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History

The three beings known as the Caretakers were born on Arcturus IV more than ten thousand years ago.[1] They were among the small number of Fortisquians who lived on the planet.[2] Kammar, Ular and Zoltar were some of the Genelords of Arcturus who controlled the reproduction of the native Arcturan race.[3]

About ten thousand years ago, the leaders on Fortisque were contacted by the unknown race who had created them and ordered to save an animal preserve on Earth.[2] Those chosen for the mission set out from Arcturus IV aboard a starship called The Comet but it crashed on Earth, leaving only three survivors.[1] Those survivors made their way to the Savage Land where they repaired the damaged environmental systems and then discovered a teleportation warp that transported them back to Arcturus IV.[2] Unfortunately, after the expedition to Earth had left, those left in control of the planet had attempted to outlaw all natural reproduction in favor of creating new people only in the Incuflask factories. However, many Arcturans had violently opposed this idea and what began with terrorist bombings soon led to a full-scale nuclear war that killed most of the population.[4] Discovering their homeworld in ruins following that war, the three returned to Earth.[2]

Back on Earth, the three survivors decided that their mission was to teach and guide the human race as their Caretakers.[1] After discovering that Earth was rich in mystic energies, the trio decided that they would also improve mankind. Soon after their arrival, the Caretakers used a combination of science and sorcery to take the seed of the wolf named Windracer and bind it into certain men, creating Werewolves like Greysire.[3] However, the Caretakers eventually lost control over their creations.[5]

In later years, the Caretakers continued their experiments and allegedly created the long-lived super-humans who became known as Maha Yogi and the Sphinx.[5]

One thousand years ago, the Caretakers also allegedly helped the wizard Ebrok create the race of Cat People.[5]

Within the last century, the Caretakers became concerned that mankind seemed to have entered a decline in which his societies were crumbling and the people had placed their most potent weapons in the hands of leaders who cared more for wealth and power than for their fellow beings. Having (allegedly) discovered that they were dying, the Caretakers had undertaken Project: Second Genesis in order to create a race of super-men that they called "the Children of the Comet." The Caretakers intended for this super-race to join with man in order to carry on their work. However, they were opposed by the sorcerer Daemond who believed that man's future lay with the dark forces of the supernatural.[1]

Eventually, the Caretakers recruited Morbius to help them by killing Daemond and his evil cult in exchange for their help in finding Martine Bancroft for him.[1] They also planned for Morbius to lead the members of the super-race they were creating that was to infiltrate Earth's population and guide it from within.[6] However, after Morbius ended up on Arcturus IV and discovered that the super-race that had been created there had become a race of radiation-mutated freaks who wished only to die, he agreed to oppose the plans of the Caretakers.[4]

As the final confrontation neared, the Caretakers realized that Morbius was no longer worthy of their trust and sent their agents to kill Daemond and his cult.[7] The Caretakers later teleported themselves to Daemond's base and, while their clonal agents battled the cultists, the Caretakers themselves fought Daemond. Eventually, after both sets of minions had annihilated each other, the Caretakers and Daemond realized that Morbius had disappeared and knew that only the girl Tara, the flawed prototype for the Children of the Comet, could be responsible. Fearing her power, the Caretakers and Daemond agreed to a truce and they all teleported to the base of the Caretakers. Once there, Tara claimed that Daemond was actually a fourth Caretaker and that she had created his identity as Daemond the Sorcerer for her own ends but both he and the Caretakers rejected this claim and attacked her. Tara responded by using her powers to animate the three unborn Children of the Comet and send them to kill both the Caretakers and Daemond. At the same time, Tara, knowing that the entire world would have to die if she were to survive, provoked Morbius into attacking and fatally draining her of all her blood. Her death throes somehow caused the base to be destroyed.[8]

Paraphernalia

Transportation

  • A starship called "The Comet"
  • They are also aware of several warps that transport them between the Savage Land on Earth and a location on Arcturus IV.

Notes

  • The back-story of the Caretakers has been revised twice since their first appearance and new information from these retcons have not meshed perfectly with previously-established facts.
    • In Fear #21, the Caretakers claimed that they were the three survivors (a scientist, an engineer and a historian) from a starship that had crashed while on a mission to merely observe and explore Earth, and that their idea to create a super-race to save mankind from its current decline was a recent one. However, in Fear #24, it was revealed that the Caretakers were the ancestors and the creators of the race of radiation-mutated immortal freaks who then made up the majority of the Arcturan population.
    • According to Fantastic Four #316, the Caretakers were actually Fortisquians who had been living on Arcturus IV and controlling the evolution of the Arcturan race until 12,000 years ago when they were sent to Earth to save an animal preserve that, unknown to them, had been constructed by the Nuwali.
    • In Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #26, Stephen Strange is shown reading a chapter from the Book of the Vishanti that dealt with the origin of werewolves. Written by an unknown author, this chapter recounted how Greysire, a werewolf in wolf form, often told other wolves the story of how the Brethren (what the wolves call werewolves) had been created ten thousand years ago by three Genelords of Arcturus who had fled to Earth after war broke out on Arcturus IV. After arriving on Earth, they soon decided to improve man by creating a new and superior people, and used the "seed" from a wolf to do so.
  • The Fantastic Four retcon attempts to link the name of the starship in which the Caretakers travelled to Earth with the fact that the Fortisquians used "comet-ships" (starships disguised as comets) whenever they secretly checked up on their colonies on other planets. It doesn't really work because there's never been even a hint that The Comet was ever disguised as a comet. Additionally, the idea of sending genetic specialists to save an animal preserve also doesn't make much sense when the reason that preserve was threatened was due to a technological failure.
  • Although the first two versions clearly state that the Caretakers left Arcturus IV before the war, the most recent version claims that the war was the reason why they fled their homeworld. This version also omits any mention of them not being members of the Arcturan race.

See Also

Links and References

References

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