THORG

Real Name: Thorg (see comments)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (race unrevealed (see comments)) (Distant Past to Pre-Modern era)

Occupation: Would-be world conqueror

Group Membership: His fellow warriors

Affiliations: His leaders

Enemies: Helen, Linus

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Thorg the Unbelievable (in story title); Thorr, the mighty Thorr, Thorr the Unbelievable (see comments)

Base of Operations: An unidentified island in the South Pacific;
   formerly mobile throughout the universe

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#16/1 (February, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: Having a stone-like hide, the gigantic Thorg possessed incredible strength (perhaps Class 75 or greater). He was extremely long-lived, being over one million years old. He could project a beam of light from his finger that acted as a beacon to other members of his race, and it could be seen from galaxies away.

Thorg's leaders had placed him in a form of suspended-animation for ages--near Thorg was a small subterranean chamber (see comments) which contained electronic devices that awakened him when an "electric eye" within was triggered.

Thorg was a bit gullible and egocentric, because he was tricked into trying to conquer the world by himself so that all the glory would belong to him alone.

Despite his great strength, Thorg seemingly met his end when a volcanic eruption forced him into the ocean, and he was unable to stay afloat because of his extreme weight.

Height: 80' (by approximation)
Weight: 90 tons (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Inapplicable

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#16/1 (fb) - BTS) - One million years ago, Thorg's race planted agents on planets throughout the universe, intending to activate them ages later to conquer those planets. Thorg was among a number of agents placed on Earth, on a volcanic South Pacific island, where they were buried up to their necks and placed in suspended-animation.

   As the centuries crawled by, the island was eventually inhabited by the ancestors of a tribe of Polynesians--they had no idea who had built the mysterious "statues" they found there.

(Tales to Astonish I#16/1) - Having heard reports of the strange stone statues, archaeologist Linus and his wife Helen flew to the island.  The friendly natives led Linus and Helen to the location of the statues, but claimed they knew nothing of the origin of the stone heads, for the statues had been there before their ancestors settled on the island.

   After getting the native chief's permission, Linus began to excavate around one of the statues, in the hopes that he'd find an inscription that would tell him which primitive people had carved it.  Linus hadn't been digging long when he discovered a metallic door. He opened the door to find a small chamber filled with electronic devices; suddenly there was a flash of electromagnetic current as he passed through an "electric eye'... then Linus heard Helen scream. Dashing from the chamber and running to Helen, Linus saw the cause of her alarm--the giant stone "statue" was moving and rising from the earth, for he had accidentally awakened Thorg!

   After Thorg told Linus and Helen about his mission of conquest, the stone giant was about to awaken his fellow warriors. But Linus quickly formulated a plan and told Thorg that the small island he was stationed on was the whole of human civilization, and so he didn't need his comrades to conquer it. Despite Helen's objections, Linus convinced Thorg that he could easily conquer the world by himself, then all the glory would belong to him alone, and his would be the greatest name in the universe.

   After subduing the local villagers Thorg signaled his leaders, and the next day they arrived on Earth.  But as Thorg welcomed his superiors, Linus threw a bundle of dynamite into the mouth of the island's volcano; the dynamite exploded, causing the volcano to erupt, and tons upon tons of molten lava poured out.  Linus, Helen, and the natives climbed into boats to escape the eruption, but Thorg and his allies were apparently destroyed, for they were too heavy to swim away.

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.

As with many 1950s and 1960s Marvel monster stories, this story is not confirmed as part of Earth-616 (mainstream Marvel Universe) continuity, but there's nothing to exclude it either.
    --Leave it in unless something rules it out!--Snood.

This character was originally named Thorr, but when this 7-page story was reprinted in Where Creatures Roam#3 (November, 1970), his name was relettered/retconned to Thorg (...probably to avoid confusion with the Asgardian thunder god, who was introduced shortly after Thorr/Thorg first appeared).

It's possible that Thorg was a robot or a cyborg, as Linus found that small chamber in Thorg's chest that reactivated him. I prefer to think this chamber was a cybernetic implant.

It wasn't clearly depicted whether that chamber was actually inside Thorg, or at a separate location near him; since the metallic door wasn't visible on his stony exterior, it seems likely the chamber was at a nearby location.--Ron Fredricks

Thorg's race looks similar to the Lithodia Rexians and the Stone Men, both races of which were on Easter Island--maybe there was some connection between them all.
Perhaps they also had some connection to the Sphinx-like Shagg.

Prior to creating Thorr/Thorg and all the other Easter Island aliens for Marvel, Jack Kirby created similar characters--The Stone Sentinels of Giant Island--for DC's House of Mystery I#85 (April, 1959).

And later, Gil Kane would draw the cover of Thor I#318 (April, 1982), which featured similar animated Easter Island statues.--Ron Fredricks

Profile expanded by Ron Fredricks (new images, sub-profiles, comments).

Profile by FUTURE.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Thorg/Thorr has no known connection to:

Helen

Helen (last name unrevealed) was the wife of archaeologist Linus--she found his work boring and thought him to be a milquetoast.

She accompanied Linus to a South Pacific island, where Linus began to examine giant stone statues.  But the "statues" were actually hostile hibernating extraterrestrials, and Linus accidentally revived Thorg.

When Linus told Thorg how easily he could conquer the island by himself, Helen accused Linus of being a coward and a traitor to the human race.

But Helen changed her mind about Linus when she learned that his seeming cooperation with Thorg was part of his plan to defeat the alien.  Once Thorg and his leaders were destroyed, Helen told Linus that he was the bravest man in the world.

--Tales to Astonish#16/1

Linus

Linus (last name unrevealed) was an archaeologist; he was married to Helen.

He took Helen with him while he was exploring a newly discovered volcanic island in the South Pacific.

After finding large stone statues on the island, Linus began digging and discovered a small subterranean chamber; he went inside the chamber and set off an "electric eye" that awakened the extraterrestrial Thorg.

When Thorg was about to revive his fellow warriors on the island, Linus told the stone giant that he could easily take the island all by himself. Linus then prodded Thorg to summon his leaders in outer space.

Once Thorg and his leaders were gathered together, Linus threw dynamite into the island's volcano. Linus, Helen, and the island villagers escaped the resultant volcanic eruption, but Thorg and his fellow aliens were all apparently destroyed.

--Tales to Astonish#16/1

Thorg's fellow warriors

Numbering at least three, they (along with Thorg) had been deposited on a South Pacific island one million years earlier.  Their leaders placed them in a state of suspended-animation for an eventual conquest of Earth.

In recent times, Thorg was accidentally awakened by Linus; but Thorg never revived his comrades because Linus had tricked Thorg and told him that he could conquer the world himself.

Presumably, Thorg's fellow warriors were destroyed when Linus triggered an eruption of the island's volcano.

--Tales to Astonish#16/1

Thorg's leaders

One million years ago, they traveled in spaceships to deposit their agents on all the planets of the universe for a mission of conquest--on Earth, they left Thorg and other warriors in a state of suspended-animation on a South Pacific island.

In recent times, Thorg was accidentally revived by Linus.  After tricking Thorg into summoning his leaders to Earth, Linus then used explosives to trigger the island's volcano into erupting.  As tons of molten lava poured out and destroyed their ship, Thorg and his leaders were apparently destroyed, for they were too heavy to swim to safety.

--Tales to Astonish#16/1

images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p4, pan1 (Main Image - Thorg menaces Linus, Helen, and South Pacific islander)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p2, pan4 (Headshot - Thorg (buried up to neck) in suspended-animation)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p3, pan5 (revived Thorg begins to arise from ground; South Pacific islander, Linus, Helen)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p7, pan2 (Thorg and his superiors meet their end as volcano erupts)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p2, pan1 (aboard plane, Helen nags Linus)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p5, pan4 (Helen nagging Linus (again) when she thinks he's betrayed Earth)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p3, pan2 (Linus inside subterranean chamber)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p6, pan6 (Linus throws dynamite into volcano)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p5, pan1 (Thorg points to his fellow warriors in suspended-animation)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p4, pan4 (Thorg narrates flashback, as warriors of his race are transported in spaceships to various planets)
Tales to Astonish I#16/1, p6, pan4 (Linus watches Thorg greet his leaders as they arrive on Earth in their spaceship)

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#16/1 (February, 1961) - unidentified writer, Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks), Stan Lee (editor)

First Posted: 07/02/2004
Last updated: 01/05/2019

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.!

Back to Characters