Elders of the Universe | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Collector: The Avengers #28 (May 1966) Elders of the Universe: The Avengers #174 (Aug. 1978) |
Created by | Collector: Stan Lee (writer) Don Heck (artist) Elders of the Universe: Jim Shooter, Bill Mantlo (writers) David Wenzel (artist) |
Characteristics | |
Notable members | List of members |
The Elders of the Universe are a group of supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Collector was the first Elder to appear, and featured in The Avengers #28 (May 1966), [1] but the idea that he was a member of a group known as the Elders was not introduced until The Avengers #174 (Aug. 1978).
The Elders of the Universe are the last survivors of otherwise extinct races. Each discovered that they had potentially infinite lifespans, dependent on maintaining the will to continue living. They are thus known for their personal obsessions (such as collecting, contests of strategy or strength, and various fields of study), each of which is pursued fanatically. While the characters are not truly cosmic entities, all have achieved some cosmic level of power and knowledge related to their particular pursuit. The first encounter with the heroes of Earth occurs when the Collector came to Earth seeking to expand his collection. [2] Later, the Grandmaster created the supervillain team the Squadron Sinister as pawns to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, the superhero team the Avengers. [3]
Although thwarted, the Grandmaster and his fellow Elders take an interest in Earth, and the Collector has two separate encounters with the Avengers, the second ending with his murder by the entity Korvac. [4] The Grandmaster also tricks the entity Death into playing a contest—again involving many of Earth's heroes—that he deliberately loses to resurrect the Collector. [5] The Grandmaster usurps control of Death's realm, and after a battle between the Avengers and the Grandmaster's champions—the Legion of the Unliving—is tricked by the Avengers. An angered Death then prevents the Elders from ever entering her realm, which effectively makes them immortal and is the Grandmaster's true goal. [6]
The Elder known as the Champion of the Universe has a brief encounter with many of Earth's strongest heroes and challenged them to a boxing match. While he did have them use his personal gym to prepare, the Champion of the Universe had to disqualify Namor when he refused to stoop to training and Doc Samson, whom the Champion declared to not be a worthy opponent. The day of the boxing match came around as the Champion of the Universe faces off against his opponents. After disqualifying Thor, Hulk, and Wonder Man for different reasons and defeating by knockout Colossus and Sasquatch in hand-to-hand combat, he faces Benjamin Grimm of the Fantastic Four. Eventually realizing that the outmatched Grimm would never submit under any circumstances, the Champion concedes the match and offers Grimm his respect. [7]
A group of eleven Elders later join forces and meet on Ego the Living Planet (who is also regarded as an Elder) in an effort to kill the cosmic entity Galactus, which would cause the concepts Eternity and Death to become unbalanced and end the universe. The Elders believe since they are now immortal they would be the only beings to survive and would be supreme beings in the new universe. The plan, however, is thwarted by Galactus' Heralds the Silver Surfer and Nova. Galactus captures and consumes five of the Elders (Champion, Collector, Gardener, Grandmaster and Runner), but three other Elders (Astronomer, Possessor and Trader) are sucked into a black hole and pass through it into a mystical universe. Two Elders avoid the wrath of Galactus and his hunger, The Contemplater and the Obliterator. Both meet with each other being seemingly the last known surviving Elders and plot their revenge against the universe. [8]
Despite this setback, the eight Elders continue their plot against Galactus. While the five Elders within Galactus inflict a fatal case of "cosmic indigestion" upon him, the three Elders in the mystical realm conspire with the cosmic entity the In-Betweener to restore him in exchange for him returning them to their home reality and his promise to kill Galactus. Using the Silver Surfer, Mister Fantastic, and the Invisible Woman (whom Galactus had sent in search of the Infinity Gems), the In-Betweener is restored, and he brings the Elders back to their own reality. Once there, the In-Betweener attempts to kill Galactus, but discovers that he cannot do so. When he announces his intention to hurl Galactus into the black hole instead, the three Elders, who wanted to rescue their brother Elders from within Galactus, threaten him with the other five Infinity Gems to stop him. The In-Betweener responds by summoning Death and forcing her to negate them despite her vow. As a result, the Astronomer, the Trader and the Possessor and his Runestaff are apparently disintegrated. The ship carrying Galactus is then thrown into the black hole and passes through to the mystical realm where the In-Betweeners's creators, Master Order and Lord Chaos, force the five Elders within Galactus to exit his body, restoring the world-devourer. During the subsequent battle between Galactus and the In-Betweener, the quintet are eventually persuaded to help Galactus defeat his foe. [9] Moments later, the five Elders use their Infinity Gems to instantaneously travel very far away from Galactus and his vengeance. [10]
Another Elder, the Contemplator, allies with the space pirate Captain Reptyl against the Silver Surfer, but is betrayed and apparently killed. [11] The Contemplator is revealed to have survived—as a disembodied head—and goes on to attempt to rule the Kree Empire, but is seemingly destroyed by the peace-loving alien Cotati. [12]
The five Elders that were previously consumed by Galactus (Champion, Collector, Gardener, Grandmaster, and Runner) are targeted by the Titan Thanos because they possess the Infinity Gems. Thanos humiliates each in turn (the Gardener is murdered) and captures the Gems. [13] The Elder the Runner has an encounter with the hero Quasar during which the time being Eon describes the Runner as one of "the thousand or so Elders I'm aware of." [14] Quasar also later confronts the Obliterator, the Possessor, and previously unknown Elders the Explorer, the Judicator and the Caregiver. It is also revealed that the Contemplator killed by Reptyl was in fact a Skrull, and not the true Contemplator. [15]
The Grandmaster reappears and creates a new version of the Squadron Sinister. Courtesy of a phenomenon known as the Wellspring of Power—an interdimensional source of superhuman abilities—the Grandmaster increases the Squadron Sinister's powers and they battle the superhero team the New Thunderbolts. The Grandmaster is defeated by Baron Helmut Zemo, and the Squadron Sinister scatter and escape. [16] [17] Champion has an encounter with the heroine She-Hulk and aids her foe Titania by giving her the Power Gem, currently in his possession. [18]
The Astronomer, Champion, Grandmaster, Judicator, and Runner traveled to the planet Godthab Omega, and witnessed the arrival of the Annihilation Wave. [19]
After Battleworld is destroyed at the conclusion of "Secret Wars," the Elders examine the planet's remains, and find them to be teeming with Power Primordial in the form of an "Iso-Sphere". Their inability to come to a mutually beneficial agreement regarding ownership of the Iso-Sphere prompts the Elders into holding a winner-takes-all Contest of Champions which all but the Grandmaster and Collector are eventually eliminated from. [20]
During the "No Surrender" arc, it was revealed that one Elder of the Universe originally went by the name of Grandmaster before being defeated by En Dwi-Gast and banished from the Earth-616 reality. Because of the Multiverse being rebuilt, this Elder of the Universe returned where he took the name of Challenger and assembled his version of the Black Order to go up against Grandmaster and his Lethal Legion. [21]
The "Empyre" storyline introduced an Elder of the Universe called the Profiteer. [22]
Each Elder of the Universe possesses a fraction of what is referred to as the Power Primordial, remnants of the primordial energies of the Big Bang that still permeate the universe. [23] The Power Primordial can be used to produce a wide range of effects, including augmentation of physical attributes (strength, durability, speed), molecular restructuring, creation of force fields, teleportation and numerous other abilities. Some Elders have incorporated this power into their singular obsessions and developed its potential in themselves (i.e. Champion, Runner) while others have to varying degrees mixed that power with tools or resources their obsessions afforded them (i.e. Contemplator, Grandmaster, Obliterator) or even largely ignored it as irrelevant or detrimental to their pursuits (i.e. Gardener, Collector).
Each Elder has developed skills related to their particular field of interest over a lifespan measured in billions of years. In their particular fields of endeavor (i.e. Grandmaster in strategy, Caregiver in medicine), they have essentially unrivaled superhuman levels of talent and expertise.
Several Elders of the Universe appear in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the primary Marvel continuity. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four #48.
The Champion of the Universe is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is not necessarily a villain but has played the role in the past through his impetuous and arrogant actions.
Eternity is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by scripter-editor Stan Lee and artist-plotter Steve Ditko, the character is first mentioned in Strange Tales #134 and first appears in Strange Tales #138.
Firelord is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Captain Universe is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden, the character first appeared in Micronauts #8. Captain Universe is the guardian and protector of Eternity. Rather than a character with a single identity, it is a persona that has merged with several hosts during its publication history.
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55. An Eternal–Deviant warlord from the moon Titan, Thanos is regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. He has clashed with many heroes including the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Fantastic Four, the Eternals, and the X-Men.
Death is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in Captain Marvel #26. Death is a cosmic entity based on the personification of death. The character has also been known as Lady Death and Mistress Death at various points in her history.
The Grandmaster is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Avengers #69. The Grandmaster is one of the ageless Elders of the Universe and has mastered most civilizations' games of skill and chance. Different media appearances depict him as the Collector's brother.
Quasar is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is one of Marvel's cosmic heroes, a character whose adventures frequently take him into outer space or other dimensions. However, Quasar deviates from the archetype of the noble, dauntless alien set by such Silver Age cosmic heroes as the Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) in that he is an everyman. He starred in an eponymous monthly ongoing series written by Mark Gruenwald that ran for sixty issues beginning in 1989 and has served as a member of The Avengers.
Lord Chaos is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 ( 1977). Lord Chaos is an abstract entity. It is the cosmic counterpart of Master Order and serves as the embodiment of chaos.
Ego the Living Planet is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Thor #132 and was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby.
Terrax the Tamer is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist John Byrne and writer Marv Wolfman, the character first appeared in October 1979, and is a herald of cosmic entity Galactus and enemy of the Fantastic Four.
The Ultimate Nullifier is a fictional device of immense power appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The device made its first appearance in Fantastic Four volume 1, issue #50, in which Johnny Storm retrieves it from the home of Galactus to employ against Galactus himself. The Nullifier appears as a small, hand-held metallic device with no apparent functionality. When first introduced in 1966, it was described as the only known weapon in the universe capable of inspiring fear in Galactus.
The Stranger is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Gladiator is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in The X-Men #107 and was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum. Gladiator, whose given name is Kallark, is a Strontian, and like others of his race has the capacity for great strength and various superpowers, but can only use them when he is completely devoted to a purpose; his abilities increase and decrease in accordance with his level of confidence. He was born on Strontia, which is part of the Shi'ar Empire and he is the leader of their Imperial Guard. He was also a member of the Annihilators, Dark Guardians, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Korvac is the name of a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appears in Giant-Size Defenders #3 and was created by Steve Gerber and Jim Starlin.
Collector is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, the character first appeared in The Avengers #28, during the Silver Age of Comic Books, and has been a recurring antagonist in various storylines over the course of the ensuing decades.
Last Planet Standing is a 5-issue comic book limited series, published by Marvel Comics in 2006. The series was written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Pat Olliffe. It stars many characters from the MC2 Universe and is a sequel to the 2005 miniseries Last Hero Standing.
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book Fantastic Four #48, published in 1966.
Master Order is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 (1977). Master Order is an abstract entity. It is the cosmic counterpart of Lord Chaos and serves as the embodiment of order.
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