufu and Chay-Ara, Joe and Edith Boardman, who had already spent years running from Savage. Vandal found them in the middle of the night at a rundown motel in North Carolina and murdered Joe and Edith in the hotel they were staying in, unaware they had a son, Aldus, who was hiding in the closet and who would spend his whole life studying the story of Khufu, Chay-Ara and Hath-Set in the hopes of one day achieving vengeance for his parents.
1950s
Around 1950, he became a close friend of Joseph Stalin. In exchange for his tactical knowledge, Savage was taught how to successfully torture a person and was given a unique torture device as a gift. Before 1958, Savage left the U.S.S.R. and moved to Harmony Falls, Oregon. He assumed the name "Curtis Knox" and fabricated an identity as a psychiatrist, seeking employment at the local insane asylum. He soon became the head of Hallway H, a top secret wing of the facility that Savage would use to focus on highly dangerous experimentation.
1963
In 1963 Vandal was present in the crowds in Dallas the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated implying he possibly had a role in his death.
1975
In 1975, Savage was located in St. Roch, under the alias "Sasha Mahnovski",where he had set himself up in a rich mansion where he kept numerous artifacts collected through the ages including the dagger, and commanded a sizable militia of terrorists. Seeking one of the Thanagarian meteorites from a rival terrorist organisation, Savage traveled to Norway to acquire it, but the organization refused to give it unless he had enough money. Agreeing to their terms Savage traveled to Norway, stole a prototype nuclear warhead from the military and explained to his men that humanity only furthers their cause during times of strife, such an example was splitting the atom which wasn't even thought of until World War II occurred.
1986
For the next 11 years, Savage began focusing his efforts on creating his own version of Firestorm and defected to the Soviet Union to utilize their resources, but was unable to balance the equation of Firestorm and many test subjects died as a result. After years of failing, Savage eventually employed Russian physicist Dr. Valentina Vostok who came closer to solving the equation but still lacked the skills to achieve the final step, that Firestorm is made of two people merged into one body.
2015
Almost 30 years later In 2015, Vandal stowed aboard a ship bound for Central City in his search of Chay-Ara's latest incarnation. When he was captured and about to be handed over to the CCPD, Vandal slipped his cuffs onto the ship's captain before killing him, his crew and the arresting police officer.[5] Vandal found Chay-Ara, now Kendra Saunders but an earlier version of the one previously faced in the past whose powers and memories had yet to emerge, and Cisco Ramon at CC Jitters. However, Cisco summoned The Flash, who quickly knocked Vandal down. Vandal recovered and threw a knife at Cisco. The Flash was diverted to catch the knife, enabling Vandal to escape.
Original timeline
During the exchange as Vandal prepared to kill Hawkgirl, Green Arrow suddenly turned on him and attacked. Vandal incapicated Green Arrow and killed Hawkman with his knives. He then killed Hawkgirl who was unable to use her wings, absorbing the life force of them both and becoming so strong that the arrows shot at him by Green Arrow bounced off. Flash tried to use his staff against him, but Vandal used his magic and used the staff to kill Green Arrow and incinerate the city with everyone in it, including Team Arrow and Team Flash; the Flash only survived this assault by travelling back in time while trying to outrun the explosive force.
Current timeline
During the exchange as Vandal prepared to kill Hawkgirl, Green Arrow shot their bonds, freeing both Hawkman and Hawkgirl. As Green Arrow, Flash and Hawkman attacked he was distracted by Hawkgirl's sudden attack and was further tested when Black Canary, Speedy and Spartan appeared and attacked him, and together they all managed to stall Savage long enough for Flash to steal the staff. Flash used his gauntlets of Nth metal to channel the power of the Staff of Horus, but had trouble maintaining it.
2147
By the year 2147, Vandal resided in the Kasnia Conglomerate where he served as an advisor to Tor Degaton, and tutored his son Per Degaton. Vandal's true aim however was the use the advanced technology of Kasnia to establish the foothold of his future empire. He also sought to use their secret weapon the "Armagedon virus" to downsize the world's population, and prime it for his own personal conquest with far less threats to contend with. To achieve this Vandal manipulated and corrupted Per's mind, raising him to be ruthless and cold and to one day succeed his father by murdering him and would dictate his own desires through Per.
Current timeline
After a meeting with Tor where Vandal failed yet again to persuade him to use the virus, Per was abducted by Rip and his team. Savage met with Tor to discuss this and offered his assistance as he'd faced the abductors before. Savage lead a squad of soldiers and A.T.O.M. robots on Tor's orders to disable the Waverider but they were soon faced with Atom, Hawkgirl, White Canary, Firestorm and Captain Cold. During the fight Savage apprehended White Canary and threatened to kill her but offered to trade her in exchange for Rip, but Rip appeared and offered the same deal but in exchange for Per's life.
2152
Original timeline
In 2152, when Per was 19, he finally succeeded his father as leader of Kasnia and, on Vandal's insistence, unleashed the Armagedon virus which killed billions of people, including Savage's wife, and leaving the world prime for conquest. When this occurred Vandal betrayed Per and murdered him to take his seat of power and become Kasnia's leader himself. Vandal would make Kasnia the foothold of his future empire, however, since Rip's actions changed these events and unleashed the Armagedon virus 5 years earlier, most of these events happened in 2147 instead.
Current timeline
While Per Degaton was at the height of his power Vandal killed him to seize it for himself. This also made Savage appear as a hero to those who believed that unleashing the virus was Per Degaton's idea alone, including Cassandra.
2166
By 2166 Vandal's plans for world domination had succeeded and left billions dead. He was the dicator of the world and had legions of soldiers under his command. Savage's reign was so significant that dictators such as Julius Caesar, Adolf Hitler and Per Degaton were considered amateurs in comparison. At some point Savage encountered the next incarnation of Khufu, Scythian Torvil, who had no memories of his past lives, his life as Carter Hall included. Savage manipulated him into serving him and became one of his most trusted soldiers.
Defeats and death
After killing Rip's family, Savage was contacted by a surviving Time Master who reported Zaman Druce's death and the destruction of the Time Master's facility, and informed him they could be of no more use to him. Kendra begun to laugh at him believing that without the Time Masters' help Savage's hold on the world would end, but Savage reminded her that he still had a time ship.
2175
Original timeline
The Thanagarians, hawk-like aliens, invade the Earth and burn the planet's resources to the ground. Savage is able to rally his troops together and drive back the aliens and is praised as a hero.[9]
Abilities
- Immortality : Vandal Savage's exposure to the Thanagarian meteorite granted him immortality and as a result, he appeared to be a man in his prime, despite being technically 4000 years old. His immortality also granted him immunity to any earthly illnesses and diseases.
- Regeneration : A side effect of his immortality was that he is able to regenerate and heal from wounds that would be deemed fatal to ordinary humans.
- Enhanced physical condition : After centuries of absorbing the life force of the previous reincarnations of Chay-Ara and Khufu, Vandal was in his prime physical condition and vitality. Some of his physical attributes were even enhanced to superhuman levels.
- Enhanced senses : Vandal's exposure to the meteorite made him able to detect the presence of Chay-Ara and Khufu's reincarnations whenever they are nearby he was also able to tell whether or not they have awakened their powers and previous memories.
- Genius-level intellect / Master tactician / Leader : With over 4,000 years of experience, Vandal of his immortality,
- Possessed retained a clear memory
- Possessed the intelligence equivalent of a genius
- Possessing extraordinary perception
- Possessed extraordinary medical knowledge
- Possessed extraordinary scientific researcher
- Possessed extraordinary tactician
- Possessed Incredible manipulator
- Master hand-to-hand combatant / Martial artist : Vandal was an exceptionally dangerous fighter with 4000 years of combat training and experience in various types of fighting style.
- Master knife-fighter / Knife-thrower : Vandal was a master knife-fighter and Knife-thrower, carrying various types of knives, allowing him to swiftly defeat and kill multiple enemies with incredible efficiency.
- Multilingual : Vandal was shown able to fluently speak his native language of Ancient Egyptian, English, Arabic, German, and presumably many more.
- High tolerance for pain : Despite Vandal's immortality healing most of his injuries, he originally still felt pain.
- Occult knowledge : Vandal had knowledge of magic and mysticism, allowing him to perform various occult rituals such as prolonging the life of his followers.
- Surgery : Vandal learned how to sever a carotid artery and presumably a lot more about surgery from Jack the Ripper.
- Chay-Ara and Khufu : According to Rip Hunter, Vandal could be killed by the reincarnations of Hawkgirl and Hawkman, due to the three having their life forces tied together because of the meteor's exposure. However, this could only be done when they are wielding tools that imbued from the Thanagarian meteor. Additionally, they must wield an object that they themselves personally owned, as Hawkman used Chay-Ara's dagger from her first life only for it to have no effect on Vandal.
- Radiation depletion : As Khufu and Chay-Ara also absorbed the same radiation, both gaining the power of reincarnation, Savage needs to periodically kill the reincarnated couple and absorb their life-forces to maintain his immortal status or else his powers will gradually become negated. However, this weakness was only of limited danger to him, as he was restored to life after failing to kill them in 2015- albeit apparently with aid from Malcolm Merlyn- and appeared to live for over a century without needing to 'recharge', as Chay-Ara was never reincarnated from this point on as she joined the Legends, and he actually recruited Khufu's latest reincarnation as his soldier in the twenty-second century.
- Thanagarian meteorite radiation : Objects exposed to the meteorite radiation the night Vandal gained his powers can gravely injury and permanently kill him if wielded by Hawkgirl or Hawkman. The very meteorite radiation that gave him his immortality could also leave him vulnerable. When within the general area of the meteor while its radiation is exposed, it would disrupt the energy already inside of him, making him mortal and as vulnerable to death as anyone. Being within the meteorite's vicinity while activated is the only way someone other than Hawkgirl and Hawkman can kill him.
- Hawkgirl’s mace : After Mick Rory and Kendra Saunders coated her mace with the liquified remains of the bracelet Chay-Ara wore the night of her death, she was able to use it to break through Savage’s immortality. Savage was completely unprepared for this and was almost killed as a result.
- Knives and daggers : Vandal wore 32 knives on the inside of his coat, and had thousands of years of experience wielding them. Vandal was a highly skilled expert with knives and daggers, especially with throwing knives. Throughout the ages, Vandal had developed a large collection of them.
- Staff of Horus : The Staff of Horus is an Nth metal artifact that was used by Vandal as a melee weapon in close quarter combat, and as a mid-range weapon by shooting blue energy blasts and waves of mystical nature at his enemies. Contact with these waves meant instant incineration. By knocking the butt of the staff onto the ground, Vandal could conjure up a magical energy blast which grows to the size of a metropolis, burning alive every human in its path. The weapon had an energy field that physically kept others from even touching the staff, sending those who tried flying through the air.
