Who's This? Not Skeletor.
The facts: John Dee - Doctor Destiny - first appeared in Justice League of America #5 (June 1961) by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, initially using some anti-grav device. In his second appearance (JLofA #19), his new invention was the Materioptikon, which could make dreams come true (like the Legion's Miracle Machine), which would define the villain into the present day. His use as a Justice League villain spanned the original series and got him a mini-series (A Midsummer's Nightmare) as Morrison's JLA was ramping up, as well as a storyline in JLA Classified. Justice Society of America and Batman/Superman also made use of him, and in the New52, he faced Justice League Dark.
How you could have heard of him: Neil Gaiman's Sandman used John Dee in a seminal early story that connected him to the Dreaming, and ensured he would appear in the Netflix adaptation of the series (played by David Thewlis). Yes, he appears in the DCAU and the Arrowverse, but the Sandman is much more likely to stick even if he doesn't exactly wear the skull mask.
Example story: Justice League of America #154 (May 1978) "I'll Kill You in Your Dreams!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin
You know a villain is both epic and bonkers when, for no one but himself, he goes to the trouble of making wax statuettes of the Justice League so he can melt them in a bubble pot as a demonstration of what he figuratively plans to do to them.
TEN HOURS LATER... The Justice League, as civilians, are staying at a new luxury hotel, the Gotham Starscraper, which some of them have financed, some of them are helped build (because it's got superscience like anti-gravity disks in the disco and robot arms that make the beds), some of them are reporting on (or accompanying a loved one who is a reporter), and some of them have been invited as guests. It is, let me tell ya, a MONSTROSITY of first-percenter opulence that doesn't cast the best light on the Justice Leaguers involved (Batman and Atom), no matter how many mechanical amenities were designed for disabled patrons. Is being less than a billionaire a disability? With its robot waiters, there's certainly no room for even ONE poor person just simply WORKING there. The heroes go to bed that night, the single ones sharing a room apparently, without realizing that Dr. Destiny is watching them sleep.
Wait, does he KNOW who they are? Or is he doing this to everyone in the hotel and it's a coincidence? What follows is a series of bad dreams that seem almost too real(TM): Superman loses to Lex Luthor and accidentally kills Jimmy... Batman has freaky bat wings... Oliver Queen's arrows boomerang back at him... and so on. In each case, the heroes wake up in a cold sweat. The next morning, only the Leaguers feel uneasy, so I guess it's just them. The hotel's dry run ends, everyone goes home, leaving only Destiny inside.
And then the dreams start happening for real. Even the impossible ones:
One by one, the heroes fall prey to their nightmares, although in Batman's case, it's more of an exhilarating dream, so Destiny has to take the dream FROM him for it to become a death trap.
That's Dream's ruby in action right there. But of course, instead of waking up in a state, the Justice League find a way out of their various situations. And since they only know one villain who can make dreams a reality, they all converge on the Starscraper to fight Destiny. But are they ready for this amount of power? For this intense a twisting of reality? For this great an INFODUMP?!
Yes, this is the first time Dr. Dee has been shown in the Skeletor get-up. He says he's a skeleton (albeit a well-toned one), but we'll take that with a grain of salt, just like later retcons require us to do with the bit about putting the Materioptikon inside a ruby clasp. And now he will use that ruby to fight the League with dream logic!
What ensues is a rather physical fight for a villain who "can do anything" (kind of the basic powers suite for JLA villains), but it's a fight he wins. Or does he? When reality is a little dodgy, you better make sure the Atom isn't sitting pretty inside the Materioptikon projecting his OWN imagination.
Canary, will you do the honors?
Thanks. The Atom even uses the ruby to wipe Dee's knowledge of their secret identities (no Zatanna required).
In the final analysis, a villain who can enter your dreams is, as we know from the Elm Street franchise, a winner, and in comics, it's a good way to infuse a story with all sorts of crazy shenanigans. There's always a certain frisson when you can't be sure what's real and what's not (the Total Recall Effect). So Dr. Destiny? Top-tier JLA villain? What do you think?
Who's Next? A magical helmet with a body under it.
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