Mahkizmo, also known as the Nuclear Man, is a fictional character appearing in

American comic books An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. As his name suggests, he is an extreme male chauvinist.

Publication history

Mahkizmo first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #151 (October 1974), and was created by writer

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science ficti ...

and artist

Rich Buckler Rich Buckler (February 6, 1949 – May 19, 2017) was an Americans, American comics artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' in the mid-1970s and for creating the character Deat ...

. He is the enemy of

Thundra Thundra is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is often aligned with the Fantastic Four. She is a powerful, red haired, amazon-like warrior, or Femizon, from a matriarchal, technologically ad ...

, herself a character meant to symbolize extreme

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. The character subsequently appears in ''The Sensational She-Hulk'' #34 (December 1991), #38-39 (April–May 1992), ''Fantastic Four: Foes'' #1 (March 2005), #5-6 (July–August 2005). Mahkizmo received an entry in the ''Marvel Legacy: The 1970s Handbook'' #1 (2006).

Fictional character biography

Mahkizmo is the ruler of Earth-74101 in the 23rd century, where men enslaved women. His timeline is the thematic opposite of

's universe, where the women subjugated the men. The two come into conflict when Thundra travels to the 20th century of

Earth-616 In the fictional Multiverse (Marvel Comics), Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 is the primary continuity (fiction), continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place. Origins of the term The designation "Earth-616" has its origins in ...

to change the past and prevent Machus from existing. Mahkizmo sentenced Thundra and the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

to gladiatorial combat before being killed in an energy explosion when Thundra and the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

punch him at the same time. This also merges his and Thundra's universes of Machus and Femizonia. Mahkizmo survives the implosion as an intangible and invisible entity, and is angered that the people of the merged world were living peacefully. He travels in time to prevent the universes from merging before being defeated by the Thing and

She-Hulk She-Hulk (Jennifer Susan Walters) is a Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she First appearance, first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk ...

. Mahkizmo was originally depicted as a straightforward villain. During his appearance in ''The Sensational She-Hulk'', writer/artist John Byrne treated Mahkizmo as a comedy character by accentuating the character's oafishness to grotesque proportions. Part of the story's humor was based on the character's limited intelligence. In issue #39, it was revealed that Mahkizmo did not know how babies were conceived, and hence had not realized that his plan to kill all women would prevent future generations from being born. Mahkizmo is among the Fantastic Four enemies who meet with the Puppet Master to form an alliance. They are captured and transferred to the Vault in the

Negative Zone The Negative Zone is a fictional setting, an antimatter universe appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The location is depicted in various publications from Marvel, most frequently in ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Captain M ...

before being temporarily freed by the sorceress Threska. Mahkizmo later battles Captain Marvel when she is transported to an apocalyptic version of

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...

References

External links

* {{She-Hulk Characters created by Gerry Conway Comics characters introduced in 1974 Fictional characters from the 23rd century Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Marvel Comics male supervillains Marvel Comics supervillains