Dr. Robert Bethany was a physician at the Smallville Medical Center and scientist at Level 33.1 in the WB/CW TV series Smallville. He served as the main antagonist in the Season Six episode "Freak".
He was portrayed by Adrian Hough, who also voiced Haytham Kenway in Assassin's Creed III.
Biography[]
Robert Bethany was a doctor working for Lex Luthor who was abducting and experimenting on meteor-infected individuals around Smallville. In order to locate meteor-infected people, Dr. Bethany exploited Tobias Rice, a young man who had been blinded during the second Smallville meteor shower.
The incident had left Tobias with the ability to sense other people who had also been infected by the meteor rocks and had powers. When someone who is meteor-infected was in his vicinity, they would glow an eerie green, often outlining them in ultraviolet colors, as shown within his point of view. Due to Tobias' gift, Bethany located and abducted numerous infected individuals and conducted experiments on them, extracting their DNA before erasing their memories of the abduction.
Dr. Bethany arrived at a bowling alley guiding Tobias who persuaded him to take his glasses off and discover a meter-infected person. Tobias pointed directly at Daniel Kim, a bowling employee with telekinesis, saying he's "one". Dr. Bethany went to the Luthor Mansion to speak with Lex, saying Tobias was getting impatient waiting for a cornea transplant and knew Lex was delaying the surgery because it would take away Tobias' ability.
He was certain Tobias would tell someone what they were up to, but Lex said their work was far too important to prevent the meteor-infected from killing others. Dr. Bethany didn't believe him though. Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan later visited Tobias at his house and while offering ice tea, Tobias almost dropped a glass but Clark used his super speed to catch it. Tobias was startled when his glasses fell off, gasping and clutched his head before asking them to leave. Clark and Chloe were suspicious so he used his super hearing to listen in on Tobias calling Dr. Bethany, reporting that he "found another one."
Clark discovered Dr. Bethany's involvement and confronted him at the hospital but he denied even knowing Daniel Kim and maintained that Tobias' file was confidential. When he turned away, Clark distracted him by blowing on paperwork with his super breath and stole Dr. Bethany's laptop. Clark took it to Chloe but she had gone missing. He then visited Tobias again to question him. Clark thought Chloe was taken because she was a witness, but he was shocked when Tobias reveals that Dr. Bethany was only collecting meteor-infected people.
The doctor had Chloe abducted and she was experimented on strapped to a table, naked, while masked figures scan her body and took DNA samples. Dr. Bethany admitted to Lex that his computer was stolen, and it contained information implicating LuthorCorp. Lex instructed him to bring Tobias back and recover the laptop by any means necessary. Tobias was preparing to leave with Lana Lang when Dr. Bethany arrived, claiming that it was finally time for Tobias' surgery.
Tobias seems prepared to leave with Dr. Bethany but turned off the lights in the house and retrieved one of his father's guns. Dr. Bethany announced his intention to kill Tobias and Lana with a stun gun designed to fake a heart attack to cover up his research. Lana intervened and the three had a standoff in Tobias' home. Tobias tries to scare him away with the gun, but they struggle. Lana retrieves Tobias' gun. She shoots at Dr. Bethany at the same time he blasts Tobias with the stun gun, but Clark super-speeds into the confrontation. He deflected Lana's bullet and absorbs the blast, reflecting the electric charge of Bethany's own gun that stuck him, killing him.