BRAHL
BRAHL
Real Name: Brahl
Identity/Class: (Presumably extratemporal (31st century Earth-691) extraterrestrial (Achernonian)
Occupation: Warrior, monitor
Group Membership: Minions of Menace/Intimidators (Dumog,
Grott, Teju,
Tork);
formerly Force (Broadside, Eightyfive, Interface, Photon,
Scanner, Tachyon)
Affiliations: Former agent of Korvac & Malevolence
Enemies: Force, Galactic Guardians (Firelord,
Hollywood, Phoenix, Spirit of Vengeance, Martinex T'Naga, Replica), Guardians of
the Galaxy (Charlie-27, Nikki, Starhawk, Martinex T'Naga, Yondu Udonta, Vance
Astro), Mainframe, Malevolence of 31st century Earth-691;
Thor of Earth-616;
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Brahl, the Intangible;
Brahl has referred to himself as an Intangible
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe
in 31st century reality-691;
formerly an unidentified planet;
possibly originated on the planet Achernon (fourth from the sun)
in the Alpha Unakalhai system, Milky Way galaxy
First Appearance: Thor Annual#6 (1977)
Powers/Abilities: Like some Achernonians, Brahl can
turn intangible, allowing him to avoid conventional assaults. He can
rematerialize at will, performing his own attacks. In addition, he can also
project blasts that turn other people and/or things intangible.
He possesses purple-grey skin, and his two toes end in sharp
talons.
He sometimes uses an energy blaster.
History:
(Thor Annual#6 (fb) - BTS) - Korvac sent out probes through
time and space to recover long-lost devices and artifacts, as well as to recruit
a number of lieutenants, his Minions of Menace: Brahl, Dumog, Grott, Korvac,
Teju, and Tork.
(Thor Annual#6) - When Korvac commanded Teju to confirm
destruction of a ship they had encountered, the Minions began fighting amongst
themselves. After Brahl encouraged Grott for striking down Teju, Tork swung at
him with fist, but Brahl turned intangible, and Tork's fist passed harmlessly
through him. Korvac commanded them all to
stand down and then revealed his plot to cause Earth's sun to go nova and siphon
the power into his equipment so he could use it to establish his own empire.
When the ship, the Guardians of the Galaxy's Freedom's Lady,
returned, Korvac ordered defense drones to destroy it. The Guardians and their
guest, Thor of Earth-616, set their ship on auto-pilot and beamed down to
Korvac's world where the Minions of Menace confronted them. Brahl's
intangibility proved effective even against Vance Astro's telekinesis, but then
Yondu fired a Yaka arrow that circled Brahl repeatedly until he rematerialized
against his will, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#5 (fb) - BTS) - Brahl increased his own powers, gaining the ability to turn other people and things intangible.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#3 (fb) - BTS) - Brahl and his allies in the team Force -- Broadside, Eighty-Five, Interface, Photon, Scanner, Tachyon -- undertook a mission to locate the legendary shield of Captain America.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Guardians of the Galaxy undertook a quest to obtain the shield as well.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#1 - BTS) - The Guardians found that unknown parties (Force) had beat them to a clue to the shield's location on the planet Courg. When the Guardians arrived, some of the Courg attacked Yondu, mistaking him for Photon.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#15 (fb) - BTS) - The Hell-lord
Mephisto arranged for Force to obtain a second copy of the Book of Antag in the
hopes that Force would destroy the Guardians of the Galaxy in a battle for the
shield.
Specifically, they wished to arrange the destruction of Aleta,
who might prove Malevolence's challenger to become Matriarch (maternal guardian)
to the Protégé, the powerful living god of the UCT.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#3) - As Scanner detected the approach of Firelord, Interface instructed Brahl to go to red alert, but Firelord flew past them, to caught up in his own mission to stop them. Broadside then arrived with the Book of Antag, which Interface would contain clues that would lead them to the shield.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#4 (fb) - BTS) - Brahl and the rest of Force arrived on the planet Entem, seeking to gain a tablet contained within one of their temples. A group of Entemen tried to stop them, and Force savagely attacked them.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#4) - Brahl allowed blasts from a
laser cannon to pass through him, striking one of the Entemen, and the rest of
Force made short work of the other Entemen. Interface then claimed the tablet,
which gave clues to the shield's location.
Meanwhile, Firelord informed the Guardians of the shield's
location.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#5 (fb) - BTS) - Force arrived on the planet Mainframe, the location of the shield.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#5) - When the Guardians arrived on Mainframe, it announced that the two groups would have to compete to prove the worthiness to hold the shield. Brahl joined Broadside in battle against Charlie-27 and Martinex within a series of subterranean tunnels. Martinex's first blast passed harmlessly through Brahl, who then turned Martinex intangible. Martinex fell through the floor and then crashed on the floor of the next level, shattering some of his crystal coating. Brahl followed him down and blasted him twice, turning intangible to avoid another of Martinex's blasts, and mocking Martinex as his crystal coating shattered further. Brahl was disappointed as Mainframe teleported Martinex away before Brahl could harm him further. Brahl was pronounced the victor by Mainframe, but Martinex was on death's door from his injuries.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#6) - Brahl sat alongside the rest of his teammates as Interface defeated Vance Astro in the final combat, but Interface then attempted to employ the shield to control the Guardians, not understanding that its power to lead others was only inspirational. Disgusted when this failed, Interface cast away the shield, and Vance claimed it. Mainframe then banished Force back to their ship. While Brahl wanted to go back and slaughter the Guardians, the others agreed with Interface to instead continue to pursue only matters of profit.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#15 (fb) - BTS) - The Hell-lord Mephisto instructed his daughter Malevolence to form an alliance with Force to aid her in becoming Matriarch to the Protégé.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#11 (fb) - BTS) - Brahl spied on Broadside,
catching her in the shower.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#11) - Bored with space travel, Brahl spied on Broadside, catching her interacting with a hologram of Charlie-27, whom she'd developed a crush on. Brahl mocked her, and she threatened to kill him for invading her privacy, but the entire team was then called to the bridge by Interface. Upon their arrival, Interface announced that he had discovered an anomaly on an intercept course coming from Mainframe's space sector, too small to be anything but a single being and too hot not to be on fire.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#13 (fb) - BTS) - Malevolence incapacitated the rest of Force while Brahl stayed in an intangible state.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#13) - Brahl noted he was impressed with Malevolence's feat, and he opened negotiations with her. She offered him limitless wealth if he aided her, and he told her that he wanted not wealth, but rather revenge on the Guardians: For that, he would make a deal with the devil himself. Gaining a grip on Brahl's soul, Malevolence told him, "Foolish mortal, you just did!"
(Guardians of the Galaxy#14) - As Force's ship approached the
Universal Church of Truth Homeworld, Brahl was impressed by the large number of
starships, which Malevolence noted were there to pay respects at the coronation.
She then revealed her goal to become Matriarch (maternal guardian) to the
Protégé, the powerful living god of the UCT.
Interface voiced his disapproval of Brahl's treachery to
Eighty-Five, and Broadside vowed that Brahl would pay for his actions.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#15) - Force watched from the crowd as Malevolence defeated a would-be Matriarch challenger in combat.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#15 (fb) - BTS) - Brahl spoke to Malevolence b/t rounds, discussing their plans.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#15) - Brahl prepared to share these
plans with Force, taunting Interface with the fact that he now ruled Force.
Brahl subsequently led Force to battle the Guardians. Brahl
fired his blaster at Starhawk, who turned immaterial, allowing the blast to pass
harmlessly through him. However, when Aleta teleported away from the battle (to
confront Malevolence), Brahl was distracted, and Starhawk -- who had achieved a
density comparable to Brahl's, punched him out.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#16) - After Photon was mortally
wounded in battle with Yondu, the rest of Force rushed to save her. A furious
Brahl instead ordered them to gain revenge on the Guardians, but he escaped
through the floor to warn Malevolence when Broadside rushed him, intending to
punish him.
Brahl subsequently caught up with Malevolence, warning her
about Aleta, but Malevolence told Brahl he would pay for his incompetence unless
he could tell her something she didn't already know.
Later, after Aleta had been absorbed into Starhawk (who was
disrupted by the energy feedback and then fled), Brahl congratulated
Malevolence, as she now had no competition to become the Protégé's Matriarch.
She simply swatted him away, telling him that she no longer needed him and
suggested he flee or she would turn him over to his vengeance-seeking former
teammates. Brahl indeed fled, vowing vengeance on her, as well as Force and the
Guardians, and he already had a plan in mind to make them all pay.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#21) - Brahl broke Teju out of Stockade.
(Guardians of the Galaxy#22) - Brahl met with Dumog and Tork as they rushed into a dead end ally while fleeing from the authorities. He offered his help...
(Guardians of the Galaxy#23) - Dumog, Brahl, and Tork met Grott, recruiting him to help fulfill Brahl's master plan.
(Guardians of the Galaxy Annual#2 (fb) - BTS) - Brahl re-formed the Minions of Menace as the Intimidators. Somehow obtaining a chip encoded with the sum total of Korvac prior to his traveling to the modern era of Earth-616, Brahl brought the chip and the Intimidators to the planet Klattu, home of the immense computer Mainframe (the alternate future counterpart of the Vision). The hooked up the chip and activated it, draining virtually every last erg of power from Mainframe. A simultaneous infection with the powerful computer virus Ultra-Max rendered Mainframe unable to resist them.
(Guardians of the Galaxy Annual#2) - The team that would
become the Galactic Guardians (Firelord, Hollywood, Spirit of Vengeance,
Martinex T'Naga, Replica) confronted the Intimidators in hopes of saving
Mainframe. The Intimidators proved no match for their assailants, and after a
short struggle Martinex trapped Dumog, Grott, Teju, and Tork within chunks of
ice. The soon-to-be Guardians were unable to stop Brahl before he could complete
the Korvac program, but they managed to overload Korvac and free Phoenix
(Girard) who made short work of Korvac.
Mainframe recovered, and the heroes
decided to stay together as the Galactic Guardians.
Comments: Created by Steve Gerber, Len Wein, Jim Starlin, Dan Adkins, Don Newton, & Jim Mooney.
It is not 100% confirmed that Brahl is from 31st century reality-691, as Korvac does say that he recruited his lieutenants (the Minions of Menace) from across time and space. However, he hasn't been seen anywhere else besides 31st century reality-691, nor was there ever any hint that he was time-displaced or wanted to get back to his own timeline.
Upon encountering Brahl as part of Force, Martinex asked him what happened to that other bunch of losers he used to run with. Brahl responded, "I got a better offer."
Brahl once exclaimed, "Zor, but I hate
space travel!"
It's anyone's guess who or what Zor is.
Guardians of the Galaxy#15 references that in #9, Mephisto guided Malevolence to form an alliance with Force. I don't see either Mephisto or Malevolence in #9.
It's hard to tell b/c of his dark complexion, but Brahl had a moustache and a goatee in his first appearance. He ditched the moustache in Guardians#3-6, 11, & 13-16, but he had it back in #21-23 and Annual#2.
Thanks to Donald Campbell for pointing out it was Malevolence defeating Force in #13 and not Brahl. He also provided notes by Jim Valentino, which revealed Brahl was meant as a counterpart to DC's Phantom Girl in the ranks of Force and Kang's Legion (Force and Rancor's Lieutenants united), which he had planned to use in Guardians of the Galaxy I#37-39.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:
As far as I can tell the Mephisto in these stories is an alternate future counterpart of Mephisto-616, rather than a time-traveling Mephisto-616.
Malevolence should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Thor Annual#6, p15 (full body, original appearance)
p16, panel 4 (face, with moustache and goatee)
Guardians of the Galaxy#5, p7, panel 4 (sans moustache)
cover - face close-up
#16, P7, panel 1 (full body)
Appearances:
Thor Annual#6 (1977) - Len Wein & Roger Stern (writers), Sal Buscema (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks), Len Wein (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#1 (June, 1990) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve
Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#3-6 (August-November, 1990) - Jim Valentino
(writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#11 (April, 1991) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve
Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#13-16 (June-September, 1991) - Jim Valentino
(writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#21 (February, 1992) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#22 (March, 1992) - Jim Valentino (writer/pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy#23 (April, 1992) - Jim Valentino (writer), Mike Texeira (art), Craig Anderson (editor)
Guardians of the Galaxy Annual#2 (1992) - Jim Valentino (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Steve Montano (inks),
Craig Anderson (editor)
First Posted: 05/06/2008
Last updated: 07/30/2012
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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