EARTH-SHAKER

Classification: Terrestrial technology

Creator: Tyrannus

User/Possessors: "Tyrannus" (see comments)

Aliases: King Kong, Godzilla, Megalon, "your giant Raideen look-a-like," Gorgo, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Mighty Joe Young (all as called by Nova)

First Appearance: Nova I#5 (January, 1977)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: Directly controlled by a single operator in an internal cockpit, the nuclear-powered Earth-Shaker was built in humanoid form and stood nearly seventy-feet tall. Equipped with a large drill bit on its head, it could effortlessly tunnel its way through miles of solid rock. It had a left arm that terminated with a steam-shovel claw, while its right arm had a drill unit (which could reconfigure into a pincer claw) at the end. The Earth-Shaker could also fire two "power drill" missiles from its chest.

With an access panel on the foot of its right leg that allowed entrance, the Earth-Shaker had enough internal space to accommodate "Tyrannus" and at least fifteen of his Subterraneans,

History:
(Nova I#5 (fb) - BTS) - "Tyrannus" had his subterranean slaves construct the Earth-Shaker according to his plans (see comments)

(Nova I#5) - At the time of the mechanical behemoth's completion, "Tyrannus" formulated a scheme to have the Earth-Shaker bury the largest cities on the world's surface, sealing the inhabitants in caves and blind grottoes. With humanity helpless in this new environment--trapped in the stifling darkness "Tyrannus" and his followers thrived in--the surface-dwellers would be ripe for conquest. "Tyrannus" herded his Subterraneans into the Earth-Shaker, then took the controls and made the voyage to the surface world.

  The massive mechanoid emerged on the surface in New York City's Central Park, where the man called Nova (Richard Rider) was demonstrating his powers to Marvel Comics staffers Marv Wolfman and Sal Buscema (in the hopes that they'd give him his own comic book).

  Sitting at the robot's control panel, "Tyrannus" saw Nova on the monitor screen, and dispatched his minions to deal with the young hero. After a brief struggle with the swarm of Subterraneans, Nova flew towards the Earth-Shaker's head, but failed to break in. The robot fired two "power drill" missiles at the hero, grinding him into the earth; immediately afterwards, it scooped the bedraggled human rocket up in its shovel claw and pulled him into its inner mechanism. The Earth-Shaker then began its task, forming a large cave wall from mud.

  Inside the giant robot, Nova was stunned by "Tyrannus'" cobaltronic ray. When he recovered, Nova found himself shackled to a wall, and "Tyrannus" tied the hero's life-force into the Earth-Shaker's generator, so his powers would feed the machine. As "Tyrannus" left to check on his robot's progress, Nova noticed his body vibrating from the effects of the power drain, so he sped up the vibrations of his body and disrupted the Earth-Shaker's system. The young hero managed to break free from his bonds and burst out of the robot's chest.

  Nova flew back and shattered the Earth-Shaker's left arm, but the robot retaliated and hit him with its drill hand, pushing him into the earth. The human rocket used his Nova-speed to spin around and drilled a tunnel through the ground. Breaking out of the soil behind the Earth-Shaker, Nova smashed another hole into the robot's body and confronted "Tyrannus" inside. Nova disarmed him of his weapon, then threatened to use his fists to rearrange "Tyrannus'" features a bit--not wishing to have his handsome face damaged, the vain villain relented, and presumably made a return trip to his subterranean realm (along with his followers) in the badly damaged Earth-Shaker.

Comments: Created by Marv Wolfman and Sal Buscema.

NOTE: The "Tyrannus" who appeared in this story was a substitute. At the time, the real Tyrannus was suffering from advanced aging and was involved in the machinations of They Who Wield Power as "Des". "Des" sent his mental essence into one of his Subterraneans, giving that chosen minion the form of Tyrannus. After his defeat by Nova, Tyrannus returned his consciousness to El Dorado, leaving behind a bewildered Subterranean, who was torn apart by his angered fellows (@ Incredible Hulk II#241).

Despite its immense size, one Earth-Shaker alone just doesn't seem like it would be enough to accomplish Tyrannus' lofty goal of world conquest, so it was probably just used in this instance to stimulate the seismic activity needed to restore the cobalt-fed Flame of Life.

Although the Subterraneans did build it, Tyrannus implied that he designed the Earth-Shaker, but I'd speculate that it was really leftover Deviant technology (possibly for constructing and/or mining caverns), and Tyrannus just claimed the design as his own.

And a BIG Thank You to Nathan Elliott for the scans!

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Earth-Shaker has no known connection to:

• Damek the Earth-Shaker, extratemporal Darkhawk foe @ Darkhawk Annual#3
• Earthshaker of Earth-982, Spider-Girl foe @ Spider-Girl#21
• Mechanical Gladiator, another robot used by Tyrannus @ Incredible Hulk I#5
• Mogol, yet another robot used by Tyrannus @ Incredible Hulk II#127
• Super-Cobalt Robot, and another robot used by Tyrannus @ X-Men I#34
• any other character with a similar name

images: (without ads)
Nova I#5, p5 (main image)