Classification: Extraterrestrial, humanoid
Location/Base of Operations: Ba-Banis, Ba star system, Milky Way Galaxy
Known Members: None known by name
Type of Government: Local militaristic dictatorships
Affiliations: Moondragon (she mentally controlled the inhabitants of the planet), Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green)
Enemies: Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Thor/Odinson, the Wasp/Janet Van Dyne),
Drax the Destroyer (they disturbed the peace that Moondragon had enforced), "Silver Surfer";
formerly Ergons, Mephitisoids, Procyonites, Tralfamadorians
First Appearance: Avengers I#219 (May, 1982)
Powers/Abilities: The Ba-Bani possessed no actual superhuman powers.
Level of Technology: Comparible to Earth's. No interstellar travel as yet.
Traits: Each representative of the Ba-Bani race had light yellow skin and orange to yellow hair.
History:
(Avengers I#219 (fb))
- Drax the Destroyer and Moondragon came across the war-torn planet of Ba-Banis
while roaming the universe searching for knowledge and bliss. The two saw
tens of thousands die in one battle over racial strife. Moondragon, moved
by pity, sought to help the Ba-Bani end their strife by using her telepathic
powers.
(Avengers I#219) - Once Moondragon succeeded in bringing peace to Ba-Banis, Drax the Destroyer contacted the Avengers via holographic imagery and asked their help in what he perceived as the "evil to come." The Avengers soon after arrived on Ba-Banis. Upon their arrival, the Avengers were barely noticed, outside of a few points here and there. The Wasp greeted one of the local female Ba-Banis, and asked if she could take them to their leader. The Ba-Bani asked if they sought the one whose craft they arrived in. The woman then pointed in the direction of their "peace goddess"'s temple, which the Avengers soon explored. Moondragon greeted them and explained that a hostile army was advancing on the capital city of Ba-Banis. Drax then informed the Avengers that the army was led by the last of Ba-Bani's war-mongers, consisting of cutthroats, mercenaries, and ravagers. The Avengers angrily asked why Moondragon even brought them there, when she knew that the Avengers didn't get involved in the political affairs of others, especially when Drax or Moondragon could take on the entire army single-handed. Moondragon then revealed that she was not the queen of Ba-Banis, and that had just quelled the violence using clever mental maneuvering. She also explained that the peace in Ba-Banis was fragile and that she must maintain a constant rapport with the men and women of power. Moondragon also explained that it took tremendous concentration to maintain the peace on Ba-Banis, as she so recently had brought her father, Drax, over to the side of peace.
After hearing Moondragon's story, the Wasp agreed that the Avengers would stop the immediate threat of the war-mongers, but they would see about any future help. The Wasp thought to herself that after they stopped the rebellion, that she might get a chance to clear her head, as she felt very confused. Moondragon thanked them for their help and the Avengers flew off to battle the war-mongers. The Avengers battled the hostile army until Thor took the two leaders captive, leading to a surrender of the remainder of the army. The team then presented the army's leaders to Moondragon, who explained that they would turned over to the civil authorities in hopes that they could rehabilitated. Moondragon then told Drax to ready the Avengers' ship as they must be hurried to return to Earth, but Captain America interrupted her to ask to stay for a day or so to see the sights. The Wasp and Captain America later shared a conversation, where Cap explained to the Wasp that the reason he wanted to stay was because he thought that Moondragon might be mentally manipulating the Avengers. When Cap and the Wasp attempted to leave the capital city of Ba-Banis, two Ba-Banis ordered them to halt, as out-worlders were not allowed in the battlezone. Still wanting to discover what cause the war-mongers had for fighting, Cap and the Wasp eluded the two Ba-Banis and were shocked to find the rebel leaders cleaning up their own battle. The Wasp asked one of the leader if they were just leading a rebellion, and the leader replied that he didn't know what had gotten into him earlier, that he had been mysteriously compelled to grab a weapon and come out to the battlezone. Back at the temple of Moondragon, Thor was compelled to visit Moondragon. Angry that she had taken control over the planet, Thor confronted her. Moondragon explained that she had brought peace and if that was so bad. She then explained that Drax had thought her wrong, which was why he had contacted the Avengers in the first place, to enlist their aid against her. When she knew of their arrival, she mentally staged a "rebellion" so that the team would not have traveled to Ba-Bani for nothing.
(Avengers I#220)
- When Iron Man discovered that Moondragon had been mentally controlling
Drax the Destroyer, he found Captain America and the Wasp. The re-grouped Avengers
decided that they would confront Moondragon, even though they also wondered where
their missing teammate Thor was. Back at Moondragon's temple, Moondragon
was startled by the psychic panic of hundreds of citizens in the town square.
She soon discovered that the cause of the panic was Drax and the Avengers,
who had come to confront Moondragon. When they arrived at the temple, Thor
slammed Drax with his hammer, as he was also now being mentally controlled
by Moondragon. The Avengers battled Thor until he struck them with a
lightningbolt, which was mostly absorbed into Iron Man's armor. Iron Man
savagely began to attack Thor, until he realized that his anger must be caused
by Moondragon's influence. After Thor attacked the Wasp, he realized that
his anger and love for Moondragon was because of her influence. Attempting
to clear his head, Thor transformed himself back into Dr. Donald Blake and
allowed the Avengers to pass on to Moondragon herself.
When the Avengers arrived, Moondragon revealed that she had removed her mental presence from the masses of Ba-Banis. She then claimed that without her presence, the peace would erode quickly. Moondragon then telepathically froze the Avengers and Drax in their place, but Drax would not be denied his vengeance and he continued to move slowly towards Moondragon until she managed to knock him out right in front of her. Because she had concentrated so much power in stopping Drax, the Avengers were freed from her paralysis and Wasp flew up and punched Moondragon, knocking her out. The Avengers then boarded Moondragon's starship and planned to head back to Earth. As they left, they noticed that gunfire had once again started on Ba-Banis. Inside the starship, Drax "perished" and Thor grabbed Moondragon's unconscious body. Thor then teleported himself and Moondragon to Asgard where she was to stand trial for her crimes by Odin himself.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#29 (fb) - BTS) - The Ba-Bani were blackmailed by a fake Silver Surfer and his two fellow space-hunks. The Ba-Bani complied with their demands.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#29) - The Ba-Bani joined a fleet of 76 extraterrestrial races to get revenge on the Silver Surfer.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#30) - After it became clear that the Silver Surfer that screwed them over was actually not the real Silver Surfer, the alliances between the 76 races crumbled and their grievances with other were reignited.
Squirrel Girl worked out a plan to fix the problems between the many races, including the problems the Ba-Bani had with the Ergons, Mephitisoids, Procyonites and the Tralfamadorians.
Comments: Created by Jim Shooter, Bob Hall, and Embellishers Assembled.
Profile by Proto-Man
Clarifications:
No known connection to
images:
Avengers I#219, p12, pan6 (landscape and armies of Ba-Banis)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#2, p31, Ba-Bani profile (Ba-Bani
alien fullbody, 2nd pic)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#15, p36, Ba-Bani
profile (Ba-Bani alien fullbody, main pic)
Appearances:
Avengers I#219 (May, 1982) - Jim Shooter (writer), Bob Hall (pencils), Vince Colletta, Frank Giacoia & Al Milgrom (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Avengers I#220 (June, 1982) - Jim Shooter (writer), Bob Hall (pencils), Dan Green, Sal Trapani, Jack Abel, Bob Layton, Dave Simons & Steve Mitchell (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#2 (February, 1983)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#15 (March, 1987)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#29-30 (April-May, 2018) - Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
First Posted: 06/19/2005
Last updated: 02/06/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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