HUNGRY

Real Name: None

Identity/Class: Demon (see comments)

Occupation: Psychic scavenger

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: X-Men (Colossus, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Phoenix (Rachel Summers), Rogue, Shadowcat, Storm, Wolverine)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Entity, Misery's Maitre D', Chef of Starvation, Waiter to the Waifs of the World, Hash-Slinger to the Homeless, Pestilence, Desolation

Base of Operations: A temple in Africa

First Appearance: Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men#1 (1985)

Powers/Abilities: Hungry, aka the Entity, is a being who feeds on the suffering and misery of physical beings. It may not have a true corporeal form. It can possess others, create life-like manifestations of beings and surroundings and may be immortal. While it possessed a reptilian form within its temple, that may not have been its true form, but rather just another being who fell under its sway.

History: (Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men#1 (fb)-BTS) - In "ancient times" a demonic being who fed on hopelessness and despair came to reside in Africa, where it was opposed by the locals, who lost their battle with it. In an attempt to appease the entity, they erected a temple for it.

(Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men#1) - When the X-Man Phoenix went to check the mail at the mansion, she was horrified to see that the landscape surrounding their home had turned into a desert. The other X-Men, alerted by her screaming, ran to help and saw a postman seemingly incapacitated in the distance. Shadowcat rushed to help him and drag him back to the mansion. Nightcrawler tried to reportedly to her side, but in doing so, encountered something demonic that kept him from helping her. Wolverine then went into the "desert" to aid her, and as he did, he felt the "heat" of the "desert" sapping his strength and making him feel like he was starving. He found Shadowcat and the postal worker, both of whom were wasting away as well, but realized something was odd about the postman. Wolverine stabbed the "postman" with his Adamantium claws and the being disappeared as the surroundings transformed back to normal. Wolverine and Shadowcat regained their healthy forms.  The X-Men discussed what the situation was, and Wolverine stated that whatever had attacked them was still there.

Later that day, Colossus swam in the outside pool, trying to relieve the tension he felt from the earlier situation. He emerged to find himself in a strange world where everything was metal. The other X-Men, now emotionless metal beings persuaded him to join them, and he broke down in tears as he realized he was willingly giving up his humanity. As he did so, the illusion disappeared.

Shadowcat entered the kitchen to get something to eat, where she encountered a robed figure that grabbed her. Its touch emaciated her to near-skeletal form and the being offered her a plate full of food. As she pleaded for the plate, the food on it turned into rotten meat filled with maggots. The being introduced itself to her as Hungry, leaving her starving form on the floor, where Nightcrawler found her. Hungry then took an angelic form, playing upon Nightcrawler's religious beliefs, and offered him salvation for the rest of the world through his own sacrifice, leaving him a broken man.




As Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were attended to in the infirmary, Magneto attempted to use Cerebro to locate their foe. He too was assaulted by a vision of a world where his one-time followers had wiped out humankind, only for the dead to rise against him. Phoenix was the next targeted, as Hungry projected upon her the illusion she had returned to her own dystopic future, where she met and was attacked by the Dark Phoenix. Wolverine, while searching the grounds of the mansion, encountered a being who appeared to be himself, but completely human and devoid of any powers or Adamantium. The two clashed, but Wolverine won, realizing he was human after all, regardless of what he was shown.



Hungry took on the form of a circus ringmaster to confront Storm and she chased him into an arena illusion, where he adopted the form of a clown flinging pies at her. She almost gave into his macabre game, but realizing the "circus arena" was filled with an audience of starving beings, instead handed the pies to them. As the X-Men tried to pull themselves together and regroup, each struck with pangs of despair by the assaults, Rogue wondered why she hadn't been targeted yet. Phoenix revealed that in her rapport with the creature, she managed to find its true location. The team took the Blackbird jet to Africa, where they landed near a large group of starving citizens. As another plane landed with food supplies, something malfunctioned, sending that plane towards the crowd, its propellers still running. Nightcrawler and Phoenix saved them, and the X-Men soon aided in handing out the supplies. When a young child died of malnutrition in Rogue's arms, she realized she had to face her fears. As the other X-Men slept, she absorbed amounts of each of their powers and departed. She found a cavernous temple tomb, and upon entering was attacked by Hungry. She tried to absorb his powers, but the entity instead took control of her.




Storm confronted Hungry-in-Rogue's-body, and realized she was "oddly calm" about the situation. At first she seemed to think that her familiarity with the tomb was a side-effect of Hungry's newly-gained Phoenix powers (telepathy) leaking, but after learning of the creature's origins, she considered the possibilities of genetic memory, as her ancestors may have been the ones to first confront the being. As Rogue/Hungry began to lose the powers of the others as they woke up and confronted her, she/it continued to fight the X-Men, and Phoenix ripped Hungry's essence from the body of Rogue.




Though successful, the X-Men wondered if they had truly won. The next day, as they continued to aid the locals, they discussed the creature, noting that they could still feel its presence. They assured themselves that the being may not have even been truly evil, but rather just a scavenger feasting on the negative nature of humans. They even suggested that the reason it targeted the X-Men was to not only see how the "flavor" of the then-blossoming mutantkind tasted, but to also see if it would be possible to be defeated by them should it truly attack them.





Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Ann Nocenti, Berni Wrightson, Jim Starlin, Jim Shooter and a host of other writers and pencilers (see issue breakdown at end of profile).

While the creature is mostly referred to as "The Entity" throughout the issue, it introduces itself to Kitty (Shadowcat) as Hungry, so that's what I've opted to go with. After all, it never really named itself to the others, just her.

While Storm theorizes that the creature may be a "primal mutant" from the psychic plane, it seems too similar to demons like D'Spayre and other Fear Lords.

This was a special one-shot through which the proceeds were used to aid famine relief in Africa. It was written by no less than 20 different writers (five plotters, with the rest writing a few pages each of the actual story) and 19 pencilers. It is, to my knowledge, Alan Moore's only non-UK Marvel work.

Seriously...look at the credits down below. That's one hell of a talent pool for one comic.

The entity that appeared in the "Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men#1" may have been one in the same as Ghaszash Nyirh. Furthermore, the entity states that Storm is "...different from those who struggled against me in ancient days--mutated--but much like them!" This suggests that Storm's magical ancestor Ashake may have faced it as well."
--Kyle


Profile by Madison Carter.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Character name has no known connections to

images: (without ads)

Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men#1, page 39, panel 8 (main image)
                                                                       back cover
                                                                       page 12, panels 1-3 (Hungry robed form)
                                                                       page 40, panel 1 (possessing Rogue)

Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men#1 (1985) - Chris Claremont, Ann Nocenti, Berni Wrightson, Jim Starlin, Jim Shooter, Stan Lee, Ed Bryant, Louise Simonson, Stephen King, Bill Mantlo, Alan Moore, Harlan Ellison, Jo Duffy, Mike Baron, Denny O'Neil, George Martin, Bruce Jones, Steve Englehart, Mike Grell and Archie Goodwin (writers), John Romita, Jr., John Buscema, Brent Anderson, John Byrne, Berni Wrightston, Charlie Vess, Richard Corben, Mike Kaluta, Frank Miller, Brian Bolland, John Bolton, Steve Rude, Bret Blevins, Herb Trimpe, Gray Morrow, Paul Gulacy, Alan Weiss, Jackson Guice and Howard Chaykin (pencilers), Al Gordon, Klaus Janson, Joe Sinnott, Terry Austin, Dan Green, Jeff Jones, Jay Muth, Tom Palmer, Richard Corben, Al Milgrom, Bill Sienkiewicz, Craig Russell, John Bolton, Carl Potts, Al Williamson, Sal Buscema, Gray Morrow, Bob Layton, Joe Rubinstein, Steve Leialoha and Walt Simonson (inkers), Ann Nocenti and Chris Claremont (editors)....*whew*

First Posted: 06/21/2008
Last updated: 06/21/2008

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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