KULLA

Real Name: Kulla

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (native of Slaveworld/Dehnock dimension (see comments))

Occupation: Warlord

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Ed Marion (human, ally)

Enemies: Ant-Man (Henry Pym), peace-loving people of Slaveworld, abducted Earth scientists

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: His fortress on Slaveworld

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#41/1 (March, 1963)

Powers/Abilities: Although Kulla displayed no paranormal abilities, possibly he was a skilled inventor -- it was implied that Kulla himself developed the Dimension Transporter Helmets; he also may have created the powdered chemical mixture that, when added to ordinary water, created a fluid which temporarily paralyzed a person's limbs and vocal cords.

Kulla's physical abilities were undefined, but he was larger than the average human male, and may or may not have possessed superhuman strength. He used a large mace as a weapon, and presumably had some talent in combat.

Height: 7'
Weight: 250 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#41/1 (fb) - BTS) - Warlord Kulla was a tyrant in his native dimension of Slaveworld (see comments). But the peace-loving people of his realm rebelled against him and besieged his fortress, with the intention of starving him and his warriors out. In order to gain sufficient power to defeat the rebels and win control over his entire world, Kulla came upon the idea of forcing the scientists of Earth to build him a powerful weapon -- an Electro-Death Ray.

   Under unrevealed circumstances, Kulla recruited Earthman Ed Marion to assist him in bringing the scientists to Slaveworld. In exchange for payment in gold, Marion posed as a window-washer and went to the the homes of the various scientists; he would then douse a scientist with a paralyzing liquid and place a Dimension Transporter Helmet on his victim's head, to send him to Slaveworld -- Marion successfully abducted three scientists in this manner.

   Once on Slaveworld, the scientists were put to work on building the Electro-Death Ray -- any resistance or complaints from them was met with the punishment of a few days in the dungeon, without food or water.

(Tales to Astonish I#41/1) - Shortly after learning that one of his peers had become the latest in a series of missing scientists, Dr. Henry Pym became the next victim of Marion, and he was transported to Slaveworld as well. But Pym insulted Kulla, to deliberately goad his guards into throwing him in the dungeon, where he secretly transformed into Ant-Man and escaped, then he recruited a swarm of Slaveworld insects to aid him.

   Ant-Man returned to the warlord's chamber to rescue his fellow scientists, and he was discovered by Kulla, who doused the tiny hero with the paralyzing fluid. But although he couldn't move his body or speak, Ant-Man mentally directed the insects to activate the newly-completed Electro-Death Ray. Just as the tyrant approached the immobile Ant-Man, ready to crush the tiny hero with a blow from his mace, the triggered Electro-Death Ray blasted Kulla from behind, instantly killing the warlord.

   As the effects of the paralyzing fluid wore off, Ant-Man commanded the insects to pull a lever that opened the gate to Kulla's fortress. While Kulla's enemies ran in and easily defeated the leaderless warriors. Ant-Man returned to the dungeon and transformed back to Henry Pym.

   Following the total defeat of the tyrannical Kulla and his underlings, all the scientists (including Pym) were returned to Earth, but the natives of Slaveworld sentenced Ed Marion to remain there as their prisoner, until he was rehabilitated.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Don Heck.

The true name of the Slaveworld dimension was not mentioned in this 10-page story--Prisoner of the Slave World!--but the name "Slaveworld" was given in the OHotMU Deluxe Edition Appendix to Dimensions. Slaveworld's real name of Dehnock was revealed in Kulla's profile in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#6.

...and coincidentally, "Dehnock" is an anagram for "Don Heck," the artist of the story. -- Ron Fredricks

And Ed Marion's name was never mentioned in the story, where he was only identified as the "window-washer," but it was also revealed in Kulla's profile in OHotMU A-Z Hardcover#6.

Kulla has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook.

Profile by Snood. Expansion by Ron Fredricks. Window Washer subprofile update by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Kulla should not be confused with:

Ed Marion should not be confused with:

The Electro-Death Ray should not be confused with:

The Window Washer (Ed Marion)

The past of Ed Marion (see comments) was unrevealed, but under unrevealed circumstances, he was employed by the extradimensional  tyrant Kulla to abduct scientists from Earth and transport them to the dimension of Slaveworld, where they were forced to build Kulla an Electro-Death Ray. Kulla supplied Marion with a pair of Dimension Transporter Helmets, and packets of powdered chemicals to create a paralyzing fluid.  Although the people of Slaveworld used paper currency for financial transactions, Marion insisted upon being paid in gold, because (as he told Kulla) their paper money "...wouldn't be worth beans on my world!"

Using the pretense that he worked for a window-cleaning service that just moved into the neighborhood, Marion visited the homes of scientists and offered to give them a free-trial window cleaning. He then mixed a packet of the powdered chemicals in his water bucket to create the paralyzing liquid. After dousing a scientist with the bucket of fluid, Marion placed the Helmets on his head and that of the immobile scientist, and the two were transported to Slaveworld. The scientist was then enslaved and put to work, and Marion returned to Earth to abduct his next victim -- Marion had successfully abducted three scientists in this manner.

But as fate would have it, Marion's fourth victim turned out to be Dr. Henry Pym, who was secretly Ant-Man. When he was taken to Slaveworld, the tiny hero helped the rebels who opposed Kulla's rule, which ultimately resulted in the death of the tyrant and the overthrow of his regime.

Later, Pym and his fellow scientists were returned to Earth, but the rebels told Marion that he would stay with them to be rehabilitated.

The Window Washer found that the people of Slaveworld were poor judges of human character. Convinced that he had reformed they set him free, returning him to the Earth. However, the Window Washer had not reformed and soon joined forces with the Protector, Trago and Time Master for revenge on Ant-Man, dubbing themselves "the Ant-agonists."

The Window Washer happened upon Ant-Man outside a movie theater and used the opportunity to spray him with his bottle of paralyzing fluid. He boasted to Ant-Man of how he escaped Slaveworld then, with Trago, loaded Ant-Man into a car driven by the Time Master and brought him to the Protector. The Ant-agonists removed the still-paralyzed Ant-Man's helmet to prevent him from summoning help. Fastening him to the wall, the team donned protective earmuffs as Trago unleashed his nightmarish music upon Ant-Man but Ant-Man had already sent a distress call to his ants, who contacted his partner the Wasp. The Wasp struck Trago, ending his music. Escaping his bonds, Ant-Man took Time Master's Time Ray and fired it at the Window Washer's spray gun, aging it 500 years and thereby destroying the plastic and splashing the Window Washer with his own paralyzing fluid. All four men were arrested.

--Tales to Astonish I#41/1 (Ant-Man III#1 (fb) - BTS, #1,

Dimension Transporter Helmets

Possibly developed by Kulla himself, the Dimension Transporter Helmets somewhat resembled over-sized headphones. When placed upon a person's head and activated, a Helmet engulfed its wearer in a swirling stream of strange iridescent light, and that person was transferred between Earth and the dimension of Slaveworld/Dehnock, or vice versa.

Kulla gave a pair of Helmets to "window-washer" Ed Marion, so Marion could use them to abduct Earth scientists for Kulla to enslave.

--Tales to Astonish I#41/1

abducted scientists

A trio Earth scientists, they were kidnapped by "window-washer" Ed Marion and transported to the dimension of Slaveworld/Dehnock, where they were forced to build an Electro-Death Ray for the tyrant Kulla.

But they were eventually rescued when fellow scientist Henry Pym (secretly Ant-Man) was also brought to Slaveworld. After Kulla was killed and his regime was overthrown, they were all transported back to Earth.

(Comment: Only two of the scientists were identified--Paul (last name unrevealed) and Ben Carter--but it was unclear who was whom, so I'll assume Paul was the one with the mustache)

--Tales to Astonish I#41/1

Electro-Death Ray

A weapon built for the extradimensional tyrant Kulla by the trio of abducted scientists, it fired a lethal energy beam.

Kulla planned to use it against the peace-loving people of his world who opposed his rule; but the tyrant became its first victim when Ant-Man (Henry Pym) commanded the native insects of Slaveworld/Dehnock to fire the weapon at Kulla.

--Tales to Astonish I#41/1

images: (without ads)
Marvel Legacy: The 1960s Handbook, p31 (Main Image - Kulla, holding mace; refurbed version of Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p8, pan7)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p8, pan6 (Headshot - Kulla, holding mace)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p3, pan7 (Kulla, ordering captured scientist to dungeon; captured scientist, Slaveworld warrior (background))
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p9, pan2 (Kulla, struck by beam from Electro-Death Ray)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p3, pan2 (Ed Marion, adding packet of powdered paralyzing chemical to bucket of water; Henry Pym (background))
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p3, pan4 (Ed Marion, taunting paralyzed Henry Pym)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p10, pan4 (Ed Marion; captured scientists (left), Kulla's enemies (right))
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p4, pan1 (Henry Pym (foreground) and Ed Marion (background) wearing Dimension Transporter Helmets)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p4, pan2 (activated Dimension Transporter Helmets worn by Ed Marion and Henry Pym)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p4, pan6 (abducted scientists Paul and Ben Carter (background); Henry Pym (foreground))
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p6, pan4 (unidentified abducted scientist, Ben Carter, Paul)
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p6, pan2 (Electro-Death Ray (center); abducted scientists, Slaveworld warriors, Kulla, Ant-Man's thought-balloon (background))
Tales to Astonish I#41/1, p9, pan2 (Slaveworld insects swarming over fired Electro-Death Ray)

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#41/1 (March, 1963) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Don Heck (pencils/inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters)

First Posted: 09/07/2001
Last updated: 02/18/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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