THE GREEN THING

Real Name: None

Identity/Class: Mutated terrestrial plant

Occupation: Would-be conqueror

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Kid Kaiju (Kei Kawade);
temporarily Abominable Snowman, Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon), Blip, Bruttu, Crawling Creature, Creature from Krogarr, Creature from the Black Bog, Fin Fan Foom, Googam, Goom, Gorgilla, Insect Man, Klagg, Kraa, Metallo, Monsteroso, Monstro, Monstrom, Moomba, Oog, Orrgo, Pildorr, Quogg, Rommbu, Sporr, Thing that Crawled by Night, Tim Boo Ba, Ulvar, Vandoom's Monster, Zetora, Zzutak

Enemies: Ignatius Rex, Leviathon Tide, unidentified botanist

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: An unidentified island off the coast of Australia

First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#19/1 (July, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: Originally an ordinary weed that was mutated by an experimental serum, the Green Thing possessed human-level intelligence, along with the ability to speak and move. It had superhuman strength, and could easily lift and throw a large boulder. It also had the power to mentally command other forms of plant-life.

Height: 9'; later 30' (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Inapplicable

History:
(Tales of Suspense I#19 (fb)) - A botanist developed a serum which could bestow intelligence upon plant-life. Hoping to find and test the serum on a specimen of Ignatius Rex, a highly developed plant, he went to an island off the coast of Australia. But unable to find the desired plant, the botanist instead decided to test his serum on a weed he found there.

   When the weed was injected with the serum, it became a large humanoid-shaped creature, and learned to speak. After teaching itself to walk, the Green Thing decided that it would conquer Earth by using the botanist's formula on other plant-life.

   But the botanist refused to help the Green Thing, so he ran back to his boat, then grabbed the motor and jumped overboard with it, so that the Green Thing could not escape the island. While the botanist smashed the motor on the seafloor, the Green Thing swam up behind him; but the malevolent mutated weed was distracted when it had to fight off a tiger shark.

   The botanist swam back ashore, with the Green Thing following close behind him. Attempting to get beyond the Green Thing's reach, the botanist climbed a tree; but using the power of its mind, the Green Thing commanded the tree to bend down and return the botanist to the ground.

   The Green Thing continued its pursuit of its human prey; but the botanist ran into a cave, where he happened to find an Ignatius Rex plant. The botanist then injected the small plant with his serum, and within seconds, the Ignatius Rex grew to giant size. But the mutated Ignatius Rex proved to be benevolent, and it battled and seemingly vanquished the Green Thing, because it realized that the Green Thing was evil.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Monsters Unleashed II#1) - Fin Fan Foom, Gorgilla, Green Thing and Zzutak were drawn, and therefore summoned, by the Inhuman Kei Kawade (later known as Kid Kaiju). Kawade encountered the monsters outside his house in the woods, where Foom warned him that he was playing a dangerous game by summoning them.

(Monsters Unleashed II#2) - The Inhuman Kid Kaiju summoned the Green Thing (in gigantic form) along with numerous other monsters to to an area outside San Diego, California in defense against the Leviathons.

(Monsters Unleashed II#3) - The giant Green Thing joined the fight against the Leviathons. Earth's heroes watched the monsters summoned by Kid Kaiju defeat the Leviathons. After the battle, the Green Thing and the other monsters were teleported back from where they came.

(Monsters Unleashed II#4) - Alongside Black Bolt, the gigantic Green Thing fought against a Leviathon in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Comments: The Green Thing, Ignatius Rex, and the botanist were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

I don't think that weed's mutation was accidental, at all. I think--just as they did with Samuel Smithers--the H'lythri plant people of Kun-Lun psionically manipulated the botanist into developing that experimental plant-growth formula. Why? To create a host body for the astrally-projected mind of a pre-invasion scout, of course! What about the rare plant known as Ignatius Rex? Simple: it was mutated to serve as a host for the disembodied consciousness of...the Elder Cotati!! After some more psychic manipulation of that poor botanist, of course.--Carycomix

Big thanks to Madison Carter for originally allowing me to borrow images from his website, The Monsters of Jack Kirby.

Profile by Prime Eternal. Profile updated/edited by Kyle Sims. Update by Markus Raymond (Monsters Unleashed). Expansion by Ron Fredricks.





CLARIFICATIONS:
The Green Thing should not be confused with:

Ignatius Rex should not be confused with:

The unidentified botanist should not be confused with:

Ignatius Rex

A rare species of highly-developed plant-life, it grew in a cave on an island near Australia.  A botanist was searching for it so he could test his intelligence-boosting serum upon it; but initially unable to find Ignatius Rex, the botanist instead injected the serum into a weed, and thus created the evil Green Thing.

As he was being pursued by the mutated weed, the botanist ran into a cave and found Ignatius Rex. In order to save himself from the Green Thing, the botanist injected his serum into Ignatius Rex, which soon became as intelligent and powerful as the Green Thing. Recognizing the Green Thing as being evil, the benevolent Ignatius Rex refused its offer of an alliance, and instead seemingly destroyed it.  Ignatius Rex then used its super will power to fashion two tree limbs into oars, which it attached to the botanist's motorless boat.

While the botanist paddled away, Ignatius Rex waved goodbye and promised that it would remain on the island for the good of mankind.

(Comment: Although the Green Thing would return, the eventual fate of Ignatius Rex is unrevealed)

--Tales of Suspense I#19/1

unidentified botanist

Theorizing that plants had intelligence (albeit to a lesser degree than humans and animals), he spent months researching and experimenting until he created a serum which could bestow human-level intelligence to plants. Believing that the serum would have a better chance of being successful if he injected it into a highly developed plant, he used a motorboat to go to an island off the coast of Australia, where he originally hoped to use it upon an Ignatius Rex plant; when he was unable to locate a specimen of that particular plant, he settled for an ordinary weed to test the serum.

After he injected the weed with the serum, it rapidly grew, assumed a humanoid form, and mutated into the sentient Green Thing. But upon learning that the monstrous plant intended to conquer the world, the botanist realized the evilness of the Green Thing, so he dashed back to his boat and threw the motor overboard, so the mutated weed couldn't reach the mainland.

With the Green Thing in pursuit, the botanist frantically ran into a cave, where he happened to find an Ignatius Rex plant; he managed to inject it with his serum, and within seconds, it grew to giant size. But the mutated Ignatius Rex proved to be benevolent, and it battled and seemingly vanquished the Green Thing. Afterward, the Ignatius Rex used its super will power to fashion two tree limbs into oars, which it attached to the botanist's motorless boat. While Ignatius Rex remained on the island in peace, the botanist paddled back to the mainland, vowing to keep his serum a secret.

But after the botanist returned to human society, his experience with the Green Thing left him deathly afraid of plants.

--Tales of Suspense I#19/1

images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p5 pan2 (main image - Green Thing; botanist [right])
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p12, pan2 (headshot - Green Thing, speaking to mutated Ignatius Rex)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p6, pan1 (Green Thing, about to lift a boulder)
Monsters Unleashed II#4, p7, pan3 (gigantic Green Thing fights alongside Black Bolt against Leviathon)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p11, pan3 (Ignatius Rex plant, discovered by botanist)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p11, pan6 (Ignatius Rex plant mutates after botanist injects it with serum)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p12, pan3 (Ignatius Rex battles Green Thing; botanist [left])
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p13 pan2 (Ignatius Rex bids farewell to botanist)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p3, pan5 (botanist injects serum into a weed)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p9, pan5 (botanist battles Green Thing)
Tales of Suspense I#19/1, p13, pan3 (botanist paddles his boat away from island)

Appearances:
Tales ff Suspense I#19/1 (July, 1961) - Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#1 (March, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Steve McNiven (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#2 (April, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Greg Land (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#3 (April, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Gerry Alanguilan & Michael Jason Paz (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#4 (May, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Salvador Larroca (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First posted: 07/12/2003
Last updated: 01/07/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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