Talos the Untamed

Revision as of 06:17, 14 January 2024

Talos the Untamed is a male extraterrestrial comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Talos was a male member of the Skrull race born in the modern age who was a member of the royal family. It was this royal birth that allowed him to survive as typically such members of his race were not allowed to reach maturity. Despite this genetic flaw, he came to use his strength to overcome his disadvantage and became a skilled warrior. It was noted that he came to have a niece that became the empress of the Skrull empire. Talos came to serve in the military where he participated in the long-standing Kree/Skrull War. During this time, the Kree ambushed and captured him where he was supposed to trigger a hidden capsule to kill himself rather than be taken a prisoner. However, he experienced doubt and could not commit suicide leading to his capture. At the conclusion of the war, he was returned to his people where he was dishonoured as a result for his actions. Talos was brought before his niece the empress where he was offered the chance to once more commit suicide to retain his honour. Despite the second chance, he came to refuse this once again as he could not kill himself. Thus, he came to be dishonoured and treated scornfully by the rest of his people. (Incredible Hulk v1 #419)

Due to a practical joke—courtesy of the Impossible Man—a contingent of Skrull soldiers along with many other super-powered characters and alien races were invited to the wedding of Rick Jones and Marlo Chandler in Las Vegas, Nevada. Talos was among them. A Kree soldier spotted Talos in the crowd and began to taunt him. Talos rose to face the Kree’s challenge, but both were quickly sat back down by a stern warning from the Silver Surfer. (Incredible Hulk v2 #418) Drunk and weary of his shamed existence, Talos threw himself from the top of the Coliseum Hotel a few hours after the wedding. The Hulk spotted his descent and initially believed the incident to be a suicide attempt. When he arrived at the scene to investigate, Talos attacked the Hulk. Having heard of the Hulk’s battles with the Super-Skrull and Trauma of the Troyjan, Talos believed the Hulk would be a worthy enough warrior to be the instrument of his demise thus, allowing Talos to regain his honor. Confused as to why Talos would attack him, the Hulk initially tried to simply subdue Talos. Once Talos revealed his plight, the Hulk leapt from the battlefield, unwilling to murder the Skrull. Talos attacked again, trying to taunt the Hulk into fighting back. Tempted to give the Skrull what he wanted, but loathe to disappoint his bride who had just begun to warm up to him with the Hulk feigning terror who begged the Skrull to leave him alone. Convinced that the Hulk was a coward and unworthy of his attention, Talos teleported himself back to his orbiting spacecraft, where he found that the other skrulls on the ship are proud of his performance. (Incredible Hulk v2 #419)

According to one report, he was deemed of no use by Queen Veranke as part of her Secret Invasion efforts for Earth and thus was never summoned to her side though her Chancellor Kal'du had hoped he would find his way to their forces. (Skrulls! v1 #1) He eventually came to the planet of Godthab Omega among many other beings that were mysterious coming to that world. Once there, he was attacked by Devos the Devastator who ultimately gained an advantage over him thus defeating Talos. (Annihilation: Ronan v1 #2) However, both Talos and Devos were then captured by Glorian who imprisoned them whilst he was using his powers to remake the world into a paradise. (Annihilation: Ronan v1 #3) It was then that elements of the Annihilation Wave arrived on the world where they attack and their large numbers forced Glorian to divert his attention to them. This act broke the restraints he made over Devos and Talos who fled with the Skrull reluctantly allying with Ronan the Accuser against the common enemy they faced in the forces from the Negative Zone with him managing to survive the attack. (Annihilation: Ronan v1 #4) He later joined the forces of the United Front that were assembled by Nova Richard Rider where he participated in the defence of Daedalus 5 with him helping protect the world from the forces of Annihilus. (Annihilation: Saga v1 #1)

Talos next showed up at Howard the Duck's private investigations in make up and a beard as Jonathan Richards. He tasks the duck with finding a necklace that was stolen by the Black Cat. When Howard finally retrieves it, Talos abandons his disguise to reveal that the necklace contains the Abundant Gems, less powerful versions of the Infinity Gems that can still make one "marginally" powerful, which he plans to use to gain favor with the Skrulls again. He was defeated by Howard and his friend Tara Tam, and apprehended by the Fantastic Four.

Afterwards, the Kree and Skrull formed an alliance under Emperor Hulkling where he was sent to investigate a disturbance around the planet Gnarrat. With a Kree and Skrull crew, they arrived in the system to find a lifeless world where they found an escape pod. The survivor though was discovered to had been infected by a Symbiote whereupon the crew of the ship were attacked by more of the parasitic organisms. Most of the crew were killed except for Tarna who managed to reach the escape pods whilst Talos was confronted by the leader of the Symbiotes which was Knull. The God of the Symbiotes had been freed from his prison and had cut a swathe through space on a path to Earth. He spared Talos who was allowed to depart in an escape pod to warn others of his coming as he continued leading his forces through space. (Web of Venom: Empyre's End v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Such was his reputation that he became known as Talos the Untamed. After his disgrace, he came to derogatively be called Talos the Tamed. (Incredible Hulk v1 #419)

Talos considered the time when their ancestors lacked shapeshifting abilities and fought with strength to had been an era of nobility. He considered himself a warrior and believed in the tenets of honour. Under that code, he was expected to commit suicide after his capture in order to retain his honour but he could not bear killing himself. However, he was not opposed to dying in battle against a worthy adversary. (Incredible Hulk v1 #419)

Powers and abilities

He was considered a mutant that was a throwback to a branch of Skrull development that was considered extinct as it predated them as being shapeshifters. Thus, this genetic misfortune resulted in him lacking any shapeshifting ability. As a result, he came to rely on his brute strength in order to survive and prosper. (Incredible Hulk v1 #419)

He had learnt to use leverage, the weaknesses in his enemies and knowledge of their pressure points in order to defeat them. This allowed him to manage to fight foes much more powerful than him. (Incredible Hulk v1 #419)

He possesses a cybernetic eye after losing his real one in combat.

Notes

• Talos the Untamed was created by Peter David and Gary Frank where he made his first appearance in Incredible Hulk #418 (June, 1994).
• The character received an entry in Skrulls! v1 #1 (2008) stated that he was the uncle of Baroness S'Ybll.
• He received an added backstory in Annihilation: The Nova Corps Files v1 #1 (August, 2006).

In other media

Television

• In Secret Invasion, Talos the Untamed returned in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Ben Mendelsohn. Set after the events of Captain Marvel, it was revealed that Talos and his fellow Skrulls were given a home on Earth in secret where they would often work as cover agents for Fury to help stop various threats to the planet. Unknown to Fury, Talos came to secretly invite more Skrulls to the planet but over time many of them felt alienated at not being able to operate openly in human society. In the years after Endgame, Talos came to aid a returned Nick Fury combat a rogue Skrull group led by Gravik who plotted to orchestrate a nuclear war amongst humanity. He also came to manipulate G'iah into joining his side, until Talos was killed by Gravik. G'iah recovered his body, lays him to rest in a private funeral with help from Fury's wife Varra, and later avenged his death by killing Gravik in a duel.

Films

• In Captain Marvel, Talos appeared in the setting of the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Ben Mendelsohn. Unlike his comic counterpart, this version had the ability to change shape with him having a mate named Soren and having a child named Gi'ah. He learnt of the light-speed experiments of Mar-Vell who was aiding the Skrulls in finding a place for their kind where they could be free from the persecution by the Kree. Mar-Vell had rejected her species' war with the Skrulls and fled to Earth. Mar-Vell sheltered Talos and his family while working on a Tesseract-powered engine that would have allowed the Skrulls to settle beyond the Kree Empire's reach but the Kree eventually found and killed Mar-Vell. In 1995, Talos continues to lead the Skrulls in their fight with the Kree, during which they capture Carol Danvers. Using a mind-probing machine, Talos and the Skrulls discover that Danvers knew Mar-Vell, but before they can learn more, Danvers breaks free and escapes to Earth. Talos and a small group of Skrulls pursue Danvers and take on human disguises, with Talos assuming the role of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Keller.[19] They eventually find Danvers and Talos arranges a parley to reveal to Danvers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury the truth of the Kree–Skrull War. Sympathizing with his cause, Danvers leaves Earth to help the Skrulls find a new home.

Video games

• In Marvel Puzzle Quest, Talos appeared as a playable 4-star character who was introduced as part of the Captain Marvel tie-in.

Appearances

• Incredible Hulk v1: (1994)
• Skrulls! v1:
• Annihilation: Ronan v1:
• Howard the Duck v5:
• Web of Venom: Empyre's End v1: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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