Real Name: Pildorr

Identity/Class: Alternate reality extraterrestrial (race unrevealed) technology user (2062 A.D. see comments)

Occupation: Space pirate

Group Membership: Leader of 100,000 raiders

Affiliations: Kid Kaiju (Kei Kawade);
temporarily Abominable Snowman, Blip, Bruttu, Crawling Creature, Creature from Krogarr, Creature from the Black Bog, Fin Fan Foom, Googam, Goom, Gorgilla, Green Thing, Insect Man, Klagg, Kraa, Metallo, Monsteroso, Monstro, Monstrom, Moomba, Oog, Orrgo, Quogg, Rommbu, Sporr, Thing that Crawled by Night, Tim Boo Ba, Ulvar, Vandoom's Monster, Zetora, Zzutak

Enemies: John Brett, Leviathon Tide

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Plunderer from Outer Space" (in story title)

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe (while aboard his spaceship)

First Appearance: Strange Tales I#94/1 (March, 1962)

Powers/Abilities: Because of his stocky size, Pildorr likely had superhuman strength and durability, but displayed no paranormal abilities.

Along with conventional swords, Pildorr and his crew (all apparently the same race as Pildorr) were armed with magma ray handguns, which could project beams of intense heat.

Height: Unrevealed (8'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed

History:
(Strange Tales I#94/1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point in the future, the ruthless marauder Pildorr and his army of 100,000 raiders roamed the universe in their huge spaceship. Their conquests always followed the same pattern -- they first destroyed a planet's air defenses, then attacked the planet itself and defeated all who resisted them. Once they had subjugated a world, the pillaging pirates looted it and stripped it of all its wealth before moving on to other galaxies and other conquests.

(Strange Tales I#94/1) - By the year 2062 A.D. (see comments), Earth was a united world that had been at peace for decades, and war was almost a forgotten thing to humanity. But a month prior, Pildorr and his savage horde attacked the planet Mercury; when Earth's defense command received reports that Pildorr and his army would soon reach their planet, the outlook seemed grim -- Earth had neither the arms nor the soldiers to repel the space raiders. The military officials summoned operative John Brett for a special mission. As mankind's greatest treasure was being loaded aboard his rocket ship, Brett was assigned the task of flying it to a place of safety -- unbeknownst to all in attendance, their meeting was secretly being monitored by Pildorr aboard his spaceship.

   The following morning, Brett's rocket blasted off, but as it reached the edge of Earth's atmosphere, it was captured and taken aboard Pildorr's space fortress. After his raiders pulled Brett and the sealed box with the treasure out of the rocket, Pildorr told Brett he had a "special treat" in store for him -- having studied the ancient history of Earth, Pildorr discovered a fitting method of execution for his prisoner, so he planned to have Brett "walk the plank" right out into deepest space!

   Pildorr cruelly laughed as Brett was forced to step out of the airlock and went floating away into the void. Then Pildorr turned his attention to the sealed treasure box, and he ordered his crew to open it; but once this was accomplished, Pildorr immediately changed his mind when he saw what was inside -- in a panic, he ordered the box to be closed, but it was too late...

   Back down on Earth, the military officials watched through a telescope as Pildorr's spaceship was destroyed by a massive explosion -- they had indeed given the space pirate mankind's greatest treasure... their most powerful cobalt bomb, rigged to explode the instant the box was opened!

   With the threat of Pildorr and his evil horde now over, the military sent a rocket to recover John Brett -- they were certain he'd be all right, because a float in space wasn't likely to cause much harm to a robot!

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Monsters Unleashed II#2) - The Inhuman Kid Kaiju summoned Pildorr (who had somehow survived, see comments) to present-day Earth-616; Pildorr joined with numerous other monsters in an area outside San Diego, California in defense against the Leviathons.

(Monsters Unleashed II#3) - Firing his magma ray, Pildorr joined the fight against the Leviathons. Earth's heroes watched the monsters summoned by Kid Kaiju defeat the Leviathons. After the battle, Pildorr and the other monsters were teleported back from where they came.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.

Not a whole lot of information was available about Pildorr, as John Brett was the central character of the 7-page story.

Considering their similar appearances, perhaps Pildorr and his crew had some connection to the Krangro race.

Although the Strange Tales story didn't mention a specific year, a caption stated that it took place "a hundred years from now," which I interpreted to be a century after it was originally published.

In regards to the Pildorr who fought the Leviathons: I guess he could have been a decades-younger Pildorr of Reality-616 (mainstream Marvel Universe) rather than the one from 2062 A.D. transported to the "past".

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Pildorr, the Plunderer from Outer Space, should not be confused with:

• Plunderer (Edgar Parnival Plunder) - modern-day pirate, technology user--Daredevil I#12
• any other characters with similar names, or any other plunderers

John Brett should not be confused with:

• Luther Worthington - president of Titanic Motors, actually a robot built in human form--World of Fantasy#18/3
• any other characters with similar names, or any other robots

Pildorr's spaceship An immense spacecraft capable of intergalactic travel, it was the size of a city. It transported the space plunderer Pildorr and his army of 100,000 raiders throughout the universe, so they could attack and pillage other worlds.

The ship's other capabilities included a surveillance system that could be adjusted to a planet's specific wave-length, to secretly monitor activities on that world, and a magneto-field, which was used to capture other space vessels. While in Earth's upper atmosphere, the spaceship was able to camouflage itself as a large bank of clouds. In 2062 A.D., the ship and its entire crew were seemingly destroyed by an explosion after John Brett smuggled a cobalt bomb aboard. --Strange Tales I#94/1

John Brett On Earth of 2062 A.D., John Brett was a special operative for Earth's defense command, and he was considered to be Earth's greatest military asset; but he was actually a sophisticated robot built in human form, and even programmed to mimic human mannerisms (e.g. smoking a pipe). One day in his apartment, Brett watched a televised news report regarding the space pirate Pildorr and his raiders, who were about to pillage Earth; Brett then received a phone call, summoning him to a meeting with military officials. At the headquarters of Earth's defense command, Brett was assigned the task of transporting "mankind's greatest treasure" aboard his rocket ship to a place of safety; but Pildorr was secretly monitoring this meeting.

After Brett's rocket was launched, he was soon captured and brought aboard Pildorr's gigantic spaceship, then Brett was forced to "walk the plank" out into empty space. But when Pildorr opened the box with the treasure, he discovered too late that it contained a powerful cobalt bomb that was rigged to detonate the instant the box was opened, and the subsequent explosion destroyed Pildorr's spaceship.

With the threat of Pildorr and his marauders ended by the explosion of the bomb, the military sent another rocket into space to recover Brett. (Comment: This story was done with a surprise ending, so Brett's true nature wasn't revealed until the final panel.) --Strange Tales I#94/1

images: (without ads)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p1, pan1 (main image - Pildorr (center) and his marauders capture John Brett)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p7, pan2 (headshot - Pildorr's reaction after "treasure" box is opened)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p5, pan2 (Pildorr (center) with his marauders)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p7, pan1 (Pildorr orders box to be opened)
Monsters Unleashed II#3, p5, pan1 (Pildorr fires magma ray at Leviathons)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p2, pan4 (on televised broadcast, Pildorr's spaceship (top view))
Strange Tales I#94/1, p5, pan4 (Pildorr's spaceship (front view))
Strange Tales I#94/1, p5, pan1 (Pildorr's spaceship uses magneto-field to capture John Brett's rocket)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p7, pan3 (Pildorr's spaceship destroyed by cobalt bomb)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p2, pan5 (John Brett, watching news report)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p6, pan1 (John Brett; Pildorr (background))
Strange Tales I#94/1, p6, pan2 (John Brett, forced to "walk the plank" into space)
Strange Tales I#94/1, p7, pan8 (John Brett, revealed to be a robot)

Appearances:
Strange Tales I#94/1 (March, 1962) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), John Duffy (letters)
Monsters Unleashed II#2 (April, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Greg Land (pencils), Jay Leisten (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Monsters Unleashed II#3 (April, 2017) - Cullen Bunn (writer), Leinil Francis Yu (pencils), Gerry Alanguilan & Michael Jason Paz (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First posted: 08/28/2023
Last updated: 08/28/2023