Doc Twilight

### Abilities

No supernatural abilities as Doc TwilightCreates shadows to possess others (as the Dark)

## Family

### Author

Mason Black (author)Murray Chase (artist)

### Other Relatives

Catherine Sanderson (wife)Bethany Sanderson (daughter) Orion Sanderson (adopted son)

## Appearances

### Appears In

Secret Origins; Worlds Apart

> ***"What do you say, Doc Twilight? Want to go after the bad guy with me and give crime its proper medicine one more time? Or are you getting too old for this sort of thing?"***
>
>

> ---- Kid Twilight to Doc Twilight at the end of *Story Thieves: Secret Origins*
>
>

Doc Twilight- also known as Christian Sanderson -is the father of Bethany and indirectly played a major role in all of the *Story Thieves* books. He was first mentioned by Bethany when she discussed how she got her half-fictional powers with Owen, and he was continuously mentioned throughout the book. Later, in *The Stolen Chapters,* they attempted to locate him using the Location Spell from the *Kiel Gnomenfoot* series, with little success. Although they did not know it, the reason for their failure in finding him is because Nobody, who for a long time was an archenemy of Doc. Nobody eventually succeeded in reducing him into words, which he scattered throughout every book in existence. Before *Story Thieves: Secret Origins*, Nobody put Doc Twilight back together and rewrote him to become The Dark, who was the main antagonist in *Secret Origins*. At the end of the book, he was turned back to his original state when Bethany turned into light.

## History

### *Pre-Story Thieves*

Doc Twilight was first written by **Mason Black** and **Murray Chase**, who did not give him any special abilities. Instead, Doc built himself weapons and learned to fight. At some point, he joined the **Lawful Legion**, and became the main character of the comic-book series *Doc Twilight*. He soon found Kid Twilight after the kid's parents died, and began to train him as his sidekick.

Among his archenemies were the Clown and **Dr. Apathy**, who later played a major role in getting Doc Twilight to the nonfictional world and the rewriting of Nobody.

Eventually, Doc Twilight pursued Dr. Apathy through a portal between their fictional world, Jupiter City, and the nonfictional world. Doc Twilight meets Catherine there for the first time when the portal appears nearby her house. Using his grappling hooks, Doc Twilight successfully defeats Dr. Apathy and his machine before taking him back to their fictional world and putting him in jail. However, Doc Twilight does not notice the escape of Apathy's henchman, a criminal who will later become Nobody.

Instead of instantly returning to his world and disabling the portal, Twilight continues to roam around the nonfictional world as his secret identity, Christian Sanderson, with Catherine. At some point, he met Mason Black and told him that he is the real Doc Twilight, but Black didn't believe him. However, Murray Chase, the artist of the Doc Twilight series, befriended Twilight and later built a house over the portal to guard it.

After hanging out in the nonfictional world, Twilight returned through the portal to Jupiter City, where little or no time had passed, along with Catherine. There, he continued to act as a superhero accompanied by Bethany's mother, who Owen later thought could be the superhero **Night Star** whose costume he sees in Murray Chase's basement. While it is unknown whether or not this is true, it is very possible that Bethany's mother and father continued to travel between the fictional and nonfictional worlds, sometimes accompanied by Murray Chase.

Eventually, Christian married Catherine, with Murray Chase as his best man. Soon, Catherine Sanderson gave birth to Bethany who is half-fictional and, to Christian's delight, can travel between any fictional story. Christian and Bethany, sometimes with Catherine, traveled between fictional stories together. Christian warned Bethany to never leave a story unless they are holding hands, so he wouldn't be left behind.

When Bethany was a toddler, Mason Black, Doc's author who he'd never really known, disappeared. After investigating the circumstances, Doc Twilight finally learned about the existence and abilities of Nobody, who had kidnapped Black, forced him to teach Nobody how to write, and then left him in **Nowhere**. Once he discovered Nobody's intention to disable the portal between Jupiter City and the nonfictional world, Christian set up a trap, which successfully stopped Nobody from destroying the portal, although Nobody ended up escaping.

Eventually, at Bethany's Fourth Birthday Party, Catherine asked for the guests to not bring books as presents. While everyone who was invited conceded to the terms, Nobody, disguised as a child at the party, placed a wrapped book (which is implied to be The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, although James Riley neither confirms nor denies this) on the gift table. Later, when opening this present, Bethany accidentally pulled all the kids at the party, as well as her father, into the book. There, Nobody was waiting in that book where evil could win and he immediately trapped Christian in Nowhere. Bethany then left the book without her father, convinced by Nobody (who was disguised as Christian) that it was okay to leave him behind.

After Bethany left the story, Nobody returned to Nowhere to confront Doc Twilight. Although he resisted, Twilight was unable to land a punch on Nobody, who rewrote himself so that his body would bend away from Twilight's touch. Nobody then reduced Christian into the words that made him up and scattered them, with the exception of two phrases, into various books. The two phrases Nobody kept were essential to be inaccessible with Doc Twilight's later transition to The Dark: "Memories of Catherine" and "Memories of Bethany."

Christian remained in this state until *Story Thieves*.

### *Story Thieves*

During the first book in the *Story Thieves* series, Doc Twilight remained out of commission and trapped in various stories. However, a fictional version of Bethany's father completely different from Christian himself appeared in a story written by Johnathan Porterhouse to entertain and keep Bethany hostage under the Magister's orders. It was also mentioned early in the book that Bethany's mother, Catherine, was crying when she heard the news that a rare comic books sold for thousands of dollars, and later when reading a magazine, both of which are presumed to have been about the *Doc Twilight* comic itself and serve as foreshadowing of Christian's occupation and series later revealed in *Secret Origins*.

### *Story Thieves: The Stolen Chapters*

At the beginning of the book, Kiel Gnomenfoot attempts to locate Doc Twilight using a location spell from his series. Although this actually succeeds and, had they followed the spell, they would have succeeded in locating Bethany's father (or the pieces of him), they didn't understand why the spell split apart, resulting in Bethany consulting the detective Doyle Holmes and setting up the plot for *Story Thieves: The Stolen Chapters*.

For most of the book, despite Doyle's efforts, little to no information is uncovered about Christian's whereabouts. Yet the story ended when Nobody, after capturing Fowen, stated, "Well, there's nothing for it. Bethany, it's time you found your father." It was then assumed that, shortly after *The Stolen Chapters*, Nobody collected the pieces of Bethany's father (except for "Memories of Catherine" and "Memories of Bethany") and put him back together. Nobody then rewrote Christian into The Dark and wrote the comic series *The Dark* under the name of his old author, Mason Black, using the newly rewritten version of Doc as the main character.

Before the beginning of *Secret Origins*, The Dark successfully defeated all the superheroes in the Lawful Legion, his old superhero team, using his new ability to manipulate shadows to control others and fill them with fear and anger. He took over Jupiter City, setting up the plot in *Secret Origins*.

### *Story Thieves: Secret Origins*

*Main Article: The Dark*

Doc, newly rewritten as the supervillain/antihero The Dark, proceeded to completely take over Jupiter City and apply his own laws to it. Throughout *Secret Origins*, Murray Chase was believed to be Doc Twilight because he wore Doc's suit for the weapons, resulting in the main twist of the story when the identities of Chase and The Dark were revealed.

At the end of *Secret Origins*, Bethany used her superpower to turn into light, which spread throughout the entire *Doc Twilight* (or, at the time, *The Dark)* universe and rid everyone, Doc Twilight included, of shadows. After Nobody returned Doc's memories, Christian was returned to his original state. Doc Twilight, along with his sidekick Kid Twilight, planned on devoting their time to rescue Bethany and capture Nobody.

### *Story Thieves: Pick the Plot*

Doc only made a brief appearance near the end of *Pick the Plot,* which was narrated solely by Owen. Behind scenes, Doc worked with Kid Twilight to find Bethany, using a light-collecting machine that **Captain Sunshine** had built to defeat the **Blazing Quasar** in a previous comic. Before they could start it, Fowen, masquerading as Owen, stole the machine.

Doc followed Fowen through the city into a warehouse but was apprehended by the Magister before he could take it back. Nobody forced Christian to watch as he used the machine to materialize Bethany, then split her fictional and non-fictional selves apart. He sent her non-fictional self back home with Owen but left her fictional self with Christian.

In the months between that and *Worlds Apart,* Bethany trained under her father as Twilight Girl. Christian probably planned to take Nobody down with his two sidekicks. But failed

## Appearance

As a superhero, Doc Twilight's costume is red and purple, with a cape and a mask. His symbol (a yellow moon with three stars) is on his chest. He also carries a utility belt with flashbangs, setting sun-shaped throwing stars, grappling hooks, a radio with stars as tuners, and other gadgets that he used throughout his series. For a visual of his costume, see the *Secret Origins* and *Worlds Apart* covers, which have Kid Twilight and Twilight Girl on them, respectively.

As an ordinary citizen, Christian wears a variety of clothes. Like his daughter, he has red hair.

As the Dark, Bethany's father appears in a black cloak with only red eyes showing. His likeness as The Dark is depicted on the cover and in the comics of *Story Thieves: Secret Origins*.

## Special Abilities

* Christian has no superpowers. However, with a variety of gadgets such as grappling hooks and his skill in martial arts, he is certainly a formidable superhero.
* When Nobody rewrote Doc Twilight into The Dark, Bethany's father was capable of shooting and manipulating shadows out of his hands and eyes. These shadows could infect other people and they were used by The Dark in *Secret Origins* to take over Jupiter City. At the end of *Secret Origins*, when Bethany's father reverted to his original state, he lost his shadow power.

## Facts

* At some point, Doc Twilight gave Catherine a hand mirror, which she would look into- according to Bethany -whenever something reminded Mrs. Sanderson of Bethany's father. This mirror was presumably a mislead from Nobody, who originally only revealed his ability to travel between stories using a mirror. Neither the hand mirror nor Nobody's limit to mirror traveling were mentioned again.
* Christian never told his sidekick, Kid Twilight, about his daughter Bethany! The two met each other during *Secret Origins.*
* Despite being heavily based on Batman, Christian doesn't have a tragic backstory. He decided to become a hero because he realized the people needed one.

## See Also

The Dark, Bethany Sanderson, Catherine Sanderson