Dr. Neo Cortex

**Dr. Neo Cortex** is the primary antagonist of the *Crash Bandicoot* series.

## Background

Dr. Neo Cortex planned to conquer the world with an army of mutated marsupials, courtesy of his Evolvo-Ray. However, while trying to mutate a certain bandicoot to serve as his general, the machine malfunctioned, causing him to escape and become the bane of the mad scientist's existence for many years onward.

## Stats

**Attack Potency:** **Unknown** physically (Is portrayed as physically weak and mostly reliant on his arsenal in a fight.). At least **City Level** with weaponry and transformations (Capable of harming Crash, who can take attacks from Crunch while amped by the Elementals, who are stated to be capable of demolishing cities and crushing mountains.) | **Town Level** (Comparable to other Skylanders and fellow Senseis such as the Doom Raiders. Core Skylanders tanked the Hydra destroying the Core of Light.)

**Speed:** **Massively Hypersonic** (Can keep up with Crash, who can dodge lightning based attacks.) with **Relativistic+** reactions (Can pilot vehicles that can keep up with Oxide's hovercraft, which can travel at 76% the speed of light.) | **Relativistic** (Can keep up with other Skylanders that use natural light in their movesets, such as Aurora. Even Skylanders not of the Light element are shown capable of dodging light-based lasers from Luminous.)

**Durability:** At least **City Level** (Can take attacks from Crash and other comparable characters. Took attacks from an angry Uka Uka, who should be comparable if not superior to the Elementals.) | **Town Level** (Can contend with and take attacks from the same opponents as other Skylanders.)

**Hax:** Mild **Toon Force**, **Paralysis** via his ray gun, **Gravity Manipulation** via his ray gun staff, **Time Manipulation** via N. Tropy Staff, **Size Manipulation** via Minimizer, **Transmutation**, **Resistance** to Mind Manipulation (Playable Skylanders were immune to the Ancient Brain's brainwashing.),

**Intelligence:** **Genius** (Considers himself to be a genius. Skilled enough to create various different weapons and machinery to aid him in battle.)

**Stamina:** **Unknown**

## Powers, Techniques, and Equipment

* **Ray Gun:** A standard ray gun used to fire plasma blasts, either rapidly or they can be charged for a stronger projectile, at the expense of it being able to be reflected back to him. Cortex can also turn this ray gun into a staff to leave enemies vulnerable in the air or shoot a guided laser from the sky.
* **Hover Board:** A flying device that Cortex uses for mobility purposes. He can deal damage to enemies by ramming into them with the board.
* **Jet Pack:** Cortex has used a jet pack before and used it to pilot around hovering meteors.
* **Minimizer:** A shrink ray Cortex developed, which he used to shrink the entire Earth down to the size of a marble. Also functions as a weapon in it's own right, but he must be careful to not damage his own power source.
* **Mines:** Cortex can toss out mines that explode when in close proximity to their targets.
* **Bombs:** During his boss fight in *Twinsanity*, Cortex had a high amount of bombs he used, tossing them at Crash. These bombs explode on impact.
* **Energy Shield:** During his boss fight in *Warped*, Cortex was able to put up an energy shield to prevent himself from taking damage.
* **N. Tropy Staff:** A device he uses in *Skylanders: Imaginators*. Cortex places the staff in the ground and it creates a barrier a short radius around it. Any enemies within the barrier are drastically slowed down.
* **Transmutation:** In *Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time*, Cortex is equipped with a ray gun he can shoot enemies with to turn them into platforms for him to traverse. Shooting them again while in this state will turn them into bouncy platforms.

### Forms

* **Mega-Mix:** In *The Huge Adventure*, Cortex mutated into a monstrosity called the "Mega-Mix" from his Minimizer malfunctioning and fusing him with Dingodile, Tiny Tiger, and N. Gin. In this form, he is strong enough to one-shot Crash and durable enough to run through Nitro Crates blowing up on him without slowing down.
* **Mutant Form:** In *Mind Over Mutant*, Cortex achieves a Hulk-like form by drinking a special mutation formula. In this form, his physicality is increased to where he can harm Crash without any weaponry, he can cause shockwaves by body slamming or punching the ground, and he can perform a spinning attack that creates a tornado of energy and allows him to shoot energy spheres. However, this form is vulnerable to possession if first beaten down.

## Minor Feats

### Attack Potency/Strength

* Power struggled against Crash, causing the two to roll as a ball as they fought.

### Speed/Reactions

* Piloted a jetpack speeding through a tube while avoiding asteroids.
* Dodged electricity-based attacks from Madame Amberly.

### Durability/Endurance

* Survived being used as a snowboard by Crash twice (though wasn't unscathed.)
* Survived an explosion that launched him off an island.

### Skill/Intelligence

* Fought against Crash Bandicoot multiple times.
* Mutated numerous Australian animals to serve in his army.
* Created Crunch Bandicoot.
* Defeated Emperor Velo XXVII and his champions in a galaxy-spanning racing tournament.
* Aided Crash in defeating the Evil Twins alongside Nina.
* Aided in saving Thumpin' Wumpa Islands after Fake Crash screwed up his own machine.

## Weaknesses

* Neurotic.
* Mostly reliant on technology in a fight. Will rather flee from battle if his ray gun runs out of ammo.
* His Mutant form is vulnerable to possession if he's beaten down enough.

## Sources

* Dr. Neo Cortex Claims DEATH BATTLE's Crystals! (AdamTheFifth, DeviantArt)