Beta Ray Bill
Beta Ray Bill is a male alien comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Beta Ray Bill was a male member of the Korbinites who were an ancient and noble race that lived in the heart of a galaxy since time immemorial. For a long time, they dwelt in their home in harmony until without warning the core of their galaxy exploded which destroyed much of their civilisation. This forced the survivors to flee as the galactic core grew hotter than they could withstand. As part of their exodus, Bill was chosen by his people's leaders to be the guardian of the exodus. For this mission, he was bio-engineered into a powerful warrior and champion capable of protecting the surviving Korbinites. (Thor v1 #338)
After his transformation, he was noted to have had his heart broken upon seeing his new form though his mother would re-assure him that she would always love him. It was noted as being the last time he managed to speak to her before being dispatched against the enemy threatening their people. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #4)
During his travels, his ship came to be breached by demons who started to overrun it. Unable to fight them off, Beta Ray Bill opened the airlock to vent them and himself into space as a desperate move to force the intruders off the ship. Bill was ready to die in the move but whilst in space he was saved by a passing Nova Centurion from the Nova Corps. From that point on, he became indebted to those people that wore the uniform of a Nova. (Nova v5 #14)
As the fleet approached the Milky Way galaxy, it was detected by a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite. Nick Fury asked Thor to investigate. Thor was deemed a threat by Skuttlebutt, so Bill fought him. During the short, battle Thor was separated from his hammer, Mjolnir, and when he reverted to Don Blake, Bill knocked him out. Curious, Bill picked up the hammer and gained the power of Thor. S.H.I.E.L.D. forces continued their onslaught with Bill ready to strike back at them when an image of Odin manifested who mistook the Korbinite for his son Thor and transported him to Asgard as the realm eternal needed the god of thunder. Looking to resolve the matter, Odin had Bill and Donald for the right to wield the hammer. Bill claimed the hammer as spoils of battle. Odin decreed that the two would battle to the death in Skartheim for the right to keep the hammer. Bill's Korbinite physiology gave him an advantage in the lava-filled realm and so he won again - it was later revealed that Odin gave Bill the advantage on purpose, so he could defeat the weakened Thor. However, he refused to take Thor's life. Odin may have chosen that arena to further test Bill's worthiness and to teach Thor a lesson; regardless, he returned the hammer to Thor and had a new hammer made of Uru, Stormbreaker, forged for Bill. (Thor v1 #337)
Beta Ray Bill found the Korbinites on New Korbin, but in danger due to an approaching foe. The other Korbinites chastised him for spending too much time with the Asgardians, and his old rival Alpha Ray tried to replace him as the race's guardian. (Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill v1 #1) Their foe, Galactus (as Ashta), consumed the new planet. His new herald, Stardust, fought with Bill and inadvertently freed the evil Asteroth by opening a portal. Alpha Ray reappeared, empowered by Galactus, and helped recapture Asteroth by pushing her into an event horizon. Bill then awoke in a white room, where he was quick reunited with Skuttlebutt and both were spirited back to the ruins of Asgard. (Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill v1 #2)
He then awoke in the body of a homeless war veteran named Simon Walters. With the assistance of the hero Spider-Man, Bill was able to take down the villain, Boar. While sharing some pizza together on the roof of a New York skyscraper, Bill tells Spider-Man his story and says that he was approached by a man in a white cloak. The cloaked figure took the Meta-Orb and then bonded Bill's dying spirit to that of Simon's body. After parting ways with the web slinger, Bill set off to find a new purpose on Earth. (Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill v1 #5)
Guardian of the Galaxy
Through means unknown, Bill had somehow become separated from his mortal host and returned to his mortal Korbinite body. He was also freed from the Realm of the Great Beasts, but in turn ended up as a prisoner of the Skrulls. After running a gamut of experiments on him and torture, they shot Bill down to Asgard in his mortal body with a warning that they would attack Asgard soon. He was later captured by the Skrulls who stole his hammer Stormbreaker with Beta Ray Bill left plummeting towards Earth where he arrived in Asgard to warn Thor. (Secret Invasion: Thor v1 #1) Although both Thor and Balder believed Bill to be real, the Asgardians had suspicions that their alien visitor was a Skrull agent in disguise, a fear preyed upon by Loki, who riled up the citizens enough so that they wanted to murder Bill. Intervening for his friend, Thor tossed Mjolnir to Bill, who successfully caught the hammer and transformed into his cyborg form, with Don Blake stating that he 'knows a brother' when he 'sees one'. Entrusting Bill with helping Balder lead the Asgardians in their fight against the Skrulls, Bill took Don back to Broxton and returned just as the alien invaders began their assault on the city of Asgard. (Secret Invasion: Thor v1 #2)
After the crisis, he helped in the rebuilding efforts as he felt it was more practical in making homes for those who lost their planets. He was then approached by Cosmo the Spacedog who wanted to recruit him into a team of galactic superheroes. At first, he refused but was convinced to join a group that came to be called the Annihilators where he fought alongside Quasar Wendell Vaughn, Gladiator, the Silver Surfer and Ronan the Accuser with him going to Hala to stop Blastaar in his attempt to take the throne from Queen Medusa. (Thanos Imperative: Devastation v1 #1)
Beta Ray Bill afterwards came to learn that a Nova was responsible for aiding Captain Skaarn against the Korbinites. This saw Bill looking to track the offending Nova to Earth leading to his encounter with Sam Alexander. At first, the pair battled until Sam came to learn that Skaarn who he believed was innocent was actually a wanted criminal guilty of numerous crimes. The young Nova then accompanied Beta Ray Bill in space in order to track down Skaarn. (Nova v5 #13)
He travelled to Old Asgard where he saw Thor looking to find a new hammer after Mjolnir had seemingly had declared him unworthy of it. Bill then came to offer his own hammer instead to Thor where he freely offered to part with Stormbreaker. (Unworthy Thor v1 #1)
Bill then attended the reading at Sanctuary of the last will and testament of Thanos where the Mad Titan revealed that part of a contingency plan was to place a copy of his mind in the brain of someone else. At that point, the gathering of cosmic groups was attacked by the Black Order who claimed the body of their master before departing and ripping a hole in reality to dispose of their pursuers. Beta Ray Bill managed to survive by throwing his hammer attached to the chains of the Cosmic Ghost Rider to the other side where he pulled himself and several of his compatriots to safety. They then faced arrest by the Nova Corps but Star-Lord arrived where he recruited Bill along with the survivors into his newest incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. (Guardians of the Galaxy v5 #1) Under Groot's leadership, the group travelled to Halfworld which was where Gamora was in hiding with her attacking them as she was unaware that the group were the Guardians of the Galaxy. They took her on their ship into space where they were attacked by the Dark Guardians who consisted of warriors brought together by Starfox that sought to eliminate Gamora under the belief that the mind of Thanos existed within her mind and would activate in the event of the Mad Titan's death. Beta Ray Bill along with the Guardians battled their counterparts where during the struggle Star-Lord was badly injured thus putting a halt to further fighting. (Guardians of the Galaxy v5 #4)
Whilst adventuring with Lockjaw, the pair onto the planet Gyrax which they saved from a threat. In gratitude, the Gyraxians celebrated the pair though Bill found himself bored without an enemy to fight. This was until a tear in space emerged whereby the forces of the Cancerverse began invading the universe. A version of Doctor Strange from that reality arrived where he used his magic to infect the Gyraxians thus turning them against Bill and wounded Lockjaw. This led to Bill unleashing his might and destroying the evil Doctor Strange counterpart whereupon he found fleeing forces of the Arthosians battling the Many-Angled Ones demons. They revealed that the Cancerverse had invaded the Negative Zone and they were fleeing from the threat with this revealing itself to be the Sentry. Beta Ray Bill battled this foe which revealed itself to be his reality's version of the Sentry but one who had become corrupted by the power of the Many-Angled Ones. During their fight, his foe came to injure him and in desperation Bill used every ounce of his power to have Stormbreaker send the Sentry back into the Negative Zone and sealing the tear. Being separated from his hammer led to Bill reverting to his mortal form where he was saved by Lockjaw with the two looking to find Stormbreaker again as well as to stop the Cancerverse invasion. (Annihilation - Scourge: Beta Ray Bill v1 #1)
He later found Galactus draining the life of an inhabited world where he was shocked to find that Thor was serving him as the Herald of Thunder. This led to Bill believing that his warrior-brother had fallen under the control of the World Devourer with the two doing battle. However, Beta Ray Bill was effortlessly defeated by Thor who revealed that he was not under mind control but empowering Galactus so he could defeat an even greater threat that was the Black Winter. Bill refused to be swayed by such words as he was not willing to sacrifice worlds to sate Galactus's power. This led to Thor removing his Power Cosmic and he fought Bill who was unable to match Thor's power after the Asgardian had become the King of Asgard. During their fight, he attempted to stop Mjolnir from returning to Thor who then simply summoned Stormbreaker and shattered Bill's hammer in the process. In desperation, Bill continued the fight but was badly beaten in the process with their fight interrupted by Lady Sif who was the new guardian of the Bifrost and was ready to fight Thor to save Beta Ray Bill. (Thor v6 #3)
He was in Asgard when Thor returned with Bill being unhappy with the Odinson over their recent fight. Thor, however, quizzed Bill about his recent encounter with Thanos with him stating that he had seen the Mad Titan being killed. Despite this news, Thor believed that the Mad Titan was set to return and explained a vision he had seen recently. In fear of the future, he asked for Beta Ray Bill's aid and that to serve as his second-in-command who would help keep Thor on track as well as not falling into darkness. Thus, Bill was appointed as the head of Asgard's military and was given the choice of weapons for his role. (Thor v6 #7)
Alongside Lady Sif and Volstagg, they went to the armoury after an intruder was detected where they were shocked to find it being Donald Blake. The former host of Thor had seen gone mad since last seen and wielded incredible power allowing him to battle the Asgardians assembled to stop his rampage. Despite their efforts, he was able to defeat them and disarmed them with surgical precision. Blake was even able to defeat Beta Ray Bill and strip him of some of the Odin-power due to his own connection to it thus leaving the Korbinite powerless. Once all the Asgardians were defeated, he used the defeated Lady Sif's sword to open the Bifrost where he banished the defenders of Asgard to the far off realm of Dimension Blood this stranding them in that land. (Thor v6 #10)
Afterwards, Bill came to find that the magic empowering him was gone alongside his hammer thus preventing him from taking on his normal form. This resulted in Sif unable to make love to Bill who resolved to find Odin to re-forge Stormbreaker. He then took Skuttlebutt and began his quest for the former All-Father as he went into space. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #1) He was joined in his journey by Skurge who had left Valhalla as he had been moved by Bill's quest with him seeking to aid him. Together, they came to find Odin in an alien bar where the former All-Father stated that he no longer held the magic that could be used to re-forge Stormbreaker. Thus, he was unable to help Beta Ray Bill but offered an alternative by suggesting they claim Surtur's blade the Twilight Sword. It resided within Muspelheim and had the ability to achieve the feats that Bill wanted with him being directed to a portal into the fiery realm with this being the Stygian Gate. Joined by Pip the Troll, the three then embarked on Skuttlebutt where the Asgardian protectors of the gate allowed them entry into the fiery realm as they continued their quest. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #2)
The ship was then engulfed by a great tentacled beast that looked to tap into their fears. This was until Skuttlebutt freed him whereupon she took him deeper into their vessel through Bill's many traumatic past memories until they found the core of the beast. He killed it thus freeing the starship just as it reached its destination where Skuttlebutt attempted to reassure Bill by saying that he never needed anything to be a hero to her. However, Bill felt that he needed to forge his destiny and that the only way to do so was by claiming a weapon. However, before he could claim the Twilight Sword, he was confronted by Surtur who had returned and was looking for a worthy opponent to battle. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #4)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He was noted for being a strong warrior who had laid down his own body to protect his family and people. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #4)
His mother had told him that she would always love him no matter what he looked like with this being a great comfort to him after his transformation. Despite that though, his heart was still broken and she noted that she shared in her son's grief. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #4)
Thus, he and Lockjaw came to forge a close friendship with the pair going on numerous adventures together. (Annihilation - Scourge: Beta Ray Bill v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Beta Ray Bill was an ordinary member of the race of Korbinites until he was chosen to be their chosen protector. This saw their scientists taking the most ferocious carnivore of their empire and bio-engineering it to produce a warrior of surpassing skill and strength. His soul was then fitted to the body which he used to serve as a protector to his people. (Thor v1 #338) In this form, he was noted to had been strong enough to physically match an Asgardian of Thor's power. (Thor v1 #337) Bill was said to had been born in a galactic inferno allowing him to survive fiery environments such as that of Skartheim. He also had internal sensors that could allow him to track down specific people. (Thor v1 #339)
After inadvertently gaining the power of Mjolnir, he felt the power of Thor that was added to his own and felt strong enough to shake the foundations of a planet. He gained the abilities of the god of thunder along with the use of the hammer that could be thrown at his command and return to him. (Thor v1 #337)
Later on, Odin had his own magical hammer forged for Bill with this being Stormbreaker. It was constructed of Uru metal from the Dwarven Furnaces of Nidavellir and empowered by an enchantment using the Odinforce. Under this power, the hammer was mystically bound to Beta Ray Bill where at first it had an enormous weight to it that grew lighter upon him wielding the weapon. (Thor v1 #339)
At one point, he came to battle Surtur and win the right to wield the Fire Demon's weapon that was the Twilight Sword. Its power allowed Bill to change back to his normal form and provided him a range of abilities. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #5)
Such was his strength that he came to be considered an Alpha Plus threat by the Galadorian Spaceknights. (Annihilators v1 #1)
Upon becoming his people's protector, he was given a warship to ride with this being the Skuttlebutt who became Bill's companion and friend. (Thor v1 #338) She was able to decipher alien languages and relay it to Bill through his crystal chamber. The ship could generate a stasis egg around him in order to protect him from harm. (Thor v1 #337) During a journey into Muspelheim, Skuttlebutt came to be animated to the point that she was able to manifest a physical body. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #3) In this state, she retained complete control of her warship body to the point that she could morph it into a giant cannon capable of wounding the likes of Surtur. (Beta Ray Bill v1 #5)
For a time, he came to be a member of a team of galactic superheroes sworn to defend the universe from grave threats with these being the Annihilators. (Thanos Imperative: Devastation v1 #1)
Notes
- Beta Ray Bill was created by Walter Simonson where he made his first appearance in Thor v1 #337 (November, 1983).
- In the Jack Kirby Collector v1 #14 (2004), writer Walt Simonson wrote, "I wanted to start fresh, and I thought a new character would be the way to go on that. My thinking was that comics are a short form, and one of the things that's mostly true about comics characters are what they look like ... I designed Bill deliberately as a monster, because I knew that people would look at it and go, "Oh my God, it's this evil guy." I deliberately wrote them so you weren't sure in the beginning if he was a good guy or a bad guy ... I chose the name for its alliterative qualities. Originally I was going to call him 'Beta Ray Jones' because I really wanted a common name. My feeling was Bill was Everyman for this alien race ... I deleted 'Jones' because ... there were too many Joneses floating around the Marvel Universe."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill appeared in the 1990s animated television series in the episode "Innervisions" where he was voiced by actor Karl Pruner.
- In The Super Hero Squad Show, Beta Ray Bill appeared in the animated television series in the episode "The Saga of Beta Ray Bill" where he was voiced by actor Pat Fraley.[
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Beta Ray Bill appeared in the animated television series in the episode "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill" where he was voiced by actor Steven Blum.
Films
- In Planet Hulk, Beta Ray Bill appeared in the animated DVD film he was voiced by actor Paul Dobson.
- In Thor: Ragnarok, Beta Ray Bill made a cameo appearance in the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where a statue of his head was present on the Grandmaster's tower on Sakaar indicating he was one of the previous champions of the Contest of Champions.
Video games
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Beta Ray Bill appeared as an alternate costume for Thor in the 2006 video game.
- In Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Beta Ray Bill appeared as an alternate costume for Thor in the 2011 video game.
- In Marvel Heroes, Beta Ray Bill appeared as an alternate costume for Thor in the 2013 video game.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Beta Ray Bill appeared as a playable character in the setting of the Facebook video game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Beta Ray Bill appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
Appearances
- Thor v1: (1983)
- Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill v1:
- Omega Flight v1:
- Thanos Imperative: Devastation v1:
- Annihilators v1:
- Annihilators: Earthfall v1:
- Journey into Mystery:
- Nova v5:
- Unworthy Thor v1:
- Death of the Inhumans v1:
- Guardians of the Galaxy v5:
- Annihilation - Scourge: Beta Ray Bill v1:
- Thor v6:
- Beta Ray Bill v1: (2021)
External Links
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