Commander Kraken is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

Publication history

Commander Kraken first appeared in '' Sub-Mariner #27'' (July 1970), and was created by

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor, who was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibl ...

and

Sal Buscema Sal Buscema (; ; born Silvio Buscema, January 26, 1936) is an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he enjoyed a ten-year run as artist of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk'' and an eight-year run as ar ...

. The character was later killed by the

Scourge of the Underworld The Scourge of the Underworld is the name of a series of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Writer/editor Mark Gruenwald originally created the Scourge in 1985 as a plot device intended to thin t ...

in ''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1 ( cover dated March 1941) from T ...

'' #319 (July 1986).

Fictional character biography

Commander Kraken was a self-styled modern-day pirate who fought

Namor the Sub-Mariner Namor (), also known as the Sub-Mariner, is a character (arts), fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in early 1939, the character was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for Book packaging, ...

. Namor used the

Kraken The kraken () is a legendary sea monster of enormous size said to appear off the coasts of Norway. Kraken, the subject of sailors' superstitions and mythos, was first described in the modern age at the turn of the 18th century, in a travel ...

, a gigantic octopus, to defeat his foe. After a run-in with The Cat, he later reappears with a heavily modified look, undergoing plastic surgery and acquiring a rocket-powered peg leg and an electrified sword. In issue #121 of ''

Daredevil Daredevil may refer to: * A stunt performer Arts and media Comics * Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro * Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superhe ...

'' (which takes place after the character's appearance in ''The Cat'' and before his revamped look and appearance in ''Iron Man''), it is revealed that Commander Kraken is the head of HYDRA's naval division. But this is the only time the character is ever mentioned as being associated with that terrorist group. In 2009, Marvel would create a new character simply called

that would be an integral part of Hydra's operations. Later, Commander Kraken was invited to a meeting organized by

Gary Gilbert Gary Gilbert (born 1965) is an American film producer and businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Gilbert Films, a media production and financing company based in Los Angeles, California. He is also a co-founder of Rocket Mortgage, as well as ...

, who wanted to discuss counter-measures against the threat by the

at the "Bar With No Name". Kraken attended and was shot dead along with all the other criminals present by the Scourge himself, who had infiltrated the meeting as the bartender. Commander Kraken is among the dead characters seen in

Erebus In Greek mythology, Erebus (; grc, Ἔρεβος, Érebos, "deep darkness, shadow".), or Erebos, is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities. Hesiod's '' Theogony'' identifies him as one of the first five beings in ex ...

when

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted th ...

travels to the Underworld. Here, he had reverted to his original look from his first appearance. He was later seen as a member of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest k ...

's jury (alongside

Abomination Abomination may refer to: *Abomination (Bible), covering Biblical references ** Abomination (Judaism) *Abomination (character), a Marvel Comics supervillain * Abomination (''Dune''), from Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' series, a fetus who has become con ...

Armless Tiger Man Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abraxas, sometimes called the Dark Man, is a cosmic entity who embodies the destruction of the Multiverse (Marvel Comics), Marvel multiverse. The existence of Galactus prevents him from emerging. The charac ...

, Artume,

Baron Heinrich Zemo Baron Zemo () is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Heinrich Zemo and his son Helmut Zemo have both been depicted as a major adversary of Captain America and the Avengers, as well as the l ...

Iron Monger Iron Monger is an alias used by multiple fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first character to use the alias is Obadiah Stane, who first appeared in ''Iron Man'' #163 (Oct. 1982). The Iron Mon ...

Jack O'Lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenom ...

, Kyknos, Nessus,

Orka Orka may refer to: * Orca, killer whale * Orga, Cyprus, a village in Cyprus * Orka (comics) Orka is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Roy Thomas and Marie Severin, a ...

, and

Veranke Veranke is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She serves as the queen of the Skrull Empire. Introduced as Jessica Drew, Veranke is the main antagonist of ''Secret Invasion'', in whi ...

) at

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

' trial.''The Incredible Hercules'' #129

Powers and abilities

Commander Kraken had a hook on his left hand that was capable of emitting an electrical shock, this was later replaced with a functional bionic hand. His left leg was also bionic, and allowed him to fly. His electro-sword was capable of firing electricity and could reflect force and energy attacks. Commander Kraken originally used huge squid-shaped submarines he called "Squid Ships" for his piratical conquests. When he revamped his look in 1976, his vehicle of choice was a

Brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Old ...

called "The Albatross". This old style pirate ship could transform into a sleek golden high powered submarine.

References

External links

Commander Kraken
at Marvel Wiki
Commander Kraken
at Comic Vine {{Namor Characters created by Roy Thomas Characters created by Sal Buscema Comics characters introduced in 1970 Fictional amputees Fictional pirates Fictional swordfighters in comics Hydra (comics) agents Marvel Comics male supervillains