Man-Thing
Man-Thing is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Theodore Sallis
Sallis later came to be hired as a government contractor where he began working on a project involved in creating a variation of the lost Super-Soldier Serum. (Savage Tales v1 #1) At one point, he treated and worked alongside Dr. Curtis Connors shortly after his arm was amputated driving the research that would eventually transform Connors into the Lizard. Meeting Connors at the hospital, the two began discussing nano-scaffolding and Ted's attempts to create 'Captain America 2.0', a project that aimed at re-creating the lost Super-Soldier Serum that had created Captain America. While unable to afford to hire Curt once they returned stateside, Ted still aided him in his cell regeneration research, which soon led Connors towards using lizard DNA. (Web of Spider-Man v2 #6) Afterwards, Sallis fell in love with one of his students, Ellen Brandt, and the pair eloped following a secret affair. After their honeymoon, they visited the fortune teller Madam Swabada, who foretold a catastrophic change. (Giant-Size Man-Thing v1 #5)
With the transformation of Ted Sallis into Man-Thing virtually unknown to the world at large, two of his former colleagues, Barbara Morse and Paul Allen, brought in Ka-Zar to try and track him down. At the same time AIM returned once again to try and obtain Sallis' formula. A.I.M. captured Man-Thing in a pit after Ka-Zar had begun to follow him. Confronting A.I.M, Ka-Zar fell into the pit and after a short fight in which Man-Thing had the upper hand, Man-Thing was then knocked out by AIM. Going in to kill the pair, they were saved by Zabu. Pulling the unconscious Man-Thing out of the pit, the duo took him back to the lab where they discovered that Paul and Wilma have been captured by AIM. While Ka-Zar leaves, Man-Thing slipped through his bars and followed them to A.I.M.s secret base. After discovering the truth about Paul working for AIM, Man-Thing busted through the wall of the base and rescued Ka-Zar. After everyone gets out, Man-Thing blows up the base with him inside. (Astonishing Tales v1 #13)
Fear
It was during this time Man-Thing first met the young witch Jennifer Kale and her brother, Andrew Kale when they accidentally summoned Thog the Nether-Spawn using the Tome of Zhered-Na. Initially unaware they had done so, the Kales returned to their town of Citrusville while being followed by Thog and Man-Thing. Confronting Thog, Man-Thing was initially able to destroy its original host before being summoned fully. Returning the fight to the swamp, Thog was thrown back into his home dimension of Sominus. (Fear v1 #11) Thog returned to seek revenge by bringing Man-Thing to his home dimension and offered him the chance to become human once more if he killed the Kale family. Refusing to do so, Sallis was then reverted back to Man-Thing and Thog was apparently destroyed. The Kales then realized they were still in the swamp and everything was an illusion that Man-Thing only manages to break when he realized that his touch wasn’t burning someone who knew fear. (Fear v1 #13) The Kales observed strange outbreaks of violence due to the takeover of human minds and souls by demons of the underworld. Deciding to assemble the cult, they prepare a ritual that they hope will block the demons' entry to the Earth realm. Jennifer Kale and the Man-Thing disappeared and reappeared in chains in an otherworldly dimension. Here they met Dakimh the Enchanter, who needed to recover the Tome of Zhered-Na, the tome used to originally summon Thog. Dakimh was aware of the demonic invasion of Earth and told Jennifer that the Man-Thing is the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities. As the guardian, Man-Thing can prevent the doorways between worlds from being opened but must survive a trial by combat. The Man-Thing is forced to fight a barbarian Mongu. Mongu's battle-axe was ineffective against the Man-Thing, and the swamp monster fought back with his burning touch, winning the fight. Dakimh returned Jennifer and the Man-Thing to the swamp. (Fear v1 #14) For unknown reasons, Man-Thing ran amok in the city. Man-Thing then seemingly dropped dead and was soon taken to the Kale home, Joshua Kale told everyone the origins of the Tome of Zhered-Na, which has its origins stemming from Ancient Atlantis. Dakimh appeared and takes Jennifer and Man-Thing to an extra-dimensional nexus to try and recover the Tome, battling various forces of the demons of Sominus in the process. When the cult members are captured, Jennifer and Man-Thing worked together to secure the book and restore reality to normal, freeing the captured cultists. All are transported back to Earth, including a demon Man-Thing was fighting. Once back in the swamp Man-Thing is easily able to overpower the demon. With everything restored to normal, the Tome vanished, and Man-Thing returned to the swamp, his bond with Jennifer seemingly severed. (Fear v1 #15)
During the Cotati invasion, the Man-Thing came to fall under the control of one of the alien invaders named Ventri who was operating in the Savage Land. (Empyre: Avengers v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
The malleability of his body allowed him to pass through many fences by oozing through the gaps in the chain links. (Astonishing Tales v1 #13)
After being granted the power of speech, Man-Thing came to speak the universal language of X'zelzi'ohr. (Dark Avengers v1 #176)
Notes
- Man-Thing was created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow where he made his first appearance in Savage Tales v1 #1 (May, 1971).
- In Alter Ego v1 #81 (2008), Thomas came to recount that in 2002, "Stan Lee called me in; it would've been late '70 or early '71. [...] He had a couple of sentences or so for the concept – I think it was mainly the notion of a guy working on some experimental drug or something for the government, his being accosted by spies, and getting fused with the swamp so that he becomes this creature. The creature itself sounds a lot like the Heap, but neither of us mentioned that character at the time.... I didn't care much for the name 'Man-Thing', because we already had the Thing [of the superhero team the Fantastic Four], and I thought it would be confusing to also have another one called Man-Thing."
- Wein was Conway's roommate at the time and as Thomas [recalled in 2008, "Gerry and I thought that, unconsciously, the origin in Swamp Thing #1 was a bit too similar to the origin of Man-Thing a year-and-a-half earlier. There was vague talk at the time around Marvel of legal action, but it was never really pursued. I don't know if any letters even changed hands between Marvel and DC. [...] We weren't happy with the situation over the Swamp Thing #1 origin, but we figured it was an accident. Gerry was rooming with Len at the time and tried to talk him into changing the Swamp Thing's origin. Len didn't see the similarities, so he went ahead with what he was going to do. The two characters [di]verged off after that origin, so it didn't make much difference, anyway."
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Werewolf by Night, the Man-Thing appeared in the setting of the live-action television special set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where motion-capture was provided by actor Carey Jones and additional vocalizations by actor Jeffrey Ford.
Films
- In Man-Thing, the Man-Thing appeared in the setting of the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Conan Stevens.
Video games
Appearances
- Savage Tales v1: (1971)
- Web of Spider-Man v2:
- Thunderbolts:
- Dark Avengers v1:
- Empyre: Avengers v1:
External Links
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