GIGANTO
Real Name: None
Identity/Class: Sub-species of Humanity, mutate
Occupation: Servant of the Mole Man
Group Membership: Together with other Gigantos
Affiliations: Inorganic Techno Troid, Kro, Mole Man, Moloids
Enemies: Avengers (Iron Man, U.S. Agent), De'Lila, Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Ms. Marvel, Thing), Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch/Noble Kale), Hercules, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Justice League of America, Skrulls, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett)
Known Relatives: Unnamed mate, unnamed brothers
Aliases: "That Monster from the cover of Fantastic Four#1"
Base of Operations: Monster Island, sea of Japan
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#1 (November, 1961)
Powers/Abilities: Giganto is of superhuman size, and possesses and unknown degree of superhuman strength and endurance. It also an expert at digging tunnels, and can hold its breath beneath water for an extended period.
History: (Marvel Universe#7)- Giganto was one of the mutates genetically engineered by Deviant scientists to serve as part of Kro's invasion force against humanity, and gathered at Monster Island. However, Kro was forced to abandon Monster Island when it was invaded by the Monster Hunters. Giganto, with the other mutates, found a new master in the Mole Man.
(Fantastic Four I#1)- The Mole Man, having nutured his hatred of the surface world, sent Giganto out on missions to the U.S.S.R., Australia, South America, and French Africa to destroy atomic plants located there, thus ensuring that when all the plants were destroyed, he would hold supreme power on the earth. He had Giganto perform this task by tunneling beneath the plants, then pulling the entire facility beneath the surface.
His assaults caught the attention of the new super-hero team, the Fantastic Four, who journeyed to Monster Island to stop the Mole Man. The Mole Man released Giganto against them, but he was held back by the flame of the Human Torch.
(Fantastic Four: First Family#3) - A Giganto with a decidedly lizard-like appearance and tail followed the Fantastic Four back to New York and the team became embroiled with battling it in public. After being knocked out to sea, it tunneled back underground and escaped.
(X-Men: The Hidden Years#20, [21])- The Mole Man unleashed Giganto against the X-Men as they fought him in his realm. The mutants were powerless against Giganto's mass and might, and as they fought against him, the Mole Man summoned a whole legion of mutates to fight them. The mutates occupied the X-Men until the mutants were finally subdued in the Mole Man's echo chamber.
(Fantastic Four I#264)- Having learnt that the millionaire Alden Maas had destroyed part of his underground kingdom by tapping into the earth's core, the Mole Man teamed up with the Thing and Human Torch to battle him, and unleashed Giganto to break their way into Maas' facilities. However, Maas died before they arrived, denying the Mole Man his vengeance.
(Avengers West Coast#54)- Believing that the Avengers were responsible for an assault upon his kingdom, the Mole Man unleashed several of his monsters against them, including Giganto, who assaulted Los Angeles. It was intercepted there by Iron Man, who hurled it into the ocean while he and the US Agent attempted to determine what to do with it.
When Giganto began to move again, the US Agent attempted to blind it with the after-burners of his skycycle, but the creature struck out at the US Agent, separating him from his vehicle. Ultimately, the Mole Man was convinced by Wonder Man that the Avengers were innocent, and, using a whistle only his creatures could hear, summoned them back home. Giganto abruptly broke away from Iron Man and the US Agent, went beneath the waves, and tunneled back to Subterranea.
(Fantastic Four I#347)- Giganto was among the creatures of the Mole Man's whose minds were taken over by the Skrull De'Lila, during her search for a lost Inorganic Technotroid. She set Giganto out to create diversions for her.
(Fantastic Four I#348)- Giganto was summoned by the Mole Man to capture Skrulls who had landed upon Monster Island, also looking for the Inorganic Technotroid. It also fought the "new" Fantastic Four (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and Ghost Rider), and attempted to crush the Hulk in its grip, but set him free after being stabbed by Wolverine.
(Fantastic Four I#349)- The Inorganic Technotroid was finally found to be in the possession of Giganto's mate, who had lain upon the saucer containing it as though it were a nest. Although the Mole Man and De'Lila each attempted to claim the Inorganic Technotroid for their own before it could imprint on someone else, it wound up imprinting on Giganto's mate, who accepted it as though it were their own child.
(Fantastic Four I#400)- Giganto was conjured up from the timestream alongside the Mole Man and Giganto by the rogue Watcher Aron to oppose allies of the Fantastic Four who had come to prevent him from creating a pocket universe. Giganto battled the Thing, but was buried by a cliffside the Thing toppled onto it.
(Fantastic Four III#1)- Giganto was among the army assembled by the Mole Man for an invasion of the surface world, but the plan was abandoned when the Mole Man learnt that the Fantastic Four were still alive.
(JLA/Avengers#1)- Giganto was among the monsters of Monster Island who opposed the Justice League of America during their search for the Ultimate Nullifier.
(Hercules III#4) - During his labors for the reality tv show "New Labors of Hercules," Hercules was sent to capture a Giganto as a reimagining of his labor to defeat the man-eating mares of Diomedes. Hercules snared a Giganto using an enormous chain, then swung the captured monster like a weapon at its three brothers, knocking them all down. The Mole Man sent his Moloids against Hercules, but Hercules rolled the captured Giganto at them like a bowling ball, chasing them all back underground.
(Marvel Holiday Special 2005) - The Moloids employed Giganto to help them find the Mole Man by capturing people dressed as Santa Claus, mis-interpreting Mole Man's last spoken words "Santa."
Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
In MK 4 #21 a monster resembling giganto appeared at the side of the mole man but had eye stalks that differentiated him from Giganto.
How do we know that Giganto wouldn't develop eye-stalks for any number of reasons? Maybe he was mutated. Maybe he's always had them but kept them into his skull before now. Maybe it was something he ate. Maybe it's like antlers on a deer or something...--Ronald Byrd
Yeah, multiple versions of these creatures arn't uncommon. We already knew about two differant versions of MM's Giganto (the bright green one and the olive-green one), there was a two-headed version of Tricephalous in one book, multiple versions of Namor's Giganto (the "son," the white Moby Dick one, the alternate future one with the tentacles...--Madison Carter
Because Giganto's mate and "brothers" are virtually identical in appearance, some of the above listed appearances may be of any one of the monsters.
Giganto didn't receive a name until Avengers West Coast#54.
Giganto also appeared in What If I#36, "What If the Fantastic Four had no powers". In this reality, the Mole Man never awoke Giganto to fight the Fantastic Four in their first encounter.
Giganto's appearance in Fantastic Four I#400 could be from an earlier or later point in its chronology, since Aron brought all of the adversaries he conjured up from different points in time.
As seen in Avengers/Invaders#10 (June, 2009) a Giganto was killed in 1943 by the Red Skull (Johann
Shmidt) when he used a Cosmic Cube to alter
history, creating a new timeline (Earth-93198);
the Invaders and Avengers restored the original
timeline, reviving this Giganto. Other monster corpses seen floating in the ocean were the Atlantean Giganto, Behemoth and Titano.
--Markus Raymond
Thanks to MD Carter for allowing me to borrow this image from his website, The Monsters of Jack Kirby.
byPrime Eternal
CLARIFICATIONS:
Giganto should not be confused with:
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#1 (November, 1961) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), George Klein (inks)
Fantastic Four I#264 (March, 1984) - John Byrne (writer/pencils/inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)
Avengers West Coast#54 (January, 1990) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Paul Ryan (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Fantastic Four I#347-349 (February-April, 1991) - Walter Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams & Gracine Tanaka (#348-349) (pencils), Art Thibert & Al Milgrom (#348-349) (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#400 (May, 1995) - Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks)
Fantastic Four III#1 (January, 1998) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Marvel Universe#7 (December, 1998) - Roger Stern (writer), Jason Armstrong (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
X-Men: The Hidden Years#20 (July, 2001) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Lysa Hawkins (editor)
JLA/Avengers#1 (September, 2003) - Kurt Busiek (writer), George Perez (pencils/inks)
Hercules#4 (September, 2005) - Frank Tieri (writer), Mark Texeira (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Marvel Holiday Special 2005 (January, 2006) - Shaenon Garrity (writer), Roger Langridge (artist), Al Gordon (inker), John Barber, Ralph Macchio (editors)
Fantastic Four: First Family#3 (July, 2006) - Joe Casey (writer), Chris Weston (penciler), Gary Erskine (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 02/23/2003
Last updated: 12/13/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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