Xemnu
Xemnu is an extraterrestrial supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Xemnu was an extraterrestrial being who came to be placed on a prison planet for crimes against the universe. One day, a supply ship arrived on the planet which Xemnu used as an opportunity to escape. Boarding it, he came to steal the vessel and flee the world but the ship lacked the fuel reserves to deliver him back to his homeworld. Instead, the ship ended up crashlanding on the planet Earth thus stranding him on that primitive world. Crashing in a swamp, the near dead Xemnu was discovered by Joe Harper who was a small town electrician. Taking the creature back to his shop, he came to fed it electricity. Revived, Xemnu explained to Harper how he came to Earth. Harper came to be terrified after learning that he saved the life of a criminal monster. Joe had attempted to escape, but was taken under mental control by the alien. Determined to return to his own planet, Xemnu took over the minds of the entire world, and forced humans to build him a new spaceship, one that would be so powerful, it would destroy the Earth in the process of launching. As he commanded the others to do his bidding, Xemnu let go of his command of Harper, having gratitude that the human had saved him. However, Harper used his freedom to rewire some components in the Titan's ship, so that just as he got into orbit, a short circuit caused Xemnu to go into a state of shock. The ship flew towards the sun, and everyone except Harper regained their mental faculties, never aware of Xemnu. (Journey into Mystery v1 #62) Still in shock, Xemnu managed to telekinetically cause an asteroid to strike the craft, causing the ship to change course, heading back for Earth. Crashing yet again, Xemnu found himself free of the electrical charge. He came across a carnival owner and took over his mind. The possessed carny then took Xemnu into town as a sideshow attraction, inviting the townspeople to come see the show for free. His powers having dwindled, the Titan was forced to threaten the people physically this time. Around this time, Joe Harper realized that Xemnu's ship was no longer circling the sun and when reports of Pineville shutting itself off from the world came on the news, he realized the alien had returned. Harper confronted Xemnu, and when the Titan attempted to hypnotize Harper's very molecules apart, Harper held up a mirror, causing Xemnu to hypnotize himself instead. Xemnu then seemingly died as he faded into nothingness. (Journey into Mystery v1 #66)
The now-gaseous form of Xemnu traveled through space until he finally returning to his home planet. Once there, he discovered a lifeless world wiped out by illness. Heading back to Earth, he found a space shuttle and possessed the astronaut Richmond Wagner. Returning to Earth, 'Wagner' and his co-pilot Cal Beame experienced trouble coming into orbit and were saved by Namor the Sub-Mariner. The two publicly quit the space program. 'Wagner' convinced Beame to use their newfound celebrity to host a childrens' show. With 'Wagner' dressing up in an alien costume that was actually him reverting to Xemnu's true form. The show, called The Astro-Nuts, became a hit, thanks in part to Xemnu's subliminal spells. Watching the show, Jim Wilson realized something was wrong, and, lacking a way to contact his friend the Hulk, instead went to Doctor Strange. Strange took on the illusional form of the Hulk, and the two visited the set, even as The Astro-Nuts shot up in the ratings and merchandise sales boomed. Posing as the Hulk, Strange was granted a guest-role on the show. However, Bruce Banner, the true Hulk, saw the sham on television, and reverting to his monstrous alter-ego, set out to find the fake. At that moment, Xemnu dropped his pretense, hypnotizing the children viewing his program, in an effort to repopulate his world. Strange, too, dispensed with his ruse, and attacked the Titan. Outmatched, Strange summoned Namor, who also fell to the alien. Beame, having enough, tried to help, but was killed by his 'friend'. The true Hulk then arrived and began to beat Xemnu savagely, causing the Titan to retreat via molecule dispersement. (Marvel Feature v1 #3)
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) Afterwards, he also came to be referred to as the Titan. (Marvel Feature v1 #3)
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 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update v1 #1 (2010), the characters homeworld was listed as being Xem.
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)
- Marvel Feature v1:
- Defenders v1:
- Hulk v2:
- Immortal Hulk v1:
External Links
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