PHOTON BLOCK
Classification: Extraterrestrial (Rigellian) technology
Creator: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Thanos I#2 (January, 2004)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Photon Block
was apparently a rectangular prism formed from photons (the elementary,
massless particles that are quantums of the electromagnetic field and
the force carrier for the electromagnetic force.
It served as a force field to
contain anyone within it, and it could contract on command to perhaps
one cubic inch, crushing whoever or whatever was trapped within it.
It was notably ineffective in containing or destroying a being with Thanos' level of power.
History:
(Thanos I#1 - BTS) - Seeking to make amends for his
Thanosi
doppelganger's devastation of Rigel-3, Thanos teleported himself and
his associate Adam Warlock to just outside the Grand Commissioner's
royal palace.
Futilely assaulted by Rigellian troops under General Zygo, Thanos surrendered all present by surrendering and offering his services to New Rigel-3.
(Thanos
I#2 (fb) - BTS) - While Adam Warlock met with the Grand Commissioner to
convince him of Thanos' sincerity, General Zygo and his troops led
Thanos into the palace. Thanos allowed General Zygo to imprison him
within a photon block (see comments).
(Thanos I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Zygo's troops mocked Thanos' seeming powerless, and some suggested they kill him, but another soldier insisted that they would wait for the word.
(Thanos I#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Grand Commissioner's willingness to consider dealing with Thanos was the final straw to General Zygo, and he ordered a coup against the Grand Commissioner.
(Thanos I#2 - BTS) - As Zygo's forces arrested the Grand Director, Zygo advised Adam Warlock that his master was being disposed of; Warlock was highly skeptical of this likelihood.
(Thanos I#2) - The soldier holding the device controlling the photon block told the other troops that all he had to do was push the button to cause the photon block to contract to the size of his thumb: "Instant compacted Titan."
While other soldiers urged him to do it, Thanos lost his patience in indulging this group of Rigellians.
(Thanos
I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Thanos broke free and slew the 12 Rigellian
troopers present with a brief, high-level gamma radiation burst.
(Thanos
I#2 - BTS) - After defeating Zygo's troops, Warlock led the Grand Commissioner and the
Recorder to rush to
try to save the guards who were with Thanos, but they found the
guards dead.
The Grand Commissioner was surprised to learn that Thanos had escaped imprisonment within a photon block, but Warlock advised him that Thanos had never truly been imprisoned (meaning Thanos had only allowed himself to be contained and could have escaped at any time).
Warlock subsequently questioned Thanos if he could have escaped without killing the soldiers, but Thanos described their malicious intent and noted, "No innocents died this day."
Soon after, when General Zygo prepared to fire a
molecular disruptor weapon at him, Thanos instead slew Zygo with a
blast from his right eye.
Comments: Created by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.
The Grand Commissioner (twice) and one of the
soldiers both referred to the device that contained Thanos as a "photon
block."
That may be what it was, as it did look like it
could be made of light, but it also reminds me of the pre-existing
Rigellian technology know as the Proton Cage, formed via the Proton Coagulant Ray.
On a similar note, in Iron Man I#110, the weapon is called a "Photon" coagulant ray, but the cage is still referred to as being made of protons by both the Rigellians and Iron Man, so presumably "photon" was a typo/error.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Photon Block should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads):
Thanos
I#2, pg. 2, panel 4 (by Thanos (within "Photon Block");
pg. 7, panel 2 (preparing to squash Thanos)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First posted: 08/25/2024
Last updated: 08/25/2024
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