Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)

Fin Fang Foom
Name	Unrevealed
Current Alias	Fin Fang Foom
Aliases	He Whose Limbs Shatter Mountains and Whose Back Scrapes the Sun (translation)
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	"Fin Fang Four," former ally of the Mandarin, pawn of Doctor Vault, member of starship crew
Relatives	Fraktur (cousin), Fin Fang Foom (clone)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	Variable
Weight	Variable
Eyes	Irises: Red
Hair	No Hair At All
Unusual Features	Fin Fang Foom's appearance is very similar to that of a dragon in Chinese mythology. As such, Fin Fang Foom possesses Green scaly skin, wings, an elongated neck, antennae, clawed hands and feet and a tail.
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Kakarantharaian/Makluan (current body also include reptile genes and traces of human DNA)
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Kakaranthara
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	Kakaranthara
Occupation	Chef, former world conqueror, starship navigator
Base of Operations	New York, formerly Valley of the Sleeping Dragon in China
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
First	Strange Tales #89 (July, 1961)
First	Strange Tales #89 (July, 1961)

 I -- Have -- AWAKENED! 

—Fin Fang Foom

History

Although once believed to be a native of the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon in China, Fin Fang Foom -- whose name, roughly translated, means "He Whose Limbs Shatter Mountains and Whose Back Scrapes the Sun" - is actually a Makluan, a shape-shifting alien being from the world of Kakaranthara, who resembles a somewhat anthropomorphic Chinese dragon. Foom and several other like-minded members of his race departed their peaceful homeworld centuries ago with the intention of conquering other planets. Landing in ancient China, the crew used their natural shape-shifting powers to mimic human form, intending to enter human society and bide their time before beginning their conquest. The navigator of the craft, Foom instead elected to serve as a "back-up" in case something went wrong, and was placed in a tomb and given a herb that would send him into a deep slumber, so that he might sleep while his fellows entered man's world.

Fin Fang Foom was somehow briefly awakened in the 8th Century, and returned to sleep through a second application of the herb. He consequently entered into Chinese legend, and a group of humans were placed as guards outside his tomb, passing the job on to their descendants. The surrounding region became known as the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon. Foom slept until the year 1961, when he was deliberately awakened by teenager Chen Liuchow, whose homeland was under threat from the Communist Chinese. Liuchow taunted Foom with the threat of the herb, goading the dragon into chasing him, and led him straight into the Communist camp, which Foom decimated. Liuchow subsequently led him back into his tomb, where the herb returned Foom to his sleep.

At some point, the sleeping Fin Fan Foom was captured by the Elder of the Universe known as the Collector and imprisoned in his subterranean collection of monsters. Foom and the other monsters were liberated when the Mole Man attacked the facility, but were later rounded up by the recently-formed Fantastic Four and deposited on Monster Isle. The island had no real security measures, however, and Foom, being more intelligent than his fellow monster, simply departed the island and returned to his hibernation. Outside forces again acted upon him as the madman called Doctor Vault took mental control of Foom and had him attack It the Living Colossus. Resisting control, Foom instead helped It fend off an invasion of Earth by the alien race called the Stonians, thus saving the planet for his own race to later conquer. Vault's mind control again briefly forced Foom to battle It, and Foom overpowered his opponent with martial arts before freeing his mind and returning to his tomb yet again.

Years later, Fin Fang Foom was again roused from his slumber when his body was possessed by the demon Aan Taanu. Combating the group of occult adventurers known as the Legion of the Night in New York, Taanu was exorcised from Foom's body by his opponents, and the confused Foom once again escaped to his resting place.

At some point the villainous Mandarin was directed to the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon by the starship captain Axonn-Karr, in the human guise of Chen Hsuin. There the Mandarin ransacked the starship for artifacts, including his now-signature rings of power. He also awoke Fin Fang Foom, using him to threaten the Chinese government. Iron Man quickly confronted the villains and was defeated, but when the remaining dozen other Makluans shed their human forms to begin their conquest, Iron Man and the Mandarin combined forces to combat the threat. Ultimately the Mandarin combined the power of his rings with Iron Man's armor, yielding a small nuclear blast which wiped the aliens out.

This was not, however, the end of Fin Fang Foom. Though his body was destroyed, his spirit endured by bonding itself to a small dragon statue. This statue was later stolen from a curio shop by teenager Billy Yuan at Foom's mental urging. Using Yuan's body as a conduit for his power, Foom summoned thousands of lizards from the sewers beneath New York, merging them with Billy's body to recreate his own form. Iron Man was successfully able to defeat him, however, with some help from the last remnants of Billy's mind within Foom's own, and he was taken into the custody of Sunset Bain. Legal complications resulted in Foom being exiled to Monster Isle once again, where he and several other monsters briefly battled the dimensionally-displaced Justice League of America.

Shortly after this, Thor was heard to claim that the Hall of Bones on Asgard was crafted from the skeleton of Fin Fang Foom, who he professed to have slain. This is actually probably a form of the Midgard Serpent, whom Thor also fought, and who has also taken a form similar to that of Fin Fang Foom.

Having spent some time rethinking his role in the world, Foom had become a follower of Buddhism, and, with the rest of his crew gone, he decided to reform. He willfully entered into a rehabilitation program spearheaded by Reed Richards, in which he and three other monsters - the robot Elektro, the giant ape Gorgilla, and the alien Googam - were shrunk down to human size, hypnotically stripped of their powers, and allowed to enter human society. Taking up a job as head chef in a Chinese restaurant within the Baxter Building, Foom later teamed up with the other monsters to defeat the microverse's size-changing warlord, Tim Boo Baa. For a time the four were celebrated as minor heroes.

The special anti-terrorism Nextwave Squad recently encountered Foom again, however, while investigating a dig conducted by the sinister Beyond Corporation in Abcess, North Dakota. Foom, considerably less intelligent than in past encounters, was eventually killed when Machine Man Aaron Stack, cut his way out of the creature after being swallowed. Given the Beyond Corporation's fondness for replicas in their extensive, unusual arsenal, some question remains as to whether this was the true Foom or some duplicate.

It appears to have been a duplicate, as Foom later appears along with several other Dragons and Pet Avengers.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Foom possesses various superhuman attributes common among his race. It isn't known, however, if the level of Foom's various powers is average or above average for a Kakarantharaian.

Superhuman Strength: Foom possesses vast superhuman strength, the full limits of which aren't known. At his peak, however, it is known that he is able to lift well in excess of 100 tons.

Superhuman Stamina: Foom's advanced musculature is far more efficient than the musculature of a human being. As a result, his muscles produce considerably less fatigue toxins than the muscles of a human. At his peak, he can exert himself physically for up to 24 hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him.

Superhuman Durability: Foom's scaly body is highly resistant to all forms of conventional physical injury. He has been shown to withstand high caliber bullets, anti-tank weaponry, falls from tremendous heights, temperature extremes of both hot and cold, great impact forces and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. Foom can also survive in a vacuum environment, such as outer space, for an undefined period of time. As a result, he either has no need to breathe or can hold his breath for much longer than a human.

Superhuman Longevity: Foom, like all members of his race, has an extraordinarily long lifespan. He has existed on Earth for thousands of years, though he remains as physically able now as when he first arrived. However, this doesn't mean that he is fully immune to aging.

Shape-shifting: Foom possesses the ability to alter both his physical appearance and size to a considerable degree. Foom can temporarily make himself look like a human being and has demonstrated the ability to increase his overall height to at least 100 feet in the past.

Regenerative Healing Factor: In spite his his high resistance, it is possible to cause Foom injury. If injured, his body's superior metabolism enables him to rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed tissues much faster and more extensively than a human being. It is possible for Foom's healing capabilities to regrow severed limbs, though he may have to enter a state of hibernation to do so.

Spiritual Possession: If Foom's body were to sustain injury beyond his natural ability to heal, his body will die but his spirit will remain as viable as ever and doesn't cross over into some form of afterlife. Foom's spirit can then possess the bodies of other beings, including humans. Foom can use these other bodies as hosts for a while before his energies wind up burning them out and killing them. However, what he typically does is somehow transform the body he inhabits into a copy of his original body possessing all of his various natural attributes. This ultimately explains Foom's reappearances despite having been witnessed being destroyed on multiple occasions.

Flight: Foom's large, leathery wings are able to propel him through the air at great speeds for extended periods of time. While the upper limit of his flight speed isn't exactly known, it is believed to be well under the Speed of Sound.

Telepathy: Foom has demonstrated that he possesses some degree of telepathic abilities, the full limits of which aren't known. Foom uses his telepathy to communicate with others and it's also known that he can control the minds of other reptilian life. Through some unknown means, possibly due to other psionic abilities, Foom once merged a number of reptiles together, creating a new body for himself.

Acid Mist: Foom is able to expel a combustible mist from his mouth that has a highly acidic corrosive effect, though the mist actually resembles fire rather than mist itself. Foom's mist is able to quickly burn through most known substances or he can purposely channel the mist in the form of powerful concussive blasts.

Template:New Power Grid

Abilities

Foom is highly experienced with and in the use of the advanced technology of his home planet. He is an accomplished and proven spacecraft navigator and has proven himself to be an excellent hand to hand combatant. He has mastered the fighting style of his people, which happens to be identical to a number of Asian martial arts.

Weaknesses

Foom is extremely vulnerable to an unidentified herbal leaf found only in China. This herb is capable of quickly putting Foom to sleep for extremely long periods of time, perhaps indefinitely, as long as it remains in his general vicinity.

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Formerly Makluan starship.

Notes

• Thor's foe, the Midgard Serpent, once adopted Fin Fang Foom's form to battle the God of Thunder, only with orange scales instead of Foom's traditional green.

Trivia

Fin Fang Foom was a regular character on the Iron Man animated series from 1994-1995, voiced by Neil Ross. Though notable for not adhering to the comics with particular accuracy, the series related Fin Fang Foom's story was a fair amount of faithfulness and a few notable changes.

Here, rather than set their sights on the planet, the Makluans crashed on Earth, and hid themselves in human form using the power of ten gems. Fin Fang Foom was left to guard their ship, and hibernated within it, rather than in a tomb. When the Mandarin uncovered the ship and took the ten gems, he battled Foom, but neither opponent could best the other, and they entered into an uneasy truce: Foom would aid the Mandarin in his campaigns against Iron Man in return for the Mandarin's aid at a later date - that date being a galactic alignment which would allow the dragons to return to their original forms. When the Mandarin fulfilled his part of the bargain, however, he discovered that the dragons had duped him and planned to open a portal to their homeworld to allow their race to conquer the planet. Turning on the reptiles, the Mandarin linked his rings with Iron Man's armor, and the blast wiped the dragons out.

See Also

• 94 appearance(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 11 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 31 minor appearance(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 33 mention(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 8 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 1 invocation(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 128 image(s) of Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 8 quotation(s) by or about Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Fin Fang Foom (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters - published by Marvel Comics, Nov 2005

References

Template:Invincible Iron Man