HE-WHO-SUMMONS

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Watchers) (Distant Past to Present)

Occupation: Summoner, representative (and member?) of the High Tribunal

Group Membership: The sect of Watchers who followed the One, possibly the High Tribunal of the Watchers

Affiliations: Watchers, including The One

Enemies: Celestials; Uatu

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Summoner

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#398 (March, 1995)

Powers/Abilities: He-Who-Summons is presumed to possess all of the vast mental, physical, and energy-manipulating powers of a member of the Watcher race but probably at higher levels than most other Watchers. 

    He is telepathic, able to scan the mind of virtually every known form of sentient life and to project his thoughts into any brain. He is telekinetic, able to move matter or rearrange it at a molecular level. He can teleport himself across vast distances at hyper-light speeds by converting his body into an energy form. He can project his astral body across space or time or dimensions, and can make it visible and audible to others so as to communicate with them. He possesses cosmic senses that are far more acute than those of human beings and include some that humans do not possess. He can cast illusions that appear to be completely real to (most) other beings, including making himself or other objects invisible/imperceptible to others. 

    His psionic ability to manipulate energy enables him to generate and project powerful energy blasts of unrevealed composition and create protective force fields or barriers. He can alter his appearance at will, either by psionically altering his physical form or by telepathically manipulating the perceptions of onlookers so that they see him differently. He can also manipulate the space/time continuum in various ways, as when he creates rifts through time and space to summon specific individuals at will.

   So far, He-Who-Summons has only demonstrated four of these abilities: astral projection (when he created a giant translucent image of himself through which he interacted with Uatu in A.D. 1602), the creation of a rift in the very fabric of reality (through which he traveled to retrieve Uatu), teleportation (when he appeared in Aron's base), and the projection of an energy blast (with which he struck Uatu as he carried out Uatu's punishment). It should be noted that, although the Summoner's blast did seem to cause Uatu some pain, there is no evidence that it actually weakened him, and it may have been more of an action that symbolized his banishment from his race (just as when cashiered military officers on Earth had their symbols of status destroyed).

   Additionally, like all Watchers, He-Who-Summons possesses superhuman levels of intelligence, strength, speed, and durability. With his natural longevity enhanced by exposure to delta-rays at least once a century, he is virtually immortal and no longer has to eat or sleep. However, not being completely indestructible, he can still be killed by a sufficiently large force.

Limitations: Like all Watchers, He-Who-Summons is virtually immortal but only as long as he is regularly exposed to delta-rays. Without such regular exposure, he would (presumably) resume aging.

Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Variable (either white or yellow)
Hair: None

History: Nothing has been revealed about the personal history of the Watcher known as "He-Who-Summons." His real name, his age and the circumstances under which he attained his current position within Watcher society all remain unknown.

(Fantastic Four I#400 (fb) - BTS) - "For a millennium of millennia," a sect of Watchers periodically downloaded their observations into the giant Watcher they called "The One" whose sole purpose was to survive the next so-called Big Crunch (when the cosmic expansion generated by the Big Bang would go into reverse and pull all the stars and planets back into a single primordial mass. He-Who-Summons was a member of this sect.

(Fantastic Four I#400 (fb) - BTS) - "For countless millennia, the Watchers and the Celestials have stood in conflict -- struggling incessantly on every level of existence -- in manners, and for reasons, which are totally beyond human comprehension."

(Marvel 1602#8) <1602 A.D.> - Following the sealing of a temporal rift (paratemporal fault line) whose existence had threatened to retroactively destroy all universes so that nothing would ever have existed, the giant image of a Watcher (who looked like He-Who-Summons) appeared before Uatu on Earth's Moon. This Watcher told Uatu that the emptiness that he felt was shame because, although the actions Uatu had taken had contributed to the salvation of the entirety of Creation, he and all of the other Watchers had interfered for selfish reasons, and for that reason their shame would always linger for the rest of time. This Watcher then told Uatu that, as much as they were shamed by him, they were proud of him. Then, so that Uatu would not forget his shame and the other Watchers would not forget his triumph, the Watcher gave Uatu a gift that the High Tribunal had crafted for him from the fringes of alternity: a pocket universe within which the alternate Earth-311 remained intact. After accepting the gift, Uatu chose to carry it in his heart, and the other Watcher stated that it was good and that Uatu was to watch well and watch wisely. The image then faded away.

(Fantastic Four I#400 (fb) - BTS) - Centuries later, the Celestials detected that the very presence of the One was somehow slowing the cosmic expansion generated by the Big Bang, shortening the time remaining before the universe would recede into a single primordial mass. The Celestials then determined that the One was subtly attempting to end the universe before its time.

(Fantastic Four I#400 (fb) - BTS) - Arishem, the Celestial judge, evaluated the One and declared him to be a threat to the cosmic balance of power. Arishem then prepared to judge the One.

(Fantastic Four I#399 (fb)) - When the One's need to be defended from the Celestials became imminent, the Summoner traveled to where some of the Watchers had gathered together in order to pass judgement upon Aron the Renegade for having repeatedly interfered with mankind. These Watchers heeded the summons and left before Aron had to face their judgment, leaving Aron free to pursue his own plans to survive the imminent battle which he felt would destroy the Watchers.

(Fantastic Four I#398) - On Earth's Moon, Uatu was being confronted by the Invisible Woman, the Thing, the Human Torch, Ant-Man (Scott Lang) and Doom (Kristof Vernard) when the voice of the Summoner was heard, declaring that Uatu was needed. Upon hearing this voice, Uatu urged his friends to run, seek shelter and find safety because even he lacked the necessary power to withstand the entity who now approached. A glowing dimensional gateway then began to form behind Uatu, causing a windstorm that pulled everyone present towards the portal from which the Summoner then emerged. The Summoner declared that the most critical juncture of all was fast approaching and that the One had need of Uatu who was hereby summoned to defend him. Uatu protested that he was no warrior and that his duty to observe meant that it was his responsibility to remain where he was, but the Summoner replied that the sector which Uatu had watched so faithfully for countless millennia was no longer of consequence as only the One mattered now. He then reminded Uatu that none could resist the fateful call of He-Who-Summons, and Uatu was then sucked into the vortex. Once both Watchers were gone, the wind ceased but the rift remained open (and was later used by members of the combined Fantastic Four and Fantastic Force teams, as Uatu had intended).

(Fantastic Four I#400) - He-Who-Summons was among the hundreds of Watchers who were gathered around the One after he had been felled by an energy bolt fired by Exitar the Exterminator. He-Who-Summons was presumably watching when Exitar the Exterminator destroyed the One, when the Invisible Woman then destroyed Exitar (or merely banished him from Earth's dimensional plane) and when Uatu then transported himself and the Terran heroes (and Lyja) to the hidden base of the renegade Watcher Aron in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. He-Who-Summons was presumably aware that Aron planned to use a Universal Converter to transform the entire Milky Way galaxy (or just Earth's solar system) into his own private pocket universe.

(Fantastic Four I#400) - Seconds after Uatu had dealt with his nephew Aron by transforming him into living energy that would serve as the core of the regeneration of the One, He-Who-Summons appeared in Aron's base, his body surrounded by yellow energy, and confronted Uatu, making the following proclamation:

Uatu, son of Ikor! You are in grievous violation of your most sacred oath!
Not only have you interceded in the affairs of other races - - you have taken the life of a brother Watcher!
Such heinous transgressions cannot go unpunished!
Thus, with the full blessing of the High Tribunal, I cast you out--!
YOU ARE WATCHER NO MORE!

   From the aura of yellow energy surrounding his head, He-Who-Summons then directed a powerful beam of energy at Uatu which passed through his chest and caused him to fall to his knees.

   He-Who-Summons then declared, You are hereby banished from your race, Uatu! A pariah to be shunned and ridiculed!

   He-Who-Summons then teleported away, leaving behind Uatu, who accepted that his punishment was just and deserved, and that he had been condemned by his own actions.

Comments: Created by Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi.

   The Summoner ended Aron's trial (as shown in a flashback in Fantastic Four I#399) sometime between the events depicted in Fantastic Four I#375 and those depicted in Fantastic Four I#388.

   He-Who-Summons closely resembles the unidentified Watcher who interacted with Uatu in Marvel 1602. That Watcher is already the subject of profile #3312, but I did not learn of this other profile until I had nearly finished this one. Ooops.

   Anyway, aside from the fact that "they" are both connected to the Watcher High Tribunal, He-Who-Summons and "Uatu's Boss" have three things in common that set them apart from all of the other Watchers who have appeared so far.
1. Both Watchers wear the same (unique?) headgear.
2. The heads of both Watchers have a lot of bumps on them, unlike the smooth skin on the craniums of all other Watchers.
3. Both Watchers wear similar clothing that seems to have a certain design on its front, one that has not been seen on clothing worn by other Watchers.

   For these reasons, I have treated "Uatu's Boss" as being the same individual as He-Who-Summons, and included his appearance in Marvel 1602#8 in this profile. If this choice is determined to be unjustified, then the Marvel 1602 entry should be removed or somehow differentiated from the rest of the profile (perhaps by being changed into an italicized form).

   He-Who-Summons is one of the individuals listed on the link page for the Watchers.

Profile originally by Patrick D. Ryall; updated/expanded by Donald Campbell.

CLARIFICATIONS:
He-Who-Summons (a.k.a. The Summoner) has no known connections to:

• He Counts Horses, a young and impulsive Blackfoot warrior who lived before Wold War I, didn't like Logan and was temporarily driven mad by the monster Uncegila -- Marvel Comics Presents I#95
• He who dwells beneath the Cathedral of the Dead, one of the names by which the group called the Grateful Undead knew the necromancer whom they worshipped as the God of the Dead -- Marvel Comics Presents I#96/3
• He-Who-Is-Above-All, one of the titles by which the alien dictator U'Sr'pr was known by his subjects until he was defeated by Her -- Marvel Comics Presents I#35/4
• He-Who-Is-Only-Half, one of the names by which Exile, an unborn baby turned into a demon, was known in Nightmare's Realm -- Nightmare#1
• He Who Lurks Beneath the Lake (a.k.a. the "god" Atarata), a creature who was supposedly birthed from the fears of the Hyborians who fed on the souls of Hyborians until he was killed by Conan -- Savage Sword of Conan#198
• He Who Protects, a talisman created by the sorcerers of the island of Mauru that forces the giant alien entity known as the Monolith into an immobile state when it is in the altar on the Monolith's crown -- Avengers I#179
• He Who Remains, the last survivor of the Time Variance Authority who, in the last divergence of reality at the very end of time, will create either the Time-Twisters or the Time-Keepers -- Thor I#245
• He-Who-Shapes, the name by which the Shaper of Worlds is known on the planet Eurth which the Cosmic Powers allowed him to create -- Avataars: Covenant of the Shield#1
• He Who Sleeps but Shall Awake, one of the names by which the ancient and powerful demon Shuma-Gorath is known to his followers -- first mentioned in Marvel Premiere#5
• He Who Smites Entire Realms, one of the names by which the world-devourer Galactus was known -- mentioned in Stormbreaker: Saga of Beta Ray Bill#1
• He Who Walks, one of the names given to the ancient, powerful and mysterious magic-user more commonly known as the Voyager -- mentioned in Children of the Voyager#2
• He-Who-Walks-Across-The-Worlds-Of-Life-And-Death-Like-A-Colossus, the true name of Walker, a death god who was worshipped by all those living in his home galaxy until he killed them all and took their billions of souls as an (unwanted) gift for Mistress Death -- Captain Marvel V#17
• He Who Walks Beneath the Earth, one of the names by which Tragg, the last survivor of a race killed by human underground atomic bomb tests was known -- Monsters on the Prowl#13
• He Whose Limbs Shatter Mountains and Whose Back Scrapes The Sky, a rough translation of the name Fin Fang Foom which ancient Chinese gave to an alien "dragon" whose starship crashlanded on Earth -- Strange Tales I#89
• Any other characters whose aliases or titles begin with the word "He"

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#400, page 36, panel 6 (main image)
Fantastic Four I#398, page 15, panel 1 (head shot)
Marvel 1602#8, page 33, panel 3 (giant astral form with Uatu)
Fantastic Four I#399, page 4, panel 1 (disrupting Aron's trial)
Fantastic Four I#398. page 15, panel 3 (summoning Uatu)
Fantastic Four I#400, pages 2+3 (at the side of the One)
      page 37, panel 2 (casting out Uatu)

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#398-400 (March - May, 1995) - Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan (script, plot & and pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Marvel 1602#8 (June, 2004) - Neil Gaiman (writer), Andy Kubert (illustrator), Nick Lowe & Joe Quesada (editors)

First Posted: 10/20/2004
Last updated: 02/16/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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