WHIRLDEMONSWHIRLDEMONS
Classification: Terrestrial demon race
Location/Base of Operations: Currently
unknown;
formerly Deadzone, Homeworld, Microverse;
formerly the site that would become the city
of Bahawalpur, India, on Earth in the Distant Past (see comments)
Known Members: None named (not even their unidentified king)
Affiliations: Formerly Argon, Dog Soldiers, Death-Squad (Ampzilla, Battleaxe, Centauria, Lobros) - all Microverse residents
Enemies: Doctor Strange (Stephe Strange), Enigma Force, Micronauts (Acroyear, Bug, Devil, Fireflyte, Marionette, Arcturus Rann), Prince Wayfinder, the Sword in the Star, Time Traveler, the Wanderers (Agni, Kali, Mara, Yama, many others), X-23 (Laura Kinney)
First Appearance: Micronauts I#31 (July, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: The Whirldemons drain life-energy from other beings to survive. They can generate powerful tornados, form magical bonds, etc. Though a single Whirldemon has proven capable of entrapping even Dr. Strange, they are exquisitely sensitive to the power of the Enigma Force. They possess telepathy and are immune to aging and conventional injury.
Traits: The Whirldemons are predatory, territorial creatures seeking to rule all they survey and willing to destroy any that get in their way.
History:
(Micronauts I#35 (fb)) - Untold millions, if not billions of
years ago, the Whirldemons lived on Earth--"part and parcel
of that primitive era, feeding off the life-energies of the
mindless lifeforms with whom <they> shared the Earth.
(Micronauts I#35 (fb)) - Millions of years ago
(see comments), Prince Wayfinder led his followers, the Wanderers
to Earth. Believing it to be uninhabited. Wayfinder claimed Earth
in the name of the homeless and the displaced, vowing that all
should be content and wage war no more. The Whirldemons touched
the Wanderers mind, learned who they were, and determined to
carve Wayfinder's vow on his tombstone.
As Wayfinder 's people erected a city, the
Whirldemons plotted to bury him beneath its walls. The
Whirldemons attacked, but they found that Wayfinder and his
people were strong, bearing arms empowered by the Sword in the
Star. However, the Whirldemons were many and the Wanderers were
few. Their city fell, and children cried for parents lost in
battle.
(Micronauts I#31 (fb) / Micronauts I#35 (fb)) - Finally, in the face of the Whirldemons' assault--which threatened to overwhelm even the mighty Agni, Kali, Mara, Yama, Wayfinder called upon the Sword to save them, and the Sword filled him with its power, the Enigma Force, transforming him into the first Time Traveler. Employing his new power, the Traveler bound the Whirldemons so that they could not stay his escape, and he then opened a dimensional portal, creating a subatomic Microverse to which he led the Wanderers. Thus the Microverse was brought into being and populated, while the Whirldemons remained imprisoned for millions of years.
(Micronauts I#31 (fb)) - The whirlwinds created by the Whirldemons destroyed all evidence of Wayfinder's city.
(Micronauts I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Between the newly created Microverse and the Earth dimension, Wayfinder/Time Traveler through up a barrier known as the Spacewall.
(Micronauts I#28 - BTS / Micronauts I#33 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts I#35 (fb) - BTS) - With the Enigma Force dormant following its link to Arcturus Rann being severed, the Whirldemons were released from their imprisonment.
(Micronauts I#33) - Having traveled back in time and viewed Wayfinder's encounter with the Whirldemons, Dr. Strange traveled to the Microverse to learn what had happened next. Arriving on the planet Homeworld's Deadzone, Strange came to the tomb of Wayfinder, little realizing that a Whirldemon was coalescing behind him.
(Micronauts I#34) - As Strange approached the tomb of Wayfinder, the Whirldemon grabbed him from behind.
(Micronauts I#35) - Whirldemons attacked Strange, telling him that he would never unlock the Tomb of Wayfinder, after which they detailed their past encounters with Wayfinder and then announced their intent to conquer Earth and the Microverse. The Micronauts then arrived in Deadzone, and Fireflyte used her Enigma Force-derived powers to saving Strange from the Whirldemon. The now-corrupt King Argon led his Dog Soldiers and Death-Squad to try to steal the Keys from Rann to usurp the Enigma Force for himself. The Whirldemons attacked in an effort to prevent Rann from using the Keys to awaken the Enigma Force to unlock Wayfinder's tomb. After initially opposing them, Argon convinced the Whirldemons to join forces with him, making the deal that they would be given dominion of Earth and Argon would rule the Microverse. The Whirldemons cast illusions into the minds of the Rann, disorienting him and making him drop the Keys, but he swiftly recovered them and threw off their influence. With the aid of Fireflyte, Rann inserted the Keys into Wayfinder's tomb, unlocking it and revealing the Sword in the Star. The Sword merged Rann and Strange and imbued them with the Uni-Power; as Captain Universe, they unified and strengthened the Spacewall separating the Earth dimension and the Microverse, preventing the two universes from merging and annihilating each other. The Uni-Power then returned to the Enigma Force, while Fireflyte used the last of her power to bind the Whirldemons for all eternity, dying in the effort. While her song was the vengeful, it did not slay, showing mercy to those to whom mercy is an alien concept.
(X-23 III#13) - The King of the Whirldemons' spirit escaped their prison when X-23 passed by a physics lab at a university during an experiment and it accidentally opened a portal to the prison realm. His escape also imbued X-23 once again with part of the Enigma Force. This all caused an earthquake during which X-23 saw a man possessed by the king's spirit staring at her.
(X-23 III#14 - BTS) - The Enigma Force showed its former hosts Invisible Woman, Spider-Man and X-23 in their minds an army of Whirldemons.
(X-23 III#15 - BTS) - The Enigma Force had them live through their own deaths at the hands of the Whirldemons before revealing that what they had endured was only a taste of what would happen on Earth because the king of the Whirldemons had escaped imprisonment and was now on Earth trying to release his army from their prison. If he succeeded the Enigma Force feared that Earth would be overrun by the Whirldemons.
(X-23 III#15) - The King of the Whirldemons broke into the Baxter Building and was attacked by the Future Foundation and X-23, but they were no match for him. X-23 was the last one standing and hurt the king, who ripped apart his human host's form to reveal his true form. X-23 came to Valeria Richards' aid when the king threatened her. The king tackled X-23 through three walls and a window. During their fall the king disappeared only to possess Valeria Richards.
(X-23 III#16) - The king threatened Valeria's life and blackmailed the Future Foundation to use the device from the university lab to open a portal to the Whirldemons' prison. X-23 volunteered to be possessed by the king instead of Valeria, which the king agreed to. While she was possessed by the king of the Whirldemons, X-23 jumped through a portal to the prison of the Whirldemons. She was captured and the Whirldemons brought her before their king, who was mad that X-23 had tricked him because she had realized that the king could not fully possess her. Though Earth was saved the king of the Whirldemons promised to torture X-23 until she wished for her death because she now trapped like them in this prison. A Whirldemon hacked off her right hand and gave it to the king, who recognized the symbol of the Star Sword in her palm. He was forced to drop the hand because the energy hurt him. X-23 picked up her hand, which reattached itself to her arm. She then transformed into a version of Captain Universe and slaughtered all Whirldemons attacking her. The king then took a shot at X-23, but she was too powerful for him. She escaped back to Earth with the help of the Enigma Force while the Whirldemons remained trapped in their prison.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Pat Broderick, and Danny Bulanadi.
I guess the Whirldemons might qualify as one of the Elder Races that ruled Earth in the distant past. Perhaps they are Elderspawn, a race descended from one of the Elder Gods, or perhaps they are of extradimensional origin. Or something else.
The Whirldemons reference existing at the beginning of time, but that may be hyperbole.
When Wayfinder and his people arrived on Earth, a little green dinosaur was seen in the background. That would normally mean they had to have landed before 65 million years BC, though it could be that they landed in the Savage Land.
Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond (X-23)
Clarifications:
No known connection to:
images:
Micronauts I#35, p17, panel 1 (main image)
Micronauts I#31, p5, panel 5 (destroying the city
of the Wanderers)
Micronauts I#35, p9, panel 1 (primeval Earth)
Micronauts I#35, p10, panel 4 (bound by Time Traveler)
X-23 III#16, p9, pan4 (Whirledemons and their king)
Appearances:
Micronauts I#31 (July, 1981) - by Bill Mantlo
(writer), Pat Broderick (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker),
Louise Jones (editor)
Micronauts I#32 (August, 1981) - by Bill Mantlo
(writer), Pat Broderick (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker),
Louise Jones & Tom DeFalco (editor)
Micronauts I#33-34 (September-October, 1981) - by Bill Mantlo (writer),
Pat Broderick (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Tom DeFalco (editor)
Micronauts I#35 (November, 1981) - by Bill Mantlo (writer), Val
Mayerik (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Tom DeFalco (editor)
X-23 III#14-16 (November, 2011 - January, 2012) - Marjorie Liu (writer), Philip Noto (artist), Jeanine Schaefer (editor)
First Posted: 02/02/2006
Last updated: 10/28/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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