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Quote1 What e'er you fear is shadow mist! All worlds are dream and sleep. Become this truth, sweet fated child, and God is yours to keep. Quote2
Man-Thing[src]

Dr. Ted Sallis was transformed into the Man-Thing after he injected himself with the SO-2 Serum and crashed his car into a mystical swamp.[14] He guards the Nexus of All Realities.[15]

History

Early Life[]

Theodore Sallis (Earth-616) from Fear Vol 1 10 0001

Human Form

Dr. Ted Sallis was a biochemistry professor from Empire State University before recruitment into the US Army for Project Sulfur. The project was dedicated on allowing soldiers to withstand bio-chemical warfare, and Sallis developed the SO-2 Serum to grant immunity to all known toxic biochemicals. However, it became unusable upon a discovered side-effect of turning users into monsters.[6]

After Curt Connors lost his arm in battle, Ted met him in the hospital and 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.[16] 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.[17]

Origins[]

Due to his own research needing to be moved somewhere more secluded, he discussed with Ellen the idea of moving to the Everglades so as to be closer to Curt.[16] Sallis was then reassigned to Project: Gladiator, a S.H.I.E.L.D. research program based in the Florida Everglades and Sallis modified his SO-2 formula as the basis for a new Super-Soldier Serum. The subversive organization AIM wanted the serum and conspired with a bitter Ellen, whom Ted had long neglected since their honeymoon.[6] Upon completing his new serum, Ted committed its formula to memory and burned his records, but he soon fled when Ellen led Ted into an AIM ambush, and attempted to reach Curt Connors' lab. While fleeing, he injected the only existing sample of the serum into himself just before his car crashed into the swamp. He should have died, but the magical energies of the swamp, combined with the serum as well as some of Curt Connors regeneration serum,[16] transformed him into the hideous creature later known as the Man-Thing. His human intelligence rapidly fading, Sallis then slew the AIM agents and horribly burned half of Ellen's face. Unknown to Sallis, Ellen had been pregnant.[18][19]

Early Adventures[]

Theodore Sallis (Earth-616) from Astonishing Tales Vol 1 12 0001

Early Appearance

Man-Thing returned to his former laboratory after he stumbled across Project Gladiator's creator, Wilma Calvin. The locals assumed that there was witchcraft happening and captured one of the project members, Barbara Morse, though the locals were being secretly lead by AIM. After threatening the entire project members, the locals were slain by Man-Thing. He returned to the swamp. Not long after, Wilma appeared to recognize him as Ted but was shot and went into a coma.[18][20]

After wandering through the swamp for a time, he stumbled onto the Writer's Mansion and Man-Thing and Sallis appeared to be separated. Sallis was then looked after by the family that lived there. However, this turned out to be an illusion conjured by The Writer who was using Sallis to finish his book by bringing the characters to life.[21]

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.[22]

Meeting Ellen in the swamp, she removed the bandages to reveal that her face was fully healed and no longer feels scared of Man-Thing, who did not realize who she truly was. Showing no fear, the two then touched. Due to showing no fear, Ellen was not burnt and, sensing her sadness, Man-Thing left.[23]

Fighting Against Demons[]

Theodore Sallis (Earth-616) and Thog (Earth-616) from Fear Vol 1 11 0001

Fighting against Thog[24]

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.[24]

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.[15]

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.[25]

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.[26]

Many of Man-Thing's early activities involved meeting many of its residents and aiding those who had been wronged, usually by causing fear and scarring those were causing strife to others, including an abusive husband,[14] a racist cop,[27] a corrupt businessman, F.A. Schist, who wanted to build an airport on Native American land,[28] and a crashed bus.[29]

Meeting the Super Hero Community[]

His first interaction with a super-powered being was by awakening Wundarr, an alien who had been sent to earth to escape his dying world as a baby. Some time passed before his discovery and Wundarr soon grew to adulthood without any education. Assuming each was being attacked by the other, Man-Thing and Wundarr fought until Man-Thing left and rejected Wundarr's desire for Man-Thing to be his mother.[30]

Man-Thing was one of the many heroes involved in defending the earth from the hordes of the Dark Dimension when Dormammu attempted to invade the Earth.[31]

Man-Thing then teamed up with The Thing to take down the Molecule Man's "son" after he appeared in his swamp. The Thing had initially arrived due to him feeling that Man-Thing had stolen his name. During the initial confrontation Molecule Man turned both Thing and Man-Thing back into their human form, before attempting to teleport but couldn't teleport past the swamp due to the Nexus. Ted was unable to remember anything past the accident and the pair traveled to Citrusville, where they fought the Molecule Man. Turning the pair back to their monstrous forms, Man-Thing attacked the Thing and using the Man-Thing's swamp mud, the Molecule Man was defeated.[32]

Attack on the Nexus of All-Realities[]

Man-Thing found himself on a strange world below a floating castle where he was picked up by Jennifer Kale, with the savage Korrek following from behind. Korrek caught up with Kale and the Man-Thing and attacked the two of them. However, this appeared to be nothing more than a dream of Jennifer Kale. Korrek was transported to Earth's dimension through a jar of peanut butter and resumed his attack on Jennifer. However, when Joshua and Andy burst into the room, Korrek believed himself surrounded and fled into the swamp. The Kales were soon visited by Dakimh the Enchanter who has come to tell the Kales about the disruption in the Nexus of All Realities caused by the construction being done in the swamp. He has also come to train Jennifer in his mystical knowledge and reveals the dream world is just a different place and people are often teleported there. Meanwhile, in the swamp, Korrek met the Man-Thing. Attacking the creature in a fury, he once again saw that no matter what he did, he could not harm the Man-Thing and so he stopped fighting. While lamenting over his plight, Korrek was visited by Howard the Duck, who had also found himself transported to Earth's dimension as well. Howard and Korrek teamed up to find a way back to their respective realities. Traveling through the swamp with Man-Thing in tow, Korrek was compelled to go to the F.A. Schist construction site after hearing a blood-curdling scream. Spotting Demons attacking the site, the Demons soon turned their attention towards Man-Thing, Korrek, and Howard and closed in for the kill.[29]

Man-Thing, Korrek, and Howard were attacked by the demons who happened to be followers of the "Overmaster", a being who seeks to take over all of existence. Fighting a losing battle against the nigh-indestructible demons, the trio was saved by a last-minute intervention by Dakimh, who asked them to join him in stopping the Overmaster. Their first task was to rescue Jennifer who had been captured by the Overmaster's followers. Explaining that they needed to realign the Nexus of All Realities, the foursome began to hop across dimensions, while losing Howard on the Journey in the process. When the trio arrived at the center of the nexus, they succeeded in realigning it. However, it also gave the Overmaster and his Congress of Realities access to the realm of Therea, where they hoped to kill the Gods that resided there and take over. There the Overmaster unmasked himself, revealing him to be the demon Thog. The Man-Thing battled Thog and his minions while burning those who feared him, and when Thog became afraid of plunging into the moat of Therean water, Man-Thing grabbed him and began to burn him as well. With his hands melting, Thog tried to break free, and ended up falling in the moat of pure water, which seemingly killed him. With their master defeated, the Congress and its armies retreated back from whence they came. The Gods of this realm were revealed to be two dogs under the care of two farmers. When the Man-Thing touched one of the dogs, they were all shown the full of reality before all being sent to their respective homes.[33]

Back in the Swamp[]

Back on Earth, Man-Thing met Richard Rory when he rescued the man from an alligator attack. When the Man-Thing finished killing the gator, Richard tried to get the Man-Thing to administer first aid to his injuries but he blacked out due to blood loss and Man-Thing leaves. Richard meanwhile meets a woman named Ruth Hart. Meanwhile, F.A. Schist returned and wanted to destroy the Man-Thing so he hired Professor Slaughter, an M.I.T. graduate who offers to deal with the Man-Thing. Meanwhile, back at the swamp, Ruth and Richard are silently watched by the Man-Thing, but the muck-monster eventually left the two to give them some privacy and wandered around the swamp. Here, he ran into the Skull-Crushers, the biker gang of which Ruth used to be a part of. When they saw the creature, they attacked it and found out that nothing works against him. Their leader Snake attacked the creature with a chain, but the Man-Thing grabbed him and his momentary fear causes him to be burned by the muck monster. When the Man-Thing finally departed, Snake vows to get the creature. Meanwhile, the Man-Thing found itself drawn to the Slaughter Room, a device designed to kill the Man-Thing, which emanated sonic vibrations from inside it. However, the creature managed to destroy the device by throwing chains at its controls. At that moment, Ruth arrived followed shortly by Snake and Richard. Both ended up at blows, but when the Man-Thing indifferently threw away the chains it used to free itself, the chains soon struck Snake, killing him in the process. Both Schist and Hargood immediately fled the scene after that.[34]

Schist's wife Vivian hired Dr. Dane Gavin to capture or kill the Man-Thing; he chose the former, placing Man-Thing on display in the New York Museum of Natural History, where visitors' fears sent the Man-Thing on a berserk rampage through the city until Dr. Gavin and Schist's daughter, Carolyn, took him back to the swamp.[35] Man-Thing later faced the manifested hate of Maybelle Tork,[36] the Demons of Liberation (embittered scarred war veterans),[37] and the reality-altering Brian Lazarus.[38]

Wandering into the Port Everglades, the Man-Thing was trapped on the Marietta cargo ship and caught up in a two-century-old curse involving the satyr Khordes, the immortal crew of the pirate Captain Fate, and oceanographer Dr. Maura Spinner. Maura was a reincarnation of the former captain of Fate's crew, whom Fate had traded to Khordes in exchange for his treasure. Mistaking the satyr's benevolent intent, Maura had slain Khordes, who cursed them all. After helping convince Spinner to accept her destiny by the resurrected satyr's side, Man-Thing returned to the Everglades.[39]

The bog beast then joined old allies Korrek, Dakimh, and Jennifer Kale against the extradimensional sorcerer Klonus and warrior Mortak.[40] In a weird twist of fate, a Man-Thing-shaped candle (created after his New York rampage) was drugged and given to Ted Sallis' former love interest Sainte-Cloud by her jilted lover Chuck, causing her to see Man-Thing hallucinations; exposed to the drug himself, a terrified Chuck badly burnt his face on the candle.[4]

After surviving an assault from his one-time victim Jackson Hunter,[17] the Man-Thing halted the Mad Viking's rampage.[41] He then heeded the tortured spirit of student Edmond Winshed, taking vengeance on Edmond's former tormentors.[42] Captured by townspeople and thrown into a sewage treatment plant, Man-Thing escaped and slew the Mad Viking, ending a violent book-burning crusade by the Viking and Olivia Selby.[43]

Now able to survive longer away from the swamp, the Man-Thing was brought by Richard Rory to Georgia, where he escaped. He fought the demon Ehrthold,[17] as well as the soul-stealing Scavenger and his demonic creator Thog, whose Nightmare Boxes threatened to plunge all reality into madness until the positive wills of Ted Sallis and Steve Gerber contaminated the boxes, foiling Thog, whom Man-Thing once again incinerated.[44] Alongside Ghost Rider, Morbius, and the Werewolf, (who together would be known as the Legion of Monsters), Man-Thing helped destroy the enigmatic Starseed, who was actually a would-be savior of humanity.[45]

After again fighting the Molecule Man alongside Iron Man,[46] the Man-Thing was captured along with the Glob by the Collector, who pitted them against the Hulk before they rebelled and escaped. Man-Thing later helped psychic Andrea Rodgers restore her fragmented personality,[47] helped thwart the inane cosmic menace Bzzk'joh,[48] drove off D'Spayre,[49] destroyed Jude the Entropic Man and Victorius who was allied with the Cult of Entropy (while narrowly missing a chance to regain his humanity),[50] and encountered the extradimensional Micronauts.[51]

Sallis' mind was nearly restored by Dr. Karl Oheimer's cerebral regeneration therapy for a CIA project; but the army suspected enemy involvement and tried to protect Sallis' serum by attempting to rescue Oheimer, who was slain in the process. The sentient Man-Thing slaughtered all others involved, but once back in the swamp his mind faded.[52] Another experimental project briefly transported him to the Himalayas, where he encountered a Yeti race descended from Cro-Magnons.[53]

The sorcerer Baron Mordo returned him to the swamp, restored Sallis' mind and used him as a pawn against Dr. Strange in a plot to destroy Earth, but Jennifer Kale helped the Man-Thing throw off Mordo's control and foil the plot, though Sallis' mind again faded.[citation needed]

After aiding Howard the Duck against the mad monopoly of Kong Lomerate, the Man-Thing befriended Sheriff John Daltry and Barbara Bannister, alongside whom he again met Captain Fate and opposed yet another Thog plot. This time, Sallis was cured and writer Chris Claremont took his place as the Man-Thing, destroying Thog. Dr. Strange restored Claremont, but Sallis' curse returned and proved irreversible. The Man-Thing was possessed by Unnthinnk, one of the demon coven called the Six Fingered Hand, who battled the Defenders in a massive plot to take over Earth; the Six-Fingered Hand turned out to be pawns of the Hell-Lords in a scheme to use the Nexus in an aborted attempt to merge Hell and Earth.[citation needed]

Alongside Thor, he opposed both the Man-Beast and the Bi-Beast, then briefly served as a pawn of the mad sorcerer Ian Fate, which once again led to another rampage through New York. Back in the swamps, Sallis refused an offer from the demon Eblis to become human in exchange for his mortal soul. The government's Project Glamor developed a version of Sallis' formula while planning to attack Russia with super-soldiers. However, these warriors were destroyed by the Man-Thing and others as well. Another Sallis serum derivation, SS-8, was used by Daemian Wainscroft, mutating his son Deke into a powerful form until being functionally lobotomized by the Punisher.[citation needed]

Alongside the Hulk, the Man-Thing encountered a new Glob, and was later nearly destroyed by the Deviant Ereshkigal when she used the Star Brand to access the Nexus in an effort to rule all reality. Another writer with reality-warping powers used the Man-Thing to complete his final story in the last seconds of his life. Shortly thereafter, the Man-Thing was one of the Daydreamers joining Franklin Richards on a surreal journey to accept Onslaught's seeming destruction of Franklin's parents and uncles, who had actually survived in the Counter-Earth of a pocket realm created by Franklin; however, Ashema the Listener, a Celestial who helped Franklin retrieve Onslaught's victims and establish Counter-Earth as a real planet orbiting opposite Earth, obliterated the Man-Thing in order to stop him from blocking access to the pocket realm.[citation needed]

Re-created via the combined energies of an Asgardian Norn Stone and the recent breaching of the dimensional barriers, the Man-Thing's form was briefly usurped by mailroom employee Carl Shuffler, who was removed by Spider-Man using instructions from the virtually omniscient Authority.[citation needed]

Fixing the Nexus of All Realities[]

Recent dimensional travel had shattered the Nexus of Realities, and Dr. Strange recruited Ellen Brandt to help Man-Thing restore it. In the process, the Man-Thing was possessed by K'ad-Mon, the history of the Men of Lineage was revealed, and Sallis learned that his relation with Ellen was predestined to restore his hereditary mission. Ellen, the Man-Thing, and K'ad-Mon recovered Nexus fragments from within the maddened Devil-Slayer, from Howard the Duck (despite the opposition of Mahapralaya and a revived Cult of Entropy), from Cleito herself in ancient Atlantis, and from a Nexus-blessed planet that Ellen had to destroy to save reality.[54][55]

Their efforts to restore the Nexus were opposed by the Fallen Star Mr. Termineus, the embodiment of finality, who had visited the young Ted Sallis over the years. Termineus had captured Ellen's long-lost son Job Burke and trained him as his disciple in a plot to destroy all existence.[56] Devil-Slayer united the remaining Fallen Stars, including K'ad-Mon and Sorrow, to stop Termineus. Using the power of the final Nexus fragment, Termineus succeeded in shattering the healing Nexus, wiping out all reality.[3]

However, Sallis' nature as a Man of The Lineage (combined with his love for Ellen) allowed him to briefly maintain the dream of existence; he joined forces with Job, who rebelled against his mentor, to re-imagine the creator's dream that had formed reality. All existence was restored, with Ted and Ellen inhabiting the Nexus itself, while K'ad-Mon retained control of the Man-Thing. Job returned home with his adoptive parents to live his life and prepare for his future destiny. Termineus began to plot anew to bring about the endgame, but as it was he who had involved K'ad-Mon in this struggle, he had to deal with bringing about his own failure, due to his inability to relinquish the love in his heart for his former wife, Sorrow.[57]

Shortly thereafter, the ancient Scrier mutated one of his cabal members into the Outrider to seize the Nexus. Spider-Man helped foil this plot, and Ted and Ellen drew the consciousness of the Nexus down into the Man-Thing, merging into a powerful collective being. This merged being left the earthly sphere, becoming the new Nexus, and the magic of the swamp reformed the Man-Thing's original form, apparently instilling it with the residual memory of Sallis' consciousness as before.[57]

Continuing its subconscious mission to defend the swamp and Nexus it incinerated botanist Owen Candler, creator of the Salvation Seed and the Union, which had threatened to replace humanity with plant simuloids.[58]

Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents tried to get Man-Thing to sign the Superhuman Registration Act. Man-Thing did not seem to understand the agents and when one of them attacked him, for illegal 'non violent resistance', he was killed by Man-Thing's touch. The other agent then shot Man-Thing with a herbicide gun, believing he had killed him though Man-Thing later reconstituted himself from the swamp.[9]

Thunderbolts, Legion of Monsters, and Fearsome Four[]

The Man-Thing was slashed in half by Ares of the Dark Avengers and "bagged and tagged"[59]. Since then, however, he was seen among Monster Metropolis' Legion of Monsters protecting the Moloids who were collecting and spiriting away the Punisher's body parts, after he was dismembered and decapitated by Daken, acting on the orders of Norman Osborn.[60]

After Norman Osborn was deposed during the events of Siege, Man-Thing was moved to the Raft. There, Hank Pym studied it and created a device which used Man-Thing's connection to the Nexus of All Realities to enable Luke Cage's Thunderbolts to teleport anywhere in the world.[61] When Satana was recruited to the team, she recognized Man-Thing as a legendary being called the "Vagornus Koth".[11] Satana proceeded to inscribe the 'World Song' pattern on his body for reasons she did not elaborate at first,[62] but later revealed was to begin his path to a fuller existence that would free him from his captors' control.[63]

Fear Itself Fearsome Four Vol 1 1 Textless

Fearsome Four

During the Fear Itself event, the strong fear being induced by the Serpent's hammer-wielders across the world drove Man-Thing mad. That, along with the evolution of his powers brought on by the Worldsong led him to break out of his containment and run amok in New York City.[63] Howard the Duck formed a team called the Fearsome Four with She-Hulk, Frankenstein's Monster, and Nighthawk to stop the Man-Thing's uncontrollable rage.[64] Facing various alternate universe heroes and the Psycho-Man, brought to Earth by the Man-Thing's connection to the Nexus of All Realities,[65][66] the Four were eventually able to confront their own fears and calm the Man-Thing, bringing an end to his rampage and saving the world, before going their separate ways.[67]

Giant-Size Man-Thing Thunderbolts Vol 1 162

A Giant-Size Man-Thing

Returning to the Thunderbolts, he helped during an invasion of Chicago by absorbing the hordes of monsters sent to destroy it. This caused him to become giant-sized. The process burnt out his old body, but Satana extracted from it a bulb of what was to be the Koth's future incarnation.[68]

The Thunderbolts planted the bulb in Man-Thing's artificial swamp habitat within Thunderbolts tower while they fled with the structure backwards in time. The team found they were unable to control the destinations of their time-jumps, which was due to the recovering Man-Thing's subconscious influence guiding them back to the beginnings of life on Earth. When they eventually landed in the Paleoproterozoic Era, a breach in the outer wall of the habitat allowed part of it to spill into the primordial soup, and out of it the Man-Thing was reborn. In his new form, he was cognizant and was able to speak in the universal language X'zelzi'ohr, which was heard to each observer in the words that they would best comprehend.[69] With newfound control of his ability to travel the Nexus, Man-Thing returned everyone to the proper time and gave his friends in the convict Thunderbolts portals to escape to wherever they wished.[70] Man-Thing went on to explore his new state of being while still following his instincts to protect reality. When Red She-Hulk came to his swamp due to the predictions of the Terranometer, Man-Thing helped her by shifting her to where she needed to be in time and space.[71]

Man-Thing was later one of the heroes abducted and mind-controlled by Mojo to act as Avengers of the Supernatural for a new reality show. By this point, he had seemingly reverted to his earlier non-verbal state.[72] He would continue to appear living peacefully in Monster Metropolis[73], though also living in his swamp near Citrusville. When Portal brought Mystique to the swamp at her request to access the Nexus, she had to confront Man-Thing, who was shown to be back to functioning on reactive instinct with no capacity for reason.[74]

The Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D[]

The Man-Thing was captured and entered into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s S.T.A.K.E. sub-division. While on their inaugural mission, the Howling Commandos were in combat with a viral plant infection. Multiple of these infected individuals joined together to form a larger being. This was cause for Dum Dum Dugan to call in for Man-Thing to be dropped into the fight. He then proceeded to fight off the enlarged being and defeat it using his burning touch. Due to this, the idol they were sent to retrieve was destroyed and their first mission was both success and failure.[75]

Enter the Phoenix[]

When the cosmic force known as the Phoenix Force returned to Earth, it staged a contest to determine its next host, and Man-Thing was one of many individuals summoned to the White Hot Room for it. The Phoenix empowered the assembled champions and had them fight each other in trials by combat.[76] One of the earliest bouts of the contest saw the Man-Thing fight the Black Panther. After the Black Panther proved immune to the Man-Thing's touch, he managed to defeat the creature. With this loss, Man-Thing was disqualified from the tournament.[77]

Attributes

Power Grid[87]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Poor:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/On Contact:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Below Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Peak Human:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Slow or Impaired

Powers

Man-Thing Physiology: Man-Thing is a being composed of vegetable matter formed by a mixture of mystical energy and swamp mutagens.[78]

  • Malleability: He is also able to pass through many fences by oozing through the gaps in the chain links.[79] He can also shape and elongate his limbs to grab people[78] or create blade like weapons from a bark like material.[citation needed]
  • Flight: Man-Thing is capable of self propelled flight.[55]
  • Superhuman Strength: He possesses a level of super-strength. He has been shown able to lift a 2,000 pound automobile.[33] Supposedly his might is limitless as he's the living embodiment of the Earth's life-force, making him one of the physically strongest characters in the Marvel Universe.[80]
  • Chlorokinesis: Man-Thing possessing the ability to control and manipulate plant life.[81][82][83]
  • Superhuman Durability: Its porous form is resistant to most physical attacks because it is not entirely solid; a fist or a bullet will usually pass right through it.[71]
  • Empathy/Acidic Secretion: As the Man-Thing, Ted's "brain" is no longer centrally located as when he was human: mutated analogs of his brain cells are unevenly distributed throughout the volume of his head and torso. Inhuman in its functions, his "brain" is incapable of reason, thought, or long-term memory. The Man-Thing does have a sensory apparatus, the location and nature of which is unknown, which is able to empathically sense the emotions of other organisms. Unless stimulated by external emotion, the Man-Thing remains inert. Sensing emotion, he will seek out its source, his pace determined by the intensity of the emotion. Mild emotions provoke "curiosity," causing him to draw near and "observe." Violent emotion will provoke him to seek out the source and attack it. He does not possess emotions himself. Violent emotions in others cause him some form of extreme discomfort, which produces a physical reaction on the surface of his body. In response to emotional provocation, his body produces fuming sulfuric acid which can cause severe burns when in contact with the flesh of emoting beings. When the being ceases to radiate emotion, the Man-Thing's body ceases production of acid and secretes a mild, soapy mucus that tends to neutralize the acid. The Man-Thing will only attack a being that emotionally provokes him.[citation needed] This ability extends to parts of his own body that are no longer attached to him, as he was able to connect with portions of himself which had been consumed by humans who feared him, thus causing those consumed parts of his body to secrete acid and burn through their bodies from the inside out.[5]
  • Reality Displacement: Through his access to the Nexus of Realities, Silas has the ability to transplant settings from different dimensions unto the primary Marvel Universe. Even interchanging alt. reality counterpart appearances with the main iteration of core continuum characters with other versions of themselves.[84]
  • Size Enhancement: When fueled by enough fear Man-Thing can grow to monolithic proportions.[64]
  • Dimensional Travel: As the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities the Man-Thing is the virtual embodiment of the time and space effect centered on the Nexus area and can open portals to other realities.[71]
  • Teleportation: By opening a portal to a different location he can teleport himself and others to that specific place. He can apparently open portals to places he hasn't been as long as he has seen an image of it.[85]
  • Regeneration/Reformation: Man-Thing is capable of regenerating his body from plant and vegetable matter, especially that found in his swamp. He is able to remake his body even when believed to be near death and can form tendrils to seek out any matter with which to aid his regeneration.[5]

X'zelzi'ohr: When Man-Thing was granted speech again he spoke the language of X'zelzi'ohr, the universal language. Everyone heard him in a way they were accustomed to, meaning he spoke "normal" to the likes of Satana and Moonstone, but was concise and to the point for Ghost, a drunken Englishman to Mr. Hyde, and a total thug to Boomerang.[69]

Abilities

Biochemistry: Ted Sallis was a noted biochemist.

Weaknesses

The Man-Thing is dependent on the swamp environment for vitality; if removed for a significant length of time, he lapses in dormancy.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

  • Uses claws to slash at opponents or uses acid secretions triggered by fear.

Transportation

Hank Pym, as part of the Thunderbolts under Luke Cage, installed a device in Man-Thing that uses his connection to the Nexus of All Realities to allow the Thunderbolts to teleport anywhere in the world. Man-Thing does not control or steer the teleport (Pym's technology does), but he must travel with it.

Trivia

  • Sometimes compared to DC Comics' Swamp Thing who debuted in July, 1971. They were also both compared to the The Heap who debuted in December, 1942.

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. Howard the Duck #22
  2. 2.0 2.1 Man-Thing (Vol. 3) #6
  3. 3.0 3.1 Strange Tales (Vol. 4) #2
  4. 4.0 4.1 Man-Thing #15
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Marvel Knights 2005 #1
  7. Man-Thing (Vol. 3) #8
  8. 8.0 8.1 Man-Thing (Vol. 3) #7
  9. 9.0 9.1 Marvel Comics Presents (Vol. 2) #12
  10. Marvel Zombies 4 #3
  11. 11.0 11.1 Thunderbolts #155
  12. Marvel Monsters #1
  13. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #5
  14. 14.0 14.1 Fear #10
  15. 15.0 15.1 Fear #13
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Web of Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #6
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 Giant-Size Man-Thing #5
  18. 18.0 18.1 Savage Tales #1
  19. Marvel Comics Presents #164
  20. Astonishing Tales #12
  21. Marvel Comics Presents #164167
  22. Astonishing Tales #1213
  23. Monsters Unleashed #5
  24. 24.0 24.1 Fear #11
  25. Fear #14
  26. Fear #15
  27. Fear #12
  28. Fear #16
  29. 29.0 29.1 Fear #18
  30. Fear #17
  31. Avengers #118
  32. Marvel Two-In-One #1
  33. 33.0 33.1 Man-Thing #1
  34. Man-Thing #2
  35. Giant-Size Man-Thing #2
  36. Man-Thing #910
  37. Man-Thing #11
  38. Man-Thing #12
  39. Man-Thing #1314
  40. Giant-Size Man-Thing #3
  41. Man-Thing #16
  42. Giant-Size Man-Thing #4
  43. Man-Thing #1718
  44. Man-Thing #1922
  45. Marvel Premiere #28
  46. Iron Man Annual #3
  47. Rampaging Hulk #7
  48. Howard the Duck #2223
  49. Marvel Team-Up #68
  50. Marvel Two-In-One #4243
  51. Micronauts #7
  52. Man-Thing (Vol. 2) #1
  53. Man-Thing (Vol. 2) #3
  54. Man-Thing (Vol. 3) #18
  55. 55.0 55.1 Strange Tales (Vol. 4) #1
  56. Man-Thing (Vol. 3) #26
  57. 57.0 57.1 Peter Parker: Spider-Man 1999 #1
  58. Hulk #67
  59. Dark Avengers #10
  60. Punisher (Vol. 8) #11
  61. Thunderbolts #144
  62. Thunderbolts #156
  63. 63.0 63.1 Thunderbolts #160
  64. 64.0 64.1 Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #1
  65. Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #2
  66. Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #3
  67. Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #4
  68. Thunderbolts #162
  69. 69.0 69.1 Dark Avengers #176
  70. Dark Avengers #183
  71. 71.0 71.1 71.2 Red She-Hulk #66
  72. Uncanny Avengers Annual #1
  73. Deadpool (Vol. 5) #39
  74. Wolverines #19
  75. Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
  76. Avengers (Vol. 8) #40
  77. 77.0 77.1 Avengers (Vol. 8) #41
  78. 78.0 78.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #7
  79. Astonishing Tales #13
  80. Avengers (Vol. 8) #23
  81. X-Men First Class (Vol. 2) #8
  82. Champions (Vol. 2) #22
  83. Man-Thing (Vol. 4) #1
  84. Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #14
  85. Red She-Hulk #67
  86. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Marvel Knights 2005 #1
  87. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 7
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