Terrax

Terrax the Tamer () is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist John Byrne and writer Marv Wolfman, the character first appeared in October 1979, and is a herald of cosmic entity Galactus and enemy of the Fantastic Four.

The character has made several appearances in media, including several animated television shows, video games and was included in the Marvel Legends and Minimate toylines.

Publication history

The character first appears in ''Fantastic Four'' #211 (Oct. 1979) and was created by Marv Wolfman and John Byrne.

Fictional character biography

The Birth of a Herald

The character first appears as a Birjan named Tyros, the ruler of the city-state of Lanlak on the planetoid Birj. The cosmic entity Galactus selects Tyros as his next Herald, but first wishes for the superhero team the Fantastic Four to humble him. In return the cosmic entity agrees to travel to Earth to aid the heroes against a new threat, the villain Sphinx. Tyros is defeated and brought before Galactus, who transforms him into Terrax. This gives him enhanced control over the earth and the ability to survive in space, as well as a Cosmic Axe capable of generating waves of cosmic force. Terrax travels with Galactus to Earth and, while his new master battles the Sphinx, attacks the Fantastic Four—still resenting the heroes for their role in his transformation. Terrax, however, is tricked and defeated by the Human Torch, and leaves with a victorious Galactus.

Rebellion

As Galactus's new herald, Terrax found more worlds for his master than any of the previous heralds. Terrax likened the discovery of new planets to the feeling of conquest. On several occasions, Terrax annihilated large segments of the population himself using his cosmic powers. As Galactus had hoped, Terrax's lack of morality made him a successful herald. But whereas Galactus's other heralds had a sense of loyalty to their master, Terrax had none. Indeed, he served Galactus out of fear for his master's power, but even conquered that fear on several occasions to defy Galactus' wishes. Shortly after being transformed into Galactus' herald, Terrax fled from his master and overthrew the ruling body of a small, unnamed planet. He enslaved the entire population and set himself up as the planet's deity. Huge segments of that world's people died erecting temples and cities to glorify Terrax. Terrax planned to use the survivors of his reign as the first wave of a planned universe-conquering army. But before Terrax could proceed any further, Galactus summoned his herald. Fearful of his master's wrath, Terrax hid in a black hole. Utilizing the powers of Dazzler, Galactus freed Terrax and made him obedient to his will again.

Terrax reappears in the title ''Rom'', and after leading Galactus to the planet Galador, battles its champion, Rom, and his fellow Spaceknight, Terminator.

But Terrax's rebellious nature could not be totally stifled, and after a while, Terrax again fled his master. This time, he went to Earth. Utilizing his power, Terrax levitated the entire island of Manhattan into earth orbit and used the lives of its millions of inhabitants to bargain with the Fantastic Four. To spare Manhattan, Terrax demanded that they destroy Galactus by attacking his ship. Galactus had by now realized that his herald had become a liability to him. Returning Manhattan to Earth, Galactus stripped Terrax of his cosmic power and the transformed alien was sent hurtling from the top of the World Trade Center down to the street below. Although seriously injured, Terrax's alien physique enabled him to survive the fall. An unidentified passerby took Terrax's broken form, unknown to both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, who were present at the site, to a nearby hospital. He remained there for several months in a semi comatose state.

Doctor Doom, looking for a pawn to use in a plot against the Fantastic Four, discovered that Terrax had survived. Terrax was kidnapped from the hospital and brought back to Doom's kingdom of Latveria by a squad of robots dispatched by Doom. There, after six weeks of Doom's advanced treatments, Terrax recovered. But, having been stripped of cosmic power, Terrax had no memories of having been the herald of Galactus, and thus called himself Tyros once more. Doom had recently perfected a device that was capable of endowing an individual with limited cosmic power. Tyros readily agreed to be exposed to the device's energies, as he wished revenge against the Fantastic Four. Garbed in a special suit that would channel and regulate the cosmic energies in his body, Tyros set off for New York. Unknown to him, the power Doom gave him would consume Tyros's body within a matter of hours. Thus, Doom would not be faced with an adversary whose power was vaster than his own, once Tyros had served his purpose.

Tyros defeated the Fantastic Four at a shopping mall and, detesting the fact he was in the service of any master, he turned on Doom and immobilized him. At Tyros's moment of seeming triumph, the Silver Surfer, the first of Galactus's heralds, arrived to save the lives of his friends. Tyros believed that his power level was equal to that of the Surfer's, but he soon learned that he was no match for someone who had received the Power Cosmic from Galactus himself. Tyros was forced to use his powers to their limit to combat the Surfer. This only served to hasten his inevitable deterioration. As the two former heralds of Galactus engaged in battle, Tyros was consumed by the Power Cosmic.''Fantastic Four'' #260 (Nov. 1983)

In an '' Avengers'' annual, Terrax is temporarily resurrected to become a member of the second Legion of the Unliving by the Elder of the Universe the Grandmaster.

Tyros reforms his physical form as Terrax in the title ''New Warriors'', and battles the fledgling superhero team. Terrax is defeated when the heroes, deducing that his form is unstable and that constant contact with earth is required, separate him and thereby his form. Terrax reappears when reformed once again by a rogue scientist attempting to steal his power. He uses the scientist as a host body and again battles the New Warriors and Fantastic Four. The Silver Surfer intervenes and maroons Terrax on the deserted planet Pluraris IV.

Terrax features in the third volume of the ''Silver Surfer'' when asked to join his fellow Heralds against the threat of Galactus' latest Herald, Morg. After Morg's defeat, Terrax claims the character's axe. Morg eventually wishes to retrieve his weapon and battles Terrax until both are briefly captured—together with Gladiator and Beta Ray Bill—by the entity Tyrant. Terrax guest stars in the limited series ''Cosmic Powers'', in which Tyrant is confronted and thwarted by the Titan Thanos.

After a battle with fellow Heralds the Surfer and Nova (actually the demon Mephisto in disguise) in the title ''Silver Surfer'', the character goes into hiding until he featured in the second '' Sentry'' limited series. During the ''GLX-Mas Special'', Terrax is confronted and defeated by Squirrel Girl. Terrax appears in the ''Annihilation'' storyline, being initially captured by the forces of Annihilus before escaping with the Skrull Paibok. Terrax later finds a world ruled by the Space Parasite, whom he eventually kills. On discovering that the inhabitants are content to live in subservience, he flies into a rage and destroys the planet.

In the title ''Hulk'', Terrax is plucked from continuity by the Grandmaster to be part of a team called the Offenders in a bid to thwart the Hulk.

Death

Terrax later returns to his birth planet Birj where he is approached by one member of the Nova Corps, who had come to give a warning to Terrax and is helping in the evacuation of the planet. Terrax briefly fights him and refuses to evacuate the planet. Nova runs away as the threat he warned Terrax about arrives. As Nova leaves the planet, he sees the Phoenix Force consuming the planet Birj on its way through the universe, taking Terrax and all its population with it.

Resurrection

While he was killed by the Phoenix Force, Tyros was eventually resurrected at some point and was found by Drax the Destroyer when the latter crash landed on an unnamed planet. The events that led to his resurrection are unknown even for Tyros, but he suspects that the Phoenix's energy that killed him also might have restored him back to life. He later acquired a Phoenix Egg, under unknown circumstances, and stored it on his warship. Thane eventually learned about this, and deceived his allies (the Champion, Starfox and Nebula) into helping him invade Terrax's warship to steal the egg.

Terrax later lands in San Francisco, California, where he battles the Superior Spider-Man. During the battle, Terrax nearly kills Superior Spider-Man, until the Night Shift shows up and drops a device which Spider-Man uses to absorb some of his cosmic powers. Despite being slightly depowered, Terrax still proves to be a match for Spider-Man but is eventually defeated.

Powers and abilities

Tyros is an alien with a genetic mutation that gives him the limited psionic ability to manipulate rock and earth molecules. After being transformed by Galactus's Power Cosmic, he can perform near-limitless feats, such as moving asteroids, meteors, and even whole planets from space at high speeds, affect tectonic plates to cause earthquakes and create chasms, or levitate large landmasses miles into the air. Like all Heralds, Terrax has immense strength, stamina, durability, speed, agility, reflexes, and lifespan, as well as hypersonic flight, energy control, and sustained metabolism. He wielded a cosmic axe, which had several powers of its own.

Other versions

MC2

A future version of Terrax from Earth-982 appears in the MC2 title '' Fantastic Five''.

Terrax the Truly Enlightened

An alternate universe variant of Terrax from an unidentified universe appears in ''New Avengers'' (vol. 3).

In other media

Television

* Terrax appears in ''Fantastic Four'' (1994), voiced by Tony Jay in the first season and Ron Feinberg in the second. After he attempts to kill Galactus, Galactus transforms him into colony of earthworms and banishes him to Earth.
* Terrax appears in ''The Super Hero Squad Show'' episode "Last Exit Before Doomsday!", voiced by Ted Biaselli. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
* Terrax appears in '' The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'' episode "Avengers Assemble", voiced by Kevin Grevioux.
* Terrax appears in the '' Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'' episode "Galactus Goes Green", voiced by James C. Mathis III.
* Terrax appears in the ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' episode "Contest of Champions", voiced again by James C. Mathis III.

Film

Terrax appears in '' LEGO Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition'', voiced by Kevin Smith. This version is a human named Terry who transforms into Terrax after stealing a cosmic axe.

Video games

* Terrax appears as a boss in the ''Game Boy Advance'' port of '' Fantastic 4 - Flame On''.
* Terrax appears in '' Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'', voiced by Fred Tatasciore.

Merchandise

* Terrax was released as a build-a-figure in the Marvel Legends toyline in January 2012, later being rereleased in a multipack in 2023.
* A Terrax Minimate was released as part of the Toys R Us exclusive ''Heralds of Galactus'' boxset.Minimate announcement

References

External links

Terrax
at Marvel.com

{{Marvel Cosmic

Characters created by John Byrne (comics)
Characters created by Marv Wolfman
Comics characters introduced in 1979
Fictional characters with earth or stone abilities
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Fictional dictators
Fictional swordfighters in comics
Fictional warlords
Marvel Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics extraterrestrial supervillains
Marvel Comics mutants
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Marvel Comics supervillains
Villains in animated television series