Dr. Nefarious

Cleanup required

This article may need to be rewritten to conform to a higher standard of style, verification, or use of media.

Biographical information
Homeworld	Kerwan
Residence	Magmos (former base) Aquatos (former base) Leviathan (destroyed) Adrift asteroid (2 years) Tombli Outpost, Zanifar (former base) Nefarious Space Station (destroyed) Nefarious City, Corson V (temporarily)
Membership	Nefarious Empire (temporarily)
Physical description
Species	Robot (sapient humanoid, formerly organic)
Gender	Male
Behind the scenes
Portrayed by	Armin Shimerman

Doctor Nefarious is a recurring character in the Ratchet & Clank series. He is the main antagonist of Up Your Arsenal and A Crack in Time, as well as both the Ratchet & Clank movie and the 2016 tie-in game, the secondary antagonist of Rift Apart, and one of the four main playable protagonists of All 4 One. He appears and is mentioned in other titles. A robotic supervillain, he is the long-time nemesis of Captain Qwark, and later also Ratchet and Clank.

Dr. Nefarious waged a war in the Solana Galaxy with his robot and tyhrranoid forces, plotting to transform its population into robots with a superweapon known as the Biobliterator. After being thwarted by Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark, Nefarious became stranded on an asteroid and drifted into the Polaris Galaxy. There, he learned of the Great Clock and plotted to take it over to control time and ensure villains always win. After being thwarted again by his nemeses, he reluctantly teamed up with them on planet Magnus to stop the Loki Master from destroying the universe. Years later, he stole the Dimensionator to travel to a dimension where he always wins, impersonating his tyrannical counterpart, Emperor Nefarious.

Dr. Nefarious is a mad scientist who acts largely out of vengeance and hatred, particularly for his nemeses. In his various quests for galactic domination, he has manipulated many into doing his bidding, but his personal assistant Lawrence has been his main ally throughout. Dr. Nefarious has a disdain for organic life-forms, which he refers to as "squishies", though he sometimes allies with and deploys them depending on his needs. Though a powerful robot and deadly in combat, he is prone to malfunctions during which he freezes up and plays an episode of Lance and Janice before being whacked by someone, often Lawrence.

History

Early history

Nefarious was raised on planet Kerwan, where he attended high school with Qwark. Despite Qwark's bullying behavior, Nefarious considered him a friend.

Qwark bullying Nefarious during 9th grade biology class.

According to the Qwark vid-comic series, Nefarious began as an organic lifeform and attended the same school as Qwark. They met in Mr. Bozell's ninth-grade biology class. Nefarious hated the class, partly due to Qwark, who was three times Nefarious' size and twenty-six years old, bullying him by calling him "that freak with the headgear", pouring chemicals on his head, cleaning the chalkboard with his pants (while wearing them), and giving him wedgies.

Nefarious escapes Blackwater City.

Later, Nefarious, with his new butler Lawrence, created a biological menace known as the amoeboids, which he unleashed upon Blackwater City on planet Rilgar, aiming to exterminate all life on the planet. Captain Qwark, after being notified about the attack by the president, arrived to defeat the amoeboids. Depending on the source, Qwark either coordinated the city's defenses from the women's restroom at Galaxy Burger or singlehandedly defeated the amoeboid horde, causing Nefarious to flee Blackwater City in disgrace, swearing vengeance.

Qwark walks away, unaware of Nefarious' transformation.

He returned to his base on planet Magmos, arriving six days later, with Qwark clinging to the side of Nefarious' ship. Qwark attempted to disguise himself as a pizza delivery woman to infiltrate Nefarious' base. Nefarious found this laughable but allowed Qwark in, believing his security forces would defeat Qwark. Qwark instead confronted Nefarious and, after realizing who his enemy was, attempted to give him a wedgie for old time's sake. However, he accidentally knocked Nefarious off the catwalk and into the machinery below. Qwark assumed Nefarious had perished and left, unaware that the machinery had transformed Nefarious into a robot.

Qwark after defeating Nefarious once more.

Following his transformation, Nefarious invaded Metropolis, Kerwan with an army of insectoid swarms that wreaked havoc across the city. The insectoids attacked Qwark during his exercise routine, and Qwark then confronted the robotic Nefarious. Qwark defeated Nefarious and tore his head from his body. Nefarious swore he would return to Metropolis to destroy Qwark and the city, though Qwark threw his head in a trash can.

Lawrence attaching Nefarious' head.

While caught off-guard, Lawrence incapacitated Qwark, locked him in one of Nefarious' secret prisons, and began repairing Nefarious. Lawrence accidentally screwed Nefarious' head on backward, angering Nefarious. While yelling furiously at Lawrence, Nefarious froze up and played a Lance and Janice episode. Lawrence, finding this amusing, opted not to fix this malfunction. Captain Qwark managed to escape Nefarious' prison and hid away in his hideout in the Thran Asteroid Belt. When Nefarious did not resurface, Qwark assumed he was gone for good.

Re-imagined early history

The 2016 re-imagined game is primarily an unreliable retelling of events by Qwark.

The re-imagined game primarily describes Captain Qwark's account of events. As Qwark is an unreliable narrator, and contradictory events are in-universe fiction (though those which correspond still apply). Please see Project:Bulletin board/Canon for the wiki's coverage of canon.

Nefarious as a Galactic Ranger.

In the 2016 re-imagining, a different account of Nefarious' early life is given. In these events, Nefarious was a member of the Galactic Rangers, a team led by Captain Qwark and commissioned by President Phyronix. He designed and invented most of the weapons used by the other Rangers, though his budget was frequently cut. Due to his mistreatment by Captain Qwark, Nefarious betrayed the team and attempted to atomize Kerwan's Aleero City. Qwark stopped him, and he was promptly imprisoned. During a prison escape, he faked his own death and bribed witnesses to corroborate the story that he had died in the attempt.

Ratchet & Clank re-imagined

The 2016 re-imagined game is primarily an unreliable retelling of events by Qwark.

The re-imagined game primarily describes Captain Qwark's account of events. As Qwark is an unreliable narrator, and contradictory events are in-universe fiction (though those which correspond still apply). Please see Project:Bulletin board/Canon for the wiki's coverage of canon.

Nefarious presents his warbot army to Drek.

In the movie as well as Qwark's own retelling of the events, Nefarious began working with Chairman Drek and the blarg on Quartu and Gaspar, playing a key role in designing much of the weaponry and equipment for Drek Industries, including the XK-81 Jetpack, Hydrodisplacer, and Predator Launcher. Drek had begun work on creating a new planet, New Quartu, built using the parts of planets he destroyed. Nefarious helped Drek in his quest, designing the Deplanetizer, which used a dwarf star to create artificial supernovas to power its laser; an idea Nefarious had in jail. He also created an army of warbots in Quartu's Skorg City, built to destroy the Galactic Rangers, who would seek to stop Drek's plans. One of the warbots created in Nefarious' factory ended up being defective. Nonetheless, Nefarious was using Drek and his company's resources to enact his own revenge against Qwark and the Galactic Rangers.

Nefarious telling Drek of the plan to manipulate Qwark.

Drek sent Nefarious' warbots to invade Kerwan and assassinate the Galactic Rangers. However, Ratchet and Clank destroyed the Class G Dreadship and ended the attack, leading to their recruitment into the Rangers themselves. Nefarious then suggested that to defeat the Rangers, Drek should manipulate Qwark to join their side. After the Rangers retaliated and attacked Quartu, Drek managed to persuade Qwark to betray the Rangers, without revealing Nefarious' involvement. Without informing Drek of the consequences, Nefarious convinced him to target Umbris, a planet with an unstable core. Its destruction during the current planetary conjunction would cause a massive chain reaction, destroying the entire system and fully discrediting the Rangers.

Nefarious betrays Drek and transforms him into a sheep.

Following the destruction of Novalis by the Deplanetizer, Nefarious revealed himself to Qwark to still be alive and mocked him for the egocentric betrayal of his friends, before ushering him away. Nefarious then used a Sheepinator to morph Drek into a sheep, thrust him into a shuttle to New Quartu, and blasted him away, ensuring no one could stop the destruction of Umbris. As Ratchet and Clank infiltrated the station and removed its gravity stabilizer, the Galactic Rangers used a Mag Booster to pull the Deplanetizer off target. After the duo defeated Qwark and brought him back to his senses, Nefarious fought the three of them using an Alpha Disruptor, and manually fired the Deplanetizer's laser himself, but missed Umbris and destroyed New Quartu instead.

Nefarious confronts Ratchet and Clank in the Supernova Chamber.

Nefarious' story here has two different endings. In the game, according to Qwark, Nefarious then fought Ratchet and Clank with a Gadgetron Insta-Mech in the Deplanetizer's Supernova Chamber, attempting to detonate the dwarf star and destroy Umbris along with it. The duo destroyed his mech and stopped him, causing Nefarious to fall into the dwarf star, presumably killing him.

Nefarious, transformed into a robot on Umbris.

In the movie, Nefarious tried to kill Qwark with the RYNO, and while charging the weapon, Ratchet used his OmniWrench to knock him into the Deplanetizer's core, causing him to be hit with the RYNO's backfired energy. After the Deplanetizer crashed to the surface of Umbris, several repair bots found Nefarious in a critically injured state amongst the wreckage, where they mistook him for a robot and replaced his organic body with a robotic one.

Before Up Your Arsenal

Dr. Nefarious plotted his return to the Solana Galaxy for years, suffering endless disappointments. His goal was to transform the entire galaxy into robots with a superweapon, and usher in what he referred to as the "age of robots".

At some point, Nefarious formed an agreement with the tyhrranoids, which would serve as his main army during the war he would wage on the galaxy. He also plotted with Courtney Gears, a robotic pop star, in her hideout on Obani Draco.

Around this time, Nefarious auditioned for the show Galactic Idol, entering with his rendition of a song titled "Crushin' on Squishies". He was eliminated in the first round and sold a single copy of his debut album, which was later used to torture prisoners at the Masteze Penal Colony on planet Ebaro. Nefarious was also a huge fan of Secret Agent Clank, having watched since the first episode when Secret Agent Clank defeated the mind-stealing snotbeasts from Dimension X.

Up Your Arsenal

Nefarious during his broadcast.

Nefarious orchestrated a surprise tyhrranoid attack on Veldin, which the Galactic Rangers, with the help of Ratchet and Clank, thwarted. The tyhrranoids then attacked the presidential palace of President Phyronix in Capital City, Marcadia. Nefarious broadcasted a message across the Solana Galaxy, with Lawrence providing sign language, proclaiming the "hour of your liberation" and promising to rid the galaxy of organic lifeforms.

Lawrence informs Nefarious of the Q-Force.

Captain Qwark was recovered by Ratchet and Clank at the request of President Phyronix, as Qwark was the only man to face Nefarious and survive. Qwark founded the Q-Force, and was appointed the leader of the fight against Nefarious by the president. Under Qwark's orders, Ratchet and Clank found Nefarious' office on Aquatos. Lawrence informed Nefarious of the infiltration and Qwark's involvement while Nefarious was watching a Secret Agent Clank episode. Enraged, Nefarious demanded the Q-Force be annihilated.

Nefarious on Supervillain Weekly.

Nefarious began working on a superweapon, the Biobliterator, to transform all organic lifeforms. He planned to use it to attack every planet in the Solana Galaxy. The plans were drawn up in his research facility on planet Daxx. Information was deleted from Daxx' main computer, and stored in a data disk, located in the Leviathan. The Biobliterator was delivered to Courtney Gears' hideout on Obani Draco for testing one day before Ratchet and Clank arrived on Daxx. Nefarious discussed the Biobliterator on Supervillain Weekly, stating he would annihilate critics who deemed his plan derivative. Additionally, Courtney Gears' song "Robots of the Galaxy" was propaganda for Nefarious.

Nefarious offering Clank a role on his side.

Courtney Gears lured Clank into a trap after filming a Secret Agent Clank episode, "Maxmillian Strikes Back", on Holostar Studios. She incapacitated Clank and took him to Nefarious, who offered Clank a role on his side, calling Clank a "hero to robots across the galaxy". When Clank refused, Nefarious imprisoned and replaced him with a replica named Klunk, who acted as a spy.

Nefarious on the Leviathan after tricking Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark.

After Ratchet survived a tyhrranoid ambush on Holostar Studios, Klunk informed Ratchet that Nefarious was on board the Leviathan to lure them into a trap. The Q-Force located the star cruiser while it was refueling in the Zeldrin Starport, leading Ratchet, Klunk, Qwark, and Skrunch to board the Leviathan to confront Nefarious. Nefarious revealed he had lured them to destroy them. He self-destructed the ship and teleported away, though Qwark obtained the master plan. Qwark escaped using an escape pod, landing on Zeldrin before fleeing to his hideout, leaving the master plan behind.

Nefarious on Metropolis.

With the Biobliterator successfully tested on Q-Force member Skidd McMarx, Nefarious returned to Metropolis to enact vengeance on the city. Nefarious attacked Metropolis with an army of tyhrranoids, transforming the entire city into robots, including the tyhrranoids. He declared this the "age of robots", the final chapter in Solana's destiny. Ratchet found Nefarious holding the real Clank prisoner. Nefarious teleported away, leaving Klunk to fight Ratchet, who defeated Klunk and reunited with Clank.

The ion cannon on Koros.

As a result of Nefarious' attack, galactic citizens panicked. President Phyronix conceded defeat in the war, believing Nefarious would transform the entire population of Solana into robots within a week. Nefarious planned to attack Veldin next with the Biobliterator, recharging it on Koros, while secretly constructing a second, more powerful Biobliterator. Ratchet obtained the master plan data disk from Qwark's escape pod on Zeldrin, allowing Al to decode it. Nefarious launched an attack on the Starship Phoenix to stop them, but Ratchet and Clank repelled the attack and traveled to Koros. Clank used a cannon on the planet to destroy the Biobliterator, much to Nefarious' dismay.

Lawrence and Nefarious after their defeat in the Biobliterator.

Nefarious traveled to Mylon, where the second Biobliterator was being prepared to attack Veldin. Ratchet, having learned of its existence, traveled to the launch site and fought Nefarious. Nefarious teleported inside the Biobliterator with Lawrence, attempting to kill Ratchet and Clank. Qwark interrupted them with his shuttle, allowing Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark to destroy the Biobliterator, leaving Nefarious humiliated. The Biobliterator's computer announced the reactor would detonate within sixty seconds. Nefarious demanded Lawrence teleport away, but they ended up on an asteroid, out of range of any planet or space station, with Lawrence predicting it could be five or ten thousand years before anything came in range.

After Up Your Arsenal

The asteroid floating past the DreadZone Station.

Nefarious and Lawrence continued to drift on an asteroid. During Deadlocked, they floated through the Shadow Sector, eventually coming within range of the DreadZone Station. Upon arrival, they found the station destroyed, which infuriated Nefarious and caused him to short circuit.

The asteroid continued drifting towards the Polaris Galaxy and was spotted by space pirates in the Corvus Nebula of the Breegus System.

Dr. Nefarious discovering the existence of the Great Clock from the fongoids on Quantos.

Two years before the events of A Crack in Time, the rock eventually drifted to the planet Zanifar, where Nefarious and Lawrence sought refuge with a fongoid tribe. There, Dr. Nefarious participated in rehabilitation efforts, studying fongoid meditation, yoga, and anger management, until learning of the Great Clock during a spirit walk on Quantos. This inspired him to develop a plan to use the Clock to alter time.

Nefarious with a captive Orvus.

Dr. Nefarious seized power on Zanifar, brainwashing the fongoids into believing he was a righteous being and compelling them to build the Tombli Outpost, his first base of operations, where he developed his Nefarious Troopers. Nefarious hired Pollyx Industries for their expertise in Zoni technology, promising them use of the Clock if his plans succeeded. To access the Orvus Chamber of the Great Clock, Dr. Nefarious invited Orvus to his base on Zanifar under the false pretense of a scientific discussion, hoping to read his memory to learn how to access the chamber. This is how Pollyx and Nefarious discovered that Clank was Orvus' heir.

Nefarious as seen through the Obsidian Eye.

After the fongoids completed the Tombli Outpost, Nefarious betrayed them and confined them to containment camps. Pollyx Industries then designed and built the Nefarious Space Station, which became his new headquarters. Nefarious also deceived the Zoni into partnering with him, guiding them to bring Clank back to the Clock themselves. There, Nefarious misled the Zoni into believing he was repairing Clank, while actually attempting to hack Clank's mind to access the Orvus Chamber.

Dr. Nefarious partnered with Flint Vorselon, an assassin who escaped Zordoom Prison six months before the events of A Crack in Time, promising to use the Great Clock to restore the crushed body he had abandoned on Zaurik. Dr. Nefarious' forces took control of much of the Breegus System, but faced repeated resistance from local rebel Alister Azimuth, who frequently attacked Nefarious' outposts and transports.

A Crack in Time

Nefarious attempting to access Clank's subconscious.

Dr. Nefarious eventually lost patience with the Zoni as it became clear they would not allow him access to the Orvus Chamber through Clank. He unleashed the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler to chase them away from the Clock, which inadvertently damaged the Clock's machinery and freed Clank. When Nefarious caught up to Clank, instead of attempting to hack Clank's brain again, he assigned Lawrence to follow Clank through the Great Clock, allowing Clank to reach the Orvus Chamber on his own.

Dr. Nefarious in a meeting with Lawrence and Vorselon.

Nefarious then returned to the Nefarious Space Station while Lawrence provided updates on Clank's progress via hologram. Vorselon was sent to battle Ratchet, Qwark, and Azimuth. During this time, Dr. Nefarious had several of his Nefarious Troopers participate in a play he wrote titled Night of the Living Squishies, in which he imagined having already taken control of time and battling Qwark. He and Vorselon also occasionally played video games together.

Cassiopeia with Dr. Nefarious at his space station.

When Ratchet and Azimuth reached Pollyx Industries headquarters, Dr. Nefarious appeared via tele-screen to intimidate them. Debating whether to reveal his plan or simply kill them, he ordered the VX-99 to eliminate them. When this attempt failed, Nefarious vented his anger on Vorselon and summoned the valkyrie leaders—Cassiopeia, Carina, and Libra—promising to use the Clock to restore their lost colony if they joined his cause. Thereafter, Cassiopeia started a relationship with Nefarious. Nefarious even sent in song requests for her to Deep Space Jams on space radio, but the two eventually required a couples' therapist.

Dr. Nefarious standing in front of two Protomantises.

When Clank led Lawrence to the Orvus Chamber, Nefarious launched his "Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega-91". Captain Qwark, disguised as a female nurse named "Shannon", infiltrated the station and reached Nefarious' office to offer a "massage"; Nefarious, though stunned, played along. After Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark infiltrated the space station using a hologuise and destroyed his ship fleet, Nefarious caught them. He revealed his plan to rewrite history so that "the heroes always lose" and used his Asteroid Flinger 5000 to discard them, believing it would kill them. Nefarious then summoned Lawrence back from the Great Clock to the space station.

Dr. Nefarious after being defeated.

Ratchet and Clank returned to confront and destroy Dr. Nefarious, where he declared he would revel in killing them and then rewind time to do it again. During the battle, when Nefarious demanded Lawrence fire at Ratchet, Lawrence engaged auto-pilot, causing the ship to head directly for the Nefarious Space Station. Ratchet defeated Nefarious, and Lawrence teleported Nefarious' unconscious body away. While initially believing him to have been killed, the Polaris government later became aware of Nefarious' teleportation, but were unable to locate him and Lawrence.

All 4 One

Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence' threat level in Polaris had increased from "unknown" to "alive and at large", to which the newly elected President Qwark assured the galaxy there was no danger. Ratchet and Clank, while interviewed by Kip Darling and Pepper Fairbanks via satellite, stated they had full confidence in Qwark's ability to handle Nefarious again.

Nefarious, having escaped, had obtained the remains of a Light-Eating Z'Grute, and set up a false award ceremony for Qwark in the depths of Igliak, for the award of "Intergalactic Tool of Justice" for allegedly defeating a Light-Eating Z'Grute. Qwark attended this ceremony, while Ratchet and Clank followed closely behind, suspicious. Arriving on the Nefarious shuttle, Nefarious had Lawrence re-animate the Z'Grute and announced he would unleash it on the city, though the Z'Grute raged uncontrollably and Lawrence simply walked away, announcing his registration. Nefarious was then forced to team up with Ratchet, Clank and Qwark to defeat the beast, which had attracted the attention of a vast and powerful machine known as Ephemeris the Creature Collector, which transported the four to a testing laboratory on planet Magnus.

Cronk and Zephyr attempted to retrieve the four, but were stuck in an asteroid field and could not reach them. Therefore, the four would have to escape the world themselves and stop the Ephemeris. A small girl named Susie took the four to the tharpods, native to the planet, that explained the Ephemeris in detail to them. Eventually, the four worked to destroy the machine and defeat the Loki Master, who had planned to use it to destroy the universe. Nefarious worked with the four, though he expressed annoyance with Qwark and even tried to kill Qwark, before Qwark at one point saved Nefarious from falling off a cliff.

Nefarious dealt the final blow to the Loki Master in the final battle. Following this, Cronk and Zephyr were finally able to retrieve the four. Nefarious was instead saved by Lawrence, who vowed to return to Nefarious as the "market for evil sidekicks was rather thin" and the two escaped in their ship while Ratchet, Clank and Qwark were not looking, contemplating how best to avoid the Polaris Defense Force patrols. Nefarious was then seen looking at a picture of Ratchet, Clank and Qwark with a sad expression, sad to leave his new friends.

Nefarious' location was unknown, but he remained at the very top of the Galaxy's Most Wanted list.

Rift Apart

Section incomplete

This section is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Ratchet & Clank Wiki by writing it.

Some time after the events of Into the Nexus, Nefarious came out of hiding several times and attempted a number of schemes that were thwarted each time by Ratchet and Clank. He went into seclusion again but did not re-emerge and disappeared for several years, leading many to believe he had retired permanently from villainy. At some point however, Nefarious learned that Clank had been repairing the broken Dimensionator and after being sick of constantly having his plans foiled by the duo, he devised a new ploy to finally come out on top. While biding his time and waiting for Clank to complete the device's reparation, Nefarious began researching dimensional coordinates and sought for the location of a dimension that was perfect for his plan; a dimension where he never loses and is always the winner. After searching for years through the near endless multiverse, he finally found the coordinates for exactly where he was looking for and awaited the day when the Dimensionator was ready.

Dr. Nefarious steals the newly rebuilt Dimensionator.

That day finally came when the Festival of Heroes was being held in Megalopolis on Corson V to celebrate Ratchet and Clank's many past achievements in heroism. The two however remark that it has been several years since they last did anything heroic. After placing his assistant Lawrence on paid paternity leave, Nefarious hired the recently rebranded Goons-4-Less to attack the duo during the festival and assist him in his theft of the Dimensionator. Using his Party Crasher mech, he disguises it as a parade balloon of himself with it's vehicle-grade hologuise projector and uses it to get close to the two at the front float, where Clank is presenting the Dimensionator to Ratchet. The Doctor successfully steals it and makes his escape through the city but is pursued by the two. He eventually confronts them himself at the train station where he attempts to use the Dimensionator on them but Ratchet impulsively shoots it's Phase Quartz power core, causing a large explosion that sends Nefarious and his ship hurtling into a nearby building and causes mass dimensional chaos to begin occurring across the planet. The Goons contact Nefarious and request for a payment bonus as dealing with the additional dimensional mayhem was not part of their contract, causing the Doctor to exclaim in frustration at their audacity in this pressing moment. Upon catching back up to Nefarious again, Ratchet and Clank fight him in his ship and eventually defeat him. Sick of frequently being defeated over the years, Nefarious decides to fulfill his true plan with the Dimensionator and uses the device to bring the three of them to a dimension where the Doctor always wins.

In the Emperor's absence, Dr. Nefarious takes his place on the throne.

After arriving in a counterpart of Megalopolis named Nefarious City, the Dimensionator finally goes critical from being damaged and explodes. Dr. Nefarious awakens in a throne room and is mistaken for being his counterpart in this dimension, known as Emperor Nefarious; the undefeated ruler of all the known universe in this reality. The Emperor's Assistant remarks he has returned early from his conquest and the Doctor ecstatically takes his place on the throne, overjoyed that his plan worked.

Ratchet infiltrates Nefarious Tower to procure a royal starship and is caught.

Upon crowning himself the new emperor of this dimension and taking control of the ruling Nefarious Empire, Dr. Nefarious made several new self-indulgent declarations to his citizens. To start, he began what he calls Operation: Dream Job, in which he tells everyone to role play as if he just became Emperor for the first time. He proclaims he wants an unlimited R&D, weapons, and science budget for his personal use, parties every day, and everyone to buy his upcoming memoir. He also brushes off concerns anyone has about the dimensional rifts suddenly appearing throughout the universe and tells them to simply ignore them. After Ratchet breaks into Nefarious Tower to acquire a royal starship to pursue Rivet and Clank, he runs into Dr. Nefarious again, who is relishing at all of the new resources he has at his disposal now; from armies of warbots to planet destroying cannons. Nefarious however is vexed that the Dimensionator was destroyed and had intentions of still using it. Ratchet sneaks up behind him and accidentally alerts him before panicking and whacking the Doctor in the face with his wrench. Ratchet makes a narrow escape from Nefarious and the troopers via a royal starship in the nearby hanger bay and the Doctor furiously shouts for them to bring the Lombax to him.

Following Ratchet's escape from the planet, Nefarious continues indulging in his new position of power and to try and secure it; reaffirms himself as the emperor multiple times and orders his subjects to destroy anyone who claims to also be the emperor. He begins becoming overly emotional in one such announcement and tearfully confides that being the emperor is everything he ever wished for and has never been so happy. Next, he proclaims that he is having all of the statues of the Emperor redone to resemble himself more closely, citing the reason that they don't quite capture his nefariousness. He tells his subjects that starting tomorrow, he wants every single one of them to give him an even hundred reasons why he is the greatest emperor who has ever ruled. Finally, he makes an announcement in which he happily laughs after his assistant informed him that there is no one named Captain Qwark in this dimension and that his name means nothing here.

Rivet searches Clank's memory banks and views the events that occurred in Megalopolis.

After Rivet takes Clank to her hideout on planet Sargasso to search his memory banks for answers about him, due to her deep mistrust of robots, she witnesses the events that occurred in Megalopolis and sees Dr. Nefarious, the Dimensionator and Ratchet. After seeing the Doctor in Clank's memories, she remarks that he looks alot like the Nefarious of her own dimension and just like him, is also evil.

Dr. Nefarious makes a public broadcast and offers a dead or alive bounty for the two Lombaxes.

Once Rivet recovers a part to fix Clank's broken communicator from Pierre Le Fer at Zurkie's, he contacts Ratchet and the three form a plan to build a new Dimensionator. The Emperor's Assistant however eavesdrops on them the entire time and reports to Dr. Nefarious where they will be going. Once Rivet and Clank return to their ship, Dr. Nefarious makes a public broadcast in which he offers a bounty of three squillion Nefarious freedom coupons for the dead or alive capture of Ratchet and Rivet. He sends Nefarious Trooper strike teams to intercept their arrivals on Savali and Blizar Prime. The Goons still on Sargasso contact Nefarious and ask him if they can take the planet's Zurpstones whilst on their job, he calls them imbeciles and tells them they can eat only after they have found the Lombax. Sometime later, after the Nefarious Troopers had failed to stop Ratchet and Rivet, he makes another broadcast where he attempts to dispel panic that the dimension is in danger and discards them as lies. He also significantly increases the bounty he had previously placed on the Lombaxes to 27 squijillion Nefaribucks, although it seems his bounty is in fact a ruse and he has no intention of providing any reward. Upon Ratchet and his new friend Kit seeing this second broadcast, she remarks to the Lombax that his Nefarious seems just as obscenely awful as her dimension's.

Dr. Nefarious contacts the Kedaro Station after Ratchet alerts the facility.

When Ratchet and Kit travel to planet Cordelion to build a new Dimensionator, Ratchet accidentally uses auxiliary power only and destroys the Rubion Forge, alerting the facility's security. Dr. Nefarious contacts the station over a hologram shortly after and furiously questions how they fell for Ratchet and Kit's ploy of pretending to be interior decorators to infiltrate and use the forge. He threatens to throw the station's robotic staff into the Rubion Forge and make them into a mug for himself if they do not stop Ratchet from spoiling his victory any further. The Assistant then informs him that the forge has been destroyed and he frantically orders them to get the Lombax immediately. After the two escape, the Doctor remarks in frustrated disbelief that they failed in stopping them again.

The Assistant presents the Phase Quartz and new Dimensionator to Dr. Nefarious.

Once Ratchet and Kit use another dimension's Rubion Forge to successfully rebuild the Dimensionator and Rivet and Clank recover the Phase Quartz to power it, the four meet up at Zurkie's to finally complete the device and repair the damage to the dimensions. Dr. Nefarious however had anticipated their return and had his Nefarious Troopers apprehend Zurkie; the establishment's owner and prepared an ambush inside the Gastropub for them. A squadron of troopers train their weapons on the four and force them to surrender. The Emperor's Assistant takes the Dimensionator and Phase Quartz off of the two and presents them to Dr. Nefarious, who steps out into the open. The Doctor gloats how good this dimension is to him as he loads the Phase Quartz into the Dimensionator. The Lombaxes both nod to eachother and Ratchet surprise attacks the Troopers behind them with his wrench while Rivet runs ahead and tackles Dr. Nefarious through a window into the Battleplex.

Rivet and Kit battle Dr. Nefarious.

Rivet and Kit then fight Dr. Nefarious in the arena where he begins displaying great overconfidence in his new position of power, declaring himself as the one true emperor that cannot be defeated and is beloved by all his subjects. Soon, the Doctor begins using the new Dimensionator and sends them through a rift to the intact dimension's Blizar Prime. Nefarious soon begins losing his patience and attempts to simply make Rivet fall into the lava pits below so he can continue enjoying his new reign as emperor. They fight on the roof of the Chief Engineer's Survey Station until he sends them through another rift to Sargasso, where he sets a wild Grunthor on them. After beating the creature, they continue the battle again until Nefarious attempts to send them through another rift into the heart of a supernova. He mistakenly brings them back to the Battleplex again however, as he frustratedly demands to know why the buttons on the Dimensionator are not labeled. Eventually Rivet and Kit are able to defeat him and he drops the Dimensionator.

The Emperor makes his return and Dr. Nefarious pleads for an alliance.

As Rivet and Kit wave to the cheering audience, Ratchet and Clank suddenly yell and are knocked into the arena behind them by an unseen source. The lights dim and Rivet looks towards the broken window of the Gastropub to see their assailant. The real Emperor Nefarious makes his return and slowly descends towards the arena where he picks up the untended Dimensionator. The Emperor readies the device and brandishes it at them, boasting that he is almost finished ridding himself of the last of his rebel enemies with the exceptions of Captain Quantum and Rivet herself. After momentarily incapacitating Ratchet and Rivet, the Emperor walks up to the injured Dr. Nefarious and points the Dimensionator at him, where the Doctor pleads that he has alot of experience fighting rebels himself and calls for an alliance. The Emperor finds the notion tantalising and accepts. He opens a rift on the floor to Sargasso and proposes a home game to Rivet before dropping in Dr. Nefarious and entering it himself.

The two Nefariouses taunt Rivet's efforts to save Sargasso over hologram.

The Emperor begins invading Sargasso with his armies and orders his troopers to start exterminating all life on the planet in a ploy to draw in Rivet. Sometime shortly after first meeting, the Emperor interrogated the Doctor for answers and learned of the reason for his journey to this dimension and his woeful history of defeats, leading the Emperor to regard him with contempt for being his counterpart. With little other options in his current situation, Dr. Nefarious begins working with the Emperor in a co-commander role and attempts to form a legitimate partnership to finish the Lombaxes together. The Emperor's immense ego however puts alot of tension on this and he does not regard the Doctor or anyone for that matter as an equal of any sort, with him dryly brushing off the notion of them being considered a team. Whilst Rivet and Kit are fighting off the invasion, the two Nefariouses appear as holograms and taunt their efforts repeatedly. The Emperor eventually orders his battle cruisers to activate their Destruct-o Beams to destroy the planet. Dr. Nefarious had been excitedly awaiting this announcement and revels in witnessing the forthcoming planetary devastation. Rivet however uses the help of her Pterafoid Flyer friend Trudi and Gelatonium bombs created by the Morts to destroy the cruisers in time, just before their beams can breach the planet's core and obliterate it.

The Emperor declares his intention to conquer the dimensions.

After sending Quantum to Zordoom Prison and believing he had trapped Rivet in a pocket dimension, the Emperor announces in a public broadcast that he is now rid of the last of his enemies and the galaxy is finally his. He however feels depressed that he seemingly now has everything he sought to accomplish in his life but does not feel any different for it. Dr. Nefarious infers that the Emperor had mistakenly equated happiness with success and having now fully achieved it, his life has no meaning anymore. The Emperor angrily discarded this notion however, belittling the Doctor's opinion and mockingly questioning what he could possibly know about success. He soon however concluded that the true reason is that he has not yet conquered all dimensions in existence. The Doctor reminds him that finding them would not be easy, as it took him years personally just to find the coordinates specifically for Rivet's dimension. The Emperor however was already aware of exactly what he needs; the Dimensional Map. Using Quantum's spy helmet; Ratchet, Clank, Rivet and Kit listen in on this conversation and understand this to mean the Emperor is going to Savali to steal the Map from the Interdimensional Archives.

The two Nefariouses ambush Ratchet and Clank and steal the Dimensional Map.

The Emperor's forces get to the planet first and destroy the Archives but the Map is hidden inside a dimensional anomaly by Gary and the Savali Monks to keep it out of his hands. The Emperor's overuse of the Dimensionator had been causing the boundaries between the universes to begin coming undone, allowing skeletal creatures from a nightmare dimension to break into Rivet's dimension through rifts. These undead monsters indiscriminately attacked both Ratchet and the Nefarious Troopers, hampering the Emperor's own progress. Dr. Nefarious gloats he had warned the Emperor that his overuse of the device would cause problems, leading the Emperor to scoff at this notion and deny he could have made a mistake by instead proclaiming it is a flourish, to mark the occasion. Dr. Nefarious also expresses his interest in scouring the remaining Archives for information on everything from weapons of unimaginable power to lost episodes of Lance and Janice. The Emperor however deemed everything else in it as useless baubles that can be left to burn, with the Map being all they need. As Clank retrieves the Dimensional Map and reawakens on Ratchet's back, he finds the two Nefariouses have been waiting on him and ambushed Ratchet. The Emperor holds Ratchet by the throat and threatens to kill him if Clank does not give him the map. He very reluctantly hands it over to Dr. Nefarious and the Emperor sends both of them through a rift to be incarcerated at Zordoom Prison, where he gloats he will be hosting a viewing party of all his victories. Just as Rivet and Kit arrive, the Emperor inserts the map into the Dimensionator. With no options left, Kit transforms into her warbot form, makes a dash towards him and shoots the Dimensionator out of his hand. The Emperor cowers in fear but a rift is suddenly opened behind Kit, sucking her inside and sending her to Zordoom aswell, with the Emperor left looking confused at what had happened. It is then revealed that Dr. Nefarious quickly used the Dimensionator and had saved the Emperor's life. The Emperor then snatches the Dimensionator back from him, opens a rift and roughly pushes the Doctor inside before jumping in himself.

The Emperor announces his intention to invade Dr. Nefarious' home dimension.

Sometime later, after Rivet performs a huge jailbreak at Zordoom Prison, the Emperor makes a public broadcast announcement to the universe. He explains to the denizens of Rivet's universe how they are merely a part of a single dimension and his personal stance on subjugating everyone equally means that all of the others must also follow suit. With the capability to now travel to every dimension in existence, he reveals he has a large war fleet assembled in orbit of Corson V prepared for invasion. Before beginning, he states he wishes to thank Dr. Nefarious for being the one to inspire this journey in the first place with his recent foray to this dimension. He hands a glass of champagne to the Doctor, before clinking it with his own in a toast. However, the Emperor's definition of thanking the Doctor is to invade and conquer his home dimension personally. Dr. Nefarious spits out his drink in shock and becomes angered upon hearing this. The Emperor however suddenly pushes the Doctor to the ground and grabs the Dimensionator off of him before declaring his first destination to be Megalopolis, which he intends to redub New Nefarious City. He creates an enormous rift in front of Corson V leading straight to it's counterpart in Ratchet and Clank's dimension and laughs as his armies advance into it.

Dr. Nefarious' tolerance of the Emperor begins to reach its breaking point.

While the Emperor and his armies invaded Megalopolis; Ratchet, Clank and Rivet's allies followed them through the large rift and fought back against the invaders. Dr. Nefarious was extremely disgruntled over the Emperor's course of action to do this and was very quickly losing patience with him. Upon discovering Ratchet and Clank are the heroes of this dimension, the Emperor decided this called for a special kind of annihilation and created a rift, which both him and the Doctor disappeared into. Moments later, they re-emerged piloting the Emperor's Imperial Power Suit, with the Doctor utilizing the cockpit in the giant mech's left eye and the Emperor himself the right. During the fight against Ratchet and Rivet, the Emperor proclaims that his method of employing swift and brutal subjugation is how to properly make your dimension respect you, citing it as unconventional but effective. Dr. Nefarious angrily grumbles that his methods are also lacking in artistry, imagination or elegance before he furiously bellows that this is rightfully his dimension to rule. After fighting the mech back, Ratchet eventually enters the Suit's chest chamber and attacks it's bio-mechanical heart to finally take it down, causing the Emperor to become enraged while Dr. Nefarious relishes at his struggling. As Ratchet attacks the heart and fights off the attacking troopers, the Emperor shouts in bewilderment as to why they will not simply submit to him. Dr. Nefarious illustrates that this great tenacity from his enemies is the true reason his dimension is so hard to take over and not the notion that the Doctor was incompetent as the Emperor had believed.

Dr. Nefarious deals the final blow to the Emperor.

After the Power Suit's heart is destroyed and the mech finally collapses, Dr. Nefarious pulls himself out of the wreckage onto the Suit's head whilst brandishing the Dimensionator and holds it up in triumphant laughter. The Emperor quickly cuts him off however and savagely punches him in the face, knocking him off of the Suit's head and taking the Dimensionator back for himself again. Soon the Emperor and his armies fight Rivet and Kit, with the two eventually leaving him alone and cornered. The Emperor suddenly however starts to lose his mind and absolutely refuses to accept a defeat. He goes mad and begins overclocking the Dimensionator to collapse every dimension in existence into nothingness. Kit throws Rivet at him and the Lombax strikes the Emperor with a powerful blow to the face with her hammer. Ratchet catches the Dimensionator and opens a rift that a kraken tentacle emerges from and tries to pull in the Emperor. He manages to grab onto a ledge and stop himself from being pulled in but Dr. Nefarious then confronts the Emperor and stands over him. He pleads to Dr. Nefarious for help and proposes they can still win this fight together. Despite the Doctor's attempts to form a legitimate partnership with the Emperor, he however had felt nothing but loathing for his self-obsessed counterpart in the time he came to know him and easily sees through him. Using the same words the Emperor had used against him previously; the Doctor coldly asks "What do you know about winning?", before kicking his hand off the ledge and sending him into the rift below. The rift closes and Ratchet, Clank, Rivet and Kit reunite in celebration. Dr. Nefarious leaps into the air in his own celebration but slips off the head of the Power Suit, which falls over ontop of him, pinning him to the ground and knocking him unconscious.

Dr. Nefarious goes to visit Lawrence's family and to see his assistant's newborn child.

For some time after Clank had repaired the broken dimensions and halted the dimensional cataclysm using the Dimensionator, Dr. Nefarious lay passed out on the edge of the Midtown Atrium amongst the wreckage of the Power Suit. He eventually regained consciousness and escaped the scene during the city's celebration of Ratchet, Clank, Rivet and Kit's victory. In the ending credits sequence, he is seen silently bidding an end to his brief stint as emperor in Rivet's dimension and leaves Emperor Nefarious' office to go visit Lawrence and his family where he dotes on their newborn, robot child.

The record cover for "Join Me at the Top".

Later in the credits; in Nefarious Tower, Rivet and Kit go through the Emperor's record collection, comprised entirely of music created and sung by himself for the sole purpose of feeding his own self-absorbed ego. Rivet laughs and shows Kit the recent record cover for "Join Me at the Top". Sometime before the Emperor's invasion of Megalopolis, he forced Dr. Nefarious to sing this duet with him and had it released to the public. In the song, the Emperor sings about how he is lonely as the most overwhelmingly successful being in the universe and that he is everything the Doctor is not. His offers of asking others to join him at the top are quite insincere however and he is happy occupying this position exclusively for himself.

Characteristics

Appearance

As an organic life form, in the Qwark vid-comics Dr. Nefarious was depcted as a humanoid, with a large, egg-shaped head, grey/yellow-ish skin, a hunchback, and a large mouth bearing his teeth. Little is seen from the vid-comics to make out his attire as an organic life form, but it appears he wore a grey bodysuit with matching gloves and boots. In the Ratchet & Clank film and Qwark's retelling of events (where he is featured more as an organic), Nefarious had a similar cranial structure and utilized a similar bodysuit, but was equipped with decorative wings on his back, as well as red-tinted accessories such as a large node strapped to his forehead, a glowing red sigil on his chest, and a button on his belt to summon a robotic exoskeleton; this version of him had green-ish skin. These features would roughly carry over into his robotic form in both cases.

Dr. Nefarious' typical robotic form is that of a tall, humanoid robot. He has a green, transparent, egg-shaped head-dome featuring gears, cogs, pistons and a rotating satellite dish inside. His eyes are brightly colored red. Nefarious has red highlights across his torso, a pair of mechanical wings attached to his pauldrons, hydraulic pipes on his chest and back, and diamond-shaped guards on his legs and arms.

Nefarious' appearance changes slightly between different releases. In Up Your Arsenal, his body is more realistically proportioned, with a blue body, and red highlights adorning his eyes, chest, groin, forearms, and shins. In A Crack in Time, he retains this color scheme, but has a larger head, more sunken-in eyes allowing for more facial expression, a broader upper torso, and exaggerated proportions. In All 4 One, Nefarious' body is purple rather than blue. He appears much shorter, with a larger head as proportional to the rest of his body, and a more exaggerated torso with ganglier limbs. After Ratchet traveled back in time to rescue Orvus, he gained a scar on the right side of his head after having a grenade thrown at him, slightly cracking his head and causing his right eye to limp slightly within its socket.

In Rift Apart, Nefarious' proportions return to what they were in A Crack In Time, while retaining his purple colour scheme from All 4 One and also having his scar repaired. However, if one were to look close enough, a faint scratch can be seen where his scar used to be. A subtle new touch is the fact that his optics now have apertures in them which allow his pupils to shrink and grow in addition to telescopic eyelids that allow him to actually close his eyes, all in the name of giving him improved expressiveness. His face is more skull-like and his eyes are larger and more sinister, resembling their appearance from Up Your Arsenal. The Doctor's dimensional counterpart Emperor Nefarious possesses a distinct appearance from him; being taller and having a slightly bulkier, more embellished body. The Emperor also sports a different color scheme, with a white body adorned in orange highlights and a smaller orange cranial-dome. The inside of his transparent head-dome also contains three simple radio transmitters, unlike the Doctor's mass of various moving machinery. Perhaps a visual allegory for the two's different life paths and methods of thinking, with the Emperor preferring to rule as a tyrant with brutally simple conquering techniques and the Doctor being a scientist that concocts elaborate plans to outdo his enemies.

Up Your Arsenal

A Crack in Time

All 4 One

Rift Apart

Personality

Nefarious playing his Galactic Idol entry.

Dr. Nefarious is characterized as a deranged, eccentric, egomaniacal scientist, sadistically showing no remorse for his actions and pleasure in villainy. He is also very conceited, with many of his creations being made in his own image, and many of his robotic servants resembling him or sharing his mannerisms, suggesting narcissistic traits. He has an extreme hatred for organic life, referring to organic life forms as "squishies", and seeking to exterminate them or transform them into robots. Even when putting aside his hatred towards them in order to further his goals, he vowed to eventually destroy them again once he was finished.

Nefarious has proven to be cunning, able to manipulate many to work for him. He was able to fool the fongoids, the terachnoids, the Valkyries, and the Zoni to ally with him, before betraying them all. While working with them, however, he has often shown a complete impatience towards them when they fail him. While he normally betrays his allies once he has obtained his goal, when it seems clear that they will no longer be useful or co-operate with him, he will betray them prematurely.

Nefarious appears to have had a turbulent relationship with his mother as she had at one point suggested he was a disappointment. This also seems to be a source of his personal drive to succeed and prove her wrong. After brainwashing and enslaving the Fongoids on Zanifar, the doctor's computer repeated several phrases including one declaring that he was not a disappoinment like his mother had once claimed.

Towards the end of All 4 One, Nefarious' companionship with Ratchet, Clank and Qwark appears to have changed him, being close to tears when looking at a photograph of the four of them.

However, in Rift Apart, Nefarious seems to have reverted to his evil supervillain ways but has grown tired of losing to Ratchet and Clank and sought to make them know what it feels like to lose by going to an alternate dimension where he always wins. After successfully entering the dimension where an alternate version of him reigns supreme, Nefarious was exuberant at the thought of actually succeeding and didn't hesitate to take his counterpart's throne. Nefarious engrossed himself in the power of his new position as emperor, almost enjoying it too much.

However, after meeting his more capable counterpart, Nefarious showed an uncharacteristic submissive side, begging for his life to team up with Emperor Nefarious to save himself and almost regret from impersonating him. Though their team up appeared decent it was ultimately a very tense one, as Emperor Nefarious overshadowed and dominated over Dr. Nefarious the entire time, abusing him, leaving the doctor to be quiet and subdued; things Nefarious never is. Nefarious would try to advise his counterpart and make suggestions, but he would be ignored and belittled, leaving the doctor despondent and sullen. Nefarious would ultimately feel outraged and betrayed after his counterpart announced his plans of invading his home dimension, as he believed that was his dimension to rule. He would, however, get his own form of payback as he watched with amusement as Emperor Nefarious struggled in defeating the heroes and rebels that united against his counterpart, stating all along that the heroes besting him wasn't because of him but because the heroes and people of his home dimension were stubborn. After Emperor Nefarious was completely beaten and defeated, leaving him begging Nefarious for help, the doctor would simply use his counterpart's own cruel words against him and abandon the emperor to his doom.

Although the Emperor appears to be much more self-obsessed and overconfident than even the Doctor, the two share more in common than what is initially evident which, ironically, be the main reason the two don't truly get along. When Dr. Nefarious took over the Emperor's role in Rivet's dimension in his absence, he began becoming increasingly egotistical and felt he was unbeatable. This is reflected in Rivet's fights with both the Doctor and the Emperor, where they both use the Dimensionator whilst fighting her. In both fights, the Doctor and the Emperor both display the same mannerisms, believing they are the one true, all-powerful emperor that cannot be defeated and are beloved by all their subjects. What this suggests is that if Dr. Nefarious had truly been as successful as the Emperor, he would have become just as self-obsessed and conceited as his counterpart. The Emperor describes the Doctor as lacking in his own elegance, good looks, and enchanting wit, while the Doctor describes the Emperor as lacking in artistry, imagination and elegance. Interestingly when the two describe what the other lacks they both mock that the other is lacking in elegance, highlighting that they both have their own definition of what this means. The Doctor values the elegance of creativity and new ideas; a product of his life's path as a scientist and the adversity faced against his capable enemies. While the Emperor has never known defeat or been pushed to ever think in such a way, leading him to only value the elegance of shallow qualities such as his own appearance and charisma.

Abilities

Dr. Nefarious was described by Supervillain Weekly as the Solana Galaxy's foremost evil genius. He is incredibly intelligent, demonstrating his abilities when he bioengineered the amoeboids, created the Biobliterator, and built his various legions of robotic minions. He was able to create equipment to combat the Zoni, including a vessel to capture their leader Orvus, and exploited their weakness to sonic waves to cripple their hive-mind. Nefarious also demonstrates his intellect as a keen strategist, coming very close to winning a galactic war in Solana, with President Phyronix accepting defeat, cunningly manipulating many individuals and races to help him achieve his goals, and successfully tricking Clank and Sigmund into opening the Orvus Chamber for him.

Dr. Nefarious using telekinesis during battle.

Dr. Nefarious raising his shield.

In combat, Dr. Nefarious is quite formidable, possessing a vast array of powers and abilities. Before Ratchet and Clank, Qwark was the only man to have ever faced Nefarious and survived. To attack opponents, Nefarious is able to control and release various forms of energy from his hands, firing deadly projectiles and concentrated beams, and lobbing explosive balls of energy creating shockwaves upon hitting the ground. He is able to fire a large barrage of explosive missiles from his body to cover the battlefield. Nefarious also has great agility, able to perform flips and powerful jumps, seen in the use of his Cloak & Dagger technique, and fly using booster jets in his feet, with a pair of retractable wings for balance. As a defensive measure, he has the capability to create a protective energy shield that is impenetrable to any of Ratchet's weapons. However, he does not seem able to attack effectively whilst maintaining this shield and needs to lower it when continuing a battle.

Deja Q All Over Again depicts Nefarious being able to create homing clouds of energy, raise pillars of energy from the ground, and launch streams of energy into the air before raining them down to hit targeted areas. Against Ratchet in Up Your Arsenal, Nefarious projected solid light holograms of himself that lunged forward and slashed with his claws.

In Secret Agent Clank, some of Nefarious' old weaponry was displayed through Klunk's Robo-Nefarious, which was built to include these weapons: energy balls that formed electrified triangular pads on the floor, as well as the ability to fire streams of blue energy from the palms. The replica could also use its back-wings to fly.

In A Crack in Time, Nefarious was able to throw down wide electrical arcs that traveled along the ground, similarly to his arc striker troopers.

Dr. Nefarious lunging with his arm blade.

In Rift Apart, he displayed the ability to produce a large retractable blade from the diamond-shaped guard on his right forearm, that he uses to lunge and slash at his opponents with. This blade appears to be a powerful, solid light projection that can quickly be activated and deactivated in battle. He was also shown to possess some degree of telekinesis, having the ability to pull objects towards him and push them back at his enemies with great force.

Nefarious is extremely resilient, able to take large amounts of damage before being incapacitated. Despite the strength of Ratchet's weapons, Nefarious has never been heavily damaged beyond repair, and has always been able to escape with the help of Lawrence.

Equipment

Nefarious utilizing dual beam-projecting guns.

While Nefarious rarely used equipment himself as his robotic form already capable of dealing damage, many of his minions wielded powerful weaponry. He still made use of some weapons himself, often invented by him. In his first battle with Ratchet and Clank, he utilized two guns to perform a laser sweep. A notable weapon is the Biobliterator, which doubled up as a vehicle that he at one point piloted to fight Ratchet, Clank and Qwark. The Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler was used by him throughout the Great Clock, as it was able to damage the Zoni. He also possessed a blaster with ricocheting bullets that could take a Nefarious Trooper down with one shot.

The Nefarious shuttle

As he himself was unable to fly during All 4 One, he utilized his Nefarious shuttle as a means of transportation.

Nefarious using a Critter Strike in All 4 One.

During All 4 One, Nefarious used a large arsenal of weapons, including his own RYNO VI Protosuit. Nefarious equipped himself with the Annihilator Blades as his regular melee weapon; which he would use to attack with a slash from each claw, followed by a third strike with both. Nefarious also used it for his Comet-strike, where he would detach it from his arm and launch it at an opponent. His special weapon was the Cloaker, which allowed him to turn invisible, and while attacking with it he would execute the "Cloak & Dagger" maneuver whereupon he jump incredibly high and slam his Annihilator Blades into a foe. He also mentioned owning an anti-matter pulse rifle.

Nefarious has on occasion utilized mechs resembling him in appearance for combat purposes; first the Gadgetron Insta-Mech in the 2016 re-imagined game, and later his party crasher in Rift Apart.

Behind the scenes

Development

Concept art of Nefarious from Up Your Arsenal.

Dr. Nefarious was conceptualized as a new galactic calamity for the heroes to overcome when creating Up Your Arsenal. The character of a mad scientist that wanted to destroy the galaxy was a nod to villains from old radio shows and vintage science fiction films.

For A Crack in Time, writer TJ Fixman and creative director Brian Allgeier did not simply wish to rehash Nefarious' "robots vs. organic life forms" plot from Up Your Arsenal. The original idea suggested by Fixman was for Nefarious to be attempting to steal planets from around the universe. However, this did not fit Insomniac Games' criteria for the time travel theme of A Crack in Time, leading them to change his motivation. It was later reused for the villain Artemis Zogg in the Ratchet & Clank comic series.

Dr. Nefarious was originally going to be permanently killed at the end of A Crack in Time, thought to be the last game in the series, with his crashing into the Nefarious Space Station being thought of as a fitting end for the character. However, Sony executives requested that he be kept alive and the series was set to continue after A Crack in Time, leading to him be retconned to still be alive within the comic series and returning later.

Nefarious's height varies greatly between his appearances. In the vid-comics in Up Your Arsenal, organic Nefarious is shorter than Qwark, though robotic Nefarious is twice Qwark's height during fights. During both Up Your Arsenal and A Crack in Time cutscenes, Nefarious is a little taller than Qwark, though in All 4 One, Nefarious is listed as 6' and is shorter than Qwark.

Early concept art of Nefarious reveals he was going to have a different design, with a cape in place of wings.

Concept art for the Gadgetron Insta-Mech in the 2016 game depicts Nefarious as being his robotic self while piloting the mech, rather than organic.

The pre-production designs for Dr. Nefarious and many characters in the 2016 game and movie were created by Go For Launch Productions.

Series cameos

• In Size Matters, Nefarious can be seen during Ratchet's dreamtime.
• In Secret Agent Clank, Klunk created Robo-Nefarious, which shared a few of his abilities and was programmed to obey him.
• During Tools of Destruction, Qwark, while working as the announcer at the Imperial Fight Festival, could be heard saying "Will a 'Dr. Nefarious's please report to the concession stand; we recovered your wallet" over the arena's loudspeaker.
• In the comic series, newspapers can be seen written about Nefarious.
• A skin of Nefarious can be used in the multiplayer of Full Frontal Assault.
• In Into the Nexus, it is shown that Ratchet has the photo of himself, Clank, Qwark and Nefarious from the end of All 4 One kept in his toolbox. A statue of Nefarious is found in planet Igliak's museum in a center of the room containing the universe's greatest criminals, with a working replica of the Biobliterator in the Solana Galaxy section.

Non-canonical appearances

In the 2021 animated short film, Ratchet & Clank: Life of Pie, Dr. Nefarious was experimenting with the Portalizer, and presented it to his warbot henchmen, only for it to be stolen by Ratchet and Clank. Nefarious eventually retrieves it, only to have it stolen once more and his space station wrecked by the tentacled creature summoned from Dimension SV-604.

Non-Ratchet & Clank appearances

Nefarious appears in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale in San Francisco where his Nefarious Space Station is located. After some time in the stage, he will move the players onto the station and begin attacking them with help from the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler. In this game, he is allied with the Chimera, a species from Insomniac Games's Resistance series. He also appears as a Minion that is unlocked by reaching Level 80 with 3 characters.

Nefarious also appears in the Firing Range in PlayStation Home (future), and in 8-bit Mini-Mayhem.

Reception

IGN listed Dr. Nefarious as 65th in a list of Top 100 Videogame Villains, noting he was an example of a series villain who is "evil in the most loveable way", and praising his malfunction in which he blows a fuse only to be whacked later. A Game Revolution praised Nefarious' "psychotic babbling", stating that it "strikes the right balance between threatening and comical". Matt Miller writing for GameInformer listed Dr. Nefarious as their seventh best in a list of top ten A.I. characters of the decade, claiming his plots "are too ridiculous to take seriously, and just the right challenge for the dynamic duo", concluding that he was a great villain who who "hits all the right notes to fit the franchise". Jim Sterling listed Nefarious as one of "Gaming's maddest mad doctors" in an article for GamesRadar.

References

Video games

• Insomniac Games (2004). Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal [Game]. PlayStation 2.
• Insomniac Games (2005). Ratchet: Deadlocked [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 2.
• Insomniac Games (2007). Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
• Insomniac Games (2008). Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
• Insomniac Games (2009). Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
• Insomniac Games (2011). Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One [Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment. PlayStation 3.
• Insomniac Games (2016). Ratchet & Clank [Game]. Sony Interactive Entertainment. PlayStation 4.

Bibliograhpy

• Greg Off (2004). Ratchet & Clank Up Your Arsenal Official Strategy Guide [Book]. BradyGames. ISBN 0744005000.
• Fixman, TJ (2010). Ratchet & Clank (Issue 1: Ears of War) [Book]. Wild Storm.
• Greg Off (2011). Ratchet & Clank All 4 One Official Strategy Guide [Book]. BradyGames. ISBN 0744013437.
• Sony Interactive Entertainment (2018). The Art of Ratchet & Clank [Book]. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1506705729.

Websites

• McLaughlin, Rus (2012, June 14). "IGN Presents The History of Ratchet and Clank". From IGN. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017.
• Dawkins, Dan (2018, March 26). "“We made a four-page manual on crate stacking”: Ratchet and Clank’s creators on the lessons of their 15-year success story". From GamesRadar. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018.
• Game Revolution (2004, November 13). "Ratcheting up the fun. Review". From GamesRadar. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017.
• IG (2010, May 11). "The Top 100 Videogame Villains". From IGN. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017.
• George, Richard; Schedeen, Jesse (2010, September 7). "Ratchet & Clank's Vacation Adventure". From IGN. Archived from the original on September 7, 2024.
• Miller, Matt (2010, November 24). "Top Ten A.I. Characters of the Decade". From Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017.
• Sterling, Jim (2011, March 31). "Gaming's maddest doctors". From GamesRadar. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017.

Videos

• Allgeier, Brian; Fixman, TJ [@GDC] (2018, June 26). 15 Years of Ratchet & Clank: A Lombax Story [Video]. YouTube.