Tyrannus (Marvel)

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Tyrannus is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Contents

Biography

Hulk encounters Tyrannus in Incredible Hulk v1 #5.

Romulus Augustulus

Born in 463 AD, he was originally named as Augustus but it was changed because he was still a child. He took the throne aged 12 in 475 AD. but was described as a puppet not recognized as a legitimate ruler. (Incredible Hulks v1 #627) For about 12 months, he ruled until 476 AD when his father was defeated by the German Goth Odoacer, marking the start of the Dark Ages in Europe. (Incredible Hulk v1 #5) He was not killed but banished from the kingdom but he swore he would return one day. (Incredible Hulks v1 #627) Taking the title of 'Tyrannus', he came to be a servant of the Olympian god Plito who empowered the former emperor and sent him to destroy Merlin. He was sent to Britannia to conquer the kingdom of Camelot and take the throne from King Arthur. He was stopped by Merlin's champion the Black Knight who was Sir Percy of Scandia. He was no match against the young knight and fled leaving his master Pluto to continue the battle, who ultimately lost and retreated back to his realm. (Mystic Arcana Black Knight v1 #1) Thus, he came to be banished to the centre of the Earth by Merlin where he found himself in Subterranea. Once there, he found an obedient race of slaves that would do his bidding and he came to be their ruler. On one such attack, he discovered the Fountain of Youth which allowed him to remain young through the centuries. (Incredible Hulk v1 #5) In 1862, Tyrannus led an invasion of Tyrannoids from Subterranea, bursting through the ground interrupting a battle during the American Civil War. (Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth v1 #1)

On the surface, he adopted the guise of Mr. Tyrannus who claimed to be an archaeologist and got introduced to Betty Ross. He later attempted to conquer America by kidnapping Betty Ross and holding her hostage, thus preventing her father from resisting. The Hulk and Rick Jones followed but they too were captured by Tyrannus and he used Betty as a tool against them. They eventually freed her and the trio escaped Tyrannus and trapped him underground. (Incredible Hulk v1 #5) Afterwards, his rule came to be challenged by the Mole Man who was one of his leading rivals for the rule of Subterranea. The Mole Man came to steal Tyrannus's 'Fountain of Youth' thus causing the elderly Roman to rapidly age. He teleported the Hulk to Subterranea in hopes of recapturing the fountain. He was successful and was able to restore his youth and returned the Hulk to the surface. (Tales to Astonish v1 #81) He kidnapped and forced scientist Dr. Ralph Roberts to design a robot called the Cobalt-Robot, a giant machine used in his conflict against the Mole Man, but the mutant team known as the X-Men came to the rescue and stopped his plans in its tracks. (X-Men v1 #34) Still angry at his past defeats against the Hulk, he sought out revenge by using Deviant technology to drive the creature insane and send him on a destructive rampage. He brought him beneath the surface and sent him against Mole Man along with Mogul, one of his other robot slaves. (Incredible Hulk v1 #127)

In the guise of the aged Des, he became an ally of Prince Rey and the Keeper of the Flame of El Dorado, an immensely powerful cobalt energy "flame" that had been created in the Andes Mountains of South America by the Deviants and had been maintained by the people of the lost city of El Dorado. "Des" then captured the Hulk. (Incredible Hulk v2 #240) "Des" was then restored to his youthfulness, and killed Rey and the Keeper.[12] Tyrannus then merged with the Flame, allowing his consciousness to control the Flame. (Incredible Hulk v2 #242) The Hulk destroys the machinery from which the Flame arises, and the Flame, still infused with Tyrannus's consciousness, is hurled far into outer space. (Incredible Hulk v2 #243) The Abomination's atomized body later merges with the disembodied mind of Tyrannus. This gestalt being attempts to force Bruce Banner to cure this condition, but the procedure goes wrong, leaving Tyrannus' mind in the Abomination's body and returning Blonsky to a normal human form. (Incredible Hulk Annual v1 #15)

Afterwards, the Deviant empire came under a new leader in the form of Brother Brutus who was determined to increase his powerbase. This saw him breeding new Mutates that he dispatched with conquering Subterranea and claim Deviant caches of weapons scattered in the underground domain. As a result, the Mutates came to lay siege to the underground kingdoms of various warlords that included Tyrannus, the Mole Man and Grotesk. These attacks forced these rulers to flee with their subjects with this having the added consequence of cutting Tyrannus off from the Fountain of Youth. Without its rejuvenating waters, he began to age and wither leaving him in a weakened state with the three allies looking to gain the aid of the Avengers. (Avengers Annual v1 #20)

He later approached Betty Ross when she had become the Red She-Hulk and convinced her to work with him as the two became romantically involved. Tyrannus had her aid him in staging a theft at the museum in Rome in order to take Pandora's Box from the mystically protected vaults. The pair tricked the Hulk into aiding them whereupon Tyrannus and Red She-Hulk escaped. They were later tracked down by Bruce Banner and Dr. Di Cosimo who warned against opening the urn. It was then that the secret underground base was attacked by the Knights of Rome who were looking to reclaim Pandora's Box. (Incredible Hulks v1 #627) He managed to defeat the Knights and usurped their magical technology to create a giant made in his image which he used against the Hulk. Tyrannus then opened the urn releasing the 'hope' within but the millennia of being caged had driven it insane with the need for revenge and threatened to destroy the world until the Hulk absorbed the entity where he burnt it out with his rage. In the aftermath, the Red She-Hulk departed with Tyrannus leaving the Hulk alone and having failed in saving Betty Ross from being permanently stuck in her gamma form. (Incredible Hulks v1 #629) He then decided to take his consort to his Subterranea kingdom beneath Las Vegas where he intended to share the Fountain of Youth with her. They were then attacked by Advanced Idea Mechanics under Monica Rappaccini who paralysed everyone in the area in order to access the Fountain and transmute its properties into a wishing well. The Red She-Hulk managed to recover quickly from the paralysing gas and interrupted Rappaccini thus taking over the wishing well leading to monsters emerging from it that began to attack the surface. (Incredible Hulks v1 #630)

Overview

Personality and attributes

According to Augustulus, he wanted to be a good ruler to Rome and had always planned to restore it to the greatness of its past. (Incredible Hulks v1 #627)

Powers and abilities

This included a paralyser ray that was strong enough to render the Hulk unconscious. (Incredible Hulk v1 #5)

He had access to the Fountain of Youth that was an eternal liquid which kept him alive and young. (Incredible Hulk v1 #5)

The race were obedient slaves who willingly made Tyrannus their ruler with them serving his commands. (Incredible Hulk v1 #5)

Notes

  • Tyrannus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in Incredible Hulk v1 #5 (January, 1963).

In other media

Television

Tyrannus in The Marvel Superheroes.
  • In The Marvel Super Heroes, the Hulk segment starting with "Enter Tyrannus" featured the supervillain in a story that adapted the comic storyline. He was said to had been a human who lived in Roman times where he was banished to Subterranea and encountered Moloids that were seeking a new master. Tyrannus would manage to become their leader and learnt their advanced technology along with the fountain of life that restored his youth for centuries. By the modern age, he sought to pacify General Ross by masquerading as Dr. Tyrannus who claimed to be an archaeologist but kidnapped Betty Ross. Banner as the Hulk would pursue Tyrannus but he would capture the creature who he dressed as a gladiator until he escaped where he collapsed that part of villains underground kingdom. In the aftermath, the Mole Man would attack Tyrannus's realm and deprive him of access to the fountain of life causing him to age quickly. He would capture the Hulk again and ask for his aid in reclaiming the fountain. A now elderly Tyrannus carried only a pistol and a statue of himself as he tried to make way to the fountain when he encountered Banner where during the scuffle he dropped the statue. He would have surrendered to defeat had he not encountered a liquid from the statue that was the same from the fountain where he had enough to restore his youth once more whilst the Hulk departed for the surface.

Video games

  • In The Incredible Hulk, Tyrannus appeared as a boss level antagonist in the setting of the 1994 video game. He was among a number of villains recruited by the Leader in his plot against the Hulk.

Appearances

  • Incredible Hulk v1: (1963)
  • Avengers Annual v1:
  • Hulk v1:
  • Incredible Hulks v1:

External Links

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