General ZYGO

Real Name: Zygo (it is unrevealed whether he has any other first or last name or some other designation)

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Rigellian)

Occupation: Soldier

Group Membership: General in Rigellian military

Affiliations: Other soldiers;
    formerly the Grand Commissioner of Rigel

Enemies: Galactus (Galan), Grand Commissioner of Rigel, Thanos, Thanos (Thanosi doppelganger), Adam Warlock;
    presumably Mangog;

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    apparently perished within the Grand Commissioner's royal palace, New Rigel-3;
    presumably formerly Rigel-3;

First Appearance: (Unidentified) Thanos I#1 (December, 2003);
    (identified) Thanos I#2 (January, 2004)

Powers/Abilities: Zygo commanded a troop of the Rigellians' elite armed forces.

    He had access to and at least once wielded a molecular disruptor weapon, which he believed would be able to slay Thanos.

    Rigellians have various psychic powers, including the ability to control minds (“mind-thrust”), communicate via telepathy and mentally alter their physical density to increase their strength.
    Neither Zygo nor his troops demonstrated the former, but his troops did demonstrate the latter.

    His troops had access to the technology to create a photon block.

History:
(Thor 2000/2 (fb) / Thanos I#1 (fb) - BTS) - One of the Thanosi (Thanos doppelgangers) -- aided by the Mangog -- slew more than 5 million Rigellians during an assault on this Rigel-3 (by some accounts, 88% of the population was wiped out).

(Thanos I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Rigel-3 was so badly damaged that the Rigellians abandoned it and established New Rigel-3.

(Thanos I#2 (fb) - BTS) - General Zygo, whether he had been present on Rigel-3 or not, strongly disapproved of the Grand Commissioner's handling of the assault/devastation of that world.

(Thanos I#2 (fb) - BTS) - New Rigel-3 had a number of geo-political problems, including limited beta-soy production.

(Thanos I#3 (fb) - BTS / Thanos I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Requiring an entrance from within Universe-616 to access that reality, the interdimensional universe-devouring parasite Hunger manipulated Galactus to this end by making him believe the energy patterns of the Infinity Gems matched the biospheric energy Galactus derived from consuming planets. His systems of logic manipulated, Galactus believed he could use the gems to end his planet-devouring needs.

(Thanos I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Galactus acquired four of the Infinity Gems (most likely the Mind, Power, Reality, and Time Gems; definitely not including the Soul Gem; see comments).

(Thanos I#3 (fb) - BTS / Thanos I#4 (fb) - BTS) - To acquire the fifth Infinity Gem (presumably the Space Gem; see comments), which was located in Reality-93060 (the "Ultraverse"), Galactus plotted to utilize the power of star 1857-C, the sun of Rigel-18.

(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) - 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) - The Grand Commissioner agreed to Warlock's advice that he accept whatever Thanos would do for them with the goal of not enraging him by refusing his aid, but hoping to expedite Thanos' departure without conflict.

(Thanos I#2) - As the Grand Commissioner and Warlock (and an unidentified Recorder) prepared to meet with Thanos, he was surprised to find the corridor lined by numerous guards, and he asked General Zygo why this was so. Zygo then informed him that it was so they could arrest him and his "vile companion" (Warlock), after which he explained that the military had determined to relieve the Grand Commissioner of his duties due to incompetence. Zygo notably referenced the reasons for this as the Grand Commissioner's handling of the encounter with the "Thanos" on the previous Rigel-3 (the Rigellians did not know that that was not Thanos himself); for his inaction concerning the crisis on Rigel-18; and for his willingness to consider dealing with Thanos.

(Thanos I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Zygo left his troops to deal with the Grand Commissioner and Warlock, and he presumably returned to ascertain Thanos' demise (or perhaps to retrieve an experimental molecular disrupter weapon).

(Thanos I#2 (fb) - BTS) - When Zygo's troops prepared to crush Thanos within the photon block, Thanos instead broke free and slew the 12 Rigellian troopers present with a brief, high-level gamma radiation burst.

    Thanos subsequently entered the adjoining chamber, bypassed security measures, accessed the central data bank and devised several means to improve New Rigel-3's current geopolitical status.

(Thanos I#2 - BTS) - When Zygo and his forces attempted to imprison Warlock (considering that he might prove useful in the future), Warlock easily evaded and then subdued the soldiers.

    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, after which Thanos calmly detailed all of the improvements he had determined from a brief evaluation of their systems and then noted that he had another pressing matter requiring his attention.

(Thanos I#2) - Watching from just outside of the room, Zygo appreciated that he had one last chance to save the rebellion, and he considered that the experimental molecular disrupter should be sufficient to take out even Thanos. Stating that in a single act he would guarantee the loyalty of the Grand Commissioner's armed forces and improve the quality of their gene pool, Thanos waited for Zygo to step into view, at which point he fired an eyeblast that apparently left Zygo a flaming corpse...and ended the coup.

Comments: Created by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom.

    Rigellians have sometimes been pictured in a more human configuration/proportion (notably the Grand Commissioner has been pictured in such varying forms despite being the same person).
    All Rigellians in Thanos I#106 were pictured thusly.
    Given their technological and psychic abilities, it seems likely that they sometimes used illusions to appear more humanoid in configuration; however, that is purely speculative.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
General Zygo should be distinguished from:

• ZYGAR - World's End, troll, unfriendly, battled Thor + Warriors Three--Thor I#195
• ZYGOTEANs of Reality-8116 - threatened to slaughter and enslave the entire Milky Way galaxy, leading the Osirosians to create the Infinity Horn and arrange to destroy the galaxy to eliminate their threat--Epic Illustrated#7
• ZYRO - Kree technician serving under Yon-Rogg--Captain Marvel I#6
• ZIG-ZAG (   ) - Speedster's Union; Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway--She-Hulk I#11
• ZIGGY ?? - loyal butler to Roman Nekobah--Marvel Graphic Novel#12: Dazzler: The Movie
• ZIGGY PIG - anthropomorphic pig, partnered with Silly Seal--Krazy Komics#1
• other "Zyg" characters, groups, items, events, races or place...

Molecular Disruptor (Thanos I#2) - Watching from just outside of the room, Zygo appreciated that he had one last chance to save the rebellion (with those supporting his coup having been incapacitated by Adam Warlock or slain by Thanos), and he considered that the experimental molecular disrupter should be sufficient to take out even Thanos.      Stating that in a single act he would guarantee the loyalty of the Grand Commissioner's armed forces and improve the quality of their gene pool, Thanos waited for Zygo to step into view, at which point he fired an eyeblast that apparently left Zygo a flaming corpse...and ended the coup. --Thanos I#2 Note: We pretty much have nothing to go on with regards to the Molecular Disruptor. It was present on New Rigel-3 and presumably within the Grand Commissioner's royal palace, although perhaps it was stored in some pocket dimension and then summoned by Zygo.      Who created it?      Who knows? Presumably someone Rigellian, but that is not confirmed.      Why was it experimental?      Who knows?           What could it do?      Presumably it disrupted molecular bonds, disassociating molecules into their component atoms, effectively disintegrating a target...but maybe it did something different...      Could it have slain Thanos?      Doubtful

Appearances:
Thanos I#1 (December, 2003) - Jim Starlin (writer/penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Marc Sumerak & Andy Schmidt (assistant editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thanos I#2 (January, 2004) - Jim Starlin (writer/penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Marc Sumerak & Andy Schmidt (assistant editors), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 08/24/2024
Last updated: 08/30/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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