WARLORD MORRAT
Real Name: Morrat
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Skrull)
Occupation: Warlord
Group Membership: Skrull military
Affiliations: Anelle (fiancee), Emperor Dorrek VII, Invincible Man (Super-Skrull)
Enemies: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Sue Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Franklin Storm, Emperor Dorrek VII
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "Morrat the Traitor" (as called by Emperor Dorrek)
Base of Operations: Skrull throneworld, Andromeda Galaxy
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#37 (April, 1965)
Powers/Abilities: Like almost every Skrull, Morrat possessed the ability to change shape, and likely used this to give himself a more regal appearance. His lifespan was also much longer than that of a human, as Skrulls generally live to be around 210 years old (if some superhero doesn't blow them up).
Morrat was completely ruthless and driven by his ambition to be the next king of the Skrulls. With his position as a warlord, Morrat was in control of large armies of Skrulls and had access to many powerful weapons.
Height: Unrevealed (6'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (200 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black (mustache)
History:
(Fantastic Four I#37 (fb) - BTS) - The
past of Morrat is largely unrevealed, but at some point, he eventually
attained the rank of warlord in the Skrull military. He fell in love
with Anelle, the daughter of King Dorrek; but the king didn't trust the
ambitious Morrat, for he had the look of someone who longed to wear
Dorrek's crown, so he refused to consent to their marriage.
(Fantastic Four I#32 - BTS) - After the defeat of the Super-Skrull, who had been masquerading as the captured Franklin Storm (the father of Johnny and Sue of the Fantastic Four), Morrat came up with the idea to place an energy beam projector on the real Franklin's chest, hoping to kill the FF upon Franklin's return to Earth. The plan failed, but Franklin Storm still lost his life.
(Fantastic Four I#37) - Aboard his space yacht, Morrat was on a hunting expedition with Princess Anelle. While flying above a primitive planet, the cruel Morrat fired upon some harmless animals -- Anelle pleaded for him to stop, for the natives of that world used the animals as beasts of burden. Although Morrat pointed out that she should admire his hunting skills, all Anelle could see was that Morrat had the heart of a savage beneath the cloak of a nobleman, and she regretted ever having met him.
(Fantastic Four I#37 - BTS) - With his hunt finished, Morrat's space yacht returned home to the Skrull throneworld.
(Fantastic Four I#37) - Meanwhile, by utilizing a space/time warp, the Fantastic Four traveled through sub-space to reach the world of the Skrulls -- the team was on a mission to avenge the death of Franklin Storm, and bring his killer to justice. When they landed on the planet, the FF were suddenly set upon by a squad of armed Skrull soldiers; but as they began to battle their attackers, the FF found that their powers were fading away (see comments). Unable to put up any resistance, the now-powerless quartet was captured and taken to Morrat.
After sending Anelle back to her father, Morrat plotted to kill the FF, and to use their deaths to start a revolution -- one that would overthrow Anelle's own father, King Dorrek, and place Morrat as his successor. But when the time came for the execution of the FF, Mr. Fantastic was able to convince Morrat to let them live, so long as he supplied Morrat with advanced weaponry; Morrat was intrigued by the proposition, so he agreed to stay their execution.
Mr. Fantastic offered Morrat the Stimulator he had recently created, claiming it to be a powerful weapon. Pitching a fake fight with the rest of his teammates, Mr. Fantastic ended up using the Stimulator on all three of them, before being jumped by the Skrulls, who turned the device on him. The energy of the Stimulator restored the FF's powers, and they made quick work of Morrat's soldiers. But then Anelle returned, along with her father, and soldiers who were completely loyal to Dorrek.
Morrat attempted to convince Dorrek that he was planning to hand the FF over to him the whole time; but the king saw through his lies, and ordered his own men to strip Morrat of his rank, and to put him in chains. When Morrat called for the death of the king, his own followers deserted him, for they could see they were outnumbered. The king's soldiers raised their weapons, about to shoot the warlord for his treason; but just as they fired, Anelle suddenly rushed to Morrat's side -- despite his treachery, she still loved him. Although caught in the path of the blasts, Anelle was protected by a force field that the Invisible Girl had projected around her; however, Morrat wasn't so lucky -- he was struck by the deadly blasts, and all Anelle could do afterward was to weep and mourn his passing.
As Morrat lay dead, Dorrek felt he owed a boon to the four "repugnant aliens" for saving his daughter's life; Mr. Fantastic asked for the Skrull who was responsible for the death of Franklin Storm. Dorrek gestured to the corpse of "Morrat the Traitor" and stated that the evil deed was all the treacherous warlord's doing -- he further claimed it was Morrat who craved to conquer Earth, for Dorrek himself considered Earthlings to be alien savages that were beneath his imperial notice. Then Dorrek ordered the Fantastic Four to leave his world, while they still could.
Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby and Chic "Magnet" Stone.
Although Morrat was eventually named as the one who thought to use Franklin Storm to destroy the FF, it appeared as though King Dorrek himself was shown to be the one giving the orders to execute that action in Fantastic Four I#32. As pointed out in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe's Franklin Storm bio, it was indeed Morrat who had ordered Franklin's death. During his appearance in FF#37, he was on a hunting expedition, so it's possible that he usually wears a more formal uniform, one very much like Dorrek's.
In Fantastic Four I#37, p3, pan4, Morrat himself admitted to the deed while speaking to Anelle: "Was it not I who arranged for that Earthling (Franklin Storm) to die when he returned to his home planet??"
Morrat had dreams of overthrowing Dorrek as emperor -- maybe during his off-hours in his private quarters, he indulged in wearing his own royal regalia and crown (or else used his shape-shifting powers) to pretend that he was the king, so perhaps that actually was him in FF I#32.
Mr. Fantastic's theorized that there was "something in the Skrull atmosphere" that caused the FF's powers to fade away when they reached the Skrulls' world...yet the Thing still had his rocky hide, just not his full super-strength. I don't recall this happening in any of the FF's subsequent encounters with the Skrulls -- maybe this instance of their weakness was actually a psychosomatic after-effect from their traveling through sub-space to reach the Andromeda Galaxy (... kind of like "cosmic jet-lag"), and they were just unable to concentrate on using their respective powers effectively; and further, perhaps Mr. Fantastic later found a solution to this problem behind-the-scenes after they returned to Earth.-- Ron Fredricks
Stimulator... Holy Deus Ex Machina, Batman!
Morrat appeared in the second season of the 1994 Fantastic Four cartoon, on an episode which appeared to be sort of a retelling of Fantastic Four I#32 and#37.
I can't remember a Chic Stone nickname off the top of my head, so I went with the obvious.
Profile by. Zerostar. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
Scans originally by Snood
CLARIFICATIONS:
Warlord Morrat has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#37, p10, pan4 (Main Image - Warlord Morrat; two unidentified Skrulls
(background))
Fantastic Four I#37, p17, pan2 (Headshot - Warlord Morrat)
Fantastic Four I#37, p10, pan1 (Warlord Morrat with Anelle)
Fantastic Four I#37, p18, pan1 (Warlord Morrat being fired upon; Anelle protected inside Invisible Girl's force-field)
Fantastic Four I#32, p18, pan7 (what appears to be the Skrull emperor (inside red circle) ordering what would result in the death of Franklin Storm)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#37 (April, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters)
First Posted: 02/16/2004
Last updated: 02/27/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to http://www.g-mart.com/ for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!