John Deegan (Earth-1: Pre-Crisis)

"My name is Dr. John Deegan, and I, like most of you, I'm a psychiatrist. Do you know what my patients tell me the most? They feel inferior. I'm here to tell you, whether we admit it or not, some people, they're just born lucky, which leads us to the real problem, imperfection. How can we ever hope to feel like supermen or superwomen without first becoming super ourselves?"

- Deegan's monologue

Dr. John Deegan, Ph.D., M.D. (died December 10, 2019), was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum and later the wielder of the Book of Destiny. In one of his Elseworlds, he became the vigilante Superman using the only history record of Kal-El while the latter was fighting AMAZO.

Early Life
Deegan was born and raised in Gotham City and gained degrees of psychometrics. Later, he became a psychiatrist and worked at the Arkham Asylum. He later used excessive measures including torture and experiments on his patients. However, he was able to escape from legal actions, but his medical license was eventually revoked in 2013 as well as being fired from the medical board.

Due to his inability to perform medical procedures, he became a professor at The American Psychiatric Consortium.

Gaining the Book of Destiny
In 2018, Deegan gave a presentation about how experiments can turn patients into Metahumans. However, the audiences thought it as an insane idea and left before he could elaborate. He then walked to the parking lot where he was approached by Mar Novu. Deegan thought Mar is a prankster trying to get some laughs until the latter crushed Deegan's car. Deegan asked who he is and Mar told him that he is beyond his understanding. Mar then gave him the Book of Destiny to allow him to alter reality as he sees fit.

Powers

 * Powers via the Book of Destiny

Abilities

 * High-level Intellect
 * Psychology
 * Peak of Human Physical Condition

As Superman

 * Kryptonite

Former Equipment

 * Book of Destiny
 * Superman Suit