Xemnu
Xemnu is an extraterrestrial supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Xemnu first appeared on Earth when his starship crash-landed on Earth after running out of fuel.[1]
As a criminal, he came to be apprehended and imprisoned on a world alongside other countless life forms that remained stranded there with no hope of escape to prevent them from menacing the universe. This was until one day the guards arrived and whilst distracted by tending to the other prisoners Xemnu commandeered their vessel to escape. However, the vessel was not large enough to hold him and it was not designed for long journeys thus forcing him to go to the nearest inhabitable world which was Earth. (Journey into Mystery v1 #62)
When revived by the human Joe Harper, Xemnu reveals that he was a criminal who had been exiled into space for crimes against the rest of the universe, and had escaped a prison planet and fled to Earth.[1] Xemnu then used telepathy to dominate Harper's mind and then the minds of every other human on Earth.[1] He forced them to build him a new starship so that he could return home.[1] As he departs, he releases Harper from his telepathic domination. Harper sabotages the ship's electrical systems, shocking Xemnu into a coma-like state. As the alien flew off, his mind control faded, and his former servants forgot that he had ever existed. Xemnu used telekinesis to direct an asteroid to strike his ship so that it would be knocked onto a course back to Earth. After crashing down on Earth a second time, the weakened Xemnu was taken into a circus sideshow. As he took control of the town where the circus was located, Joe Harper followed Xemnu's trail and confronts the alien. Xemnu attempts to disintegrate Harper, but Harper used a mirror to reflect the alien's psychic power back at it, and Xemnu's body was destroyed.
Xemnu then traveled through space in a non-corporeal form, and over the years learned that his home planet had been wiped out by a plague. He returned to Earth, possessing the body of an astronaut Richmond Wagner to gain a physical form. When the space shuttle arrived on Earth, Xemnu used his human host's popularity and his own telepathy to become the host of a children's television series. He used his mental power to place Earth's children under his thrall, planning to abduct them to repopulate his home world, only to be detected by Doctor Strange. Strange and his ally Namor the Sub-Mariner were defeated by the alien, but Xemnu was in turn beaten by the Hulk.[2] Xemnu then took possession of Amos Moses, mayor of small-town Plucketville in an attempt to kidnap the townspeople of Plucketville to repopulate his home planet. The newly formed Defenders (Doctor Strange, the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner and the Valkyrie) fought him, thus preventing him from using the townspeople to construct another starship. Xemnu continued his vendetta against the Hulk via a series of clones created from samples of other "classic Marvel" alien monsters,[4] sent to attack the Hulk, and battled the Hulk himself; however, he was defeated when the dam burst.[5] Xemnu later used Amos Moses' body in an attempt to once again take control of the Earth via television-transmitted hypnosis. Xemnu took mental control of the Los Angeles-based hero Wonder Man using him to attack his ally, the Thing. The heroes eventually defeated Xemnu, and he fled in a starship.
Later, deep in space, Xemnu infiltrates the spacecraft-haulage craft owned by Ulysses Solomon Archer. He takes over the enclosed area of the Star Stop Diner and confronts a pregnant woman known as Mary McGrill. He plans to genetically alter her child to make it one of his own race. He is opposed by Razorback, Archer, She-Hulk and everyone else at the Diner but they are easily knocked out by his psychic powers. She-Hulk awakens ahead of the others and finds that Xemnu is attempting to turn her into "She-Xemnu." Ultimately, Xemnu is defeated and given over to a powerful humanoid alien named Big Enilwen. This childlike being believes that Xemnu is simply a teddy bear to play with. Xemnu convinces Enilwen to free his teddy bear population to 'the wild'. He returns to confront She-Hulk again, this time to sell her into slavery. This time he is defeated by a large monkey wrench to the head, wielded by She-Hulk's friend Louise Mason. Xemnu reappeared as one of Space Phantom's kidnapped bodies in Beyond!.[volume & issue needed] He appeared in Annihilation Conquest as one of the Phalanx select.
Afterwards, he sought to get revenge on the Hulk and decided to gather an army of monsters that he mentally controlled including the Woodgod. At that time, the Impossible Man had decided to spectate the fight as Xemnu fought both the Hulk and the Red Hulk. This forced Xemnu to deploy his weapon which was an imperfect smart clone of his foe called Kluh where the two Hulk's were nearly defeated by the creature until the Impossible Man used a compound ray to merge the two heroes into the Compound Hulk. They were able to work together to defeat Kluh and overpower him thus forcing Xemnu to retreat as he plotted his revenge. (Hulk v2 #30)
Xemnu later appeared on Monster Isle when Shadowcat and Magik appeared to look for a mutant girl named Bo. Xemnu was among the monsters that attacked the three until Magik teleported herself, Shadowcat, and Bo to the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Xemnu later appears alongside Rocket Raccoon. Xemnu is among the monsters seen falling from the sky near San Diego.
Secretly, Xemnu had converted everyone within the Roxxon headquarters without Agger aware of this thus bringing them under his control. When the Hulk attacked the corporate HQ, Xemnu turned on Agger and converted him into a cybernetic thrall thus deforming him completely. He then ambushed the Hulk who looked to confront him where Xemnu used his telepathic powers to dominate his mind and looked to secure his own control over the world. However, he was unprepared for the Green Scar persona within the Hulk's mind who used his strength to smash the Living Titan's body into pieces thus ending his threat to the world. (Immortal Hulk v1 #33)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Originally, he was known as the Living Hulk. (Journey into Mystery v1 #63)
The alien being was said to hold no pity or compassion in him. Xemnu had stated that he would destroy entire solar systems if it served his purpose. (Journey into Mystery v1 #62)
Powers and abilities
Thanks to his alien genetic structure, Xemnu possesses great superhuman strength, almost comparable to the She-Hulk's even at his present smaller size. Xemnu also possesses superhuman stamina and durability, and he has a gifted intellect with advanced knowledge of genetics. His main resource lies in his enormous, extraordinary psionic abilities, including telepathy, hypnosis, possession, and levitation. These abilities enable him to effortlessly control millions or even billions of minds at a time, immediately induce unconsciousness in crowds of people, or even put mental blocks in the mind of Doctor Strange, the "Sorcerer Supreme" of the Marvel Universe, although the Hulk has proved immune to Xemnu's psionic possession. He can also project psionic concussive blasts of tremendous power, sufficient to stagger even the Hulk, animate unliving objects, including asteroids, and he can create personal "atmo-spheres", a protective sphere of psionic energy, which he can use to fly with himself in it. If destroyed he can inhabit another living being and transform it into a smaller (11 ft) copy of his original body. He is highly adept in his native technology, and has been capable of engineering genetic monstrosities capable of challenging even the Hulk's might, or using a machine that turns humans into members of his species, including transforming the She-Hulk into a "She-Xemnu".
Through his psionic powers, he was able to achieve a form of hypnosis over weaker minds forcing those affected into a trance where they served Xemnu's will. (Journey into Mystery v1 #62)
In time, he had internalised a conversion process into his own body whereby he was able to open up a 'mouth' in his centre whereupon mechanical tentacles grabbed prey that were fed into him. The process nourished Xemnu and also converted his quarry into cybernetic creatures that were under his control. (Immortal Hulk v1 #33)
Notes
- Xemnu was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in Journey into Mystery v1 #62 (November, 1960).
In other media
Television
- In Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Xemnu appeared in the animated television series in the episode "The Strongest One There Is" where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore. This variation was much taller and stronger than the Hulk. He was interested in challenging local fighters and delivers a challenge, via hologram, to fight the Hulks - all except Rick. Seeing it as pointless, Hulk moved him to reject but Rick accepted it on behalf of the entire team. His colleagues lose. Feeling guilty, Rick tries one more time and manages to defeat Xemnu. Xemnu declares his journey for a skilled fight over and bonds with Rick over video games and donuts.
Appearances
- Journey into Mystery v1: (1060)
- Hulk v2:
- Immortal Hulk v1:
External Links
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