the GRAND ASTROGATOR
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Unrevealed
Occupation: Astrogator
Group Membership: May or may not be one of the Elders of the Universe
Known Affiliations: Unrevealed
Known Enemies: Unrevealed
Known Relatives: Unrevealed
Aliases: Unrevealed
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Mention: Quasar I#47 (June, 1993)
Powers/Abilities: Unrevealed
Equipment/Technology: Unrevealed
Type: Unrevealed
Limbs: Unrevealed
Fingers: Unrevealed
Toes: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Unrevealed
Hair color: Unrevealed
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
History: Nothing about the Grand Astrogator has been revealed except for his/her/their name. Even the fact of his/her/their existence has not been confirmed, let alone his/her/their nature.
(Quasar I#18 - BTS/Quasar I#47 (fb) - BTS)) - After the human host-body of the cosmic/abstract being known as Origin died peacefully on Earth, its life force instantly transferred to its new physical form, a giant unborn creature in an embryonic sac, floating in space somewhere in the Kree Galaxy.
(Quasar I#35-36) - During a mission in the Kree galaxy, Quasar (Wendell Vaughn) and his companions Makkari and Her encountered the immense Soul-Eater which had recently absorbed the souls of the billions of beings killed by the radiation from the detonation of the Nega-Bomb.
(Quasar I#36) - After the Soul-Eater had swallowed Makkari and Her and warped away to another location, Quasar followed it and found it feeding on the life essence of the embryonic entity. To save the unborn alien creature and his friends, Quasar managed to cause the destruction of the Soul-Eater. He and his friends then inspected the space fetus and found that it was alive but had sustained a hole in the side of its embryonic sac.
(Quasar I#37) - Quasar and Her tried to use their abilities to close the tears in the unborn entity's life-sac but were unable to prevent the sac from leaking fluid, causing them to fear that it might not have long to live. The Elder known as the Contemplator then arrived, having come to contemplate the singular creature which he identified as a nascent cosmic-class entity. Although he lacked the ability to treat the entity himself, the Contemplator instead sent a mental message that called upon the female Elder known as the Caregiver who arrived almost immediately and swiftly sealed the sac, saving the creature's life. Quasar and the Contemplator then went off on a mission together, as did Makkari and Her.
(Quasar I#40 / Quasar I#47 (fb) - BTS) - Soon afterwards, while the Caregiver was still tending to her, Origin sensed that Quasar had nullified himself while trying to use the Ultimate Nullifier against the Magus. Origin summoned the Quantum-Bands to her in order to keep them safe.
(Quasar I#47 (fb) - BTS) - Sometime later, four other Elders (and one impostor) arrived. The Explorer wanted to explore the creature while the Possessor and the (false) Contemplator both wanted to claim the Quantum-Bands. The Judicator arrived to judge which of the Elders had the better claim, and the Obliterator just showed up.
(Quasar I#47) - After Quasar recovered from being nullified and learned where his Quantum-Bands were, he and his ally Thunderstrike (Eric Masterson) traveled to the Cosmic Fetus to retrieve them from within its embryonic sac. When they arrived, the Judicator had just placed the matter under her jurisdiction and was warning the Explorer to make no move until she had passed judgment. The Explorer responded by saying, "The Caregiver may have been the first of us to discover the organism, but by the Grand Astrogator, I claim the right of exploration!"
And that's ALL that is known about the Grand Astrogator.
Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald
For those readers who want to know how this storyline ended, the Obliterator attacked the two humans, and the Explorer and the Possessor joined him. When Quasar revealed that he had encountered the creature before and the Caregiver confirmed that he was telling the truth, the Explorer withdrew his claim. After Quasar's Starbrand power wore out and he lost the ability to breathe in space, the Caregiver pushed him into the embryonic sac to save his life. While he was there, Origin revealed her identity to him and allowed him to reclaim the Quantum-Bands but asked him to not put them on until he was outside of her sac. After emerging, Quasar was able to put one of the Quantum-Bands on his left wrist before the Contemplator grabbed the other one and put in on his own wrist. Quasar realized that it wasn't the real Contemplator, and the two struggled for possession of the Quantum-Bands until Quasar was able to cause the quantum energy within the imposter's band to build up out of control and explode as a vast energy discharge. Quasar managed to save the imposter's life by placing a quantum-shield around the band so that only his arm was disintegrated. Once Quasar had reclaimed the Quantum-Band, the Judicator exposed the Contemplator as being a Skrull, took him into custody and then left with him to find the true Contemplator. With nothing new to be explored, the Explorer left and, at the Caregiver's request, Quasar and Thunderstrike removed the unconscious Possessor and Obliterator from the region to prevent them from possibly injuring the unborn.
Anyway, based on that single reference in Quasar I#47, some fans believe that this "Grand Astrogator" is one of the Elders of the Universe. Personally, I'm not convinced that that is true. I mean, sure, the Grand Astrogator does sound like something that an Elder would call him or herself, but, in the absence of ANY supporting evidence, it's just as likely that he/she/they aren't actually an Elder after all, assuming they even exist as a "real" person within the Marvel Universe. So, I'm going to continue to regard his/her/their Elder-ness as possible but unconfirmed.
Saying "By the Grand Astrogator" sounds like an oath which could imply that the Grand Astrogator was a deity worshipped by the Explorer. Of course, it could also be some higher authority whom he respected and whose name he would not invoke in vain, but who would an Elder respect?.
In the comments section of Snood's profile on the Judicator, he mentioned that he had gotten requests for profiles on the Architect and the Grand Astrogator, and said that anyone who wanted to do the profiles should go for it. So I did.
In the real world, astrogation is defined as the science or art of navigating a spaceship (a.k.a. space navigation). An astrogator is defined as either 1) one that is qualified in the science or skilled in the art of astrogation; or 2) the pilot of a spaceship. As far as I know, these terms are not actually used in the real world, except in science fiction continuities, but I may be wrong.
Also, while some science fiction continuities to use "astrogator" to refer to a person who navigates a spaceship, others use it in reference to equipment that people use to navigate spaceships. For example, in Star Trek, an astrogator is an (unofficial) term for the device that was situated between the helm and navigation stations on the bridge of the original USS Enterprise. It is considered unofficial because the device was never described as an astrogator in any Star Trek episode or film, even though the term was associated with the device in Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual, and has appeared in several Star Trek comic books.
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Grand Astrogator, if he/she/they truly exist, has no known connections to:
images: None
Mentions:
Quasar I#47 (June, 1993) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Janice Chiang (letterer), Mike Rockwitz (whaler watcher)
First Posted: 01/02/2024
Last updated: 01/02/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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