Rudy Zoom

Rudy Zoom was the boss of an expedition to go to the Sun and, in his own words, a "handsome quadrillionaire".

When Rudy was ten, he built his first hoverbike. When he was twelve, he started selling them. By the time he was sixteen, he was worth sixty billion pounds. He claimed to be the first man to swim the Mariana Trench, the first man to climb Olympus Mons and the first man to "cycle the rings of Saturn". Eventually, he aspired to be the first man on the Sun, and hired an all-woman expedition to do so. Professor Alice Dubrovnik believed him to have been a "reckless, egotistical fool", but also pointed out that he was also the only one to fund Alice's work on the graviton inverter. Alice's graviton inverter was used on the sunship the Pollyanna to stop the Sun from crushing it with its gravity. After ten years of planning, the expedition of the the Pollyanna reached the surface of the Sun. When the Umbra had infiltrated the Pollyanna, Rudy offered to negotiate with them. Clara Oswald, realising what might happen, eventually agreed and encouraged him, as it was their last chance. When the Umbra tried to devour Rudy's mind, his mind was "like poison" to them, as he didn't have any self-loathing in his mind for them to feed off. (COMIC: The Eye of Torment)

He later financed an expedition on the land vessel the Beagle on the moon Titan so that the psychic Lady Takashi could find the alien presence that drew her to the moon from a dream. Rudy said that this was because he always believed in following your dreams. He also put Lady Takeshi in charge of navigation in the contract. Later, when the ship changed its buoyancy and sailed on the methane river, the Beagle approached a cavern, and Lady Takashi said that they were close. They found a Garden with a breathable environment and artificial gravity, but no animal life. The team was attacked by the Garden's robotic Keeper, but the Twelfth Doctor stopped it. Afterwards, the Haluu plants in the Garden intended to consume them. After being knocked out when the Haluu Oksanna found him "irritating", Rudy found himself in the Dreamspace where Sythorr—who was the giant Haluu below the two trees—chased Bill and Rudy in an attempt to wipe their minds as part of his plan to take over Earth. They escaped and projected themselves into the real world until they woke up. Oksanna ordered Bill and Rudy to be released. As they ran for the doors, Oksanna sacrificed her life to destroy Sythorr and the domed garden. After making it to the ship, Rudy saw the last piece of Sythorr warn the Doctor before dying that "The unknown soldier...is stirring." (COMIC: The Soul Garden)

Behind the scenes
Writer Scott Gray indicated that Rudy Zoom was inspired by comedian Lenny Henry.