Father Time is asupervillain in publications fromDC Comics. The character first appeared inSeven Soldiers: Frankenstein #3 (April 2006), and was created byGrant Morrison andDoug Mahnke.^[1]

Father Time is the commander of the Super Human Advanced Defense Executive (S.H.A.D.E.), aPatriot Act-funded covert operations group employing metahumans to fight terrorism.^[2] His own concerns appear to have at least as much to do with consolidating power as with national security. InUncle Sam and theFreedom Fighters #1, he assassinates a presidential candidate applying too much scrutiny on S.H.A.D.E., and replaces him with a double, Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard.^[1]

Father Time first appeared in Grant Morrison'sSeven Soldiers of Victory:Frankenstein #3, temporarily pressing the undead assassin into S.H.A.D.E. service. During the event known asWorld War III, Time and S.H.A.D.E. try to stop the rampagingBlack Adam, and Adam rips off Time's face.^[1]

Time, confined to a hospital bed, then metamorphoses into a new form. He next appeared in theInfinite Crisis tie-inThe Battle for Blüdhaven, and appears to be a major player in the newFreedom Fighters miniseries.

Father Time is reborn in a new body onNew Year's Day to accompany the new year. InFrankenstein, he appears as a young black man wearing a costume resemblingThe Spirit's, but wearing a bowler hat. This is his appearance when Black Adam rips his face off. The Father Time shown inFreedom Fighters, on the other hand, is an elderly white man with long hair and aBuffalo Bill beard, except for the seventh and eighth issues, in which he resembles an African-AmericanDoctor Occult. In September 2011,The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity and Father Time still exists in this new timeline, first seen with the appearance of an elementary-age Japanese girl, complete with school uniform, wearing adomino mask as seen inThe New 52: Futures End.

For most of the newUncle Sam and The Freedom Fighters series, Father Time was depicted as a villain, but in issue eight he reveals that he knew the danger Gonzo posed all along, and created the new versions ofDoll Man,Phantom Lady, etc., to bring Uncle Sam forth, make his new team heroes in the public eye, and defeat Gonzo's plan. When Gonzo is defeated, Time takes himself and his S.H.A.D.E. soldiers into the timestream.

Father Time possesses invulnerability and enhanced strength to nigh-superhuman levels, enough to engage theAtomic Knights in battle. At the beginning of each year, he regenerates and takes on a new appearance. InThe New 52, Father Time has stated that he generates a new appearance every decade rather than every year.

• There was a different kind of Father Time who had foughtHawkman. This version is a brash young scientist who traveled across the world, obtaining various plants reputed to enhance mental capacity, and developed a brew that gave him the wisdom of the ages while aging his body rapidly to old age. He wielded a scythe that shot a dart, made from a metal that dissolves once in the heat of the body, delivering a poison not known to modern science.^[3]

• DC Comics immortals
• DC Comics characters with superhuman strength
• DC Comics military personnel
• DC Comics male supervillains
• Comics characters introduced in 2006
• Characters created by Doug Mahnke
• Characters created by Grant Morrison
• DC Comics metahumans

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Comics infobox without image