Dr. Kinji Obatu was the finance minister of Uganda before he gained superpowers. When he became Doctor Spectrum, Obatu gained the power to retract light and transform it into concussive energy, or solid constructs that ranged from simple tools and weapons to complex machines or bombs. He was introduced to comics in Avengers #69 (October 1969) by creators Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, and Steve Perrin.

Obatu started out as an arrogant man, earning a PhD in economics from Oxford on his way to a prominent position in the oil rich country’s government. He was a corrupt autocrat, xenophobic and racist, insisting that white business partners and those from outside of Uganda bribe him and then he insulted then because they needed his help.

When the Grandmaster created the Squadron Sinister, he chose Obatu to wield the Power Prism. The prism was sentient and had the power to manipulate energy, however it needed to possess a human host. Before becoming the prism, it was the Skrull Krimonn who had his physical form taken from him after he tried to over through Emperor Dorrek VII. Obatu bonded with the prism, learning how to use the power and communicate with the prism’s consciousness.

Now going by Doctor Spectrum, he was sent to fight the Avengers with the Squadron Sinister in a competition orchestrated by the Grandmaster and Kang the Conqueror. Iron Man beat Doctor Spectrum when he realized that the latter had a weakness to ultraviolet light. Obatu wanted to retaliate, however, Krimonn wanted to possess Iron Man since he was a stronger host.

The prism manipulated Obatu into approaching Tony Stark in his civilian identity and claimed that he wanted to hire Iron Man to protect him from superhuman threats. Doctor Spectrum attacked Iron Man, but was defeated by Tony Stark and Thor. Iron Man then shattered the prism and had Obatu sent back to Uganda since he couldn’t arrest him because Obatu had diplomatic immunity.

Back in Uganda, the president sentenced Obatu to death for his crimes, so the now-powerless doctor fled captivity. He joined with W’Sulli, a witch doctor in a neighboring country, who controlled a vampire zevumbie. Obatu convinced W’Sulli to use the zevumbie to kidnap ten well known Black people so that he could present them to the president, hoping that it would overturn his death sentence.

Black Panther was one of the people that had been kidnapped, and his allies Brother Voodoo and The Thing followed him to Uganda. They confronted W’Sulli and made him release the souls that had been captured, which include Nightspawn. Enraged, Nightspawn killed W’Sulli and Obatu fell to his death over a balcony.