DC Comics is known for having two Doctor Lights but the best one is easily Kimiyo Hoshi. She’s a hero and worked with Superman in her earliest appearances and is able to protect that guy when he needs help. So who is she and how did she get so powerful? Let’s find out!
Kimiyo Hoshi was just a supervising astronomer at an observatory in Japan when the Crisis of Infinite Earths began. When reality starts to fray and other dimensions seep in, it becomes noticeable to the scientists meant to observe the skies. While the rest of her research crew and all others working at the observatory left due to the dangers of the Crisis, Kimiyo stayed on to observe.
This daring act garnered the attention of the Monitor, a cosmic being who granted Kimiyo great power over light. Now called Doctor Light, Kimiyo would fight to protect her universe from the coming antimatter scourge. When tasked with protecting a machine for the Monitor, she is ambushed by several heroes who believe the machine is a threat. Due to only speaking Japanese it takes time for the fight to end as she fends off Starfire and Halo until Superman, who speaks Japanese, can arrive.
Eventually Kimiyo is united with many heroes and the Monitor who grants her the ability to speak English to help her work with these new allies. She and Superman work together to find and destroy the Anti-Monitor’s reality-annihilating machinery. When the Anti-Monitor attacks and nearly kills Superman, it’s up to Kimiyo to defend the man of steel until he can recover. Sadly, the damage is quite extensive and when things are at there worst for Kimiyo, Supergirl arrives to allow Kimiyo to escape with her cousin, sacrificing herself in the process.
Greatly shaken by witnessing the death of Supergirl, Kimiyo examines her own life. She sees her acts as selfish, remembering she has two children back on Earth with only her as their guardian. She sees that the only reason she got her powers were due not out of bravery but obsession for her work. She realizes that while her reasons for where she got may not have been for the best, she would resolve to better herself and the world. When the first fight with the Anti-Monitor began, Kimiyo would absorb a star he was using for power and strike a massive blow to his plans.
When reality was rewritten after the Crisis of Infinite Earths, Kimiyo, along with others would no longer remember the Supergirl who did not exist but she was still inspired to be a better person. She would go on to join several Justice League teams, her powers made her one of the most powerful beings in existence and she was useful for cosmic level threats. She would settle in with the Justice League Europe team for quite some time. She would work part time as a hero and doctor (she was both a medical doctor as well as astronomer) while mostly spending time with her children.
As the Infinite Crisis occurs, Kimiyo would be called in to team up with the Ray to use their solar energy beams to try and reactivate Superman’s powers. She would see many battles through out the Infinite Crisis. At some point in time, the villainous Doctor Light, Arthur Light would attack Kimiyo and absorb her powers leaving her with none for some time. When her powers did return they were on a bit of a wane. She would use her powers to assist Oracle but for the most part work at S.T.A.R. Labs.
Attacked and kidnapped by the team, Shadow Cabinet, she is taken to a rendezvous with Superman with the rest of the Justice League. Here she has her powers fully reestablished by using what is left of Arthur Light, having been turned into a candle by the Spectre, to give her back what was hers. She rejoins the Justice League now at full power.
Soon after, Blackest Night begins and Kimiyo must fight off Black Lantern Arthur Light. It turns out her own power is weakened by the darkness of their rings but is able to create beams powerful enough for her to take down several Black Lanterns before passing out from exhaustion.
After Blackest Night, many members of the Justice League leave with Kimiyo as the new leader. She has a team that is mostly compromised of the Teen Titans who are now grown. They work for a brief time together but soon they dissolve and Kimiyo returns to her children for some time. When she does adventure again, she teams up with Supergirl for several adventures including saving Lana Lang from being possessed by an alien princess and dealing with Bizarro Supergirl to help save the Bizarro planet. In what may be her possible last adventure, in aiding the Justice League, she is shot down by Deadshot. She has made no appearance in the New 52.
There you have it folks! Kimiyo Hoshi is very cool. One of the most powerful beings in the universe and definitely the better of the two Doctors Light. While not Kimiyo, there is a woman as Doctor Light who seems to be a villain like Arthur Light but a woman like Kimiyo on the current Flash TV show. I wont spoil anything for who this Doctor Light is, but you can see this character on live-action television and that’s pretty cool. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Crisis of Infinite Earths
Infinite Crisis
Justice League Europe
Blackest Night
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
