Origin

Dr. Cornelius, one of the senior scientists for Weapon X, is employed by the mysterious Professor Thornton. Some time after World War II, Wolverine is taken in by the project and Cornelius is assigned with the task of perfecting and using a technique that would bond the indestructible alloy adamantium to human bone cells. This adamantium-bonding process was first created by Lord Dark Wind ( Lady Deathstrike's father), but is only put into use after being perfected by Cornelius when he succeeds in bonding Logan's skeleton with adamantium, after which Logan is indoctrinated into the Weapon X assassin program.

Omega Red

Years later, Japanese crimelord Matsu'o Tsurayaba and his allies, including former Weapon X scientist Doctor Cornelius, resurrect the Russian super-soldier Omega Red. In order to stabilize his mutant power, Omega Red requires the Carbonadium Synthesizer, a device stolen from him by Team X decades earlier. Omega Red captures Wolverine, who had the location of the C-Synthesizer buried in his memory, and several of Wolverine's teammates in the X-Men. Maverick is hired by former Team X liaison Major Arthur Barrington to prevent Omega Red from obtaining the device, and he tracks another former Team X member, Sabretooth, to Omega Red's location. With Maverick's help, the X-Men are able to defeat the villains, and he subsequently kills Cornelius in an act of revenge.

Death of Wolverine

Years later, it was revealed that doctor Cornelius had survived his ordeal with the X-Men and had secluded himself to another laboratory-facility known as "Paradise". There, growing older and being obsessed with his greatest creation and failure; Wolverine, he kept on experimenting on persons and adamantium. He long stayed under the radar, but that changed when doctor Cornelius was in need of more adamantium and found it necessary to 'bring home' his first creation Wolverine. He hired a great band of mercenaries to bring Wolverine back alive. The mercenaries failed to capture Wolverine, but their trail did bring Wolverine to the Paradise facility, where Wolverine was attacked by Cornelius' newest weapon. Wolverine managed to defeat the adversary and broke through the bulletproof-windows that were shielding Cornelius, striking him fatally with the glass in the process. Making his escape, Cornelius started a process that was supposed to inject adamantium into his new test-subjects. Wolverine intervened, saving the test-subjects, but seemingly killing himself in the process, while Cornelius made his escape. However, just before Cornelius entered a waiting helicopter to make his escape, he noticed the seriousness of his wounds. Cornelius slowely fell to the ground and bled to death on the helicopter platform of his own facility.

Other versions

Ultimate Doctor Cornelius

In this version, Doctor Cornelius along with his benefactor, Colonel John Wraith heads up the Weapon X Program. Unlike his benefactor though, he does not seem to harbor any anti-mutant sentiments, but he merely wishes to conduct experiments on mutants to indulge his own curiosities. The Weapon X Program is sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Gulf War and results with the creation of Wolverine, their greatest achievement ever. After Wolverine escapes, Weapon X capturs several other mutants to be his replacements and eventually captures the X-Men as well. In their captivity, Cornelius augments the Beast's natural abilities along with giving him a keen sense of smell. This procedure causes Beast to transform even more by growing blue fur all over his body and growing claws on his hands and feet. After Wraith is killed by Nick Fury and Weapon X is shut down by S.H.I.E.L.D., Cornelius' whereabouts are unknown. It is not confirmed if he has anything to do with the rogue Weapon X agents led by Tara who hunt Wolverine all over Manhattan and participate with the coup against the President of the United States. Later on, he recruits the quadriplegic Lady Deathstrike and offers her a chance of revenge against Storm, the person who is responsible for her present condition. He splices some of Wolverine's DNA with hers which gives her a healing factor that is twice as fast as Wolverine's and also bonds her shattered body with adamantium. Cornelius' true objective however is to capture Wolverine since he is accompanied by Storm at that time and he uses that fact to manipulate Deathstrike. His attempts, however, end in failure with Deathstrike being captured and imprisoned in the Triskelion and his chopper being blown up. He is presumed dead. It has recently been revealed that he survived the helicopter crash but has been horribly disfigured. He is responsible for Sabretooth's latest attack on Wolverine in order to gain a tissue sample. The attack works and Cornelius is shown planning to use the flesh to clone a more a compliant Wolverine.

Television

X-Men : The Animated Series

Abraham appears in the episode Out Of The Past.

X-Men : Evolution

He also appears in the episode Grim Reminder.

Wolverine And The X-Men

He makes an appearence in the episode Past Discretions. When he learns that Wolverine is in the area where Weapon X is located, Abraham Cornelius contacts Professor Thornton and is given orders to send Sabretooth to attack Wolverine. In "Stolen Lives," he and Professor Thornton have Sabretooth and Maverick abduct Christy Nord.