Aboard the Drone ship orbiting Earth, at the Primal One's command, Drone-X placed the pendant worn by Ilongo Savage in the aura-detector and used it to pinpoint Savage's location to the eastern shore of Madagascar. The Primal One then ordered Drone-X to lead his crew on a mission to capture the Shogun Warrior Dangard Ace or, failing that, to destroy the robot and, if necessary, its pilot, Savage. The Drone ship descended to hover above Savage's position and demanded that he surrender his robot but Savage escaped and made his way to Dangard Ace to counter-attack. The Drone ship dove under the water, then rose up beneath a cruise ship. With the liner trapped on its back, Dangard Ace was lured into range of its weapons and shot out of the sky, crashing onto the Drone ship. Drone-X and his crew boarded their giant battle-robot Megatron and exited the ship to combat Dangard Ace. In the ensuing battle, Megatron proved to be so powerful that Savage had to call for help but even after Raydeen joined the battle neither Shogun Warrior was able to even damage Megatron. As Megatron was about to destroy both Shogun Warriors, the Primal One changed his plan and retracted his command to destroy. Aboard Megatron, Drone-X was distracted by the new orders long enough for the Shogun Warriors to work together and knock Megatron over the side of the ship. Unable to fly or swim, Megatron fell into the ocean where it sank like a stone, taking Drone-X and his crew with it. The Drone ship quickly retreated into space.

(Shogun Warriors#19) - Orbiting in space, the Drone ship (now described as a space station) awaited the arrival of the direct aid from the Charter Federation which the Primal One had requested, the Starcruiser Nightwind. Once the single most powerful ship in the Charter Federation arrived, the Drone crew watched as the Primal One demanded that Captain Cymell aid him in his (false) mission to strip Earth of its prematurely-advanced technology. Bound by Charter rules, Cymell was forced to allow the Primal One to take command of the Nightwind's internal symbiote, the planet-destroyer known as Gigantauron, for an attack on the Shogun Warriors and the Fantastic Four at the Baxter Building.

(Shogun Warriors#20) - After the Primal One returned alone to the Nightwind, some Drones obeyed Cymell's command to use the tractor beam to retrieve Gigantauron from where it lay abandoned in New York harbor. After Cymell refused to cooperate with the Primal One any longer and escorted him aboard the Drone ship, a Drone reported that Gigantauron had been followed by the Shogun Warrior Combatra and that it was preparing to attack. Once Cymell relinquished command to the Primal One and the Nightwind was breached by Combatra, the Drones were ordered to enter the sector and support the automatic defenses with small arms. After a number of battles, Combatra and the Fantastic Four eventually confronted the Primal One and demonstrated to Cymell that it was he who was responsible for the conflict. The Primal One then ordered the Drones to attack and kill them all. The ensuing battle ended abruptly when the Invisible Girl discovered the room from which Maur-Konn had been controlling the false Primal One and cut the power, causing the false Primal One to fade away. Once that image had disappeared, the Drones were freed from the energy-spell which Maur-Konn had used to enslave them to his will. The Drones immediately dropped their weapons, explained what had happened to them and apologized for what they had been forced to do. The Drones (presumably) then left Earth's solar system.

Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe.

    It must be stressed that the true name of the species which this profile calls "Drones" was never revealed. I've chosen to refer to them as "drones" simply because that's what Maur-Konn called them, but there's no sign that that was actually what their name for their race. However, the name (or title) of one of them apparently was "Drone-X."

    As you can see from these images, the Drones certainly look like they're mechanical in nature so I've listed them as a robotic lifeform. However, I'm not sure what their exact relationship was to the Men in Black robots. The MIB robots could just have been machines that the false Primal One created in human form so that they could get close enough to the pilots of the Shogun Warriors to steal their pendants OR they could be Drones who had been reconfigured into a more human form for the same purpose. The series doesn't say either way.

   As far as I know, no "Drone" has appeared in any Marvel story since Shogun Warriors#20.

Profile by Donald Campbell

Clarifications:
The Drones have no known connection to:

• DRONES of Earth-Charnel - see Spawn of Charnel--Death³#2
• DRONES - large golden robots, served Arishem in city of the Space Gods while he remained upon the ceremonial pillars --Eternals I#3
• or any other Drones

Megatron has no known connection to:

• Megatron - leader of the evil Decepticons from the planet Cybertron @ Transformers#1
• Mega Max - Scourge/Watchtower @ Wolverine II#154
• Mega Monsters (Krollar, Rhiahn, Triax) - monsters captured by the Megan race and used to battle monsters controlled by the Betans @ Godzilla#14
• Megaira - feminine aspect of Termagaira @ Death's Head/Killpower: Battletide I#1
• Megacorp - Michael Grand/Sinister, Mr. Tome - sent Sabretooth to slay Sinister so that Sublime could negotiate with Sinister for the Children @ Weapon X II#26
• Megalith - immense robot constructed at Gamma Base, cybernetic link-up with its controller, used by Jackdaw, destroyed by Hulk @ Incredible Hulk II#275
• Megalomania, only mentioned for Realm of Madness @ Venom: The Madness#2
• Megaman - Nathan Cooper, uncle of Roger "Caps" Cooper, fell into glowing black lake that sent him one million years into the future, healed by Entity (who was unable to recreate his facial features), escaped back to the present @ Nova I#6
• Megamerica of Earth-Here Comes Tomorrow - (who?) @ X-Men II#151
• Megan - cyclopean red-skinned aliens from the planet Mega (Milky Way galaxy), ruled by Warlords, captured gargantuan monsters from other worlds to use as living weapons in war against Betans @ Godzilla#12
• Megasaur - monster (possibly a Deviant mutate) serving the Atlanteans, assaulted Manhattan during "Atlantis Attacks" @ Web of Spider-Man Annual#5
• Megatak (Gregory Nettles) - Gained ability to control animated phosphorescent images, killed by Scourage @ Thor I#328
• Megataur - monster serving Mole Man @ Fantastic Four Unlimited#4
• Megaton (Jules Carter) - driven insane by Kree Psycho-Tron, mutated by nuclear explosion into The Nuclear Man, died when he exploded @ Captain Marvel I#22
• Megatruk 2099 - robot driving vehicle of destruction @ Ravage 2099#25
• Megawatt (Dirk Leydon) - actor turned criminal, empowered by Jonas Harrow with the ability to absorb and manipulate electricity @ Spider-Man Unlimited#2/2
• or to anyone else whose name begins with "Mega".

The Primal One has no known connection to:

• Primal - drug created by Prof. Glasgow, mutates user into feral creature @ Moon Knight I#34
• Primal (Adam Berman) - mutant @ X-Men Unlimited#16
• Primal Gods - see Elder Gods of the Hyborian Era @ Conan the Barbarian I#128
• Primal Matrix - power source guarded by Spyros, sought by Son of Satan to use against Kometes @ Marvel Spotlight I#17
• any other characters with "Primal" as part of their names

The Men in Black serving the Primal One have no known connection to:

• Men in Black - agents of Seth, human appearance with dark suits and glasses -- Journey into Mystery I#503
• "Men in Black" - creations/agents of the "Alchemist" (app-f66)--Pryde & Wisdom#1
• Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, etc. from the MIB movie

Megatron

Megatron was a giant battle-robot which was carried within the Drone ship. Powered by the life-forces of the three-hundred who served the Primal One and controlled by Drone-X, Megatron was bigger and more powerful than any of the Shogun Warriors, was packed with weapons and could have defeated the Shogun Warriors easily...but he couldn't fly or swim and thus was defeated by a simple move.

 - Shogun Warriors#18 (20 (fb) - BTS)

Primal One

Supposedly one of the race of energy beings known as the Primal Ones, this particular "Primal One" was only a remote-controlled puppet created by Maur-Konn to trick the Drones and later Cymell into helping him to destroy the Shogun Warriors. Maur-Konn used an energy-spell to enslave the Drones and compel them to obey the orders which he issued through his creation. The Drones were freed from that spell when the Invisible Girl turned off the false Primal One.

Maur-Konn could also remotely-control machines (like Gigantauron) once he had sent his Primal One into them.