DESERT DWELLERS

Membership: Butte, Cactus, Gila, Sunstroke (Sol Brodstroke)

Purpose: To serve Dominus and defend his base

Affiliations: Dominus

Enemies: Avengers (Espirita/Bonita Juarez, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Mockingbird/Barbara Barton, Moon Knight/Marc Spector, Henry Pym, Tigra/Greer Nelson, Wonder Man/Simon Williams), Fantastic Four, X-Men (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Professor X/Charles Xavier, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett)

Base of Operations: Dominus' cavern, Arizona

First Appearance: West Coast Avengers II#17 (February, 1987)

History:
(West Coast Avengers II#24 (fb) - BTS) - The Desert Dwellers were created by Dominus in order to deal with any superhuman foes he might have to contend with on Earth while he prepared to unleash devices which would subjugate humanity. Based in Arizona, Dominus expected to encounter the Defenders or Rangers, or the X-Men, old enemies of his people, and sent the Desert Dwellers out to spy on them.

(Marvel Tales II#262/2) - Sunstroke set out and used his powers to bring down commercial aircraft in the desert, but met his match when he brought down a plane flown by the X-Men. Outmatched by the X-Men, the other Desert Dwellers came to his rescue, and Butte enabled him to escape by covering him with her body, making it appear as though the earth had swallowed him up.

(West Coast Avengers II#17) - When the West Coast Avengers came near Dominus' base, Cactus spied upon them, and brought the other Desert Dwellers to confront them. When they were defeated, Dominus caught them in a force field and returned them to their base. When the Avengers followed them into the base, Dominus caught them in Dr. Doom's time machine, and sent them back in time 100 years.

(West Coast Avengers II#22 - BTS) - Concerned that the Avengers might be rescued by the Fantastic Four's time machine, Dominus sent the Desert Dwellers to Four Freedoms Plaza. They fought their way past the Fantastic Four, and destroyed their copy of Dr. Doom's time machine.

(West Coast Avengers II#24) - When the Avengers returned from their trip in time, accompanied now by Espirita, Moon Knight and Henry Pym, they returned to Dominus' base, only to face an army of duplicated Gilas, Cacti, and Buttes, numbering 50 altogether. Regardless, they managed to fight their way through the creatures, and Dominus ultimately fled Earth.

(Avengers Spotlight#26/2) - One of the Cacti was revealed to have been incarcerated at the Vault. Although the Wizard (Bentley Wittman) was able to engineer a break-out at the Vault, the Cactus was not among those who escaped.

Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott.

Considering that Dominus had created the Desert Dwellers to face the X-Men, the Marvel Tales back-up story is a terrible waste. The only thing of interest is that the Desert Dwellers received their group name there.

New images and update by Markus Raymond (and Ron Fredricks corrected a few typos).

Profile by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Desert Dwellers have no known connection to:

• Desert Demon (Dibbuk) - criminal aide of Ruby Thursday--Omega the Unknown I#10
• Desert Demons - Microverse, protectors of the people of Aegypta--Micronauts I#23/2
• Desert Sands - weapon used by Black Panther (Shuri)--Black Panther V#8
• Desert Sea Clan - nomadic clan of Sakaar--Incredible Hulk I#710
• Desert Stars - Initiative team in Arizona--Avengers: The Initiative#16
• Desert Suns - weapon used by Black Panther (Shuri)--Black Panther V#11
• Desert Sword - Iraqi superhero team--New Mutants Annual I#7
• Desert World - Andromeda's Graveyard--Incredible Hulk II#307
• any other characters with a similar name

Butte should not be confused with:

• Butterball (Vivian Dolan) - of the Grapplers--Thing I#33
• Butterball - Hudson River fish, met by Koi Boi--Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#39
• Butterfly (Dr. Vitrioli) - Captain America foe--Captain America Comics#3
• Butterfly - of the Mandarin's Avatars--Force Works#6
• any other character with a similar name

Cactus should not be confused with:

• Cactus - friend of Jim Hawk--Kid From Texas#1
• any other character with a similar name

Gila should not be confused with:

• Gila of Earth-92131 - reptile mutated by Curt Connors' DNA--Spider-Man: The Animated Series Season 4, Episode 10
• Gila of Earth-555 - woman imbued with psychic abilities by Superflow--Newuniversal: Conqueror#1
• Gila - experimented on by Dr. Abraham Cornelius at Weapon X--Death of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program#4
• Gila Monster - used by Slaymaster against Lady Gila--Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain#245
• Lady Gila - killed by Slaymaster with mutated gila monster--Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain#245
• any other character with a similar name

BUTTE Butte was a rock-like creature designed by Dominus. Over a dozen different Buttes were known to have existed at one point, but many of them were destroyed by the Avengers. Each Butte possessed superhuman strength and the ability to shift their bodies into surrounding rocks. --West Coast Avengers II#17 (Marvel Tales II#262/2, West Coast Avengers II#17, 24

CACTUS Cactus was a cactus-like creature designed by Dominus and consisting entirely of pulp. Over a dozen different Cacti were known to have existed at one point, but many of them were destroyed by the Avengers. Each Cactus could fire needles from its body, and regrow severed limbs. The Avengers never considered Cactus a serious threat, kidding it with the line "stick around." (Avengers Spotlight#26/2) - At least one Cactus was later incarcerated at the Vault. (Devil's Reign: Moon Knight#1) - Moon Knight fought Killer Shrike and Cactus in the fifth round on his way to a championship bout in the fighting arena of the Myrmidon prison. --West Coast Avengers II#17 (Marvel Tales II#262/2, West Coast Avengers II#17, 24, Avengers Spotlight#26/2, Devil's Reign: Moon Knight#1

GILA Gila was a gila-like creature designed by Dominus. Over a dozen different Gilas were known to have existed at one point, but many of them were destroyed by the Avengers. Each Gila possessed sharp teeth, enhanced agility, and a tail it could use in combat. Because gilas use their nose instead of eyes to sense, Gila was extremely sensitive to smell-based attacks. --West Coast Avengers II#17 (Marvel Tales II#262/2, West Coast Avengers II#17, 24

images:
West Coast Avengers II#17, p11, pan3 (main & other images)
West Coast Avengers II#17, p14, pan5 (Butte)
West Coast Avengers II#17, p12, pan4 (Cactus)
West Coast Avengers II#17, p12, pan2 (Gila)
Devil's Reign: Moon Knight#1, p14, pan2 (Cactus in the cage)

Appearances:
West Coast Avengers II#17 (February, 1987) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
West Coast Avengers II#24 (September, 1987) - Steve Englehart (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Mike Machlan (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Avengers Spotlight#26/2 (December, 1989) - Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Dwayne Turner (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Mark Gruenwald & Gregory Wright (editors)
Marvel Tales II#262/2 (June, 1992) - Barry Dutter (writer), Vince Evans (artist), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Devil's Reign: Moon Knight#1 (May, 2022) - Jed MacKay (writer), Federico Sabbatini (artist), Martin Biro (editor)

First Posted: 02/07/2005
Last updated: 03/12/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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