In More Fun Comics #72 (August 1941), Doctor Fate suddenly changes his helmet to only cover half of his face, in what I’m assuming is a continuing attempt to humanize Kent Nelson, a trend that began earlier this year. No in-story explanation is given for this change, but according to Wikipedia this was later retroactively explained as Nabu “occasionally possessing” Kent Nelson.
Oh, and the reason Doctor Fate is alive after the terrifying drop is explained quite simply by Kent: “My body, partly composed of molecular energy, is immortal!”. Uh-huh 🤔