MONOLITH

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial entity, possible demon or magical creation

Occupation: Unrevealed, possible world conqueror

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Ancient mystics of Muara, Avengers (Beast/Henry McCoy, Thor/Odinson, Vision), Bloodhawk, Teacher

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Extradimensional realm;
   formerly Muara;
   formerly outer space

First Appearance: Avengers I#179 (January, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: The entity described only as the Monolith was immense, appearing to be somewhere between fifty and one hundred feet tall. It was incalculably strong, capable of knocking the diamond-hard form of the Vision (traveling at near terminal velocity) into orbit with a casual swat of its hand. It was seemingly impervious to all attacks. It was apparently vulnerable to certain forms of magic. A spell cast into the totem called "He Who Protects" was capable of immobilizing it.




History:
(Avengers I#179 (fb) ) - In an undisclosed past time period ("from time beyond memory"), the entity described only as the Monolith walked through the corridors of outer space. Although it is described on several occasions as being of occult origin, nothing further of its past or goals was revealed. It apparently arrived on Earth at least millennia ago and, after presumably causing mass destruction, was immobilized by the sorcerers of the island of Muara in the south seas. The sorcerers buried the body of the Monolith, leaving only the crown of its head exposed, and bound the spell of immobilization into a circular disk. They placed this disk within an altar on the Monolith's crown and dubbed it "He Who Protects".

(Avengers I#179-180) - Although the sorcerers are now almost certainly long dead, the Monolith remained entombed below the surface of Muara by the totem until modern times. "He Who Protects" was either sold to or stolen by unnamed parties, who brought it to New York as part of an exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Two residents of Muara, Bloodhawk and his Teacher, traveled to New York and after an initial conflict, succeeded in convincing the Avengers to return with them to Muara to replace the totem.

   Unfortunately for them, they arrived too late, and the Monolith awakened, forcing itself to the surface and beginning a rampage on Muara. No force mustered by the Avengers could begin to stop the Monolith. Bloodhawk suffered one of his bouts of insanity and fled with the totem, but the Beast recovered it and, with aid from Thor, succeeded in replacing it in the Monolith's altar. The Monolith was instantly rendered inert once again, and Thor used his hammer Mjolnir to open a portal to some unnamed dimension to which he sent the Monolith.

Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco and Jim Mooney.










Any character seeking to reign destruction on his enemies need only locate the Monolith and remove the totem from its altar. They'd have to have some way to transport it, and it would seem likely that the Monolith would kill anyone seeking to manipulate it. That's just standard comic book plot.

Could the Monolith perhaps have had some connection to the stone statue-like invader Thorg?
--John Kaminski

Thanks to Loki for the additional high-res images and improved main.

Clarifications:
No known connection to:

He Who Protects

The sorcerers buried the body of the Monolith, leaving only the crown of its head exposed, and bound the spell of immobilization into a circular disk. They placed this disk within an altar on the Monolith's crown and dubbed it "He Who Protects".

He Who Protects" was either sold to or stolen by unnamed parties, who brought it to New York as part of an exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Two residents of Muara, Bloodhawk and his Teacher, traveled to New York and after an initial conflict, succeeded in convincing the Avengers to return with them to Muara to replace the totem.

Bloodhawk suffered one of his bouts of insanity and fled with the totem, but the Beast recovered it and, with aid from Thor, succeeded in replacing it in the Monolith's altar. The Monolith was instantly rendered inert once again.

--Avengers I#179 (Avengers I#179-180

images: (without ads)
Avengers I#179, p17, pan1 (main)
Avengers I#179, p16, pan5 (Monolith awakens)
Avengers I#180, p1, pan1 (Monolith vs Avengers)
Avengers I#180, p11, pan5 (Monolith transported to another dimension)
Avengers I#179, p16, pan3 (altar)
Avengers I#180, p11, pan2 (He Who Protects returned to altar)

Appearances:
Avengers I#179 (January, 1979) - Tom Defalco (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), Al Gordon (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Avengers I#180 (February, 1979) - Tom Defalco (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)

First Posted: 09/08/2001
Last updated: 01/05/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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