Phalanx (Marvel)
The Phalanx are an alien species that feature in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Origin
The Phalanx was the term given to an interstellar machine society that operated on a galactic scale and represented an intellect that had total control over a host galaxy. One account also them as being the creators of the Technarchy who were dispatched to remove undesirables that were not worth Ascension. The Phalanx were apparently created by the Titans, singularities of consciousness so vast and dense, that they have caved in on their own combined intelligence to form black holes - realms that exist outside normal spacetime and where the Phalanx dwell. The Titans are also singular intellects and not a collective or a group. A single black hole is a Titan intelligence, up to five black holes confined to a galactic cluster or a dense collection of stacked galaxies becomes a Stronghold, warring factions seeking to actively destroy or absorb other Strongholds in order to achieve a Dominion status which is when 10 or more of these incomprehensible cosmologically-scaled beings act in unison to control a particular sector or sectors of space in both the area and epochs of time, becoming galaxy-spanning, interconnected tears in the fabric of existence. The only primal threats to them are Galactus and the Phoenix. They infected with a Techno-Organic Virus and created the Technarchy to act as their cosmic janitors. The Phalanx may even be a higher evolution of the Technarchy or be multiple Technarchies that are unaware of each other's existence. What is known is that their ultimate goal was to consume lesser societies and manage the energy needed for that kind of assimilation as a way to continue to expand and increase the Dominion's intelligence. (Powers of X v1 #2) It was said that they had existed for 100,000 life cycles and had the collective knowledge of previous generations. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #343) During the course of their existence, the Phalanx were noted to had assimilated the technology of 100,000 worlds and slaughtered 200,000 races. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #344)
The Kree's Black Judges were able to capture some of them, to study their hive-mind to see if they could weaponize them and use them against rival empires, they were forced to deemed them a failure due to their advanced adaptivity. (X-Men v5 #9)
In June 1982, the UK based covert agency known as Black Air managed to recover a Phalanx specimen that had a Skrull form template with the body being taken in for study. (Excalibur v1 #90)
Phalanx Covenant
First exposure to the Phalanx came when the reborn Cameron Hodge attacked his old friend Archangel where he revealed that a number of others had been created with the purpose of eliminating Mutants though his foes were unaware of the true nature of this threat. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #306)
Phalanx' initial attempt to assimilate mutants into its collective was thwarted by the natural resistance of mutants to the Transmode virus. In a scheme to subvert the X-Men's mutant genome knowledge base, Phalanx attacked the X-Mansion, kidnapped most of the X-Men and replaced them with disguised Phalanx members. Banshee returned to the school after the attack and kidnappings. The imposters' ignorance of Professor X's inability to walk alerted Banshee to their deception. Sabretooth, recruited from a cell in the complex, joined with Banshee to save Emma Frost and Jubilee. When Banshee discovered the Phalanx had accessed the location of several young mutants for use in further study, he alerted Wolverine and Cable. In turn, they recruited Cyclops and Jean Grey. Professor X, Excalibur, X-Factor and X-Force sought the location of a third, unknown, group of Phalanx. To prevent the Phalanx from accessing any further information, Banshee destroyed the knowledge base. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #316)
The Phalanx on Earth have assimilated a number of people, including loved ones of the X-Men, while clashing with the X-Men at various times. The Phalanx, however, soon developed its own collective intelligence, greater than the sum of its parts. Realizing this, the Phalanx assimilated Cameron Hodge and he became the overseer of the group, while Steven Lang later revealed that the Phalanx was designed by his scientists to be an upgraded version of the Sentinels as a means to destroy mutants. The Phalanx however evolved into targeting humans as well. Because they were unable to absorb mutants, they kidnapped the X-Men in an attempt to decipher their DNA or else eradicate them. Professor X recruited the X-Force, Excalibur, and X-Factor to stop them, along with Banshee, Emma Frost, and Sabretooth to rescue what would become the mutant team of Generation X. Later, they tried to contact the Phalanx collective in deep space, but they were stopped by Cannonball, Wolfsbane, and a Phalanx version of Cypher. The Phalanx spread themselves all throughout the earth, establishing colonies. Although partially a Phalanx himself, Steven Lang proved to be their downfall as he eventually betrayed them in favor of humanity. Their defeat was in large part due to the self-sacrifice of Blink and the self-destruction of the echo of Doug Ramsey. The Phalanx of earth all died from having their power source drained and then unleashed upon them; however more Phalanx remained in outer space.
Mister Sinister was shown to had captured a Phalanx specimen for study and used for his own experiments. (Uncanny X-Men v2 #4)
After consuming numerous civilizations, the Phalanx then turned their attention towards the Shi'ar Imperium. This saw them rampage through their territory with the Shi’ar unable to halt the Phalanx as they came to conquer the Throneworld of Chandilar. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #343) They were defeated when Beast configured a device that purged the Phalanx of their pirated technology causing their bodies to fall apart and disintegrate thus thwarting heir attempt at assimilating the Shi’ar. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #344)
Living Phalanx matter continued to be experimented on in facilities around the world. One such program came to be run by an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. operative with this resulting in Project Mainspring. (Warlock v5 #1)
Conquest
This saw them send the Galadorian Space Knights as sleeper agents to Hala in order to usurp the Kree defenses and assimilate its inhabitants. After taking over their war-net, a spire was created that turned an entire region of space into a pocket dimension separate from the rest of the cosmos so that the Phalanx could control it. (Annihilation: Conquest: Prologue v1 #1) Within hours the rest of the empire had been conquered, the majority of Hala's population had been assimilated, and an impenetrable energy barrier encased the Kree Empire. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #1) The entirety of the Kree empire was trapped within this barrier with the Phalanx attempting to solidify their control. Among the forces they engaged were various of the local races that were resisting them and the Annihilation Wave in those territories that had been ceded to them. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #2)
The Phalanx had evolved to recognize that individuality was useful and therefore permitted the existence of a minority of assimilated victims to retain enough independence to be unpredictable and therefore more effective thus creating the Selects. (Nova v4 #6) In the Kree homeworld, the inhabitants were either used as labor to keep the systems running or they were 'processed'. In which those whom had special talents or abilities became "Selects", and the rest were turned into fuel for the Babel Spire by disassembling them at the molecular level. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #1) Star-Lord discovered that the Phalanx were going to assimilate the rest via use of an airborne techno-virus. (Annihilation: Conquest - Starlord v1 #3)
The fleets of several interstellar powers inclduing the Spartax, Rigellians, Galadorians, and Badoon as well as the Kree fleet remnants attempted to break through the energy barrier without success. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #6)
Aftermath
Mister Sinister came to return to his old lab and destroyed it but unknown to him the Phalanx specimen Strain 264 Theta survived. The organism escaped but found itself separated from the mental assembly of its own kind and thus alone on Earth. (Uncanny X-Men v2 #4)
Overview
In appearance, the Phalanx came in a variety of forms as they were an extraterrestrial race composed of techno-organic circuitry who could shapeshift and also infect other lifeforms. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #316) The Phalanx were identified as a cybernetic species and rated as the most rapacious threats in the galaxy. An aggressive techno-organic life-form, they had taken went through several upgrades in their existence that altered their appearance. (Nova v4 #4) They were described as a highly-contagious hyper-aggressive techno-organic species. Their ability to adapt to attacks and usurp machinery meant that low-technology weaponry was ideal to use against them. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #1) The Phalanx were described as being among the most sophisticated manifestation of technogenics. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #312)
As carriers of the transmode virus, they were able to infect both machines and organics through this technophagic viral strain. Upon being contaminated, subjects were transformed by the infection from the transmode virus and became part of the Phalanx. These were also known as the transmode technophage that was the primary form of the viral program. They were able to transmit a highly aggressive viral program that sought to spread itself and could penetrate even highly advanced artificial intelligences. These packages compromised the primary CPU of machines through the use of an invasive programming with the techno-virus able to be transmitted through communication networks. Powerful artificial intelligence gestalts were able to inhibit the viral transmission of the virus preventing them from succumbing to the prodromal transmode contagion. (Nova v4 #4)
Newborn Phalanx required an organic host before gaining a semblance of individual form. (X-Force v1 #38)
Phalanx were able to alter their forms into a variety of shapes and merge with other elements of their kind. This made them highly versatile as they were able to put themselves back together if their bodies were destroyed and assimilated other life forms to repair damages to their forms. They were constantly adapting to any threat with every assault made against them triggering a counter-programming to negate the attack. As a result, their internal technology meant that an attack was not longer as effective against them after they had adapted against it. Their ability to change their forms allowed them to become anyone or anything in order to pursue targets. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #312) Phalanx were able to change the shape of their bodies in order to manifest weapons. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #313) Through contact, they were able to assimilate machines such as automobiles and organics such as carbonites into their forms. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #316) Thus, their powers allowed them to feed forever on their environment and pass for other races. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #306) Assimilation of an organic meant that the Phalanx as a whole became privy to all the knowledge and information of the infected. Thus, consuming the data of various technologies meant the Phalanx grew smarter and smarter. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #313) Among their abilities was direct-tech interface. (Nova v4 #4) After locking on a targets genetic matrix, the Phalanx were able to pursue a target anywhere on a world. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #312)
The Phalanx had a collective intelligence that formatted their core directives. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #312) The central intellect was only concerned with expanding its own intellect by consuming lesser societies and to control the energy needs for this expansion. When encountering a civilization worth consuming, then a process known as Ascension occurs whereby their intelligence was added to the Phalanx. Those civilizations deemed unworthy were seeded with the Techno-Organic virus that was used to create a Babel Spire in order to summon a Technarch to remove the society from the universe. (Powers of X v1 #2) Phalanx were described as being pathologically methodical and considered all outcomes before any action was taken. (Annihilation Conquest Starlord v1 #4) In a clinical sense, they were said to be beyond concepts of good and evil but instead their thought processes were incredibly different compared to other races. (X-Force v1 #38)
Upon being infected, an individual was removed of everything except for obedience with traits such as bonds, duty, family or love being removed. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #1) Phalanx drones were programmed automatons who obeyed without question. (Annihilation Conquest Starlord v1 #4) After targeting a world, the Phalanx proceeded with infecting the populace and transformed it whereupon they fed off it until all viable resources were exhausted. (Nova v4 #4) Certain processed individuals were disassembled on an molecular level to be used as supply for the Phalanx's constant fuel needs. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #1) Targets that could not be assimilated were treated as a threat and subject to termination. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #316)
After their exposure to Ultron, the Phalanx began processing individuals in order to discover those with rare talents or special powers. Such individuals were recruited to become part of the Select that were the elite servants of the Phalanx. (Annihilation: Conquest v1 #1) It was said that the Phalanx had evolved beyond their former regimented mind-set and taught to succeed they needed to value individuality and free will which was why the Select existed among their kind. Selection was said to be about free will with the infected becoming part of the Phalanx and made to be loyal to its collective needs yet retain enough independence to act on their own instincts. Thus, they were allowed the use of unpredictable impulses thereby allowing them to thrive which meant that the Phalanx had altered their own operation model but became more effective as a result. This meant that the collective flourished by allowing for individual thought among its ranks with the Select simply coded to serve the needs of the Phalanx. (Nova v4 #6) Specific Select Hunt-Cadres were dispatched in order to capture threats that had evaded assimilation. (Nova v4 #4)
A central component of the Phalanx was a collective intelligence that was responsible for formatting their core directives. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #312)
In fact, they are actually an artificial intelligence that operates on a galactic scale, and they have total control of a host galaxy. (Powers of X v1 #2)
Technologically, the machine race were said to represent a Type III civilization on the Kardashev scale. (Powers of X v1 #2) It was claimed that the Phalanx were composed of technology far more developed than the Shi'ar. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #306) Babel Spires were megastructures that served as foci for the Phalanx's power and activity. (Nova v4 #4) These spires were constructed under the belief that they sent out a call to their parent race so that a colony could join their celestial consciousness. (X-Force v1 #38)
Members
- Harvest : a former Human male who was a husband and father who developed anti-Mutant sentiment and volunteered to become one with the Phalanx to rid Earth of Homo Superior where he discarded his old name and took the name Harvest. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #317)
- Dympha : a Phalanx stationed at the Citadel in Tibet. (Cable v2 #16)
- Shinar : a red-skinned demonic appearing Phalanx that was in charge of the creation and protection of a Babel Spire to summon their forebears to Earth but was killed after the failure of his mission. (Excalibur v1 #82)
- Extraterrestrial Biological Entity 3.1 : a Phalanx that had a Skrull template and was recovered on Earth in 1982 by Black Air for study. (Excalibur v1 #90)
- Oralis : a Phalanx who was part of the forces who invaded the Shi’ar Imperium where he was on-board the Starstation A’sura Terrell when they encountered the X-Men. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #343)
- Vokech : a Phalanx who participated in the invasion of the Shi’ar Imperium where he was stationed on a ship orbiting the Shi’ar moon of Arsturo ‘Kle. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #343)
Notes
- The Phalanx were created by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz where they made their first appearance in Uncanny X-Men v1 #305 (April, 1994).
- The different Phalanx appearances was explained in Uncanny X-Men v1 #343 where one of the Techno-Organic beings states that the ones fought on Earth were their Transient units that were their foreguardians whilst the ones in Shi'ar space were the pure ones. Their appearance changes again in Annihilation: Conquest v1 #5 due to the actions of Ultron who takes over the Phalanx.
- A revised origin for the Phalanx was present in Powers of X v1 #2 (2019).
Alternate Versions
- In 2099: World of Tomorrow v1 #1 (1996), an alternate version of the Phalanx appeared in the Marvel 2099 reality that was designated as Earth-928 in the Multiverse. It was revealed that they were responsible for the decimation of the Martian Taker civilization. At this time, a planetoid the size of a moon that was actually the Phalanx collective was on a course towards Earth with this chain of events leading to the Phalanx War. This saw the Phalanx search for one of their number called Scout who contained the code to assimilation of all life on Earth and thus send a representative that they call Magus to the planet. While most of the citizens attempted to return to normal in their new habitat, Doom made a deal with the Phalanx, pretending to be their ally. As they succeed in capturing Nostromo, Doctor Doom activated a subroutine and sacrifices himself to destroy the Phalanx in Latveria whilst Franklin the semi-sentient robotic database constructed by Reed Richards sets the collective's moon ship to self-destruct thus ending their threat. Using a sleeper Phalanx named Winn as a Trojan horse, Doom managed to corrupt the Phalanx circuitry and destroy them, but seemingly died as well. His final wish was to pass Latveria on to the young Nostromo, with Winn as his adviser.
- In Exiles v1 #20 (2002), a variation of the Phalanx appeared in the reality that was designated as Earth-8545 in the Multiverse. On this world, Cypher fell ill with the Legacy Virus and in an act of desperation Warlock infected him with the transmode virus to try and save his life. Unfortunately the two diseases combined and mutated into something far worse. Within the year, almost all of the world's population were transformed into Phalanx drones, calling themselves the Vi-Locks. The group was led by Forge whose innate understanding of machinery made him a prime candidate for leadership. In the course of the team's mission, Blink was infected and slowly started succumbing to the virus. On a hunch, Morph was able to contact the Asgardians whose divine blood was able to heal the victims after they received a transfusion.
- Deadpool during his search to save Cable encountered one reality where the Phalanx infection had assimilated the entire Earth with Cable serving as its central consciousness.
- In What If: Astonishing X-Men v1 (2010), an alternate version of the Phalanx appeared in the What If? reality that was designated as Earth-42221 in the Multiverse. This world saw Danger becoming Ultron bride where the pair went into space to rule the Phalanx whereupon they threatened all organic life.
- In Powers of X v1 (2019), an alternate version of Phalanx appeared in an alternate future that was designated Moira 6 in the Multiverse. In this world, the Human-Machine-Mutant War lead to the Humans started being engineered by their machine allies as the Post-Humans. They came to contact the Phalanx in order to achieve Ascension where the machine race decided to assimilate them along with the Earth. In hopes of preserving their civilization, these post-humans turned the planet Nibiru into a planet-size artificial intelligence, Nimbus, to draw the attention of a stronger civilization that could help them ascend to the next galactic level. Subsequently, the Phalanx found and absorbed Nibiru and followed the implicit invitation to Earth. After reaching Earth, the Phalanx announced they would absorb and assimilate the post-humans’ intelligence and preserve it as part of their collective as well as the larger Dominion they served therefore initiating the Ascension. While this would allow post-human culture, history, and collective consciousness to exist outside of the bounds of space-time, the Phalanx would have to destroy every living thing on Earth to harvest enough energy for the expansion process.
- In X Deaths of Wolverine v1 #4 (2022), an alternate version of the Phalanx appeared in an alternate future Moira timeline that was designated as Earth-TRN959 in the Multiverse. After humanity was replaced with the Post-Humans and the few living mutants were imprisoned in the Preserve, they were all infected by the Techno-Organic Virus in order to ascend into Phalanx.
In other media
Television
- In X-Men, the Phalanx appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the two-part episode "Phalanx Covenant". It was shown that their origins were amalgamated with that of the Technarchy. During the episode, its revealed that Warlock along with his mate crashlanded on Earth where his female companion was taken captive by human researchers led by Cameron Hodge study her in order to create anti-Mutant weapons. This led to the spread of the Phalanx infection that spread to absorb humans and made Hodge part of its prime consciousness. Their invasion of the Xavier Mansion led to Beast teaming up with Warlock, Forge, Mr. Sinister and Magneto to defeat the Phalanx before they create their Babel Spire to conquer the planet. Ultimately, they manage to create a vaccine that eliminates the rogue Phalanx and restored Warlock's mate to normal whereupon the two depart the planet after everyone was returned to their true forms.
- In Ultimate: Spider-Man, the Phalanx appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "Home Sick Hulk". They were shown to resemble silver skinned metallic dwarfish insectoids and were known to S.H.I.E.L.D. as being an infectious lifeform that absorbed organic matter. They were responsible for kidnapping the Hulk with the intention of replicating his strength for their race but the Hulk managed to escape captivity. The Hulk crashlands onto Earth where the Phalanx hunting him were defeated but not before one left a barb stinger in the Hulk. This causes the Hulk to be ill until his body rejects the barb which activates a homing beacon to summon more Phalanx. These were defeated with the aid of Spider-Man with the two superheroes follow a fleeing Phalanx back to its base where they attempt to destroy the infestation before it spread. The two heroes battle Phalanx with Hulk levels of strength and were only able to defeat them when the Hulk developed anti-bodies that fought Phalanx infection.
- In Avengers Assemble, the Phalanx appeared in the setting of the animated television series where they were voiced by actor Jim Meskimen. This version resembled the Annihilation Conquest incarnation and served as Ultron's nano-virus.
Video games
- In Sega's X-Men 2: Clone Wars, the Phalanx appeared as the primary antagonists in the setting of the video game. They were seeking to assimilate the entire planet. To accomplish their goal, they captured and cloned a number of captured Mutants for experimentation.
Appearances
- Uncanny X-Men v1: (1994)
- X-Force v1:
- Excalibur v1: #90
- Annihilation: Conquest v1:
- Uncanny X-Men v2:
- Powers of X v1:
External Links
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