EMPATHOID EMPATHOID
Real Name: None known
Identity/Class: Extra-dimensional android
Occupation: Emotional vampire
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Created by extinct extra-dimensional race;
Enemies: Spider-Man, Morbius
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Place of Birth: Unidentified other-dimensional realm
Base of Operations: Extra-dimensional realm of his creation
First Appearance: Spectacular Spider-Man II#6
(May, 1977);
(fully seen) Spectacular Spider-Man II#8 (July, 1977)
Powers/Abilities: The Empathoid derives energy by draining the emotions of others. Its form was designed to be self-regenerating and virtually indestructible, making it effectively immortal. Its form is semi-solid, allowing it to contact others, but making it immune to most forms of physical attack, as most objects pass straight through it. It can merge with its intended victim and feed off of his or her emotions. It communicates telepathically with its victim and can cause him or her intense physical pain if they do not obey its wishes. It gained power from intense emotions, although there was a limit to how much it could absorb before overloading.
Height: 6' 6"
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Red with swirling black spots
Hair: None
History: (Spectacular Spider-Man II#8 (fb) ) - The Empathoid was created by an extra-dimensional race at some point in the past, although it is unclear how long ago that was. Its masters created it to be a superior android servant, one which would be better attuned to its human masters because it shared their feelings. However, once it tasted emotion, it craved more, ever stronger, ever more violent. It eventually exhausted and outlived its creators, leaving it stranded on its now uninhabited world. Without emotions to give it purpose, it eventually lapsed into a dormant state below the surface of a temple on its world.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#6-8) - The pseudo-vampire known as Morbius used the dimension-spanning palm-bands of the Living Eraser to flee Earth to prevent him from making any humans his victims. Unwittingly traveling to the Empathoid's realm, his strong emotions caused the Empathoid to awaken. The Empathoid entered the form of Morbius and forced him to use the palm-bands to return to Earth, where it could feed on the emotions of Earth's inhabitants.
The Emapthoid forced Morbius to attack others while it fed on the fear and panic he generated, until his rampage drew the attention of Spider-Man. Spider-Man managed to defeat Morbius, but the Empathoid then took possession of his form. The Empathoid directed Spider-Man to seek out battle, which he found in Morbius, who now attacked him in an effort to destroy the Empathoid. Spider-Man managed to defeat the Empathoid by bringing his battle with Morbius to a football stadium during a game. The magnitude and intensity of the emotions present there caused the Empathoid to overload and deactivate. Spider-Man took the form of the Empathoid to the Baxter Building for safe-keeping.
Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin, Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema, Jim Mooney, Mike Esposito, et al.
Seeing as how he's self-regenerating and virtually indestructible, I see no reason why the Empathoid can't have survived the explosion of the Baxter Building. He's got to be floating around in space, waiting for some emotional wreck to encounter and reactivate him. That is, unless I've forgotten what's happened to him and he came back somewhere else.
Empathoid has an entry in the Spider-Man - Back in Black Handbook.
images: (without ads)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#8, p5, pan5 (Empathoid main image)
Appearances:
Spectacular Spider-Man II#6 (May, 1977) - Gerry Conway (writer), Ross Andru (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#7 (June, 1977) - Archie Goodwin (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#8 (July, 1977) - Archie Goodwin (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks)
Last updated: 08/02/02
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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