Detective Comics #1027 - "Legacy"

[laughing_tree]

To me, it’s his mortality. It’s the idea that he could die—that he’s human. There’s something about Superman and Wonder Woman that says to me that they go on forever. If you came to Earth one hundred years from now, Superman and Wonder Woman would still be here. But Batman’s like one of us, right? He can die. -- Tom King





Dr. Phosphorus explains, in the captions, that he has cancer himself and wants to leave an impact before he dies.

Comments

[lordultimus]

"Batman's like one us us, right? He can die."

Well, unless you dip him in a Lazarus Pit, anyways.

[bruinsfan]

Based on the profits he brings DC and Warner Brothers, I wouldn't bet on Superman or Wonder Woman outlasting Batman.

[silverhammerman]

It's the wrong thing to get hung up on, but there's something so very silly about the idea that Doctor Phosphorous has cancer. Dying, sure, but not cancer. He's a functionally magical bone man! He doesn't even have fleshy bits! He could maybe get bone cancer I guess, being a bone man, but I can't imagine that even his bones fit any normal definition of being alive.

[sadoeuphemist]

I'm pretty sure that Dr. Phosphorous is meant to have flesh, one of his powers is listed as 'burning skin'. It's just that his fleshy bits are so irradiated that they've become x-ray colored, or something like that.

[silverhammerman]

Ah, you're right, looking more closely at the pages there's a visible outline to Phosphorous' translucent flesh.

[beyondthefringe]

Pre-New 52, it was established that he wasn't fleshy anymore. "From being crushed? Hardly. Everything human in Sartorius was consumed by fire long ago. We believe his powers manifested a fusion reaction that completely sublimated his central nervous system — creating functional facsimiles of his heart, his lungs, his kidneys — all working in concert to produce a near-endless supply of energy" -Detective #825, thanks to Wikipedia.

I guess that may have changed since in the multiple reboots over the years though.

[sadoeuphemist]

Well at its core cancer is uncontrolled cell growth, so if he has functioning facsimiles of all his organs, and if the facsimile extends down to the cellular level, then ... he could have radioactive cancer possibly???

[beyondthefringe]

What gets me is that this isn't even original.
Doctor Phosphorous also gave Ted Knight plot cancer in Starman.

[sabertoothlotus]

And Nitro gave Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) cancer, too. It was poignant and different then, watching a superhero die in bed from a disease instead of valiantly falling in battle. The entire Marvel Universe showed up to say goodbye.
Every "they're dying of cancer" plot after that one feels derivative to me and loses the impact that the writer seems to think it carries.