Victor Cassadine's Reign Of Terror On General Hospital Explained

In 1978, Gloria Monty was named executive producer of "General Hospital" in a last ditch effort to save the show from being canceled. By infusing action and adventure — with a healthy portion of intrigue and espionage tossed in — she not only saved the show from ending, but also revolutionized daytime television. One of her most famous achievements has also been considered to be among the most bizarre plotlines on the show.

While mob boss Frank Smith (George Gaines) was a ground-level villain, the Cassadine family was introduced and proved to be loftier in their villainy as the head of the family, Mikkos Cassadine (John Colicos), was a megalomaniac. While weather modification is happening in the real world now, back then it was considered science fiction, and Mikkos had developed his own weather controlling machine. He planned to use it on Port Charles with the intent of blackmailing the world for total domination.

Together with his brothers Tony Cassadine (Andre Landzaat) and Victor Cassadine (then Thaao Penghlis), Mikkos used his machine to create a blizzard in the city in August of 1981. Victor's girlfriend was Tiffany Hill (Sharon Wyatt), and as WSB agent Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers), along with Luke and Laura Spencer (Anthony Geary and Genie Francis) closed in on Mikkos' compound on Cassadine Island, she switched sides and helped the good guys. Tony and Mikkos were killed, and Victor was arrested and believed to have later been killed while incarcerated.

Victor Cassadine became the head of the World Security Bureau, and he recruited Dr. Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough) to help bring the cryogenically frozen Mikkos' son, Stavros Cassadine (Robert Kelker-Kelly), and Mikkos' wife, Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers), out of stasis at the Crichton-Clark Clinic. Robin refused, but Victor explained that her friend, mafia enforcer Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), was also in frozen captivity. She reluctantly agreed and successfully created a reanimation procedure. Victor forced her to test it on Jason before using it on his family. When Jason was successfully resuscitated, Victor didn't need Robin anymore and his henchman removed her from the lab. He then set about bringing Stavros and Helena back.

Victor later learned that Detective Nathan West (Ryan Peavey) was the son of Dr. Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati), with whom he'd had an affair years prior. Victor suspected Nathan was his son, but Obrecht claimed otherwise. Nathan's real father was international super criminal Cesar Faison (Anders Hove). In order to protect him from Faison, Obrecht changed her story, claiming Victor really was the dad.

However, a DNA test proved Victor and Nathan weren't related. At the clinic, Victor was holding Nathan, and several others captive. Anna and Robert Scorpio stormed the facility and rescued everyone. Just as Anna was going to arrest Victor, Obrecht shot him to keep the secret of Nathan's paternity. Before he died, Victor activated the self-destruct sequence, destroying the clinic and presumably himself.

In 2021, Liesl Obrecht and her boyfriend, Scotty Baldwin (Kin Shriner), were on a plane that hit turbulence, and they blacked out. When she woke up, Obrecht found that an undeniably alive Victor (now Charles Shaughnessy) had her captive, and had Scotty tossed out of the plane with a parachute. Victor was hatching a secret scheme, and this was just the beginning. He had Drew Cain (Cameron Matheson) imprisoned as well, planning to not only brainwash him but also obtain information on a secret venture called Project Demeter that was buried in Drew's memories.

An enraged Obrecht soon found that the evil Peter August (Wes Ramsey) was in league with Victor who had also captured Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), and revealed that he was Valentin's father. The WSB invaded Victor's compound, arresting him, but the wily villain brokered a deal for immunity by telling them Peter's location. Later, Victor and Valentin both separately figured out that Peter and Maxie Jones' (Kirsten Storms) baby was being carefully hidden by Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton).

To stop Valentin from revealing the truth, Victor had him locked in the trunk of a car. Victor had Drew under his control for a time, but it was eventually broken, and Drew was freed. Laura then attempted to have Victor deported, so he tasked Valentin with killing her, threatening Valentin's daughter, Charlotte Cassadine (Amelie McLain) — but Valentin couldn't do it.

Victor held Charlotte hostage so Valentin would obey him, but Valentin, Laura, and her husband Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom) rescued her. Victor had also killed Paloma Perez, Holly Sutton's sister (both Emma Samms), and held Holly's son Ethan Lovett (Nathan Parsons) prisoner to force her to follow his orders. Victor realized that Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring) was spying on him, so he had Holly wear an Anna Devane mask, and shoot Lucy, who fell into the harbor and was presumed dead. He further planted evidence to implicate Anna. With the help of mob boss Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard), Anna escaped, and she and Valentin tracked Lucy to one of Victor's safe houses in Europe.

Victor also wanted Holly to steal a necklace made from shards of the Ice Princess that had a code embedded in them. However, Holly worked with Robert Scorpio and Felicia Jones (Kristina Wagner) to fake her own death, and the necklace got into the hands of the good guys. Valentin and Anna learned that Lucy was alive and being held prisoner, and the two managed to rescue her, and faked all their deaths in a flood in the catacombs beneath Paris.

Now, as Victor seems to be nearing the endgame of his mysterious plan — which could potentially be another weather machine – the team of Port Charles heroes is growing and the good guys are poised to take on whatever threat Victor is cooking up.