Real Name: Gruto

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial (Pacion Rexian); pre-modern era thru modern

Occupation: Goodwill ambassador

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Laura; formerly Dan Mitchell

Enemies: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Sue Storm, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Dan Mitchell

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "The Creature from Nowhere" (in story title)

Base of Operations: Mobile in space; Pacion Rex (homeworld)

First Appearance: Journey into Mystery I#67/1 (April, 1961)

Powers/Abilities: Besides being much larger than a human, Gruto displayed no paranormal powers.

Gruto traveled in a spaceship -- when his vessel made a rough landing on Earth, he suffered from a head injury which caused him to experience a bout of amnesia.

Height: Unrevealed (12'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Red
Hair: None

History:
(Journey into Mystery I#67/1 (fb)) - Gruto was sent to Earth as a goodwill ambassador from his homeworld of Pacion Rex -- since his race had found the secrets to peace, health and long life, they sought to share these discoveries with other worlds.

(Journey into Mystery I#67/1) - When Gruto arrived on Earth, something went wrong with the landing apparatus of his spaceship, and it crashed -- as a result of the rough landing, the giant alien received a concussion and sustained a head injury.

   Gruto was found by journalist Dan Mitchell and Dan's girlfriend Laura. Now suffering from amnesia, the extraterrestrial remembered only his name, but he could not recall what his mission was. Despite Gruto's fearsome appearance, the two humans befriended him and led the confused alien to an abandoned barn so he could rest; but while Laura was being sincere, Mitchell intended to use Gruto to save his job.

   Mitchell revealed Gruto's presence to the local authorities, and they ordered the alien to board his ship and return to his own planet. But Gruto explained he could not remember where his home was, and asked to be allowed to remain until his memory returned, then he would leave in peace. Convinced that the alien was telling the truth, the police officers allowed him to stay.

   But Mitchell wanted to create a sensationalistic news-story, so he fabricated an article on Gruto -- filled with lies, it claimed Gruto was an invader who intended to conquer humanity, and it sent the world into a panic. Distraught over Dan's misuse of Gruto's trust, Laura begged the alien to leave Earth, just as an angry mob approached to attack him, so the alien climbed aboard his spaceship and took flight.

   But while Gruto orbited Earth, hoping to remember his mission, the military launched a hydrogen bomb at his spaceship; although Gruto's vessel was able to survive intact, the force of the bomb's blast badly shook the spacecraft -- as a result, Gruto fell and hit his head, which caused his memory to be restored. Gruto then landed back on Earth by the mob and explained the purpose of his mission to them; but after chiding the human race for its barbaric ways, Gruto departed, leaving none of his race's secrets behind.

(Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four#1 (fb) - BTS) - Under unrevealed circumstances, Gruto returned to Earth, where he encountered the recently-formed Fantastic Four -- the details of this encounter are unrevealed, but Gruto may have been transported to Monster Isle.

(Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four#1 (fb)) - Shortly afterward, the Fantastic Four battled and defeated Googam -- the Thing checked off Googam's name from a list of monsters the quartet had previously battled, and he mentioned the team's past encounter with Gruto.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.

I'd like to think that the Thing's remark about encountering Gruto (along with several other monsters) in FFF#1 was a reference to one that ended peacefully. Unless, y'know, Gruto suffered amnesia again and went on a real rampage.

...Or maybe Gruto returned (with his memory of the violent human race intact) and tried to place a force-field around the planet, to confine mankind to Earth, so the Fantastic Four had to battle him.

This story was reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell#11 (September, 1971), which had better and more varied coloring than the original publication, so all the images in this profile are actually from that reprint. In the original story, Gruto was colored a burnt-orange. -- Ron Fredricks

Profile by Madison Carter. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Gruto has no known connections to:

• Groot - extraterrestrial tree-like monster--Tales to Astonish I#13/1
• Grottu - giant ant mutate--Strange Tales I#73/1
• Grutan - robotic armor built by Albert Poole--Tomb of Darkness#22
• any other characters with similar names

Dan Mitchell has no known connections to:

• Mitchell - member of the Watchdogs--Captain America I#385
• Mitchell - aka Tigerstryke--X-Force I#11
• Alex Mitchell - aka Panthrax--Civil War: Front Line#6/2
• Howard Mitchell - aka Hijacker -- Tales to Astonish I#40/1
• Matthew Mitchell - aka Home Wrecker--Hostess ad "Spider-Man Meets the Home Wrecker"
• any other characters with similar names

Laura has no known connections to:

• Laura - fell in love with ventriloquist Ventro the Great--Adventures into Weird Worlds#6/3
• Laura - flirted with by the Tunnel Teens--Daredevil Annual I#6/2
• any other characters with similar names

	Gruto's spaceship A spacecraft from Pacion Rex, it was capable of intergalactic travel. It was made of an unspecified metal which could withstand the blast and heat of a hydrogen bomb. The insect-like spaceship was used by Gruto for his peaceful mission to Earth; but when Gruto attempted to land, something went wrong with the ship's landing apparatus, and the vessel crashed, which resulted in Gruto suffering from a concussion that temporarily gave him amnesia.
	The ship appeared to have no offensive weaponry, but its defensive capabilities included a paralyzing ray (which Gruto used to temporarily immobilize an angry mob while his ship blasted off) and a system that would "dematerialize" the ship while leaving only decoy "wave images" behind (which Gruto used to protect himself from attacking jet fighters). --Journey into Mystery I#67/1

Dan Mitchell He was a journalist whose career was spiraling downward -- his editor was tired of the dull stories Mitchell had been turning in, and threatened to fire him if he didn't come up with a unique and exciting feature. Mitchell needed a fresh story, so he cooked one up after finding the crashed spaceship of the amnesiac extraterrestrial Gruto. He befriended the alien, but falsely reported that Gruto was an invader planning to conquer Earth -- Mitchell hoped the publicity would garner him a Pulitzer Prize, and that he would be hailed as a hero for warning the world about the extraterrestrial "menace". Mitchell's fake news-story caused a panic, and Gruto was forced to leave the planet. But Gruto's memory was eventually restored, and he returned to announce the benevolent intentions he had planned for the people of Earth; but because he found mankind to be too violent and unworthy of his gifts, Gruto departed for more deserving planets. Mitchell was ostracized by the world because of his lies -- he could only hope that one day, Gruto would forgive the people of Earth and return. --Journey into Mystery I#67/1

Laura Laura (last name unrevealed) was Dan Mitchell's girlfriend. She was with Mitchell to witness Gruto's spaceship crashing. Laura's conscience was bothering her when Mitchell began his series of fake news-stories regarding the amnesiac Gruto being a hostile invader, so she pleaded with the alien to leave Earth, to avoid being killed due to Dan's lies. When Gruto's memory eventually returned, he announced the benevolent intentions he had planned for Earth; but because the alien found the human-race to be too barbaric, he left for other more worthy worlds. Because of his lies, Mitchell earned the contempt of all mankind, and Laura broke up with him. --Journey into Mystery I#67/1

Pacion Rex A planet in a distant galaxy, it was the homeworld of Gruto. The inhabitants of Pacion Rex had long ago accumulated a vast amount knowledge, including the secrets of immortality, space and time, and matter and energy. They sent Gruto to Earth to share their knowledge with mankind; but Gruto found humans to be barbaric and unworthy of his people's gifts. --Journey into Mystery I#67/1 (fb)

images: (without ads)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p4, pan4 (main image - Gruto)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p7, pan1 (headshot - Gruto)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p13, pan2 (Gruto addresses mob before he leaves)
Journey into Mystery I#67/1, p1, pan1 (Gruto (original coloring))
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p4, pan1 (Gruto's spaceship, after crash-landing; Dan Mitchell and Laura (foreground))
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p11, pan1 (Gruto's spaceship and decoy images in flight, as jet fighters attack)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p11 pan5 (Gruto's spaceship lands by mob)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p2, pan5 (Dan Mitchell)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p5, pan6 (Dan Mitchell tells Laura his plans for Gruto)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p13, pan4 (Laura)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p9, pan1 (Laura begs Gruto to leave Earth)
Where Monsters Dwell I#11/1, p13, pan1 (Gruto tells mob about Pacion Rex)

Appearances:
Journey into Mystery I#67/1 (April, 1961) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek/Sam Rosen (letters)

First posted: 02/13/2006
Last updated: 01/29/2023