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Oberarzt Matthias Jäger was a mysterious Nazi alchemist who desired to use the powers of the Philosopher's Stone in 1947 to resurrect an army of Nazi soldiers and return the Third Reich to its former glory, after its then-recent downfall in World War II.

Biography[]

Following the end of World War II, Doctor Matthias Jäger became known for conducting reanimation experiments with dead tissue. In 1947, Jäger employed a variety of henchmen ranging from ordinary thugs to former Schutzstaffel troopers, chief among them was the fanatically loyal Dunkelvolk and the SS general Heinrich.[1] His face was hideously disfigured and corpse-like,[2] which earned him the nickname, "The Monster of Minsk".[1] Over all his years as a war criminal, Major Nadia Kirov from the Soviet Union had been pursuing Jäger for his past crimes, but with little to no success a few times, with Jäger always getting away from Kirov's "bloodhound sniffing", though barely.[1]

Unfortunately for Jäger, in addition to Kirov, he and his goons ran afoul of a formidable foe: the American archaeologist Indiana Jones, who was also searching for the Philosopher's Stone to keep it out of from Fascist hands. Dunkelvolk was captured just like Jones by Kirov's forces, and during his brief imprisonment, Jones became aware of Jäger's interest on the Stone due to Dunkelvolk accidentally spilling the beans. Jones' friend Marcus Brody from the National Museum would later inform him about all of Jäger's past activities.[1]

Despite these setbacks, Dr. Jäger successfully acquired the parts of the Stone after Dunkelvolk managed to retrieve all three pieces from Jones. He arranged for Brazilian weaponry to be boxed inside the train that Dunkelvolk arranged for Klobenz, Germany, but all the ammo was blown up by a sneaky Indiana Jones, so Dunkelvolk took Kirov, mistaking her for the one behind the explosion, to Jäger, who slapped her and ordered his guards to take her to his tower so she could become one of his acolytes. Satisfied that the whole town would be distracted by the opening of Bitburg's Medieval Museum and that such night would consist of a full moon, Jäger decided to perform the ceremony he intended to do by unifying the Philosopher's Stone's fragments to achieve his goals: resurrect a whole army of Nazi officers to take over the world, reason for which he unearthed corpses from several of Germany's military cementeries.[1]

Jones catched Jäger just as he prepared to summon the Nazis back to life in front of Kirov and Heinrich, taking the opportunity to warn him about the dangers the Philosopher's Stone's forces were going to unleash, but Jäger demanded his silence so Heinrich quickly knocked Jones out.[1] Jäger conjured and finished the incantation to unify the three fragments under the full moon,[2] bringing the nineteen Nazi corpses present with them back to life while the rest of the buried Nazis in the cemetery started to wake up, swearing with them and Heinrich that they would all rule the world. All seemed partially successful, but suddenly, Jones recovered and interrupted the ritual by removing the Philosopher's Stone, so Jäger lunged at him in an attempt to retrieve the Stone. But just as Jones had tried to warn him, Dr. Jäger was not pure of heart to wield the Stone and was fried alive by its awesome power, taking the zombies with him as he dropped dead to the floor while all of his resurrected allies started to burn away. His corpse was presumably crushed when the tower collapsed as a result of the Stone's explosion.[1]

Personality and traits[]

Matthias Jäger was a fanatical follower of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Such was his devotion to Hitler that, upon learning about the possible existence of the Philosopher's Stone, so consumed with restoring the "former glory" that Germany had lost in World War II, Jägger obsessed himself to find it and see his country's rebirth despite his allies' skepticism about the supernatural, arrogantly assuring everyone that his plans to bring the Nazis back to power would succeed and that such resurrection would be the greatest event of history. Like most of the Nazis, Jäger was a straight-up racist and mysognist: when facing Major Nadia Kirov, not only Jäger slapped her, but called her "filthy Slav scum" for supposedly destroying his weaponry and ammunition.[1]

He was a twisted and wicked individual, though an intelligent one, given how his right-hand Dunkelvolk praised him as a genius. Nonetheless, Jäger was a person without a pure heart, not caring who he would have to kill to get what he wanted. Major Kirov would describe him as "scum", "despicable monster" or "demon", among other names, and all were fitting for the Nazi doctor, as many of the plans he recorded in golden scrolls contained research on nuclear energy and atomic bombs that indicated an affinity for mass damage and destruction. According to Kirov, Jäger felt a lust for relics, well-known to the point she planned to use some treasures found by Indiana Jones as a "bait" for the dreadful doctor. As pointed out by Jones, Jäger lacked a respect for the dead, as he didn't seem ethically concerned of summoning back to life his fallen comrades instead of leaving them in posthumous peace. However, Jäger's way of being ultimately cost him his life: upon trying to resurrect his fallen comrades, the Stone recognized his dark heart and judged him unworthy of holding it, disintegrating him with its awesome power.[1]

While Dunkelvolk was absolutely loyal to him, it was implied that Jäger doesn't really care for him, given how Dunkelvolk believed that his boss was gonna forgive him for losing his weaponry if he gave him the fragments he sought, in addition to Jones pointing out that maybe Dunkelvolk didn't count with his master's trust due to being unaware of what he planned. Nevertheless, Jäger genuinely thanked and credited his acolyte when Dunkelvolk managed to bring him the three fragments of the Philosopher's Stone. He also seemed to get along with General Heinrich, referring to him by his first name rather than rank during the ritual.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

Matthias Jäger first appeared in Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix from Dark Horse Comics where he bears some resemblance to Adolf Hitler, the historical Nazi leader whose body was burned following his suicide. The comic was adapted from a shelved LucasArts game of the same name,[1] in which the Nazis are trying to resurrect Hitler from his ashes following World War II,[3] which may have influenced this appearance.[1] The game's lead animator, Anson Jew, described Jäger's original version as a villain similar to Major Arnold Ernst Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark, though a bit "tougher".[4]

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Matthias Jäger's concept art for the original Iron Phoenix video game.

While Jäger's role in the original Iron Phoenix story is largely the same as that in the comic book,[1] there were some differences that did not make it into the published story. Although he retained his nickname as "The Monster of Minsk", Jäger was not disfigured and had a personal connection to Nadia Kirov in that he was directly responsible for her family's death in a concentration camp.[3]

His dream was to resurrect Adolf Hitler specifically which brings about his own demise as he successfully revives the Führer in Bolivia only to be killed by the transformed Hitler in a single blow for bringing him back with no military with which he can reclaim his power. Instead, it was Hitler who was the one to be killed by the power of the Philosopher's Stone[3] while in the comic, Hitler doesn't come back and Jäger is the one who gets disintegrated by the Stone.[1]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

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