LITHODIA REXIANS

Classification: Extraterrestrial (Pre-Modern era)

Location/Base of Operations: Easter Island
    formerly the planet Lithodia Rex

Known Members: Four unidentified members on Earth, presumably more on Lithodia Rex (see comments)

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Unidentified human pilot

Aliases: "The Things on Easter Island" (in story title only)

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#5/1 (September, 1959)

Powers/Abilities: The giant Lithodia Rexians possessed great strength; although their rock-like bodies likely gave them a high degree of durability, they seemed to be slow-moving.

Traits: They were apparently long-lived, and were able to place themselves in suspended animation for centuries.

Type: Semi-humanoid
Eyes: Unrevealed
Fingers: Three, with opposing thumb
Toes: None
Skin color: Gray
Average height: 30'

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#5/1 (fb) - BTS) - Untold centuries ago, four beings from the planet Lithodia Rex somehow came to Earth (see comments) on a mission to conquer the world, enslave humanity, and turn Earth into a colony for their mother-planet. After they arrived on Easter Island, they buried themselves up to their necks and entered a state of suspended animation, while they awaited orders from their home-world to take over the planet.

(Tales to Astonish I#5/1 (fb)) - After his plane developed engine trouble, a pilot crash-landed on Easter Island. Shortly afterward, he witnessed some of the stone "statues" there come to life and emerge from the ground. He heard them discuss an invasion from their home-planet of Lithodia Rex; but the aliens soon became aware of his presence and chased him into a cave. The pilot found an exit at the other end of the cave, and discovered an abandoned native boat on the beach. The stone giants approached the pilot, but they were too late to apprehend him--determined to warn the authorities about the aliens' invasion plans, the pilot paddled away from Easter Island.

(Tales to Astonish I#5/1 (fb) - BTS) - But unbeknownst to the pilot, the four Lithodia Rexians were discreetly following him.

(Tales to Astonish I#5/1) - After a day and a half at sea, the pilot finally came to another island--a U.S. Navy installation. He tried to convince anyone who would listen of his encounter with the Lithodia Rexians, but no one believed him.

   Finally, the pilot gave up, for he was convinced that he must have just hallucinated the whole thing, so he returned to his home on one of the remote Pacific islands. But as he went to bed and dozed off, he was unaware that one of the Lithodia Rexians was looking in his window. As the pilot began to talk in his sleep, he mentioned that he must have just imagined everything--the Lithodia Rexians were satisfied and left him unharmed. They made their way back to Easter Island to await the invasion signal--whether it be one more day, or another thousand years, when they received it, they would be ready.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.

   The question that is left to be begged is how, and if, this tale is in-continuity for Earth-616 (mainstream Marvel-Earth). As with many of the pre-FF monster tales, it certainly could be. However, that brings up the point that Kirby did at least two tales of giant stone-like aliens posing as the statues on this island (a third, involving Thorr/Thorg took place on another unidentified island which was destroyed at the end of his tale). How could all three be Earth-616, if any of them? Well, considering that Rapa Nui (the real name of Easter Island) has almost 900 of these monolithic statues, it is certainly conceivable that there were some there to begin with, and by coincidence, two separate sets of aliens found it and decided to place themselves among the lookalikes. Or even that some did so to begin with, and all the statues were done by humans in response. There's only four aliens from Lithodia Rex seen here and three Stone Men (not counting their captain), so it wouldn't be that hard.

    Now, however, the question remains: Do the aliens from Lithodia Rex, the Stone Men or Thorr/Thorg have any connection to the Kronans (see clarifications for all)? Perhaps they're all from the same star system, or some such.

It was never explained how the Lithodia Rexians got to Earth--no spaceship was seen or mentioned, so unless one just dropped them off, it's possible they were teleported.

But my question is why were the Lithodia Rexians waiting so long to attack the world? Surely it would have been easier for them to conquer Earth in its more primitive days, before the advent of modern weaponry; or I guess it's possible that something happened on Lithodia Rex that wiped out the population (e.g. the planet exploded, Galactus got hungry, etc.).--Ron Fredricks

Profile by Madison Carter. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Lithodia Rexians have no known connections to:

The unidentified pilot has no known connections to:

unidentified pilot

He flew a single-engine aircraft, and made his home on one of the remote Pacific islands.

One day, he crash-landed his airplane on Easter Island, where he witnessed four of the "statues" there come to life. As the "statues" engaged in conversation with one another, the pilot overheard them say that they were actually extraterrestrials from the planet Lithodia Rex, and that they were awaiting a signal from their home-world for an impending invasion of Earth. The stone giants discovered the pilot, but he managed to escape in an abandoned native boat.

The pilot tried to warn military authorities about the alien invaders so they could begin shelling the island, but they didn't believe him. He finally began to doubt his own story about the giant invaders, and just figured that he hallucinated everything because of the head injury he suffered from the plane crash.

When he returned home and went to bed, he was unaware that one of the stone-like extraterrestrials was looking at him through the window as he dozed off. He began to talk in his sleep, and mentioned that he was now convinced he had just imagined the whole encounter with the stone giants--because of this, the Lithodia Rexians spared his life, for they had followed him home to kill him.

(Comment: Since he was never identified, I'll suggest the names "Dave Webb" or "Richard O'Brien," which are transpositions of the names of the two actors who portrayed the aviator hero Captain Midnight in the movie serial and TV series of that character.)

--Tales to Astonish I#5/1 (5/1 (fb), 5/1

images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p1, pan1 (main image - Lithodia Rexians, pursuing pilot)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p4, pan2 (headshots -  three Lithodia Rexians)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p3, pan4 (Lithodia Rexians emerge from ground)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p4, pan5 (Lithodia Rexians confront pilot)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p4, pan8 (pilot hiding in cave)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p5, pan3 (pilot tells his story to military authorities)
Tales to Astonish I#5/1, p5, pan7 (sleeping pilot, convinced he just imagined everything, as a Lithodia Rexian looks into window)

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#5/1 (September, 1959) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Jack Kirby (pencils), Christopher Rule (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters)

First Posted: 04/07/2006
Last updated: 06/20/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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