Stranger (Marvel Comics)
| Eternity | |
|---|---|
| File:Avengers-138.jpg The Stranger battles the Avengers in Avengers vol. 1, #138. Art by George Tuska. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11 (May 1965) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| In-story information | |
| Abilities | Relative Omnipotence |
The Stranger is a fictional cosmic entity that appears in the Marvel Universe. The Stranger first appears in Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11 (May 1965), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Fictional character biography
The Stranger first visits Earth out of curiousity, and after an encounter with the mutant X-Men departs, taking the supervillain Magneto and his servant Toad off-world for further study. [1] The Stranger then becomes convinced that mankind is dangerous and sets out to destroy the Earth, but is dissuaded from this course of action by Bruce Banner and his alter-ego the Hulk, [2] and later the cosmic being the Silver Surfer. [3]
The Stranger returns several years later to aid the Fantastic Four against the villain the Overmind, [4] briefly battles the superhero team the Avengers [5] and encounters the Kree warrior Captain Marvel. [6] Sometime later the Silver Surfer encounters the Stranger once again, and the entity the Living Tribunal reveals that the Stranger could have represented his fourth face (each face signifies a different entity), but the Stranger refused. [7]
By the Stranger's own admission, he is apparently the fusion of a "billion billion" beings - a claim that has some credence as the Titanian Eternal Thanos at one point uses the Infinity Gems to blast the Stranger, who then splits into a number of smaller beings. [8]
The only other fact known about the Stranger is that he acquires sentient beings from across the universe for his collection on "Labworld." It should be noted that many of these beings are "collected" against their will. Past specimens have included Magneto and the Toad, and the villains the Abomination and Mercurio the 4-D Man. The hero Quasar recently freed many of the "specimens". [9]
The Stranger most recently posed as the entity The Beyonder, and then captures several heroes and villains who are manipulated into fighting each other for the purpose of study. [10]
Powers and abilities
The Stranger appears to be capable of using cosmic energy for virtually anything, with feats including size shifting, [11] molecular manipulation, [12] space travel, [13] intangibility [14] and energy projection. [15]
References
- ^ Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11
- ^ Tales To Astonish vol. 1, #89 - 90
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 1, #4
- ^ Fantastic Four vol. 1, #113 - 116
- ^ Avengers vol. 1, #138
- ^ Captain Marvel vol. 1, #42
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 3, #31
- ^ Infinity Gauntlet #5
- ^ Quasar #14 - 16
- ^ Beyond! #1 - 6 (2006)
- ^ Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11
- ^ Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 1, #4
- ^ Silver Surfer vol. 1, #4
- ^ Captain Marvel vol. 1, #42