KIBER THE CRUEL
Real Name: Frederick Kiber
Identity/Class: Human mutate (a sort of human's energy-life vampire), probably African
Occupation: Scientist, would-be conqueror
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: His androids
Enemies: Black Panther (T'Challa), Black Panther ("Happy Pants"), Khanata, Abner Little, Nightshade, Everett K. Ross, Princess Zanda, some prisoners
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Kiber the Cruel
Base of Operations: Kiber Island, a big peak in the southern Atlantic Ocean
First Appearance: Black Panther I#11 (September, 1978)
{Edizione Italiana: Fantastici Quattro#142/3 e#143/3 Editoriale Corno}
Powers/Abilities: As a human, Frederick Kiber had no
super-powers, but he was a brilliant scientist/electronic engineer/atomic physics and inventor.
After his mutation his body was bonded to the molecular structure
of the floor, he became
deformed, his movements became very limited and his talking became difficult. At
least one time per day, he needed to feed with the psionic consciousness/life-energy of human beings.
He usually did it through "Energy Globes" that
contained the energy converted by the mass of a live human body, but he was also
able to absorb a part of the psionic energy of a telepath at short distances
if that telepath had contacted him. The more he
fed, the more he gained mass and strength, nonetheless remaining still anchored to the
floor.
To hide his mutated aspect Kiber used a solidified air image
of his before-mutation body. The "holographic" form could partially or totally
become intangible and/or invisible, shock others on contact, simulate teleportation,
fire eye-blasts, and it could be short-circuited on contact with big metallic/conductor
objects. This form had strength at athlete level.
Kiber designed a teleportation device called a matter transmitter, through which he could cause people or his androids to pass through solid materials.
Height: (before transformation): 6'0"
(at time of death): 6'9" (though he could not physically
stand)
Weight: (before transformation): 195 lbs.
(at time of death): 1565 lbs.
Eyes: (before transformation): Brown
(after transformation): Pink
Hair: Bald
History:
(Black Panther I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Frederick Kiber was a brilliant scientist and
was considered a genius. One day he announced he was going to create a
matter-transmitter, and this scandalized the scientific community. In spite of
the other's beliefs, Kiber created his teleporting device. He also created and/or projected a lot of other things, including his
Base in the
Atlantic Ocean, his Android guards,
and other machinery.
(Black Panther I#13 (fb) - BTS) -
Kiber used the matter-transmitting device on himself but the experiment didn't
went in the right way, and he was transported in an altered shape, with his
body merged with the floor's molecular structure of his laboratory. He was
deformed and the lower part of his body could not move anymore. He also
developed a need for a particular form of energy to feed himself: the human
life.
He probably improved his teleporting device and developed the
Atomic Changer, the
Conversion Chamber, and the
Energy Globes with the aid of his androids.
So he spread his androids to find the "fuel" for his Energy Globes, and his
Guards kidnapped several people and transformed them through the Conversion
Chamber into Energy Globes. Kiber absorbed their energy and their minds into
himself. His body grew in mass and dimensions.
(Black Panther I#11) - Kiber, in his holographic form, met Khanata (T'Challa's cousin), the last of the men captured by his androids. Khanata rebelled, and Kiber gave him a lesson beating him. Khanata shot at him, but nothing could do against the teleporting and intangibility powers of Kiber. Kiber threw him in prison.
Later, Kiber supervised the "conversion" of a prisoner in an Energy Globe; his mass was transformed in the energy suitable for Kiber's meal.
(Black Panther I#12) - Kiber
attended while another prisoner was transformed in the Conversion Chamber and
declared his purposes to gather legions of prisoners in large warehouses to have
at his disposal all the energy he needed to dominate the planet. His curiosity
stimulated by Khanata, Kiber decided to meet the Black Panther and to absorb his
life-energy.
Kiber sent his guards back to Wakanda and some hours later they brought him
the Black Panther. The fight started soon. In his holographic form, Kiber's mind
could not be sensed by T'Challa, and his powers let him avoid all Black
Panther's attack. The Panther, having understood that the real enemy was not
before him, stopped his assaults; and Kiber showed him his laboratory, driving
the hero to the Conversion Chamber. Just then, the prisoners spread out within
the prison distracting Kiber and his guards. Kiber understood that the Black
Panther was searching for his true form and confronted him in the corridor
before his room. His fear was sensed by T'Challa's ESP powers. Kiber's
intangible image shot energy blasts from his eyes, but the Panther threw a metal
instrument into the Kiber's image, short-circuiting it.
(Black Panther I#13) - Eventually
the real Kiber met the Black Panther. Kiber could not speak properly, because of
his mutated condition, so the two talked using T'Challa's telepathy. Secretly
waiting for his guards, Kiber explained that the minds of the men "converted"
were not lost, and that they were in the Energy Globes and later in his mind.
During their talk, Kiber slowly absorbed a little of T'Challa's life-energy.
Kiber saw Khanata arriving in the room and immediately hit the Black Panther
with his huge arms. Kiber's guards captured Khanata but could not hit the Black
Panther nor Kiber did. The Black Panther fled, Kiber spread his men to capture
and kill him.
Shortly after,
while trying to feed from an Energy Globe, Kiber heard the Black Panther's
revenge purpose from a loud-speaker. Kiber could not feed because the Black
Panther had destroyed the other Energy Globe terminal. Feeling his hunger grow,
Kiber ordered to all his androids to kill the Panther, but they were soon
eliminated by the enraged Avenger.
Kiber pleaded with the Panther to lend him the Energy Globe the Avenger
carried with him, but the Panther denied him: Kiber would die of starvation, and
a Wakandan scientist possibly would find a way to give back the bodies of the
people converted in the Energy Globe.
(Black Panther III#43) - The Brass Frogs / King Solomon's Frogs caused a temporal loop that brought Everett K. Ross, Princess Zanda, Abner Little, Nightshade, and "Happy Pants" Black Panther to Kiber Island, where they fought Kiber and his drones. The Panther stole Kiber's Energy Collection Globe, containing the life essences of his victims, and Zanda claimed the Brass Frog and somehow neutralize the time warp.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#18: Kiber the Cruel) - Kiber died shortly after his defeat by the Black Panther.
(Defenders I#84) - Kiber Island was destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
Comments: Created by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer (Kiber before-accident). Jim Shooter/Ed Hannigan, Jerry Bingham and Gene Day (Kiber after-accident).
Clarifications:
Kiber the Cruel has no known connections to
Kiber's Base was a peak in the Atlantic Ocean, much bigger than a rock and far smaller than a mountain.
The base contained Kiber's laboratory, where his Guards transformed the people into energy to feed the scientist, a little prison-room that could contain approximately 10-15 people, Kiber's personal room where his deformed and enlarged body was molecularly bond to the floor, and many other rooms and corridors, one of which led to an exit on the ocean.
The Kiber's room roof was very high, and the base seemed wider than the peak on the water surface, so it's possible that Kiber's base occupied also part of the peak under the sea surface.
Looking at the machinery and the several guards that were in the base, surely Kiber had built his base and the things inside before the accident that transformed him.
(Black Panther I#13) - The peak-base, was annexed to Wakanda's territory from the Black Panther.
(Defenders I#84) - Kiber Island was used as a meeting placing in an arms deal between a pair of Wakandan renegades and some Atlantean soldiers. The deal was broken up by the Black Panther (T'Challa), but the struggle led to a conflict between the Black Panther and Namor. Ultimately, a Wakandan soldier prematurely launched a nuclear warhead at Atlantis. With the Black Panther's advance warning, Namor re-directed the missile to strike the now unoccupied Kiber Isle, obliterating it.
--Black Panther I#13 (13, 14(fb), 13, Black Panther III#43, Defenders I#84
The Conversion
Chamber/Converter Cabinet
The Conversion Chamber was a big chamber, with dimensions as large as to contain a man, approximately 1,8 x 1 x 1 meters (height x width x length). It was the transformation device that allowed Kiber the Cruel to produce the energy he needed to keep living.
The raw and only materials of the Chamber were living human beings. The Chamber transformed their mass and minds in energy, in a form that Kiber could absorb. The energy was stored in one or more Energy Globes. Not all the energy produced from the transformation went in the Globe, a part of the energy was ejected during the transformation as a big flash that can kill a man (or one of the Kiber's Androids) if he was too near to the Chamber. A part of the matter was transformed in smoke that had to go out the Chamber after the transformation.
It is logical to think that Kiber created the Conversion Chamber (and the Energy Globe) after his mutation, but since he could not build it, probably his androids built it under his management.
--Black Panther I#11 (11, 12, 13, Black Panther III#43
The Energy Globes were the life for Kiber. A Globe stored the energy produced from the transformation of a human body (or more). It is unknown what material could store the energy in the form needed by Kiber. An empty Globe looked like a light that was out, a Globe full of energy was truly shining. The Globes could be easily plugged and unplugged on the Conversion Chamber, and, after the transformation, could be stored, possibly, indefinitely until it was needed to feed Kiber. It seemed that Kiber needed one or two Globes per day, but probably he developed a habit for this energy.
The energy stored in the Globes could be transferred from one Globe to another, through specific terminals. One of the terminals was in the same room as the Conversion Chamber, another was in the room where Kiber was trapped. If the first terminal was destroyed, the second terminal could not function to transfer the Globe's energy to Kiber.
The Globes (or Globes) also contained the minds of the persons transformed by the Chamber, and the Black Panther, with his neo-ESP powers could feel the presence of them inside the Globes.
Some Globes were shining and contained energy although they didn't contain minds. They probably were the Globes still used by Kiber, who absorbed the energy he needed and the minds of the victims. One of these Globes without "minds", contained so much residual energy that it produced a big explosion able to destroy a room as large as the prison where the Conversion Chamber was kept.
(Black Panther I#13 - BTS) - The unused Globes were picked up by Black Panther and taken to Wakanda with the hope that its scientists could one day invert the transformation.
--Black Panther I#11 (11, 12, 13, Black Panther III#43
They all were normal humans. They were kidnapped in several parts of the world by Kiber's Guards.
(Black Panther I#11 (fb) - BTS) - Before Khanata's kidnapping, some of them where randomly chosen to become "fuel" for the Energy Globes. They were absorbed by Kiber, and their minds continued to exist, in Kiber's mind. Some of them tried to rebel against the Guards but the Gurads were too strong.
(Black Panther I#11) - At Khanata's arrival the prisoners were discouraged and terrorized after learning what the conversion process would have done to them
(Black Panther I#12) - When also the Black Panther arrived, Khanata succeeded in convincing them to create a diversion. Acting together, they smashed the door of the prison and distracted the Guards and Kiber, too.
(Black Panther I#13) - Unfortunately, the Black Panther went to telepathically talk with Kiber, and the rebels were too weak to resist without his help, so they were re-captured by the Guards.
(Black Panther I#13 - BTS) - The prisoners also were obliged to undergo the conversion treatment, and all but Khanata were transformed into energy in the Energy Globes.
(Black Panther I#13) - Some of the Globes were taken by Black Panther to Wakanda, with the hope that his scientists could find a way to invert the treatment.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#18: Kiber the Cruel) - It is not known whether the life forces contained within the globe that the Panther took were ever restored to bodily existence.
Black Panther I#11 (11, 12, 13
Images:
Black Panther III#43, p21, pan3 (main image)
Black Panther I#12, p5, pan3 (Kiber - head shot)
Black Panther I#11, p11, pan4/5/6 (Kiber's hologram)
Black Panther I#13, p2/3, pan1 (Kiber
after-transformation)
Black Panther I#13, p8, pan5 (Kiber's base)
Black Panther I#12, p6, pan6 (Conversion Chamber)
Black Panther I#12, p7, pan1 (Energy Globe)
Black Panther I#11, p12, pan3 (Prisoners)
Appearances:
Black Panther I#11-12 (September-November, 1978) - Jack Kirby (writer/pencils/editor), Mike Royer (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Black Panther I#13 (January, 1979) - Ed Hannigan (writer), Jerry Bingham (pencils), Gene Day (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
Defenders I#84 (June, 1980) - Ed Hannigan (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Tex Blaisdell (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Black Panther III#43 (June, 2002) - Christopher Priest (writer), Sal Velluto (pencils), Bob Almond (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
First Posted: 07/11/2005
Last updated: 07/11/2005
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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