KONRAD ZAXON

Real Name: Dr. Konrad Zaxon

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Scientist

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Hulk (Bruce Banner)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Master of Earth," "Zaxon the First, Master of Mankind" (as called by himself)

Base of Operations: Formerly his lab at Gamma Base

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#78/2 (April, 1966)

Powers/Abilities: Having no paranormal physical powers, Zaxon had advanced training in physics, specializing in organic energy -- he built a scanner to measure this energy.

Zaxon also created an Organic Energy Attractor, which could drain the strength from living sources -- while operating this device, Zaxon wore a protective armored suit (see comments).

Height: Unrevealed (5' 10"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (170 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#78/2 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Konrad Zaxon is largely unrevealed, but whereas Bruce Banner specialized in gamma rays, Zaxon chose to work with organic energy (or the energy of living beings, for this story), which he considered to be "one of the greatest sources of power known to man".

(Tales to Astonish I#78/2) - While the Hulk/Bruce Banner was believed to have been killed by the T-Gun, Gamma Base hired Dr. Zaxon as a replacement for him. The newly-arrived Zaxon was greeted by Major Glenn Talbot, and Zaxon told him he'd do his best "to prove that organic energy can do more for your missile program than Banner's gamma rays could ever have done".

   Shortly thereafter, the Hulk returned from the alternate future where the T-Gun had sent him, and he instinctively began to leap in the direction of Gamma Base; but he was captured by Gamma Base's Plan H (the H stood for woodcHuck, of course) -- the jade giant was caught in a pit, gassed into submission, and confined by anti-matter rays criss-crossing the pit's opening.

   Dr. Zaxon went to the pit to investigate with his scanner, and he was very impressed with the Hulk's power, which he saw as "a veritable blast furnace of limitless organic energy." Zaxon requested for Talbot to get him full authority to experiment on the captured Hulk, because he claimed to have a plan to use the Hulk's power to help humanity.

   But when he returned to the privacy of his lab, Zaxon laughed (like a good little mad scientist) and raved to himself about how he could harness the Hulk's power to take over the world. He imagined that he could use the green goliath's organic energy to perform seeming miracles, such as manipulating the weather and volcanic eruptions, and even frightening the superstitious natives of primitive nations into submission by creating giant apparitions. With such power at his command, no army could stop him, and Zaxon could therefore become the master of mankind!

   Later that night, Zaxon began to initiate his sinister scheme -- he donned his protective armor, grabbed his Organic Energy Attractor, and returned to the pit where the Hulk was trapped. After switching off the anti-matter rays, Zaxon stood ready with his Attractor and dared the "unspeakable monster" to come out of his prison. The angry Hulk began to crawl out of the pit, so Zaxon aimed the Attractor at him and fired...

(Tales to Astonish#79/2) - Zaxon was initially confident when he shot the Attractor at the approaching Hulk -- he had gambled his life on the fact that there had to be a limit to the "brainless brute's" energy, and the Hulk appeared to be weakening.

   However, despite being continuously blasted by the Attractor's beam, the Hulk still managed to get closer and closer, and Zaxon wondered why he hadn't yet fallen. Then Zaxon became alarmed when he saw the look of fury in the Hulk's facial expression, and he feared that the green-skinned man-monster seemed to be more powerful than ever (...Zaxon didn't know that the Hulk grew stronger as his rage increased, and by that point, he was plenty PO'd).

   When he finally got within range, the Hulk swatted the Attractor from Zaxon's hands and sent it flying; the still-activated Attractor flipped around as it ricocheted off a wall -- Zaxon got blasted by the beam of his own invention, and he fell to the ground.

   With the confrontation over, the Hulk stood over his fallen foe and dared him to get up, but the silent Konrad Zaxon was apparently dead (see comments).

Comments: Created by Stan "The Man" Lee, Jack "King" Kirby, and "Wild" Bill Everett.

Zaxon's armored suit may have also functioned as an exoskeleton to amplify his strength to some degree, so that he could more easily handle the cumbersome Organic Energy Attractor -- considering his apparent death, it sure didn't provide much protection. -- Ron Fredricks

It should be pointed out that it was only a spinach-brained Hulk who pronounced Zaxon dead, although he hasn't been seen or heard from since.

It would be easy enough to bring Zaxon back (...if anybody cared enough): Maybe when his Attractor hit that wall, it reversed the settings and discharged the energy it had drained from the Hulk into Zaxon, thus putting him into a death-like coma, and he later mutated into a gamma ray-powered menace. No? Well, it was just a thought. -- Ron Fredricks

Also, for the record, Zaxon's confrontation with the Hulk lasted 9 panels, from turning off the anti-matter rays to lying dead on the ground.

This marked the first transformation of the Hulk into the mindless beast referred to as the Savage Hulk. In prior appearances, he's always had a little more intelligence, more like the "Mr. Fixit" personality. It began to fade over time, and after his recent exposure to the energies from time travel, he was all about the "Hulk Smash!"

Profile by Snood. Expanded by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Konrad Zaxon/"Master of Earth" has no known connections to:

Konrad Zaxon's scanner

A hand-held instrument created by Zaxon, it measured the organic energy of living beings.

When he used it to examine the captured Hulk's physiological and molecular makeup, Zaxon was stunned because the device's indicators went off scale, and it showed that the Hulk had almost unlimited power.

Zaxon was so impressed by the results of his examination that he began his scheme to harness the Hulk's power for his own evil purposes.

(Comment: Zaxon never actually identified this device, so I just chose a logical name for it.)

--Tales to Astonish I#78/2

Konrad Zaxon's Organic Energy Attractor

A rifle-like device created by Zaxon, it fired a beam that drained the strength from living beings.

Zaxon used it on the Hulk, in an attempt to harness the Hulk's power for his own evil purposes.

But Zaxon's scheme ultimately failed, because the Hulk's strength seemed nearly limitless.

The Hulk eventually swatted the Attractor out of Zaxon's hands and sent it flying; the still-activated Attractor ricocheted off a wall, and Zaxon was struck by the beam of his own invention, which apparently killed him (see comments).

--Tales to Astonish I#78/2 (Tales to Astonish I#78/2-79/2

images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#78/2, p9, pan2 (Main Image - Konrad Zaxon, in his Gamma Base lab)
Tales to Astonish I#78/2, p9, pan2 (Headshot - Konrad Zaxon)
Tales to Astonish I#78/2, p10, pan1 (Konrad Zaxon in armored suit)
Tales to Astonish I#79/2, p2, pan4 (Konrad Zaxon in armored suit, being struck by ray of Organic Energy Attractor)
Tales to Astonish I#78/2, p7, pan3 (Konrad Zaxon carrying scanner into secured area)
Tales to Astonish I#78/2, p7, pan5 (Konrad Zaxon using scanner on Hulk)
Tales to Astonish I#78/2, p10, pan2 (Konrad Zaxon in armored suit, holding Organic Energy Attractor)
Tales to Astonish I#79/2, p2, pan1 (Konrad Zaxon in armored suit, firing Organic Energy Attractor at Hulk)

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#78/2 (April, 1966) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (layouts), Bill Everett (pencils/inks), Sam Rosen (letters)
Tales to Astonish I#79/2 (May, 1966) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (layouts), Bill Everett (pencils/inks), Artie Simek (letters)

First Posted: 02/27/2003
Last updated: 04/05/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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