TERREX
Real Name: Terrex
Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (Titan) Artificial life form
Occupation: Doomsday Weapon
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Kerwin J. Broderick (shared its form); Ramrod and the Dark Messiah (agent of Broderick)
Enemies: Angar the Screamer, Black Widow (Natasha Romanova), Captain Mar-Vell, Daredevil, Moondragon, Jason Sloan
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: He Who is of the Earth
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California; formerly Moondragon's Pacific undersea base; Titan (moon of Saturn)
First Appearance: Daredevil I#105 (November, 1973)
Powers/Abilities: Terrex is a being directly
connected to the life-force of the planet on which it stands. In
addition, it can affect the life-force of any and every being on that
planet. At its whim, living things grow or die. It allegedly could
siphon the life from the entire planet and everyone on it. It can also
manipulate living matter, such as by causing the sudden growth of
immense trees and/or vines which move under its control. It can make
its effects temporary or permanent and partial or complete. It once
drained the life from Daredevil's legs, such that he was paralyzed
below the waist for an hour. It apparently requires concentration to
focus on its target(s) to be effective.
Terrex's form possesses the capacity for neither thought nor movement
on its own. It requires the mind of another to control it. Under some
circumstances, a person can be physically and mentally merged with
Terrex. However, the human mind within it does give it some
vulnerability.
History: (Daredevil I#107(fb)) - When Thanos began his onslaught on Titan, one of the Eternal scientists there devised Terrex as a doomsday weapon, to destroy all life on Titan should Thanos succeed. However, Thanos' forces acted too quickly, and the scientist died before he could unleash his monster. Moondragon, the only other who understood the science behind the life-creature, brought its inert form to Earth, where she planned to unleash it should Thanos overcome this world as well.
(Daredevil I#106(fb)-BTS) - Moondragon, then also going by the alias Madame MacEvil, attempted to form alliances on Earth for aid against Thanos. She unwittingly allied with Kerwin J. Broderick, a San Francisco based lawyer with a sterling reputation. However, Broderick was corrupt and power hungry, and he sought to use his weapons and agents to make himself king of San Francisco.
(Daredevil I#105-107) - Broderick ambushed Moondragon
in her undersea base, nearly killing her, and then unleashed Terrex on
Earth. He created a mindlink between himself and the mindless Terrex,
allowing it to think and move.
Terrex
rampaged through San Francisco, slaughtering those it encountered.
Angar the Screamer, one of Moondragon and Broderick's agents, drove
into the city and saluted Terrex, whom he saw as granting him part of
control of the city. However, as Angar's girlfriend, Janis, tried to
convince him to turn away from the path of violence, Terrex drained her
of life, leaving her a withered corpse in his passenger seat. Daredevil
revived Moondragon and the two were joined by the Black Widow in
opposing Broderick's other agents, Ramrod and the Dark Messiah.
However, Broderick then appeared and gave an ultimatum that the city
had an hour to live unless he was crowned as King of San Francisco.
Broderick physically and mentally merged with Terrex. Daredevil
attacked Terrex, but was temporarily paralyzed as a result. The heroes
regrouped to plan a more effective attack and were joined by Captain
Mar-Vell (who had come to oppose the forces of Thanos), Angar (who
wanted revenge on Terrex for killing Janis), and Jason Sloan (a former
business partner of Broderick who wanted to fight against the man who
had duped and betrayed him). Matt Murdoch (also a former business
associate of Broderick) and Jason Sloan approached Terrex, bringing
forth the mind and memories of Broderick. Angar unleashed his
hallucination-causing scream, throwing the composite Terrex/Broderick
off balance. The heroes joined forces in attacking the weakened Terrex.
Moondragon then guided Angar, so that he generated in Terrex the
specific hallucination of un-life, the antithesis of Terrex's being.
Unable to cope with exposure to the un-life, Terrex's meld with
Broderick was broken. Both Terrex and Broderick died from the trauma of
the separation.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber and Don Heck.
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for Broderick to have been able to dupe Moondragon, given her telepathic powers. Maybe there was some explanation, but I couldn't find it. It seems she had to do a specific Vulcan-mind-meld-type-thingee to read thoughts at that early point in her career, and for whatever reason, she just trusted Broderick implicitly.
Terrex actually seems pretty similar to Humus Sapien, who was supposed to be one of the new X-Men that showed up a year or two after this story, but instead was dropped and forgotten until Fabian Nicieza brought him back in the pages of the Thunderbolts, about 25 years later. Perhaps Humus' actions may have revived the dormant Terrex.
This profile is not intended to be a complete profile on Kerwin J. Broderick, who appeared for over a year in Daredevil before these issues. He'll get one later.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to
Appearances:
Daredevil I#105 (November, 1973) - Steve Gerber (writer), Don Heck
& Jim Starlin (pencils), Don Perlin (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Daredevil I#106 (December, 1973) - Steve Gerber (writer), Don Heck (pencils), Sal Trapani (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Daredevil I#107 (January, 1974) - Steve Gerber (writer), Bob Brown (pencils), Sal Buscema (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
First Posted: 08/22/2002
Last updated: 08/22/2002
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 www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!