Zom
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Strange Tales #156 (May 1967) |
| Created by | Stan Lee and Marie Severin |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Zom |
| Species | Demon |
Zom is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. He is a gigantic semi-humanoid demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange.
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[edit] Publication history
Zom first appeared in Strange Tales #156-157 (May–June 1967), and was created by Stan Lee and Marie Severin.
The character subsequently appeared in Doctor Strange #20 (August 1990), World War Hulk #3-4 (October–November 2007), Incredible Hulk #111 (December 2007), World War Hulk #5 (January 2008), and New Avengers Annual #2 (March 2008).
[edit] Fictional character biography
Zom was, according to his own words, "Created long ago" for no other purpose than to destroy. It is unknown who his creator was. After a presumably devastating rampage, Zom was imprisoned by several powerful magic users working together (including Dormammu, traditionally not a character prone to cooperating with anyone - although this was a long time ago). He was fitted with a "crown of blindness" and "manacles of living bondage", and trapped inside a small amphora in another dimension by Eternity.
When Doctor Strange was confronted by Umar, years ago, her power threatened to overwhelm him. The Ancient One directed him to a distant dimension to retrieve Zom, as he was one opponent even she could not defeat. But while the ploy was successful in deflecting and banishing Umar, Zom now became the threat; in the end, the demon was dispatched by the Living Tribunal himself.[volume & issue needed]
Following Zom's banishment, Strange magically stitched the Amphora back together and sealed it with a spell. A small fragment of Zom remained imprisoned inside the jar, which was kept safe by Doctor Strange.[volume & issue needed] On one occasion, the "Zomling" managed to escape, but was eventually defeated and imprisoned again.[volume & issue needed]
When faced with the unstoppable rage of the Hulk during "World War Hulk", Doctor Strange resorted to invoking Zom's essence into himself by drinking the contents of the amphora.[1] Since the Zomling was said to grow back into the full Zom once it had gathered sufficient mystical energy, and Strange referred to it as the true Zom during the invocation, it seems that this process has now been completed. In the following issue it was referred that seven S.H.I.E.L.D.-employed mystics stated that he did indeed channel Zom's powers,[2] and he severely battered and damaged the Hulk, but was eventually beaten. According to writer Greg Pak, "In Strange's defense, he didn't release Zom in the flesh the way he did back in the day -- instead Strange channeled Zom's power through his own body. That's probably one of the reasons the Earth remains on its axis. (For now, anyway...)"
After Strange's defeat, the infernal entity resumed its mission to destroy the Earth dimension, and started by inhabiting Iron Man's discarded "hulkbuster" armour, to activate the latter's anti-matter doomsday device. Wong sought to recapture it into the urn, and was assisted by Hercules, Namora, the Angel, and Amadeus Cho. While it still proved too powerful to defeat, Amadeus managed to trick it into possessing his body, so the Angel could knock him out, and it was successfully resealed. Zom was referred to as severely depleted at the time.[3]
In the second New Avengers annual, Doctor Strange was shot and ostensibly killed by the demon-empowered Hood, who was leading an all-out assault by about fifty super-villains on the doctor's house. Strange, however, rose again and manifested what appeared to be the power of Zom to dispatch all his enemies (and friends) in one furious conflagration. After this, he left the Avengers and possibly the mortal plane to "relearn everything he lost", explaining he could not control the dark forces he unleashed.
During the assault of Amatsu-Mikaboshi on all of existence during the Chaos War storyline, he released all the damned and demons from the various underworlds in the Marvel Universe. Apparently, this also caused the Zom-essence in Doctor Strange to be "rekindled."[4] During Doctor Strange's fight with Abomination, Amatsu-Mikaboshi attacks Doctor Strange from behind awakening the Zom part of Doctor Strange.[5] At the time when Hulk was fighting his father Brian Banner, Hiroim used his powers to try to exorcise Zom from Doctor Strange. This attempt failed, but when the Abomination finds a way to awaken the power of Death that is inside Marlo Chandler, she uses this power to destroy Zom and Abomination, freeing Strange from Zom.[6]
[edit] Powers and abilities
At original full power Zom appears to have been by far the most powerful known demon in the Marvel Universe, considering that it (at the time) far exceeded even Umar in terms of raw mystical might, and even Eternity needed help from Dormammu and other mystical entities in order to imprison it.[7] It once took the Living Tribunal to actually stop the fiend, although Zom greatly feared the Tribunal.[8]
Zom wields vast amounts of mystical energy and displays mastery of several different spells which Dr. Strange had considerable trouble deflecting.[volume & issue needed]
Zom's head was adorned by a long tuft of hair, like a topknot, which apparently acted as a perception shield, masking his presence from other sorcerers.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Zom at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
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