Stranger (Marvel Comics)
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
| The Stranger | |
|---|---|
 The Silver Surfer confronts the Stranger on the cover of reprint title Fantasy Masterpieces #5 (Apr. 1980). Art by John Buscema. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Uncanny X-Men #11 (May 1965) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Abilities | Immortality Power cosmic |
The Stranger is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
[edit]The Stranger first appeared in X-Men #11 (May 1965) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.[1]
Fictional character biography
[edit]The character is a cosmic entity and principally a scientist and surveyor of worlds, first visiting Earth out of curiosity.[2] After an encounter with the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who first think he is a powerful mutant,[3] the entity departs, taking the supervillain Magneto and his servant Toad off-world for further study after encasing them in special cocoons. The same title depicts Magneto's escape and return to Earth using a spaceship he repairs when the Stranger leaves the planet (leaving Toad behind). However, the Stranger recaptures the villain after Professor X telepathically alerts the Stranger.[4]
The Stranger reappears in the title Tales to Astonish, becoming convinced that mankind is dangerous and sets out to destroy the Earth using the Hulk, allowing a better race of humanity to take over. He transports to Earth a machine that increases his mental power over the Hulk. The character is dissuaded from this course of action by the Hulk's alter-ego, Bruce Banner. However he takes the supervillain Abomination into space with him, thinking him truly evil.[5] In the title the Silver Surfer, the Stranger again attempts to destroy the Earth, on this occasion using a powerful "Null-Life" bomb. After a battle with the Silver Surfer and learning that a human scientist sacrificed himself to defuse the bomb, the Stranger retreats.[6]
In the title Fantastic Four the Stranger aids the superhero team against the entity the Overmind,[7] and in Thor watches as the Thunder God battles the character's servant of the time, the Abomination.[8] The title The Avengers features a story in which the Toad impersonates the Stranger and battles the superhero team.[9] The true Stranger encounters the Kree warrior Captain Marvel in the title of the same name,[10] and in Marvel Team-Up encounters the hero Spider-Man when trying to obtain the Soul Gem from Adam Warlock.[11]
The Stranger also appears in the self-titled The Champions and aids the group to contain the reactivated Null-Life bomb left on Earth[12] and in a Marvel Two-In-One Annual enlists the aid of the Thing and the Hulk to fight against the threat of the Olympian god Pluto.[13]
The character reappears in the third volume of the Silver Surfer, where the entity known as the Living Tribunal reveals the fourth side of its head to be a void and claims that it could have represented the face of the Stranger.[14]
The Stranger also joins the Avengers in battle against the space pirate Nebula, who has acquired the "Infinity Union", a device that allows the user to absorb all forms of ambient energy, and who seeks to acquire more by repeatedly destroying and recreating the universe.[15]
In the title Quasar, cosmic beings known as the Watchers approach the Stranger for aid in halting a lethal information virus, with the hero Quasar taking advantage of the distraction to free many of the specimens on the Stranger's "Labworld", including Stardust.[16]
In the limited series "The Infinity Gauntlet", the Stranger appears among the gathering of cosmic entities opposing the Titan Thanos, and attacks the latter teamed with Epoch and Galactus.[17]
In the limited series Starblast the Stranger is instrumental in merging the New Universe into the Marvel Universe.[18] He next appears in a retold flashback story in Professor Xavier and the X-Men;[19] and outside of continuity in Marvel Adventures.[20]
In the limited series X-Men Forever, the character is revealed to have subtly manipulated and accelerated the evolution of human mutants for a long time, in a plot to harness their potential to gain control of all higher cosmic entities.[21]
He next appears in Marvel Universe: The End, again among the beings opposing Thanos.[22]
The Stranger prominently features in the limited series Beyond!, posing as the Beyonder wherein he captures several heroes and villains and forces them into battle for the purpose of study.[23]
Powers and abilities
[edit]The Stranger possesses the ability to channel and manipulate cosmic power on a scale comparable to that of Galactus and the Celestials,[24] with feats including levitation; force field creation; size shifting and molecular manipulation of matter;[25] light speed space travel; intangibility and energy projection[26] and assembling a planet from segments of inhabited worlds from across the universe.[27] The entity also possesses a "laboratory" world, where items are stored, and beings of interest, referred to as specimens, are kept prisoner for study.
In other media
[edit]The Stranger appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill! (Six Against Infinity, Part 1)", voiced by John Barrowman.[28] This version enslaved the Korbinites, though Beta Ray Bill escaped and became a janitor. The Stranger eventually locates Bill, who defeats him with the help of Thor.
References
[edit]- ^ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 359. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
- ^ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-1465455505.
- ^ X-Men #11 (May 1965)
- ^ X-Men #18 (Dec. 1965)
- ^ Tales to Astonish #89 (April 1967)
- ^ Silver Surfer #5 (April 1969)
- ^ Fantastic Four #113–116 (Aug.–Nov. 1971)
- ^ Thor #178 (July 1970)
- ^ The Avengers #137–138 (July–Aug. 1975)
- ^ Captain Marvel #42 (Jan. 1976)
- ^ Marvel Team-Up #55 (March 1977)
- ^ The Champions #12–13 (March & May 1977)
- ^ Marvel Two-In-One Annual #5 (Jan. 1980)
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 3 #31 (Dec. 1989)
- ^ The Avengers #317–318 (May–June 1990)
- ^ Quasar #14–16 (Sep.–Nov. 1990)
- ^ Infinity Gauntlet #1-6 (July-Dec. 1991)
- ^ Starblast #1–4 (Jan.–April 1994)
- ^ Professor Xavier and the X-Men #15 (Jan. 1997)
- ^ Marvel Adventures #5 (Aug. 1997)
- ^ X-Men Forever #1-6 (2001)
- ^ Marvel Universe: The End #4–6 (June–Aug. 2003):Marvel Universe: The End #1–6 (March–Aug. 2003)
- ^ Beyond! #6 (Feb. 2007): Beyond #1–6 (Sep. 2006–Feb. 2007)
- ^ Thanos Annual #1 (2014)
- ^ X-Men #11 (May 1965)
- ^ Silver Surfer #5 (Aug. 1969)
- ^ Beyond #1–6 (Sep. 2006–Feb. 2007)
- ^ The Super Hero Squad Show: Three New Baddies
External links
[edit]- Stranger at Marvel.com
