THING FROM PLANET X
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-5953) extraterrestrial plant life
Occupation: Would-be conqueror
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Cap, Chuck and Dave
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe (Earth-5953);
formerly Planet X
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#3/2 (May, 1959)
Powers/Abilities: Standing about 18 inches tall, the Thing from Planet X was a sentient plant which could dominate the minds of others via mental telepathy. The Thing also had the ability to reproduce itself by releasing spores. The plant-thing took oxygen from the air and replaced it with a gas poisonous to all other plants and animals. The plant-thing's powers of mental domination weakened every thirty hours.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 18")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 18 lbs.)
Eyes: Black
Hair: None
History:
(Tales of Suspense I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - Spawned from "the floral planet which was created by a great solar explosion when the universe was still young," the plant-thing was confined to its own planet until it was spread throughout the universe when other space travelers came around; through them, the plants spread throughout other planets in the universe and took oxygen from the air and replaced it with a gas poisonous to all other plants and animals.
(Tales of Suspense I#3/2) - At some point in the future, an Earth scout ship landed on Planet X and the three crew members took an alien plant sample aboard their ship. Later, they sensed a telepathic message -- "You are in my power -- you will obey me -- you will do as I command! You will obey me!!" After paralyzing the men and telling them its story, the plant-thing commanded them to take it to its next conquest -- Earth!
As they sped through space towards Earth, Cap (while using the washroom) noticed that the plant-thing's power over him seemed to diminish, and he theorized that it was because of the power unit next to the washroom interfering with the plant-thing's power. Also noticing that the plant's control cycle weakened every thirty hours, Cap formulated an escape plan and scrawled a message to the other two men on the washroom wall (since they would all use the washroom, eventually). As the ship approached Earth's orbit, the time came, and all three scrambled into an emergency escape pod which launched them away from the ship and the plant-thing's mental domination.
The ship plummeted into the ocean and exploded. But as they no longer had any proof of the plant-thing's existence ("Who will believe us if we tell about the Thing from Planet X?"), the three crew members made up a story for their official report. All three men were brought in for investigation and were tried for court-martial offenses, but they were cleared of all charges when the court-martial board came to the conclusion that the ship's destruction was an accident.
In the end, Cap, Dave, and Chuck decided they were going to get some strong backing before they told the world about the Thing from Planet X -- they would go to Interplanetary Society for the Study of Unusual Life Forms (the best place to start), then go back with a way to control the creatures so they'd never menace Earth again!
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Steve Ditko.
Googam's Handbook profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update#1 (April, 2010) established this story took place on Earth-5953. The Handbook profile noted it's unrevealed whether Goom's Planet X is associated with that of wooden giant Groot, the hairy giant Creature from Planet X or the sentient telepathic plant Thing from Planet X (the latter two only seen in alternate Reality-59433 and -5953, respectively).
Thanks to James Cope for pointing out a typo.
Profile by John Kaminski
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Thing from Planet X has no known connections to:
The three-man crew of an Earth scoutship, they landed on an unidentified world ("Planet X"). While collecting plant samples, they unknowingly took a menacing alien lifeform aboard their ship.
--Tales of Suspense I#3/2
Images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#3, p8, pan1 (main image)
Tales of Suspense I#3, p6, pan4 (little plant)
Tales of Suspense I#3, p10, pan5 (Chuck, Cap and Dave)
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#3/2 (May, 1959) - Steve Ditko (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
First Posted: 02/08/2007
Last Updated: 07/31/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com