Leonus
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| Leonus | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Incredible Hulk Annual #1 (Oct 1968) |
| Created by | Gary Friedrich and Marie Severin |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Inhuman |
| Abilities | Lion-like attributes |
Leonus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
Leonus first appeared in Incredible Hulk Annual #1 (October 1968), and was created by Gary Friedrich and Marie Severin.
The character subsequently appears in Fantastic Four #83 (February 1969), The Incredible Hulk #119-120 (September-October 1969), Amazing Adventures #1-2 (August-September 1970), Silver Surfer Vol. 1 #18 (September 1970), Inhumans #1 (October 1975), #4-6 (April-August 1976), Marvel Fanfare #14 (May 1984), Fantastic Four Unlimited #2 (June 1993), and Fantastic Four #401 (June 1995).
Leonus appeared as part of the "Inhumans" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #6.
Fictional character biography
Leonus is one of several Inhuman criminals (which also consisted of Aireo, Falcona, Stallior, and Timberius) that Black Bolt finds guilty of treason and is banished from the Hidden Land of the Inhumans to another dimension. When the Hulk attacks Lockjaw, he teleports the Hulk to the dimension where the evil Inhumans have been banished. Maximus the Mad appears and recruits them all as part of his military takeover of Attilan, and teleports them all back to the Hidden Land. Maximus seeks a device created by the ancient Inhuman scientist Romnar, which can absorb people. The evil Inhumans use the Hulk to gain access to the device, and build a ray gun to use it to attack Black Bolt. The evil Inhumans squabble over the device for their own ideals of conquest, and Black Bolt is able to defeat them. To try to regain Black Bolt's favor, the evil Inhumans try to stop the Hulk as he rampages through Atillan, but only Black Bolt is able to stop the Hulk.[1]
When Maximus captures the Fantastic Four and the Inhuman Royal Family, he selects Leonus as one of his loyal guard to serve him. When the prisoners escape, they defeat Maximus and the Inhumans loyal to him, but are unable to stop Maximus and his followers from escaping in a rocket.[2]
Maximus takes over the island of Costa Salvador with his band of evil Inhumans, using a robot that puts people into a hypnotic trance, and intends to slowly take over the world with more of these robots. The Hulk arrives on the island, and the evil Inhumans attack him; when the military arrives, Maximus convinces the Hulk to join him.[3] The Hulk attacks the army, causing them to retreat, and the evil Inhumans begin arguing over what to do with him as they fear his aggression. As they begin fighting with each other, Maximus calms them. When the Hulk smashes Maximus' robot, the Inhumans flee through a secret tunnel. As the Hulk and the military square off to fight, Maximus and the Inhumans blast out of the ground in an escape ship that flies off into the sky, providing a distraction for the Hulk to escape.[4]
The evil Inhumans assist Maximus as he Maximus produces a couple of missiles to make it look as though the Fantastic Four fired them at the Great Refuge; after Black Bolt destroys the missiles, he declares war on the Fantastic Four.[5] Black Bolt suspects Maximus may be behind the missile attack and dispatches Triton to check up on him, who discovers the missile silo and abducts Maximus to return to the Great Refuge for judgment.[6]
When the Silver Surfer crash lands in the Hidden Land of the Inhumans, he is attacked the evil Inhumans led by Maximus, who succeeds in making the Surfer believe that the Inhumans as a whole are responsible for the attack.[7]
Leonus was part of a group of Inhumans (including Kaliban, Asmodeus, Avius, Falcona, Timberius, Pinyon, and Seeker II) that assaulted the Fantastic Four during a public appearance in the Bronx, New York. The Inhumans sought to recover Ahura, the son of Black Bolt and Medusa, for the Genetics Council. Ahura was convinced to return to Attilan peaceably, but the Chief Justice of the Genetics Council betrayed the rest of the Inhumans to usurp Ahura's power for himself. The "evil" Inhumans continued to defend the Genetics Council. When the Chief Justice was defeated, they vanished into the shadows.[8]
Powers and abilities
Leonus gained lion-like attributes upon his Terrigenesis soon after birth.
References
- ^ Incredible Hulk Special #1 (October 1968)
- ^ Fantastic Four #83 (February 1969)
- ^ The Incredible Hulk #119 (September 1969)
- ^ The Incredible Hulk #120 (October 1969)
- ^ Amazing Adventures #1 (August 1970)
- ^ Amazing Adventures #2 (September 1970)
- ^ Silver Surfer Vol. 1 #18 (September 1970)
- ^ Fantastic Four Unlimited #2 (June 1993)