Dr. Neo Cortex

Dr. Neo Cortex is a major antagonist throughout the Crash Universe story. He is featured in several side stories, as well as the Commando arc.

Childhood
Cortex spent his childhood traveling with a family of carnies. His father was a dangerous alcoholic, and is thought to have killed his mother. The only one that Cortex was ever comfortable with was his sister, Cera, who watched over her little brother. As the two grew older, Cortex had his sights set on a prestigious medical school to get away from the life he was living. Cera began to secretly prostitute herself and deal large amounts of cocaine to get money for Cortex to be able to pay for a year's tuition. Eventually their father found out, and began to beat the two of them. Cortex woke up to several journalists and police, questioning him about his father and sister. As he found out later, his father had been arrested while him and Cera were both hospitalized. Before he could visit his sister, he discovered that she had been discharged and arrested in connection to a variety of drug deals and muggings. Cortex was then placed in an orphanage, and sent to a terrible public school. He was very quiet and angry at how his life had developed. Eventually, as a senior prank taken too far, a group of football players kidnapped Cortex and took him to the old carnival grounds where Cortex lived, and branded him with an 'N' on his forehead for nerd. This was the last straw for Cortex. He and Brio, who was another abused genius in the school, developed a bomb from what they had at the school and blew it up. Being charged with the mass murder at the school, Cortex and Brio were sent to court, where Cortex ended up being set free, with the prosecution not having enough evidence to tie the explosion to him. Brio wasn't so lucky, and was given multiple life sentences.

Commando Era
After leaving the the courtroom, Cortex was confronted by one of the jurors, who told him that he had been looking for someone like Cortex for a long time. He gave his name, Joseph Talins, and provided Cortex with the monetary backing to pursue whatever he desired. Cortex took this opportunity to create the Cortex Vortex, a device that would give him power of people through brainwashing. With this new technology, along with several high-powered weapons, including his trademark ray gun and hover board, Cortex was bent on taking over the entire world.

During a UN conference, Cortex infiltrated and used his Cortex Vortex on the world leaders that had gathered. Everyone assumed that Cortex had failed to kill them, but had actually succeeded in turning them into Commandos, soldiers in his army. After being jailed in a maximum security prison, he waited as the world leaders slowly destroyed their own countries, and eventually ran the world down into the ground. Cortex was freed, and took his resources and began a march on the world, taking hundreds of thousands of prisoners, who were then categorized into Commandos and excess. Excess prisoners were killed without hesitation. His army eventually stretched over large portions of the Earth. Several pockets of resistance attempted to free their loved ones or take out the Commandos, but were immediately wiped out. One group, however, was able to make a name for themselves on an international scale. The 'Black Foot' as they were known, were able to develop a way to end the effects of the Cortex Vortex, and began to take back control of the world from Cortex. Eventually, their leader took on Cortex and lost. It didn't matter, however, as the Commandos were being freed in mass. Cortex and Brio took what they had and fled to an unknown archipelago off of the coast of Australia.

Crash Bandicoot Era
After being forced into hiding on the islands, Cortex began to use his continued funding from Talins to create a new lab and developed a new breed of allied Commandos from the animals on the island. Talins wasn't happy with Cortex's new pursuit, and cut off his funding. With a handful of loyal soldiers, including Pinstripe Potoroo, Ripper Roo, and Koala Kong, Cortex began to take over the islands. He next attempted to create a bandicoot general with the two bandicoots that he had captured. After evolving them both, the male, Crash Bandicoot, escaped through a window, where he fell into the ocean and washed up on N. Sanity Island. Crash had ended up destroying the Cortex Vortex, piquing Cortex's interest in him. He returned to the nest where he had captured him and found another female bandicoot. He repaired his Vortex and created a new general who he had named Cortex Commando (Coco). Tawna, the original female bandicoot, was no longer any use to him other than bait for Crash, so he kept her in a cell deep within the castle.

Cortex spent a lot of time training and preparing his more intelligent soldiers, Coco and Pinstripe, and sent them out to capture Crash, which they did almost effortlessly. Cortex then used the Vortex on Crash, creating three super Commandos. He then set out with Brio to make a name for himself again after several years in Sydney, Australia.

After capturing and taking over the city, Coco, who came out of her Vortex state due to the Vortex being unstable when used on her, as well as her growing intelligence and moral voice, defeated Cortex, Pinstripe and Brio, rescuing Crash and returning to islands. Cortex had managed to sneak onto the ship, and escaped back to the islands with them. He then captured more animals and began to create more super commandos, believing his plan was great, just underestimated. He also began to work on a bandicoot that had the Vortex infused within them.