SLITHEROGUE

Real Name: Slitherogue

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Scorpian)

Occupation: Guardian/Master of the Tower of Time

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Ruler of the robots of the Tower of Time

Enemies: Skull the Slayer (now Blazing Skull), Dr. Raymond Corey, Ann Reynolds, Jeff Turner and the Black Knight robot

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Master

Place of Birth: Pygram, Scorpius star system, Milky Way galaxy

Base of Operations: Ancient Egypt level of the Tower of Time, the Bermuda Triangle Time Warp

First Appearance: Skull the Slayer#4 (March, 1976)

Powers: Slitherogue could fire energy blasts from his eyes that could displace others into any section of the Tower of Time which he desired. He could apparently teleport himself throughout the Tower as well. He possessed some degree of mind control abilities.

He had an advanced mastery of robotics. He could control the thousands of robots within the Tower of Time. He apparently suffered the same physical limitations as a human.

Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 163 lbs.
Eyes: Grey
Hair: None

History: Slitherogue is a member of the Scorpian race of the star system Scorpius. His people possess advanced technology and have mastered the science of robotics. Their robots worked incessantly, transforming their planet into a virtual paradise. Not wanting their robots to deteriorate for lack of use, the "Scorpians" sought new worlds to conquer, to provide projects for their constructs. They chose Earth.

Arriving in Earth's pre-history, @ 250 million B. C., the Scorpians wished to learn what the future held for the planet. They created the "Bermuda Triangle Time Warp," a vortex which opened a portal in time and drew whatever it touched back to the Scorpians. The Scorpians then built the Tower of Time, an immense monument which contained numerous levels, each of which represented a different period in Earth's history. They populated this Tower with robots that simulated the forms of life indigenous to that time period. These robots did not know that they were not actually alive, and were programmed to act out life from their respective periods.

Slitherogue was left behind to keep the men who were pulled back through the vortex from learning that not all who walked among them were human. The plan was when their were enough robots, the Scorpians would send them forward, through all of time, and bring all eras on Earth under their domination.

When Skull the Slayer and his allies wandered into the Tower, they were captured by Slitherogue's robots in the level representing ancient Egypt. Slitherogue seemingly blasted Jeff Turner into energy and put the other three to work building pyramids. (Turner was not actually killed, but sent to another level of the Tower). Skull fled the Egyptian soldiers and ended up in another level, representing Camelot. While Skull allied himself with robots acting as Merlin and the original Black Knight, Slitherogue posed as a demon summoned by a robot Morgan le Fay.

When Skull fought off the "demons" sent by "Morgan le Fay," Slitherogue summoned Skull's three allies, all of whom Skull had apparently seen die in the Egypt level, and convinced them that Skull had betrayed them. Corey, Raymond, and Turner all joined the assault of "Morgan" on Camelot. However, in the course of the battle, the three realized that they needed Skull to help them, and they overcame Slitherogue's suggestions. Skull and his allies escaped the Tower of Time.

Slitherogue shut down the robots of the Camelot level after Skull escaped. However, the Black Knight robot overcame its programming after its encounters with Skull. Seeking out the apparent villain, the Black Knight located Slitherogue and impaled him with his sword. As Slitherogue died, he caused the Tower and everything in it to self-destruct. In his last words, he claimed that in death he had been freed from the sentence of the Council which left him trapped on Earth.

Comments: Created by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema, and presumably Marv Wolfman.

Skull the Slayer had three writers in its eight issues. Englehart created Slitherogue, and then Bill Mantlo took over the next issue, decided he didn't want to write about Slitherogue, and killed him off, as well as destroying the entire Tower of Time in the process. What a waste. Mantlo also retold part of the previous issue to bring back Skull's supporting cast, which was probably a good move.

I think anyone with Slitherogue's technological know-how could have teleported himself away to save himself from the death. I definitely think Scully should return to the Bermuda Triangle warp and get some kind of resolution to the Scorpians' planned invasion of Earth.

I wasn't sure from reading the issues exactly from what period Slitherogue's race traveled back in time to reach 250 million BC, or if that was the time period in which they themselves existed at the time of the planned invasion.

There is also question whether the whole Bermuda Triangle Time Warp was actually in Earth's past, or perhaps it was an alternate dimension...? Things to be explored further in the future...?

Slitherogue has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1970's Handbook.