(Marvel Team-Up#16 (fb) - BTS) - Basil Elks was a convicted burglar with an undistinguished career. In prison he was nicknamed "Basilisk" by his cellmates.
(Marvel Team-Up#16) - Out of prison, Basil Elks went to rob the biggest emerald in the world. By night, he entered a museum and stole the Alpha Stone. In his hand the emerald pulsed like it was alive. A night guard shot at Elks, but hit the emerald, which exploded and transformed Elks into another being. With a simple thought, Elks' eyes transformed the air around the guard into ice. Learning that he had acquired exceptional powers, the Basilisk transformed an ancient rigid suit of armor into his soft uniform. Sensing that another gem waited for him, left the museum.
His wrecking of the museum was noticed by Spider-Man. Basilisk eye-blasted Spider-Man, who avoided the rays, but the Basilisk's managed to hit him several times, knocking the hero down for a while. Basilisk was killing Spider-Man when Captain Marvel intervened. Basilisk transformed the ground to make it like sand, and his rays sank Captain Marvel down. The hero levitated out the trap. Basilisk then solidified the air around the Kree and fled.
Basilisk reached a yard and started to use his eye-blasts to dig a hole to find the second gem. Spider-Man arrived, driven there by Captain Marvel's "sensing" of the Omega Stone. Basilisk was distracted by Spider-Man, and when Captain Marvel touched the Omega Stone it grew to great size, enveloped him, and then disappeared into the ground with the hero inside. Basilisk pretended to flee.
(Marvel Team-Up I#17 (fb)) - Instead the Basilisk actually hid, and he followed Spider-Man to the Baxter Building. After this he followed Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic to the Mole Man's underground kingdom, where they found the Omega Stone with Captain Marvel inside and immobilized and supplying power the giant ruby that the Mole Man intended to power an immense surface laser-cannon to use against the surface world.
(Marvel Team-Up I#17) - When Basilisk saw the Mole Man army attacking the two heroes, he transformed the Moloids into glass and then shattered them into pieces with a second blast. He then confronted Mole Man, but soon changed side and they hit Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man. With the heroes stunned the Mole Man expressed regret that he would soon have to kill the Basilisk. In response, the Basilisk blasted Mole Man, too, but then Captain Marvel switched places with Rick Jones, and the Omega Stone, lacking Mar-Vell's Kree energies, returned to its smaller size. The laser cannon malfunctioned, causing the magma pits to erupt, and molten lava flooded the cavern. Not wanting to abandon the stone, Basilisk was covered by the magma, and the others managed to flee.
(Marvel Team-Up I#47 (fb)) - Basilisk was imprisoned in the Omega Stone and had to wander for months, transported by the rivers of lava. The Stone was found by some Moloids, who worshipped him like an idol and took him to the deepest cave. An earthquake isolated the cave, and only one Moloid remained there with Basilisk. The Moloid touched the stone and released its energies. Basilisk absorbed the Omega Stone energies into the Alpha Stone within him, becoming even more powerful. He then fed on the Moloid's life force, killing him.
(Marvel Two in One I#16 - BTS) - Basilisk's augmented powers caused a volcano to rise in the Savage Land and caused repeated earthquakes, each increasing with geometrical intensity.
(Marvel Two in One I#17) - In the
cave beneath the volcano
Basilisk encountered the Thing and the two fought. The Basilisk held
the Thing back with
ease while confirming he was the cause of the tremors on the surface
and of the volcanoes rising on the Earth's magnetic axis. The Basilisk
had used his increased powers to initiate a volcanic chain reaction
with which he intended to destroy civilization. Then he decided to
cause the
destruction in more civilized placed and started to travel to New York,
in order to destroy the city and
prove his superiority to the world. The Thing managed to reach Basilisk
in the exact instant
of the he began the transport.
Basilisk's arrival in New York caused the rising
and the
eruption of another volcano in the Hudson River. The rapid
transportation stunned the
Thing, and Basilisk believed him dead. Seeing Spider-Man approaching,
the Basilisk
hurled the Thing's seeming corpse at the hero.
(Marvel Team-Up I#47) - Basilisk
told to the Web-Slinger his
history, but soon after fought Spider-Man, who succeeded in reviving
the Thing.
Bored, Basilisk abandoned the volcano and used his rays to fly on a
rock
platform over New York. He started to blast and destroy the city.
The repeated hits of the two heroes couldn't stop
Basilisk, only serving to distract him; but the final combined strike
of the two heroes threw
Basilisk into the volcano just when he was releasing his deadliest
eye-blast.
The resulting explosion destroyed the volcano, and the Basilisk
disappeared, trapped underground
(Nova IV#33) - Sphinx pulled Basilisk out from the timestream and pitted him Moonstone (Sofen), Ulysses Bloodstone, Man-Wolf (John Jameson) and Gyre, one of the Fraternity of Raptors against the champions of his elder self, which included Black Bolt, Darkhawk, Mr. Fantastic, Namorita and Nova.
(Nova IV#34) - Basilisk slew Black Bolt in battle on the Moon, drawing first blood for his master. Basilisk's team ultimately lost and the elder Sphinx claimed both Ka Stones for himself.
(Nova IV#35) - The elder Sphinx, empowered by two Ka Stones, disintegrated Basilisk with an energy beam when he and the others attempted to stop the Sphinx from becoming a god-like being. Sphinx was ultimately stopped by Nova (Rich Rider) and Basilisk was presumably returned from where he came from. Well and alive, not unlike his slain enemy Black Bolt.
(Fantastic Four I#289) - The Basilisk finally reached the surface, emergency at the site where Four Freedoms Plaza was being constructed. However, no sooner had he appeared than he was suddenly killed by one of the Scourge of the Underworld killer-vigilantes, disguised as a construction worker.
(Captain America I#429 (fb) - BTS) - Lou Dexter (Dead Ringer) obtained a piece of Basilisk's tissue.
(Captain America I#429 - BTS) - Dead Ringer adopted the form of Basilisk.
(Punisher VII#5) - Aided by Dormammu's dark magic, the Hood resurrected Basilisk along with several other of Scourge's victims to fight the Punisher.
(Punisher VII#6) - The Hood addressed the assembled resurrected villains (including Basilisk), warning them that failure to kill the Punisher would leave them dead again after 30 days, but lying to them that it was the Punisher disguised as Scourge who had killed them. Each one resurrected had been augmented, armed and costumed by the Hood. Soon after, Basilisk and Death Adder walked out from the group after Mirage suggested himself as leader. The two later made their way to G.W. Bridge's home because of his links to the Punisher, and tortured his wife Sandy and stepson Tyler to make Bridge talk.
(Punisher VII#7) - The two took their three captives to the remains of the Bar With No Name (where Scourge had gunned down many villains) and threatened to kill them. Bridge finally agreed to help set up a meeting with the Punisher.
(Punisher VII#8) - Basilisk and Death Adder were satisfied that Bridge's distress signal was sent and that the Punisher's hacker would find it, coming to the derelict building. By then, Sandy Bridge had died.
(Punisher VII#9) - G.W. Bridge broke free of his restraints and attacked Basilisk and Death Adder, but was not strong enough. The Punisher then smashed through a wall using the Hijacker's tank and used one of the tank's gas guns to briefly knock Basilisk out. However, Basilisk quickly recovered and using his powers pulled up the Punisher on a rock surrounded by lava so he could not escape.
(Punisher VII#10) - Death Adder leapt in and attacked the Punisher, but Basilisk was distracted by a bullet from Bridge. Basilisk knocked the Punisher and Bridge out, but had to stop Death Adder from tearing the Punisher apart.
(Punisher VII#10 - BTS) - Basilisk and Death Adder took the unconscious Punisher and G.W. Bridge to the Hood.
(Invincible Iron Man#20) - Basilisk attended a meeting at Avengers Tower with several other criminals, where Norman Osborn told them that the bounty was now off of Tony Stark's head.
(Herc#3 (fb) - BTS) - Basilisk was caught and imprisoned at the Raft.
(Thunderbolts I#158 - BTS/Herc#3) - When the Juggernaut's transformation into one of the Worthy destroyed the Raft Basilisk escaped with Griffin, Man-Bull and Hecate on a boat.
They attempted to rob a bank in Brooklyn at Cadman Plaza, but Hercules stopped the robbery. Hercules reflected Basilisk's blast back at him with the Shield of Perseus to knock Basilisk unconcious.
(Herc#4) - Basilisk and Man-Bull watched Hercules fighting the crowd and the Warhawks. They ran away and were surprised by Griffin's more feline form. They watched as Griffin flew away with Hercules.
(Herc#5) - Basilisk and Man-Bull rejoined Hercules and Griffin to battle their way through the beasts and monsters created by Hecate's magic. They formed a plan to trick Kyknos and end his schemes. Basilisk, Man-Bull and Griffin delivered Hercules, temporarily petrified by the Shield of Perseus), to a surprised Kyknos.
(Herc#6) - Basilisk, Griffin and Man-Bull were beaten up by Kyknos, who was mad at them for seemingly taking his chance to slay Hercules by himself. He used Hercules' petrified form as weapon against them. When the stone spell ended and Hercules returned to human form the villanous trio aided Hercules against Kyknos, who was still able to overpower them all. But their battle with Kyknos brought hope to the people of Brooklyn and combined with the prayers of Hercules' worshippers the powers of Hecate's spell diverted to Basilisk, Griffin and Man-Bull and now empowered them instead of Kyknos and his followers. The three criminals were able to defeat Kyknos, who ran away, crying for help, only to be shot in the head by his former ally Helene. With the threat of Kyknos ended the trio reverted to their usual forms.
(Superior Foes of Spider-Man#11/2 (fb) - BTS) - Basilisk was hired by Hydra.
(Superior Foes of Spider-Man#11/2 (fb) ) - Looter and Basilisk were stealing an Ellsworth Sonic Reducer for Hydra when Spider-Man kicked their butts and webbed them up.
(X-Men Unlimited III#20 - BTS) - At an unrevealed point in time, the Warden of superhuman prison the Dungeon acquired a genetic sample of Basilisk which he later used amongst other samples to become the Human Adaptoid. While invading Krakoa, the Human Adaptoid activated Basilisk's powers along with those of Fizgig, Equinox, Zzzax and others to combat Juggernaut and Deadpool.
Comments: Created by Len Wein, Gil Kane, and Jim Mooney.
Probably Basilisk's power concerned something that hid him from
Spider-Man spider-sense.
Basilisk killed tens (maybe one hundred) of Moloids. It was rather
strange that they
treated the Stone with him inside like a gift of a god. Perhaps they
were of
another tribe, and knew nothing about his previous massacre.
Captain Marvel declared that Basilisk, with the power of the two
stones, could
have destroyed the world, he didn't seem that powerful against the
Thing and
Spider-Man, but he did seem rather invulnerable and strong, more so
than the two heroes.
I seem to remember a correction in an OHotMU that he could not actually
teleport, but rather transport rapidly through lava. Where was that
correction? What was the big deal with him being able to teleport? I
mean, why the issue? Didn't it look like he teleported in the original
issues?
--Snood
The original "correction"
appeared in Basilisk's entry in the second issue of the original
OHotMU. His entry ended with these two sentences: "Contrary
to one account, the Basilisk is unable to teleport himself.
He can, however, travel at astonishing speed through molten magma
inside the earth by the thrust of his force beams." However,
his entry in the first Book of the Dead issue of the OHotMU's Deluxe
Edition confirmed that "He had the ability to teleport himself, subject
to unknown restrictions."
It was never explained why this
"correction" was made in the first place but I would guess that
somebody on the OHotMU staff thought that the Basilisk should only have
powers related to the energy beams that he could emit from his eyes and
that person chose to "explain away" the one time when he appeared to
use teleportation. Apparently, that explanation didn't stick
precisely because it was undeniable that he DID teleport himself and
the Thing from the Savage Land to New York City in Marvel Two-in-One
#17.
--Don Campbell
OK, so maybe he could only do it when he had the Omega Stone's
power?
--Snood.
The Basilisk was one of the characters of whom Arnim Zola designed a Proto-Husk. Deadpool slew the Basilisk Proto-Husk.
Basilisk has a one page
profile (not very informative) as one of
"Spider-Man's Forgotten Foes!" in Web of Spider-Man Annual#3.
--Markus Raymond
The placement of Basilisk's appearance in Nova IV#33-35 is pure assumption. It could pretty much be placed anywhere in his history.
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Spidermay
CLARIFICATIONS:
The real Basilisk should be distinguished from:
- Basilisk proto-husk - creation of Arnim Zola, destroyed by Deadpool --Deadpool III#0