Coluans

Coluans in Action Comics v1 #861.

The Coluans are an alien species that feature in DC Comics.

History

Pre-Crisis

The Coluans were a race of green-skinned humanoids that were native to the planet Colu.

Years in the past, the green skinned humanoids formed a world of scientists that typically Sixth-Level effectors. As they advanced, they created powerful mobile master computers that were more intelligent with them being Tenth-Level effectors. As more were built, these computers eventually deemed themselves better than their creators and more fit to govern. They then sought to impose their rule and by this point had outfitted themselves with weapons where they eliminated anyone that opposed them. Thus, the Computer Tyrants formed when they enslaved the native humanoids and forced them into servitude as workers where a few organic beings that collaborated were provided privileges. In time, the mechanical minds sought to extend their rule to other worlds and sought to create a robotic spy to serve as a scout. Thus, they built a humanoid robot named Brainiac that was similar in appearance to their creators making others believe he was an organic being. Brainiac was built to be a Twelfth-Level effector who had the mental patterns of a dead scientist with him being more intelligent than his mechanical creators but he was wired to prevent rebellion and the nature of him being a machine was hidden from others. (Superman v1 #167)

Whilst on a journey, Bryak succumbed to a plague that killed most of its population leaving it de-populated. Brainiac ruled this world with a few fellow members of his kind such as Tagor who served as henchmen to him. (Superboy v1 #106)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. The Coluans

It later fell under the control of the Computer Tyrants of Colu. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #1)

During the Invasion, the Computer Tyrants refused to allow Colu to join the Alliance but offered Vril Dox as a donation to their war cause. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #1) Dox along with his allies returned to his homeworld to free them from the Computer Tyrants where he shut down the central computer. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #2) The Tyrants downloaded themselves into an organic body to survive but became disgusted at being trapped in this existence forcing them to flee into the depths of space. (L.E.G.I.O.N v1 #3) In the aftermath, Vril Dox sought to remake Coluan society though some of his allies simply saw him as substituting the Computer Tyrant's rule with his own. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #4)

A Coluan named Prin Vnok came to assist Brainiac in his attempt at claiming the body of the monstrous Doomsday. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #2)

During the Rann/Thanagar war, the Coluans sided with the Rannians though one of their vessels was destroyed by a Durlan bioship which led to a loss to their alliance. (Rann-Thanagar War v1 #2)

Starro the Conqueror came to usurp L.E.G.I.O.N. and conquered the Dominator homeworld. The Coluans and other extraterrestrial civilizations prepared for war with Starro. (R.E.B.E.L.S. v1 #6)

With the help of L.E.G.I.O.N., the Coluans began reconstructing their world. (R.E.B.E.L.S. v1 #22)

According to Brainiac 8, the Coluans eventually abandoned their organic forms and became an entirely mechanical species that hated biological based beings. In this time, Colu rose to ascendance in the cosmos in the times after the Crisis but they were thwarted by the actions of Donna Troy. This resulted in Brainiac 8 travelling backwards in time with the aid of Brainiac in order to eliminate Troia in order to ensure Colu's rise to power.

31st century

The Coluans dispatched Sharn Nux as their representative to meet with the Legion of Super-Heroes as the various galactic powers gathered to face the threat from Robotica. (The Legion v1 #10)

Brainiac 5.1 entered into the Sleepnet and urged his people not to trust the Affiliated Planets as he deemed Colu too precious a jewel to ally itself with a consortium of such questionable morality. (Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #107)

In one future, the Colu was noted to had been a closed world that did not receive many visitors. It also continued to suffer from the reputation of Brainiac and his vault was one of the forbidden locations on the planet. Unknown to anyone, Brainiac 5 attempted to access the vault which activated the numerous weapons within it. This forced Querl Dox to call upon the Legion of Super-Heroes help where Ultra Boy threw the vault into space where it was hoped heavy starship weapons from the United Planets would destroy the facility without harming Colu. (Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #0)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

Ten billion years ago, a Coluan named Kaja Dox came to be selected by a Power Ring and selected to be one of the first members of the Green Lantern Corps. (Green Lanterns v1 #25)

On Yod-Colu, a scientist named Vril Dox came to determine the existence of the Fifth Dimension and learnt that it was populated by god-like beings. At first, he thought he could learn from them but determined that the 5th Dimensional Imps were engaged in a war that spilled into the universe. This resulted in a force called the Multitude being unleashed that was destroying world after world. Dox determined that Yod-Colu was along the path of destruction and believed the only way to save his people was by upgrading his species to handle the onslaught coming from Dimension Five. This saw him conducting experiments on his people and even his own son with his wife being horrified upon learning of this leading to his eventual trial in a court of law. He made his plea to the Coluans but they decided to exile him from Yod-Colu for his crimes but whilst aboard his ship he freed himself and began to upgrade into a cybernetic being. Transforming the exile ship, he returned to his homeworld where he abducted his home city by shrinking it into a bottle just before the Multitude came to scour life from Yod-Colu. Thus, Vril Dox was turned into the Collector of Worlds where he sought to save planets on the path of the Multitude where he took a sample as a bottle city that he kept within his vessel. He then distributed his intelligence over numerous bodies where he came to be a feared scourge across the cosmos. (Superman v3 #23.2)

The Coluans came to learn that the New God Darkseid intended to create a New Apokolips based in the mortal universe and it was to serve as a beachhead to conquer all universes. To accomplish this feat, he required components forged from certain worlds. Upon learning of those worlds, the people of Colu abducted those planets and kept them shrunken to avoid their use by Darkseid with these eventually making up a region of space known as the Ghost Sector. (Justice League Odyssey v1 #5)

After the threat of the Dark Multiverse was defeated, the Source Wall was broke thus exposing to great and powerful threats that lay beyond it. Among them were the Omega Titans that were cosmic beings who long ago seeded universal energies in the cosmos. They had arrived into the universe to harvest these energies that had grown since the last time they had visited the universe with their first target being Colu. This led to Brainiac gathering various heroes and villains on Earth to form a Justice League based on each of the universal energies in an effort to save his homeworld. (Justice League: No Justice v1 #2) Despite their efforts, they were unable to stop the Omega Titan from consuming Colu though the Justice League were able to get the population to evacuate their homeworld before it was destroyed. (Justice League: No Justice v1 #3)

The species later came to establish a new homeworld that was called New Colu. It came to be a member of the newly formed United Planets that was an interstellar alliance of many worlds. (Green Lantern v6 #1)

Overview

In the 31st century, it was stated that the Coluans were a long lived species but one that reproduced rarely and that every child was priceless in their society. (Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #0) According to one account, their species were said to hold a 200 year life span. (Superboy v1 #106)

At one point in the modern era, they were ruled by the Coluan council during a time when they were puppets to the Computer Tyrants. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #1)

One academic institution within their society was the Coluan Heuristic Academy. (The Legion v1 #10)

It was noted that they were a highly advanced race of superior intellect. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #1) Their society at one point considered twelfth-level intelligences to be dysfunctional aberrations. Instead, they held that eighth-level intellects were optimal amongst the upper-levels of Coluan society. This allowed them to be smart yet still held the capacity to retain healthy emotional function and cordial social skills. (The Legion v1 #10)

Coluans were known to prefer theoretical research over applied science. (Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #107) Their technology was highly advanced that was centred in the many massive cities. (L.E.G.I.O.N. v1 #1) As a people, they were devoted to the sciences and had rejected magic thousands of years ago. (Justice League: No Justice v1 #2)

Coluan technology was able to continually fabricate materials and build itself with relentless efficiency and speed. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #2)

They employed a virtual world where much of their kind resided in order to share with one another what they had learnt during their waking hours. Entry was done so through bed-like pods where the subjects slept whilst their mind entered into this virtual space which was known as the Sleepnet. Those that entered into it were able to be read and accessed which made deception impossible inside of it. The unity of the Coluans in this state meant that they came to singular decisions for their entire race and transfer of data from the minds that made up the Sleepnet. (Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #107)

They seemingly possessed craft capable of space-warping that allowed them to travel between galaxies in an instant. (Superboy v1 #106)

It was said that Coluans were forbidden by law from time travel. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #2)

Members

Brainiac family of Coluans in R.E.B.E.L.S. v2 #18.

• Vril Dox :
• Lysl Dox : a blonde haired female Coluan who was the wife of the man who became Brainiac and the mother of his son. (Superman v3 #23.2)
• Lyrl Dox :
• Querl Dox :
• Dorvl : a male Coluan elder who regretted the damage caused by Brainiac's vault when it was incidentally opened. (Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #0)
• Sharn Nux : a bald headed female special theorist who lived in the 31st century where she had been a member of the Coluan Heuristic Academy. (The Legion v1 #10)
• Arvid Wix : a male elder Coluan who was skeptical on Brainiac 5's allies from the Legion of Super-Heroes and weary of Querl Dox due to his legacy as being a descendant of Colu's ancient overlords. (Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #0)
• Techne : a female clone daughter of Brainiac that was grown from his cells and born with a 12th Level intellect who was programmed by the Computer Tyrants as a weapon against Brainiac. (Telos v1 #2)
• Tagor :
• Kaja Dox : a female ginger haired Coluan from ten billion years ago with a third-level intelligence ranked as the smartest person on her world at the time when she was recruited by one of the first seven Power Rings to make the Green Lanterns to battle a great crisis at the time. (Green Lanterns v1 #25)
• Vrajj Xan :
• Vrax Gozzl :
• Prin Vnok : a male scientist who was a follower of Brainiac and served him where he helped recover Doomsday from the end of time to be used as a host body. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #2)
• Peya Fel : a blonde haired female Coluan who was the Sixth Abacrix of New Colu and attended the United Planets summit on Oa that was to decide the entry of the world into the interstellar alliance. (Green Lantern v6 #1)
• Renlo : a bald male Coluan who visited Krpyton long ago and briefly kidnapped an infant Kal-El. (Superboy v1 #106) Pre-Crisis character who was noted identified as a Coluan but referred to Brainiac as being his 'uncle'.
• Tagor : a bald male Coluan who visited Krpyton long ago and briefly kidnapped an infant Kal-El. (Superboy v1 #106) Pre-Crisis character who was noted identified as a Coluan but referred to Brainiac as being his 'uncle'.

Notes

• The Coluans were created by Bill Finger and Wayne Boring where they made their first appearance in Superboy v1 #206 (May, 1956).
• In Action Comics v1 #242 (1958), Brainiac's first appearance in the Pre-Crisis continuity had him stating that his people had been wiped out by a plague with him abducting people into bottle cities so repopulate his homeworld and create an empire under his control.
• Superboy v1 #206 (1963) refers to Brainiac's world as being called Bryak that was situated in another galaxy from Krypton.
• Grant Morrison's Action Comics amalgmated the name of the Coluan homeworld by calling it Yod-Colu.

Alternate Versions

• In the Justice mini-series comic, Brainiac intended to create a new group of his people on Earth starting with Aquaman's son who he called the new Coluans.
• In Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century v1 #4 (2008), the Coluans made several appearances in the comic tie-in to the animated television series. Coluans were said to begin their education in utero after which they spend a year at home before attending primary school until age 5 after which they went to high school until age 10. Colu made use of the Coluan Aptitude and Intelligence Quotient (CAin-QuEx) exam that was used as a basis to determine their high intelligence. Typical Coluans were said to maintain an average intelligence of Level 8. Brainiac 5 travelled to Colu to meet with his tutor Dr. Mod to consult over his seemingly decreasing intelligence.

In other media

Television

• In Justice League Unlimited, Coluans were referenced in the animated television series set in the DC Animated Universe in the episode "Far From Home" with Brainiac 5 identifying himself as a member of that race.
• In Legion of Super-Heroes, the Coluans made an appearance in the animated series. They were shown to be a mechanical species with a hive mind that linked all members during an event known as the "alignment". They were shown to be remarkably advanced with digitizing technology though remained reserved and recluse on their homeworld. The Coluans attempted to reprogram Brainiac 5 when he was corrupted by the mind of Brainiac but were instead brainwashed by him after which he used them to digitize enter worlds before Brainiac 5 was freed from his ancestors control.
• In Supergirl, Coluans were mentioned and made an appearance in the episode "Solitude" with Indigo representing them. They were stated to be a race of super-computers that were native to the planet Colu. Brainiac 8 stated that the three tiered symbol on her forehead was the font of omniscient knowledge of her race. At one point, she was linked to the great Coluan cyber-construct before she was captured by Kryptonian forces. They trapped her in Fort Rozz and she remained there for many years until she freed herself on Earth.
• In Young Justice, a Coluan was seen in the setting of the animated television series fourth season Phantoms in the finale episode. A time travelling Brainiac 5 came to the present in order to recover his comrades Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy after they were stranded there on Earth. The character's species was not identified in the episode.

Appearances

• Superboy: (1956)
• L.E.G.I.O.N. v1:
• The Legion v1:
• Superman: Doomsday Wars v1:
• Legion of Super-Heroes v4 #107
• Rann-Thanagar War v1 #2
• Legion of Super-Heroes v7 #0 (2012)
• Green Lanterns v1:
• Green Lantern v6: (2021)

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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