REPTYL
Real Name: Reptyl
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial ("Saurians")
mutate;
criminal record on various planets;
Earth's general populace is unaware of his existence
Occupation: Currently unrevealed;
former would-be god of pirates;
former space pirate captain;
former progenitor of reptilian evolution
Group Membership: Formerly Thanos (or one of his
Thanosi)'s Pantheon;
former leader of the band of space pirates aboard the
Serpent's Tooth (Belderman,
Dalabuur,
Clumsy Foulup, Grieder, Kyndron, an Achenonian, many others)
Affiliations: Badoon, Saurians, Sauro (see comments),
Primo, S'Byll,
Skrulls, Thanos (allegedly one of the Thanosi);
formerly Clumsy Foulup, the
Contemplator imposter, Kid Syn,
Raptra, the Silver
Surfer, unidentified reptilian pirate;
had made deals with Firelord, Starfox, and the Stranger
Enemies: Avengers (Mantis, Scarlet
Witch,
Silverclaw, Thor, Vision), Clumsy Foulup, the
Contemplator imposter,
the Cotati,
Haywire of Earth-712, Intergalactic Council,
Lady Karlot,
the Kree (led by
Nenora), Nebula, Nova (Frankie Raye),
princess Alaisa Ruantha Pethnan (later
Avatar),
Quoi, Raptra,
Rot, Silver Surfer, Super-Skrull (Kl'rt),
unspecified beings on Earth who captured him;
humanoids and mammals of all kinds
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Cap'n Reptyl, the Non-human, Reptyl Prime
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout known space;
formerly the Coalsack Nebula (including a series of hidden
bases);
formerly an unidentified saurian-occupied planet in the Coal
Sack Nebula
First Appearance: Silver Surfer III#11 (May, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: Reptyl has a thick, scaly, ridged hide, sharpened teeth and claws, and a 3' tail. His initial form had Class 10 strength, superhuman speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes. He had metahuman regenerative power, but was vulnerable to extreme colds. Lacking conventional (if any) pleasure centers in his brain, Reptyl has proven immune to Eros' pleasure power/
He is an experienced armed and unarmed combatant, and a master of most known hand weapons. He is a skilled leader, though he has readily sacrificed his entire crew to achieve his personal goals. He is a highly skilled space pilot. Reptyl has a deep and abiding hatred of mammals in general, and humanoids in particular; he sees them as having prevented reptilian races from achieving prominence on their worlds. He has experience with the Coalsack Nebula, using its murky depths and tortuous paths to escape his enemies.
He wore body armor and a space suit of undefined alien materials. He carried a ray-pistol and sword, and formerly piloted a starship. He commanded a large crew, and his career of looting has gained him a number of sophisticated weapons. His weapons of choice included his Sparkutlass, an energy-sword that could absorb power and return it back on an attacker; and a neurocarbon charged pistol.
In rare generations of Reptyl's race, there were allegedly a "prime," a being whose genes contained the key to the next step in their evolution; Reptyl was apparently such a being. Upon his physical death, his body metamorphosized into the monstrously powerful Reptyl Prime. As Reptyl Prime he had grey, thick, scaly, ridged hide, sharpened teeth, 6" claws, bat-like wings with a 35' wingspan, and a 7' spiked tail. He had Class 100 strength, could fly at warp speed, and had metahuman stamina and durability, with superhuman agility and reflexes. In this form, he was immune to even the extreme cold of outer space. He could generate and hurl spheres of destructive energy.
As Reptyl, the God, he maintained his normal height, but was much more massive. He had great strength and durability (withstanding fire, energy blasts, and the vacuum and cold of space), a spiked tail, and he could fire powerful energy blasts. He could fly, survive in, and navigate through space. He also briefly used a cloak of invisibility provided by Thanos.
Height: 6'8"; (as Reptyl Prime) 15'6"
Weight: Approximately 990 lbs.; (original form) 420 lbs.; (Reptyl Prime) 2 tons (see comments)
Eyes: Yellow; (as Reptyl Prime) red
Hair: None
History:
(Silver Surfer III#12 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl encountered the skrull posing as the
Contemplator. Though Reptyl apparently did not recognize him to be an imposter
and despite his extreme hatred of humanoids, Reptyl made an alliance with the
Contemplator imposter; this was allegedly because they both had been born in the
Coalsack Nebula, the powerful Contemplator's own humanoid race had died out
approximately 4 billion years ago, and the Contemplator had left Reptyl's race
alone. Reptyl agreed to help the Contemplator imposter hide from Galactus, whose
wrath the Contemplator imposter had earned by attacking him as part of a union
of the Elders of the Universe
(Silver Surfer III#11) - Reptyl's crew held a birthday party
for him. During the party, Nova (Frankie Raye) and the Silver Surfer -- who had
come their incognito in search of the Contemplator (actually the Contemplator
imposter) -- got into a fight when Reptyl's crewman Clumsy Foulup tried to force
a dance with Nova. However, the Contemplator imposter had forewarned Reptyl that
they would be coming, and so they had set a trap. Reptyl confronted the two
seconds after the trap had captured them both.
(Silver Surfer III#12 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl had Nova and the Surfer placed within devices that siphoned their energies to power his ships, leaving the two weak, disoriented, and nauseous.
(Silver Surfer III#12) - Reptyl surveyed his prisoners and
reviewed his alliance with the Contemplator imposter. One of the Cotati, hidden
as a decorative plant aboard Reptyl's base, transmitted information on the
Surfer's imprisonment to other Cotati, who viewed the Surfer as an ally due to
his affiliation with Mantis (who had married the Prime Cotati). The Cotati took
control of Clumsy Foulup's mind via a psychogenic herb he had ingested, and they
had him release Nova. The Contemplator imposter sensed the Cotati's involvement
and had word sent to Reptyl, but word arrived too late. Nova attacked Reptyl's
fleet, and Reptyl realized his ship could not hope to defeat her, so had the
Surfer jettisoned.
The Contemplator imposter attempted to reassure Reptyl that
they could escape and hide out within the depths of the Coalsack Nebula and
evade Nova and the Surfer's wrath, but Reptyl decided that the Contemplator was
too smart, that he knew too much, and that he would probably taste pretty good.
Reptyl suddenly bit the Contemplator imposter in the neck, ripping out a huge
hunk of flesh, and then devoured his body.
(Silver Surfer III#19 (fb) - BTS) - Realizing that Clumsy Foulup was under alien control, Reptyl spared him for freeing Nova.
(Silver Surfer III#19) - Eros (a.k.a. Starfox) and Firelord
assaulted Reptyl's cove within the Coalsack Nebula. Furious that his hidden base
had been discovered, Reptyl took out his rage on crewman Kyndron, ripping open
his face with a slash of his talons. Despite Reptyl's crews efforts, Eros and
Firelord invaded the cove, seeking information on Nebula, the alleged
grand-niece of Eros and granddaughter of Thanos. Reptyl admitted that he
disliked Nebula, both because she was humanoid and because she was his
competitor as a pirate, but he refused to grovel before the powerful beings;
Eros' pleasure power proved useless against him. Ultimately Reptyl used
Firelord's animosity towards the Surfer (based on Firelord's former ally,
Gabriel Lan, becoming Galactus' herald and being slain in that capacity; he
blamed the Surfer for this b/c the Surfer had defected from Galactus' service,
causing Galactus to seek a new herald) to extract a vow of non-interference with
Reptyl in the future, in exchange for information on the Surfer's whereabouts.
(Silver Surfer III#28 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl sent Clumsy Foulup to a tiny moon to guard a hidden cache of weapons.
(Silver Surfer III Annual#2/5) - Reptyl and his crew assaulted a ship containing Lady Karlot, daughter of the governor of Segov-3, and Reptyl forced the ship's captain to surrender the valuable jewels they carried. Karlot and her handmaiden Marya were initially intrigued by the idea of strong men. Reptyl saw them spying on him and he grabbed Karlot, taking her with them as he and his crew traveled to a deserted asteroid (which apparently had its own atmosphere, gravity, and heat source). Karlot watched as Reptyl commanded his crew to dig, and she assumed they were digging up buried treasure, but he then commanded them to fill the pit with marinade. The asteroid was laced with savory minerals; two cycles in the hole and Karlot's unworked aristocratic flesh would soak it up like a sponge. Reptyl salivated over his future meal.
(Silver Surfer III#27) - Seeking vengeance on Reptyl (and upon
the reptilian races in general), the Contemplator imposter, who had survived the
"decorpitation" of his physical self, directed Clumsy Foulup to make an alliance
with the Kree and to betray Reptyl.
Via the advice of his mutant crewman Dalabuur, Reptyl
followed a cloaked Badoon fleet (or the Stranger...it wasn't clear) to Satriani,
where S'Byll was using her new powers to restore the Skrulls' metamorphing
power. Reptyl was appalled to find the Badoon (who were much closer to true
reptiles) attacking the Skrulls (who had both reptilian and mammalian traits).
At the same time, the Stranger claimed the recently mutated S'Byll, intending to
take to his laboratory world for further study. Reptyl offered his entire fleet,
including the mutant Dalabuur, to the Stranger in S'Byll's place; despite
Dalabuur having proven himself dependable to Reptyl, the captain was more
strongly bonded to his fellow saurons. The Stranger accepted, sucking Reptyl's
crew out of his ship and departing. Reptyl then released S'Byll, asking to be
made a privateer in her forces and expressing his desire to oppose any who would
threaten the lives of reptilians. S'Byll accepted his offer, though she would
have him watched for the first sign of treachery.
S'Byll announced their newest ally to the Surfer, who was
less than pleased.
(Fantastic Four Annual#24/4 (fb) - BTS) - S'Byll commanded the Super-Skrull to fake his death at the hands of Reptyl. She wished certain parties to believe the Super-Skrull dead at the time.
(Silver Surfer III#28 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl returned to the Coalsack Nebula to collect a new crew and gather his armaments and fleet.
(Silver Surfer III#28) - Reptyl gathered a new crew and his
full fleet. He contacted Clumsy Foulup, telling him of his plans to gather the
weapons cache he was guarding (and this info was given to the Kree). Reptyl then
brought his fleet to join the Skrull forces, quickly earning the enmity of the
Super-Skrull for his closeness with S'Byll and his disrespectful attitude.
Reptyl continued to empress S'Byll with his skills, manpower, and saurian
loyalty, leading to an embrace. Enraged upon seeing this, the Super-Skrull
challenged Reptyl, and both males ignored S'Byll's orders, and engaged in a full
battle. Though the Super-Skrull initially dominated the struggle, Reptyl wounded
him by firing neurocarbon charges that ricocheted off a wall to hit the
Super-Skull behind his force field. Absorbing and returning the Super-Skrull's
next flame attack, Reptyl then leapt atop his stunned foe and ripped out his
throat.
The Surfer arrived seconds too late to stop this, and S'Byll
stopped the Surfer from taking vengeance, proclaiming that Reptyl was needed to
defeat the Kree. Reptyl instructed Clumsy Foulup to serve as his vassal in the
coming assault, completely unaware of Foulup's new loyalty.
(Silver Surfer III#29) - Berating Foulup for his clumsiness,
Reptyl stressed the importance of him performing adequately in his impending
foolproof plan against the Kree. Reptyl was next confronted by the Surfer, and
Reptyl happily challenged to a battle, but the Surfer refused to risk either of
their involvement in the upcoming battle against the Kree.
Later, while the Kree engaged the Surfer with Midnight Sun,
Reptyl led his troops to attack the Kree fleet's vulnerable underbelly. As
Reptyl gloated over imminent victory, Foulup grabbed Reptyl's Sparkutlass and
stabbed Reptyl in the back. Reptyl collapsed, astonished both that Foulup had
betrayed him and that he had succeeded in the assault, and Foulup escaped the
Skrull warrior present who assumed Reptyl to be dying.
(Fantastic Four Annual#24/4 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl recovered from his injuries and plotted vengeance on Foulup, who had -- believe it or not -- become the leader of the Kree Empire.
(Fantastic Four Annual#24/4) - After preying before the Skrull
war-dog, Sl'gur't, the Super-Skrull was unable to tolerate any longer the
dishonor of having faked his death at the hands of a "worthless piece of scum"
such as Reptyl.
The Super-Skrull caught up to Reptyl's ship as he continued
advancing towards his mission on Foulup. Despite Reptyl's abuse of his crewmen,
none of his ship's weapons could affect the Super-Skrull, who ripped through the
ship and pulled Reptyl into space, choking him to death and leaving him floating
in space.
(Silver Surfer III#57) -
Reptyl's body formed a cocoon around itself. Sometime later he emerged in a
monstrously powerful form.
(Silver Surfer III#63) - Reptyl assaulted a Kree ship, shrugging off energy blasts and slaughtering the crew.
(Silver Surfer III#64 (fb) - BTS / Silver Surfer III#65 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl arrived at the shrine to Death Thanos had created while he held the power of the Infinity Gauntlet. Perhaps drawn their by Thanos' residual energies, Reptyl paused there to gather himself for the long journey home. Upon returning home, he intended to propagate a super-reptilian race that would burn away the humanoid universe.
(Silver Surfer III#64) - Seeking to destroy the last remaining legacy to Thanos' power, the Surfer arrived at the shrine to Death,
(Silver Surfer III#65) - Reptyl attacked the Surfer
relentlessly, defying his assertions of superior power. Reptyl pronounced
himself the first of a glorious race of conquerors, condemning humanoids as
meat. The Surfer attempted to take Reptyl down without killing him, but their
energies attracted the attention of the idly rich adventure-seeking Kharta'een
princess Alaisa Ruantha Pethnan, and the arrival of her ship distracted the
Surfer. Knocked to the ground by a blast, the Surfer flattened Reptyl, who
recovered and -- recognizing the Surfer's superior power -- took Alaisa hostage
and demanded the Surfer sacrifice his own life to save her. Princess Alaisa's
loyal guards attacked Reptyl from behind, but were swiftly slain by him.
Baiting Reptyl by challenging his courage, the Surfer
distracted him sufficiently to enable him to rescue Alaisa with his surfboard.
The Surfer then attacked Reptyl, eventually blasting a sculpture of Death's head
to crush him.
(Silver Surfer III#65 - BTS) - Reptyl escaped through the floor of the shrine
(Maximum Security#1 (fb) - BTS) - Reptyl reverted to his original form and was imprisoned under the authority of the Intergalactic Council. Reptyl was sent to Earth as part of "Maximum Security," a plot by the Intergalactic Council to keep humanity occupied on Earth to prevent them from interfering with Intergalactic Affairs. Reptyl was captured by unrevealed parties and imprisoned in a new superhuman wing at Lurton, Virginia.
(Maximum Security#1; Maximum Security#2-3 - BTS) - Reptyl revealed to the USAgent that he and the other aliens were not invading Earth, but had instead been imprisoned there.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#2 (fb) - BTS) - Regaining his
freedom, Reptyl also allied with a new crew and returned to his pirate career.
Among his crew were Raptra and Kid Syn, the former of whom quickly grew to
respect Reptyl. Reptyl disregarded Kid Syn's advice of getting better shields as
opposed to increased speed.
Reptyl also got fat and may have lost his left eye, gaining a
cybernetic replacement.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#2) - A ship escaped Reptyl's crew by escaping into a class 3 nebula, knowing the pirate ships lacked the shields to follow. When Kid Syn reminded Reptyl about his recommendation, Reptyl told Syn that if he would die if he challenged his decision further.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#3) - Reptyl's crew assaulted an Avengers quinjet headed for Tamal to meet with Quoi and the Cotati, leading the Avengers to fly into space and attack them directly. After the Avengers demolished multiple ships, several members of Reptyl's crew took to escape pods. Reptyl ordered Raptra to guard his flank and they escaped, but she refused, intending to rescue as many escape pods as possible. Reptyl was irate, but Raptra stood her ground, reminding Reptyl that she was his ally, not his servant. Reptyl angrily refused to use his supplies to fix Raptra's ship, but then the remainder of the fleet was confronted by Sanctuary, the ship of Thanos.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#3 - BTS) - Reptyl or Raptra transported to the others' ship.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#3) - Thanos (allegedly actually one
of his Thanosi duplicates, though he will referred to as Thanos for simplicity's
sake) boarded one of the ships, confronting Reptyl, Raptra, Syn, and others.
Thanos announced his intention to create his own pantheon of gods, and he
offered to grant them power if they would serve his will to destroy the
Celestial Messiah, Quoi (the son of Mantis and the Prime Cotati). Reptyl
accepted his offer, seeking to raise a reptile to the height of godhood -- even
at the cost of serving a humanoid like Thanos. Thanos drained Kid Syn's life
force and used its power to transform Reptyl into god-like form.
Raptra refused to serve Thanos.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#4) - Sanctuary approached a
Plasmagen ship and Reptyl -- wearing a cloak of invisibility and using a torpedo
as a distraction -- boarded the ship and assaulted the Plasmagen. Reptyl
withstood the flame assaults of their leader, Primo, then beat him into
submission and brought him to Thanos, who converted Primo into the next of his
would-be gods.
Reptyl soon joined Primo in fighting off the Eternals of
Titan who then assaulted Sanctuary, allegedly killing four of them and badly
wounding three others. Thanos then called them to his side to join in badly
battering his brother, Eros.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#5) - Thanos sent Reptyl and Primo to take down Raptra after she had escaped, taking Quoi with her. Thanos instructed Reptyl to bring them both back alive so he could kill them himself.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#6) - Reptyl and Primo met with one of Reptyl's old associates (presumably one of his crewmen) who, in exchange for payment, directed them towards the Rot to follow Raptra. Reptyl correctly followed Raptra's trickery and tracked her down, and he and Primo assaulted her ship. Primo fell before Quoi, but Reptyl withstood multiple hits from Raptra's blaster, and he continued to advance on her, eventually backing her into Thanos himself who captured Raptra and Quoi.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#7) - Reptyl and Primo stood by
Thanos' side as he announced the imminent deaths of his prisoners: Mantis, Quoi,
Raptra, and the Vision. Reptyl then led Mantis to an altar where Thanos
initiated his psychic assault upon her. Mantis withstood his attacks, and the
Avengers (Scarlet Witch, Silverclaw, Thor) and Haywire then assaulted Sanctuary.
Thanos ordered Reptyl to destroy the Avengers, but the Scarlet Witch swiftly
fused his boots together, limiting his mobility. Reptyl drove the Avengers
quinjet back with Sanctuary's weapons.
The Avengers nonetheless boarded Sanctuary while Raptra
escaped and freed the Vision, but as Reptyl and Primo joined Thanos for the
final assault, they suddenly realized that the Rot -- a devouring blackness in
space -- threatened them all. Death herself then appeared and confirmed the
danger.
(Avengers: Celestial Quest#8) - Thanos silenced Reptyl's
efforts to taunt the Avengers in the presence of Death, while Mantis and Quoi
prevented the Rot from engulfing them all (but not before it disintegrated
Primo). Reptyl then joined Thor, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch in a direct
assault on the Rot, but their combined power affected it not at all. Ultimately
Thanos and Death destroyed the Rot, and all those it had consumed were restored.
Reptyl was more concerned with the developing relationship
between Raptra and Quoi, swearing to kill her if she mated with the
humanoid/plant being. Mantis and Quoi swore to defend her, and Reptyl flew off,
questioning his godhood since he would die for dinosaurs.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart (writer), Joe Staten (pencils), and Joe Rubinstein (inks).
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition notes that Reptyl's initial form resembled a humanoid dinosaur (Saurornithoides) with green scaly ridged hide, sharpened teeth and claws, and a 3' tail.
Reptyl refers to himself as a saurian, but that may just be a descriptive term for being akin to dinosaurs. There's enough "Saurians" races already.
Reptyl Prime's weight was listed as 2 tons in the Master Edition. To be more accurate, if the same body proportions are maintained, the weight increases by a cube factor of the increase in height. To maintain the same proportions, he would 2.62 tons...and he was much more broad, plus likely much more dense. At the same time, he could well have had hollow bones, etc. to facilitate flight within a planet's gravity.
Contemplator imposter is tedious to write repeatedly. I vote for Contemploster.
Belderman looked like a Pegasusian (like Sphinxor), but he was only like 6' tall...maybe he was affected by some Pym Particles.
Reptyl invoked Sauro:
"What about our weapons, for Sauro's
sake!"
"By Sauro's scales!"
Sauro would presumably be either a deity or a being valued
from Reptyl's people's history.
"In normal times I kill both species (reptilians and mammals) indiscriminately, for I alone cannot affect the balance of power--and mine is the way of the cold-blooded times."
Reptyl has a profile in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update#1.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
images: (without ads)
Silver Surfer III#11, last page, last panel (original form, full body)
#12, last page, panel 1 (biting Contemplator imposter)
#19, p5, panel 5 (original form, face close-up)
#28, p17, panel 1 (with Sparkutlass)
#64, last page, last panel (Reptyl Prime)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition: Reptyl (Reptyl Prime) -
art by Keith Pollard & Josef Rubinstein
Avengers: Celestial Quest#3, p20, panel 3 (Reptyl, the God)
Appearances:
Silver Surfer III#11 (May, 1988) - by Steve Englehart (writer), Joe Staten
(pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Silver Surfer III#12 (June, 1988) - by Steve Englehart (writer), Marshall Rogers
(pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Michael Higgins (editor)
Silver Surfer III#19 (January, 1989) - by Steve Englehart (writer), Ron Lim
(pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Silver Surfer Annual#2 (1989) - by Steve Englehart (writer), Rodney Ramos
(pencils), Robert Campanella (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Silver Surfer III#27-29 (September-November, 1989) - by Steve Englehart
(writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Fantastic Four Annual#24 (1991) - by Len Kaminski (writer), Chris Ivy (pencils),
Tim Dzon (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Silver Surfer III#57 (Late October, 1991) - by Ron Marz (writer), Ron Lim &
James Brock (pencilers), Tom Christopher (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Silver Surfer III#63-65 (March-May, 1992) - by Ron Marz (writer), Ron Lim (pencilers),
Tom Christopher (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Maximum Security#1 (December, 2000) - by Kurt Busiek (writer); Jerry Ordway
(pencils); Al Vey, Will Blyberg, Paul Ryan, Chris Ivy (inks), Tom Brevoort
(editor)
Avengers: Celestial Quest#2-8 (December 2001-June 2002) - by Steve Englehart
(writer), Jorge Santamaria (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 09/08/2006
Last updated: 09/07/2006
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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