MAELSTROM'S MINIONS
Membership: Falon, Gronk, Helio, Phobius
Purpose: To serve Maelstrom
Affiliations: Deathurge, Maelstrom, Weird Sisters
Enemies: Avengers, Eternals of Earth, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch/Noble Kale), Inhumans, Karkas, Moondragon, Quasar, Ransak the Reject, Donald and Deborah Ritter, Sersi, Stingray, Yrdisis
Base of Operations: Mobile with Maelstrom
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One I#71 (January, 1981)
History: (Marvel Two-In-One I#71) - After the Inhumans and Mr. Fantastic developed an Anti-terrigen Compound, Maelstrom dispatched Gronk, Phobius and Helio to Hydro-Base to obtain a sample for him. They succeeded in stealing it away and sending it in a capsule into the Atlantic Ocean, but they were captured by Stingray, the Thing, Gorgon and Karnak.
(Marvel Two-In-One I#72) - Maelstrom dispatched Deathurge to Hydro-Base to kill the three minions, then revived them in new clone bodies. When the Thing, Gorgon and Karnak invaded Maelstrom's base, they fought them but were easily outmatched. All three minions were slain when Gorgon destroyed Maelstrom's base, but their remaining clone bodies survived.
(Avengers I#250) - Maelstrom revived Gronk, Phobius and Helio in new bodies to assist him in his plan to halt the Earth's rotation, reminding them that if they did not serve him, he could terminate their remaining clone bodies.
(Avengers I#250 (fb)) - When the Avenger Captain Marvel discovered Maelstrom's base, Phobius drove her off using his powers.
(Avengers I#250) - When Captain Marvel returned with the other Avengers, Helio confronted them first, only to be controlled by Starfox's emotion powers; Phobius nullified Starfox's powers with his powers, and the minions attacked the Avengers, only to be swiftly defeated. After the Avengers seemingly slew Maelstrom by feeding him more energy than his form could contain, the minions were horrified to find that their spare bodies had been destroyed in the fight, leaving them with no escape route, forcing them to be captured by the Avengers.
(Quasar#21) - Helio and Phobius disguised themselves as servants of Maelstrom in his identity of Malcolm Stromberg. When Quasar and his friends were invited over as guests, Phobius used his powers to prevent Moondragon from accessing her psychic powers.
(Quasar#22) - Gronk stood guard over Moondragon, Kayla Ballantine and Kenjiro Tanaka while Maelstrom set off to obtain cosmic awareness from Eon. Phobius was dispatched to kill Quasar, who had surrendered his hands to Maelstrom. Phobius beat Quasar with his whip at least 39 times, and left him for dead.
(Quasar#23) - When Ghost Rider invaded the mansion (having sensed Quasar's death), he brushed Helio aside, and used his penance stare against Phobius, terrifying him.
(Quasar#25) - When Sersi came to assist Moondragon in an attempt to revive Makkari (whose heart had been stalled by Maelstrom), the three minions attacked them, but Sersi turned Phobius into a rat, Gronk into a pig, and Helio into a goose.
(Fantastic Four Unlimited#10) - After Maelstrom died battling Quasar, the minions joined forces with Maelstrom's lovers, the Weird Sisters, to gather together Deviants so that they could siphon their kinetic energy into a machine which would revive Maelstrom. They managed to capture the Deviants Karkas, Ransak, Yrdisis, and Donald and Deborah Ritter--despite the opposition of the Eternals and Fantastic Four--and succeeded in reviving Maelstrom, but Maelstrom allowed himself to shrink into the Microverse after learning that Ransak was his son, and the minions were all defeated.
(New Warriors V#7 (fb) - BTS) - Gronk, Helio and Phobius somehow ended up in outer space.
(New Warriors V#7) - The trio returned to Earth and their Celestial energy signatures were noticed by Jake Waffles, Speedball and Water Snake in the New Warriors' HQ in Mount Wundagore. They stopped monitoring the signatures when Justice called them away. After arriving on Earth Phobius vowed they would now prepare for their master's return.
(New Warriors V#8) - The three minions floated near the New Warriors' HQ at Mount Wundagore and observed it.
Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Ron Wilson and Gene Day.
The master mentioned in New Warriors obviously was meant to be Maelstrom. It became a dangling polt when the series was cancelled with #12.
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#6 identified all of the minions as humans, but later editions left their genetic origins unrevealed.
New Warriors update by Markus Raymond.
Profile by
CLARIFICATIONS: Falon was a loyal servant of Maelstrom whose race was not identified. He retrieved the Anti-terrigen Compound after Maelstrom's minions cast it into the Atlantic Ocean, and brought it to his master. Several creatures identical to Falon also served Maelstrom in his base, and they attempted to assist the other Minions in battling the Inhumans and the Thing when they invaded Maelstrom's base. Although Falon was seemingly slain when Maelstrom's base was destroyed, he was known to have been granted an additional clone body by Maelstrom. However, he has not been seen since.
--Marvel Two-In-One I#72 Images taken from: Appearances: First Posted: 11/23/2004 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
Falon should not be confused with:
Marvel Two-In-One I#71, p18, pan1 (main)
Marvel Two-In-One I#72, p5, pan3 (Falon)
Marvel Two-In-One I#71 (January, 1981) - Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writer), Ron Wilson (pencils), Gene Day (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Marvel Two-In-One I#72 (February, 1981) - Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio (writer), Ron Wilson (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Avengers I#250 (December, 1984) - Roger Stern (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Quasar#21-23 (April-June, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Len Kaminski (editor)
Quasar#25 (August, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Len Kaminski (editor)
Fantastic Four Unlimited#10 (July, 1995) - Roy Thomas (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils/inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
New Warriors V#7-8 (September-October, 2014) - Chris Yost (writer), Marcus To (artist), Sana Amanat (editor)
Last updated: 06/03/2018
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