Mr. TERMINEUS

Real Name: Amodeus Q. Termineus

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Fallen Stars) magic-user (Distant Past and Pre-Cataclysmic Era through modern era)

Occupation: Embodiment of Cosmic Finality

Group Membership: Fallen Stars

Affiliations: Job Burke, creator, Cult of Entropy, K'ad-Mon, Mahapralaya;
    formerly Cleito, Sorrow

Enemies: Ellen Brandt, Jack and Gwyneth Burke, Devil-Slayer, K'ad-Mon of the Fallen Stars, Man-Thing, Sorrow

Known Relatives: Sorrow (former wife), possibly the other Fallen Stars (K'ad-Mon, Sorrow, others)

Aliases: The Bringer of the End, Embodiment of Cosmic Finality, the Ending, Lord of Universal Ending

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly the City of the Golden Gate, a part of pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis

First Appearance: Man-Thing III#2 (January, 1998)

Powers/Abilities: Termineus has vast reality-warping powers of an unknown degree. He is immune to conventional injury and is apparently billions of years old. Most of his abilities are unspecified, though he can cast illusions, warp reality, teleport, split himself into two or more forms able to act independently, manipulate the energies of the Nexus of Realities, etc.

History:
(Strange Tales IV#2 (fb) - BTS / 4 (fb) - BTS) <According to Termineus> - An ancient creator being's dreams (of darkness and light, love and hate, male and female, life and death, etc) were given form via the creator's staff. The Fallen Stars were born; living beings--each one the embodiment of one of the creator's thoughts and/or feelings. Each one unique in the role it would play in the drama of creation. The Fallen Stars took shape and fell from the sky through the void of the universe, in the process creating planets, galaxies, etc.
    One of these Fallen Stars was the being who would become Termineus; he was the dream of the endpoint, and he sought to bring an end of all things, guiding the unfolding Creation to its inevitable Ending, returning to a great void, which the Hindu would later refer to as the Sea of Brahma.

(Strange Tales IV#3 (fb) - BTS) - Termineus eventually fell in love with and married fellow Fallen Star Sorrow.

(Man-Thing III#8 (fb)) <before 18, 000 BC> - Termineus dwelled within the Atlantean City of the Golden Gate. He was seen smoking a hookah (some crazy pipe) when Ellen Brandt and the K'ad-Mon-possessed Man-Thing traveled into the past to retrieve a fragment of the shattered Nexus of Realities from Cleito.

(Strange Tales IV#1 (fb) - BTS) - Termineus allegedly knew Jesus Christ.

(Strange Tales IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - However, Termineus eventually realized that in order to accomplish his mission he could not have a heart or know love. To try to eliminate these feelings, he treated Sorrow with disgust, rage, brutality, and hatred--all to mask the undying love that burned so brightly in his heart.

(Strange Tales IV#3 (fb)) - Termineus visited the eight year old Ted Sallis, taunting him the consequences of his abandoning his destiny as the Nexus guardian.

(Strange Tales IV#3 (fb)) - Termineus confronted the nineteen year old Sallis at the university, taunting him about bringing about the end of all existence. To ensure Sallis never opposed him, Termineus told him to immerse himself blindly in reason, to be dull and small, and to never know love, and to never dream.

(Man-Thing III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Termineus met with Mahapralaya and the Cult of Entropy, informing them of the shattering of the Nexus of Realities and how they might use this to accelerate the process of decay.

(Man-Thing III#3 (fb) - BTS) - For unknown reasons, Termineus retrieved the Staff of the Creator, containing the essence of the Fallen Star K'ad-Mon, from deep within the Earth.

(Man-Thing III#2) - Termineus appeared in the apartment of Jack, Gwyneth, and Job Burke (the latter being the birth son of Ellen Brandt and Ted Sallis, given up for adoption as a newborn), causing all present to fall asleep. He then apologized for what he would have to do to Job, after which Termineus vanished from the room.
    Later, he tormented Strange--who had recruited Ellen Brandt to assist the Man-Thing in restoring the shattered Nexus of Realities--reminding him that the Man-Thing was just as likely to save reality as to destroy it.

(Man-Thing III#3) - Termineus appeared to Ellen in the swamp on Christmas Eve, giving her the Staff of the Creator.

(Man-Thing III#4) - Termineus appeared to Jack Burke as an image on a Christmas ornament, taunting him: "You look confused, Jack. Haven't you ever beheld an antediluvian god floating in a Christmas ball before?" Termineus later appeared in the Rosewell Sanitarium, chastising Sorrow for visiting and comforting Job Burke, but he swiftly vanished when confronted and assaulted by Devil-Slayer. After Devil-Slayer descended into madness, Termineus reappeared, telling Sorrow that it was better this way. The Staff of the Creator then spoke to Ellen and the Man-Thing, causing a powerful energy backlash when the Man-Thing grasped the Staff.

(Man-Thing III#5) - Termineus watched as the energies released restored Rosewell to Earth from the extradimensional vortex into which it had been pulled. Termineus attempted to claim the Nexus Fragment after it was released from Devil-Slayer, but Sorrow stopped him and gave the Fragment to Ellen Brandt in the form of a necklace. Later, Termineus briefly froze time and abducted Job Burke from his parent's apartment. He taunted Ellen with the boy's theft.

(Man-Thing III#6) - Termineus began training Job Burke, starting at a shopping mall in Princeton, New Jersey.

(Man-Thing III#7) - Termineus continued training Job, telling him that all reality was but a dream. He also told Job that he was "of the lineage," that he was "the Dreamer," and that he could not turn his back on his destiny.

(Strange Tales IV#1) - In the Man-Thing's swamp, a more demoniacal Termineus and a Termineus-looking Job Burke confronted Sheriff Donald Fillmore and Jack and Gwyneth Burke, promising the end of all things.

(Strange Tales IV#2) - Termineus exhibited mock fear when Jack Burke pulled a gun and tried to force Termineus to give him his son back. When Ellen Brandt and the K'ad-Mon possessed Man-Thing returned to the swamp, Termineus taunted K'ad-Mon, who punched him in the face. Termineus told him that was not called for, as Termineus was the one who had freed K'ad-Mon from ten millennia of imprisonment. He also reminded K'ad-Mon that he could send her back. Meanwhile, Ellen embraced Job, who stole the Nexus fragment necklace from her. However, Job then refused to give the necklace to Termineus until he explained everything to him. Termineus detailed the origins of the Fallen Stars and the Men of Lineage, after which Devil-Slayer and Sorrow appeared, having gathered the other Fallen Stars to oppose him.
    Termineus felt that his opponents were doomed to failure.

(Strange Tales IV#3) - While Termineus taunted Sorrow, K'ad-Mon, Sallis, and the other Fallen Stars, he simultaneously generated a duplicate of himself that confronted Owen Jackson, posing as an angel and convincing him that he was needed to fight as a soldier for the Lord. Termineus gave Jackson the "Sword of Righteousness," empowering him with the last remaining Nexus fragment.
    Meanwhile, K'ad-Mon had re-formed Ted Sallis as a whole, intact being outside of the Man-Thing. The K'ad-Mon-possessed Man-Thing prepared to send Job home and claim the necklace containing the Nexus fragments, but Jackson them emerged, roaring like a demon from Hell, slew Job with his Sword, and gave the necklace to Termineus. Seeking to free all beings from the dream that was existence, Termineus then destroyed the Nexus, and all reality was consumed.

(Strange Tales IV#4) - After all planes of reality were consumed, there was only a Sea of Nothingness, containing only five figures: Ted Sallis, Ellen Brandt, the deceased Job Burke, the exhausted Termineus, and Sorrow. Ted's nature as the Man of Lineage (combined with his love for Ellen) allowed him to briefly maintain the dream of existence. Termineus attempted to convince that since all life was but a dream of the Creator, that there was no point in struggling to maintain its falsehood. Sallis countered that Termineus remained in existence because he could not relinquish his own love of the Creator, its dreams, and of Sorrow. Still, Termineus refused to add his will to that of Sallis, who, disheartened by Termineus' arguments, began to lose his grip on the dream. Ellen faded from existence, followed by Sorrow, followed by Termineus, whose smile persisted for a few seconds, like the Cheshire Cat, before fading away.
    However, as Ted Sallis lay there, cradling his dead son Job, he realized that if life were but a dream, then so is death, and he restored Job to life. Job combined his will and power with Ted Sallis, becoming the Love that formed the Whim that formed Creation, and they restored all reality to existence. Ted Sallis became the Nexus, while he then returned Job to his parents, who left, to forget all that had happened...for now.
    Termineus found himself back in the Man-Thing's swamp, brooding under a tree. He refused to accept Sorrow's hand, continuing to turn his back on love and vowing to keep working towards his goal of bringing about the End of All Things. K'ad-Mon, the Man-Thing, approached Termineus, offering him understanding of his actions, "...you, the Destroyer of the dream, love it more than any creature in all the universes. Why else would you have released me from imprisonment...given the Staff to the Mother of the Dream?"
    After a moment of contemplation, Termineus looked up at K'ad-Mon, sneered at him, and said, "F@$% you." Termineus then sank beneath the Earth.

Comments: Created by J. M. DeMatteis and Liam Sharp.

Mr. DeMatteis was kind enough to share with me the paid for, but unpublished, scripts to Strange Tales IV#3-4, information from which I've added to this profile (in italics). They are referenced in Peter Parker :Spider-Man, and fit perfectly into continuity. At some point, I'll post the scripts and plots to the net for everyone's enjoyment.

The Creator referred to in the Man-Thing/Strange Tales stories was supposed to be the Abrahamic God (or, more correctly, some non-denominational creator being)..

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

 

 

images:
Man-Thing III#2, p13, panel 7
    #4, p20, panel 2 (checkers)

Man-Thing III#1-6, 8 (December, 1997 - May, July, 1998)
Strange Tales IV#1-2 (September-October 1998)

Last updated: 11/07/04

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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