John Lumic

"This is the Age of Steel and I am its creator."

- Lumic after his conversion

John Lumic is the creator of an alternate reality version of the Cybermen and is the main antagonist of the Doctor Who episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "Age of Steel".

He was portrayed by the late Roger Lloyd-Pack.

Beginning
John Lumic was the founder and owner of Cybus Industries. One of the company's most notable inventions were the Ear Pods- earpieces that allowed the download of information directly into the brain. However, Lumic was dying, forced to stay in a wheelchair with a life support system. Seeking ways to reach immortality, he began to have homeless people kidnapped off the streets to use as test subjects. The result of these experiments were the Cybermen.

Lumic intended for Cybermen to never age or sicken, making their lifespan infinite; but when the President of Great Britain forbid any further research, Lumic took matter into his own hands and sent an army of Cybermen over to the house of Peter Tyler. They proceeded killed the President and many of the other guests who were celebrating Peter's wife Jackie's birthday. Next, sending a signal through the Ear Pods, Lumic had the whole of London march toward his Cybus factory to be converted into Cybermen. Mr Crane, Lumic's right-hand man, ripped out his Ear Pods before they could control him and managed to destroy Lumic's life support system before being killed by a Cyberman.

The Cyber-Controller
Though he planned to undergo the conversion in his final moments after all other humans have been converted, Lumic's pleas fell on death ears and he was converted into the Cyber-Controller. Lumic confronted the Doctor as Mickey Smith sneaked into Lumic's zeppelin and shut down the transmitter controlling all the people marching into the factory. The Doctor stalled for time, subtlety dropping hints for the code Mickey could use to shut down the emotional inhibitors. Mickey cracked the code and sent it to Rose Tyler's phone, which The Doctor plugged the phone into the main console, sending the code to all the Cybermen and causing them to self destruct from the maddening surge of emotions.

The Doctor, Peter and Rose escaped to the roof, where Mickey and Jake Simmonds were waiting for them from the zeppelin. Enraged, Lumic chased after them up the rope ladder before Pete cut the rope with the Sonic Screwdriver to send the Cyber Controller falling into the inferno below.

Although the Controller was already deceased, his factories around the world still continued their work and the Cybermen later returned by entering the Doctor's universe through a rift made by the Cult of Skaro.

Trivia

 * Lumic's actor, Roger Lloyd Pack, also portrayed Barty Crouch Sr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Crouch's son, Barty Crouch Jr., is portrayed by David Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor.
 * His death scene is similar to that of Gregory Goyle in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
 * Several parallels existed between Lumic and Davros, creator of the Daleks. Both Davros and Lumic relied on life support machines, yet also seemed to have a sense of superiority to others among their species. They both also tried to conquer their respective home planets by converting or mutating their own kind into an emotionless and militaristic race. Interestingly, both of their creations eventually worked out that their respective creators deserved the same fate as any other inferior beings, with Davros being exterminated and Lumic being forcibly Cyber-converted.