Professor Milo

Professor Achilles Milo is a fictional character in DC Comics.

Publication history
Professor Achilles Milo first appeared in Detective Comics #247 and was created by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff.

Fictional character biography
A renowned chemist who turned to crime, Achilles Milo used a variety of chemical and medical-related schemes to kill Batman involving subjecting Batman to a drug that made him afraid of anything bat-shaped, gassing Batman with a compound that made him lose his will to live, and manipulating the werewolf-like Anthony Lupus into doing his bidding. At one time, Milo took control of Arkham Asylum and attempted to make Batman insane with yet another gas. When Batman tried to apprehend him, Milo was overpowered by the mad inmates, who had sided with Batman, and exposed to his own gas which drove him insane, and he spent some time in Arkham Asylum as a patient himself.

Batman consulted Milo on at least one occasion when he needed chemical expertise on a toxin given to him by Joker. After that, Dr. Milo retired from criminal activity. He appeared in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth where the gas had apparently worn off, but he couldn't convince anyone he was actually sane.

In 52 week 41, Ralph Dibny confronts an emaciated Doctor Milo, who appears without his lower legs and in a wheelchair, which is actually used to disguise the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath.

In "Batman R.I.P.", a past hallucination induced by Professor Milo's gas is revealed to have inspired Bruce Wayne to create the 'back-up' personality of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a more ruthless Batman personality designed to take over in the event of Bruce Wayne being psychologically attacked in such a manner as to render Batman out of action.

An apparently healed Professor Milo appears as the chief henchman of a returned General Immortus. Professor Milo is now in charge of granting artificial superpowers to Immortus' minions. In this capacity, he's able to internalize the Human Flame's powers, removing his need for a special suit by embedding miniature flamethrowers into his skin. However, Milo is instructed by General Immortus himself to tamper with the pain receptors of his subject, making his boss able to inflict pain on his creations at will, and, eventually, shut them down completely. His master plan meets a major failure when his last subject Human Flame overcomes his control by sheer will, injures General Immortus, and tortures Milo to get an even more powerful body. Milo is spared since he redirects the Human Flame to S.T.A.R. Labs for experimental treatments. General Immortus asks him to rethink their new strategy for the future.

A still at large Milo (having severed his ties with General Immortus) returns to freelancing, offering his enhancement procedures for a hefty fee. He's contacted by Arthur Pemberton to heal the brain damage earlier inflicted in a fight against the Justice Society of America to his daughter Lorna.

In "The New 52," a reboot of the DC Comics universe, Professor Milo is seen at Arkham Asylum where he leads Professor Pyg to an unpleasant fate. After Maggie Sawyer had interrogated Magpie, Maxie Zeus, and Ten-Eyed Man, all Maggie got out of them is that they blame Professor Milo for what happened. As Professor Milo is at Gotham International Airport preparing to board an airplane to Caracas, he is spotted by police officers causing him to release a vial of chemicals that drive the police officers insane. Batman was able to subdue Professor Milo and interrogate him on who gave him the information and needs to destroy Arkham Asylum. Before Professor Milo can come clean on the culprit, they are attacked by spirits. One of the spirits that attacks Batman and Professor Milo is Mister Bygone who blames Professor Milo for his emaciation and infusion of dark magic. Professor Milo is knocked out by Mister Bygone as Batman leaves with his body when the police arrive. When Batman meets up with Jim Corrigan and Batwing, Professor Milo is punched in the face by Corrigan who tries to get answers out of him as he explains to Batman that Professor Milo tried to summon a demon which enabled Deacon Blackfire to open a hole in Hell. Though Batman puts two and two together and goes out to find Ra's al Ghul.

In the "Watchmen" sequel "Doomsday Clock," Professor Milo was at Arkham Asylum when Rorschach was incarcerated there by Batman.

Powers and abilities
Professor Milo is an expert at chemistry and alchemy.

Television

 * Dr. Achilles Milo appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. In the teaser of the episode "Gorillas in Our Midst", he uses his trained rats to steal some diamonds to continue his work only for Batman and Spectre to arrive. When Milo drinks a potion to becomes a super-strong version of himself, Batman ends up fighting him. Batman manages to knock Milo into some wires, shocking him enough to return himself to normal. Batman tells Spectre to let the police deal with him and both leave. Being more inclined towards vengeance than justice, unlike Batman, Spectre returns, transforms Milo into cheese, and releases Milo's own trained rats, who devour him to death off-screen.

DC Animated Universe
Dr. Milo appeared in multiple series set in the DC animated universe.


 * Dr. Achilles Milo first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series, voiced by Treat Williams. In the episode "Cat Scratch Fever", he engineers a plague to infect Gotham's stray pet population for Roland Daggett. Milo's plague also affects Catwoman when pet cat Isis attacks. When Batman stumbles onto this plot to look for the antidote, Milo unleashes an infected dog to attack Batman. Daggett tells Dr. Milo to make sure Batman is done for and to keep driving as far as that truck would allow to go if Batman survives. Batman ultimately stops Daggett's plot and cures Catwoman, but Milo escapes. Milo later reappears in the episode "Moon of the Wolf" where he's the one responsible for making an untraceable steroid/Alaskan timber wolf hormone derivative for athlete Anthony Romulus, which not only enhances athletic abilities, but also turns Romulus into a living werewolf which he has been using to blackmail into committing crimes for him in exchange for the cure. The two even managed to trap Batman at a construction site. In the episode's climax when Romulus' werewolf form goes out of control, Milo offers the antidote. Unfortunately, he is knocked out by the creature and drops the cure. After Batman defeats Romulus' werewolf form who falls into the river, Milo is loaded into an ambulance by the police, stating that he won't be convicted of anything, but Commissioner Gordon tells him 'Don't bet on it' and is presumably taken to prison.


 * Dr. Achilles Milo later returns in Justice League Unlimited, now voiced by Armin Shimerman. He is seen as a member of Project Cadmus. In the episode "The Doomsday Sanction", he's demoted to a lower position by Amanda Waller after a failed super-powered common warthog experiment in his research of Dr. Kirk Langstrom destroys the lab. Milo briefly imagines drawing a weapon and shooting Cadmus' members only for him to shoot the table. Waller then quotes "You can go now Milo." In revenge, Milo frees Doomsday from Cadmus' containment with the intent to kill Waller after recapping the creature's creation. However, Doomsday instead kills the horrified Milo off-screen. When Waller vows to have his hide for Doomsday's release, a Cadmus operative says that Doomsday 'beat [Waller] to it'.

Film
Dr. Milo appears in a flashback sequence in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He was shown creating a teleportation device alongside Dr. Leo Scarlett and another assistant before being stopped by Batman. Batman also mentions the "unfortunate rodent incident" caused by Spectre that cost Milo's life in The Brave and the Bold.

Video games

 * A club called "Dr. Milo Cocktails" appears in Batman: Arkham Knight.
 * Dr. Milo appears as a non-playable character in Batman: Arkham Underworld. He offers his services to the players after freeing Riddler from prison upon the players building a laboratory in the players' hideout. After the laboratory is built, Dr. Milo can upgrade supervillain abilities when they level up. When the laboratory is improved, Dr. Milo can also create new abilities for the supervillains and invent gadgets for the supervillains and henchmen to use in battle.