Xa-Du
Xa-Du is a male extraterrestrial comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Dr. Xadu was a male inhabitant of the planet Krypton and was a member of the race of Kryptonians. For the completion of his experiments, he seemingly took in a number of 'volunteers' who were placed in suspended animation. (Adventure Comics v1 #283) From Antarctic City, he experimented on people and placed the test subjects in chemically induced comas. (DC Comics Presents v1 #97) These subjects were trapped in this perpetual state with nothing breaking them from the animation. He was brought in for breaking the laws due to trials in forbidden suspended animation scientific research. The jury pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to 30 years in the Phantom Zone. (Adventure Comics v1 #283)
A volcanic explosion by the south sea created a temporary gap in the Phantom Zone allowing Xadu and Erndine to escape that dimension onto Earth. Once there, the pair discovered that they gained superhuman powers under the yellow sun where they masqueraded as Superboy's foster parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. They attempted to trick Kal-El into giving them the Phantom Zone Projector but Superboy learnt of their deception where he in turn tricked them into going to the planet Exon that had a red sun that left the pair powerless. (Superboy v1 #100)
Whilst within the Zone, he came to find allies in Jax-Ur and Professor Vakox both of whom had similarly been banished to the prison dimension. Around this time, a Kryptonian prison capsule had crashed on Earth which freed the criminal Gra-Mo and his compatriots. Superboy was unaware of their true nature and instead believed the three were survivors of Krypton. Meanwhile, the Phantom Zone criminals looked for Gra-Mo to take advantage of Superboy and gain possession of the Phantom Zone Projector so that they could be freed. However, Gra-Mo had no intention of sharing the planet with anyone and left Xadu along with the others in the Phantom Zone. (Superboy v1 #104)
Dr. Xadu along with Professor Vakox and Jax-Ur met with Jimmy Olsen when he briefly operated as Elastic Lad again. During that time, he encountered a small hole into the Phantom Zone and shrunk to enter into it in order to write an article about the ghostly dimension where he encountered the trio of villains. They said that they knew of him and that they intended to break his trust in Superman by showing him his true identity whilst in their intangible state within the Phantom Zone. Despite Mon-El's warnings, Olsen witnessed Superman returning to his civilian identity as Clark Kent but despite this remained loyal to him by not revealing his identity to the world. (Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen v1 #62)
He later returned with his wife Zeda to Earth where they were responsible for mind controlling Superman in order to get him to hurl the planet from its orbit to that over a red sun with the goal of making it a new Krypton. Their plot was discovered by Kal-El who managed to overcome the mind control where he defeated the couple. To prevent them from being a danger again, he placed the pair in separate cells situated in different galaxies. (Action Comics v1 #435)
The Phantom Zone criminals later used their combined telepathic abilities to influence the mind of Charlie Kweskill. This caused him to activate the Phantom Zone Projector thus freeing all the captive Kryptonians which included Xadu where they intended to take over Earth. (The Phantom Zone v1 #1)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Xa-Du was an inhabitant of Krypton where he conducted forbidden experiments in suspended animation that unleashed the horror of the Living Death on the Kryptonian people. As a result, suspended animation research was barred for use even on criminals such as him. Instead, the K-Council devised a new form of punishment which was banishing their criminals into the Phantom Zone with Xa-Du being its first Kryptonian inhabitant. Prior to his dematerialization, he swore revenge on all including on Jor-El and his family. Twenty years later on the day of his parole, the planet Krypton suffered from cataclysmic actions that brought about its destruction. By the modern day, Doctor Xa-Du embarked on his plan to take revenge against the son of Jor-El who was one of the only survivors of their world. On Halloween, he tricked Superman into the Phantom Zone by activating the projector on him allowing Xa-Du to trade places with him on Earth. He intended to conquer the planet but Superman managed to force the villain back into the Zone and closed the doorway before anymore of its prisoners could escape. Whilst defeated, Xa-Du was still alive but was in the Phantom Zone when he was approached by the villainous Vyndktvx who offered him a chance at revenge against Superman. (Action Comics v2 #13)
During their probing into other realms, the Tower's leader Harrow made contact with Xa-Du where the two struck an alliance to destroy their mutual foe in Superman. Doctor Xa-Du then looked to delve into the forbidden corners of the Phantom Zone in search for the prison containing the monster Doomsday. This caused a breach that allowed the monster to free himself where he caused a tear in the Phantom Zone itself allowing him to escape onto Earth. Doomsday later came to merge with Superman thus making the most powerful being on the planet with this creating an even bigger threat. At this time, Batman and Wonder woman had journeyed into the zone for answers about Doomday's release where they encountered the Phantom King who revealed his part on the matter. He then intended to use them to eliminate the Doomsday Superman but Wonder Woman refused to kill her comrade where she instead had dragged Xa-Du through the portal to Earth in order to force his aid in saving Kal-El. (Batman/Superman v1 #11)
He would later manage to enter into the Bottle City of Kandor where he used his Living Death to brainwash the Kandorians to serve him. They would come to believe that Xa-Du was a hero who had been falsely convicted by Jor-El and that they were imprisoned in the bottle with this state of affairs kept by his son Kal-El. Whilst in Kandor, he created an exit out of the Bottle City and sent the miniature Kandorians sent out as living bullets in an effort to kill everyone special to Superman. This resulted in Superman, Batman and Supergirl miniaturizing themselves with the aid of The Atom to stop the Phantom King after they learnt of his plan. (Batman/Superman v1 #19) He sent Superman's aunt Kela and maternal grandmother Mother Prime Mara Lor-Van to attack the heroes in order to force Kal-El to kill them. This culminated in the Phantom King bringing in yellow sunlight to empower more Kandorians to attack the superheroes only for Superman to detonate Batman's red sun generator as a miniature bomb to deprive them of all powers. However, this still left a gigantic Xa-Du who was at his full strength against a weakened Superman and Supergirl until the Ant Farm piloted by Ray Palmer smashed into the Phantom King's ecto-suit which became damaged and forcing him to disappear back into the Phantom Zone. (Batman/Superman v1 #20) The wounded Phantom King had sustained injuries to his brain that knew of the machinery that maintained his ecto-suit allowing him to arrive on Earth. As a result, he was trapped in the Phantom Zone but had enough power to exert an influence on Earth. Through this means, he created a compulsion among several criminals that included Bane, Killer Croc, Cheshire and thirteen Man-Bats to attack Clark Kent. This came after he used his super-flare to burn away a Doomsday cloud from a settlement but the act deprived him off his powers for a short time. Only the assistance of Batman helped save Kent and the civilians where together they defeated the villains. However, after Batman had left, Xa-Du had exerted his influence on one of the civilians named Janice where he had her stab Kent when he let his guard down leaving him bleeding on the ground to which the Phantom King commented that Superman's greatest weakness was his trust in others. (Batman/Superman Annual v1 #2)
He remained in the Phantom Zone where he was trapped and had to repair his Ecto-Mail with the assistance of his followers. At the time, Supergirl had accidently arrived in the Zone and Xa-Du sought to use her flesh to break the Aethyr Switch. (Supergirl v7 #9) Sometime afterwards, a disturbance in the Phantom Zone so him finding Superman in a battle against Synmar. The Son of El had taken their fight into the Zone to prevent widespread destruction on Earth but had attempted to find a peaceful solution with the alien being. Seeing the conflict, Xa-Du attempted to make an ally of Synmar against Superman but the creature simply knocked him to he side to continue its battle. As the fight prolonged, Superman sought a peaceful resolution and opened the Phantom Zone portal to Earth orbit. The Phantom King attempted to use this as an opportunity to escape but Superman forced the villain back into the Zone whilst he along with the Synmar exited the prison dimension. (Superman v5 #27)
The Greek god Janus came to encounter Xa-Du and offered him freedom from the Phantom Zone in exchange for a favour which was to prevent Wonder Woman from returning to Earth after she was lost in the Multiverse. He confronted Diana and the Norse warrior Siegfried where he barred their escape attempt from the Phantom Zone. However, this attracted the attention of Aethyr who was angered at Janus's intrusion into her mind. Thus, the god-like ruler of the Zone attacked Xa-Du as they wanted Wonder Woman to punish Janus for his actions thus thwarting the Phantom King from escaping that prison dimension. (Wonder Woman v1 #778)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Among his titles that he was known as included being called the Ghost King. (Action Comics v2 #13)
Experiments on the boundary between life and death had taught him scorn for the living. It was said that he had a lust cruelty and command with him showing nothing but contempt to others. During his trial on Krypton, Xa-Du was referred to as a sociopath due to his actions. After freeing himself, one of his first thoughts was enslaving the people of Kandor and making them into an army of super-zombies. (Action Comics v2 #13) He had considered himself to be the lord of the bridge between life and death. (Batman/Superman v1 #11)
Xadu had claimed that the people who died in his work had volunteered for the experiments. (The Phantom Zone v1 #1)
He was noted for having been married Erndine Ze-Da who was a participant in his schemes which led to her banishment to the Phantom Zone also alongside her husband. (Superboy v1 #100)
Powers and abilities
As the Ghost King, he developed a form of ecto-technology and his knowledge allowed him to create his ecto-suit that was powered by pure consciousness. (Action Comics v2 #13) He only needed his willpower in order to rebuild his suit. Despite that being the case, repeated damage made it difficult for him to maintain the integrity of his ecto-technology. (Action Comics v2 #16) It allowed him to turn the void of the zone into substance and even grab people with the ability to go intangible. (Batman/Superman v1 #11) The suit was equipped with claws that were envenomed and capable of killing organic opponents. (Supergirl v7 #10)
He could manipulate the boundary between worlds to generate subsonic K-Wave that could render a person inert and harmless whilst they slept. (Cursed Comics Cavalcade v1 #1)
Through his advanced Kryptonian knowledge, he was able to make gas and material that could harm invulnerable members of his kind that lived under a yellow sun. (Action Comics v1 #434)
In the Phantom Zone, he created a phantom cruiser called the Val-Kon that was constructed of ghost carbon that was one of the few solid substances in that dimension. (Supergirl v7 #10)
Within the Zone, he resided at a structure within a location called Aethyropolis. (Supergirl v7 #9)
Notes
- Xadu was created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp where he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics v1 #283 (April, 1961).
- The character was re-imagined as Xa-Du by Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert where he returned in the post-Flashpoint universe in Action Comics v2 #5 (March, 2012).
- According to Batman in Batman/Superman v1 #20 (2015), Xa-Du was stated to be Superman's version of the Joker.
In other media
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Xa-Du appeared as a boss level antagonist in the setting of the MMORPG video game during the Death of Superman content.
Appearances
- Adventure Comics v1: (1961)
- Superboy v1:
- Action Comics v2:
- The Phantom Zone v1: (1982)
- DC Comics Presents v1:
- Batman/Superman v1:
- Supergirl v7:
- Cursed Comics Cavalcade v1:
- Superman v5:
- Wonder Woman v1: (2021)
External Links
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