ANUBIAN race
(Reality-791)

Classification: Semi-humanoid extraterrestrial race;
    Reality-791 (Reality-616 counterparts apparently exist)

Location/Base of Operations: Unrevealed...home planet possibly within the same galaxy/sector as the Empire of Sparta;
    Dirac and the Slave-Master were taking their captives to Kandahar (presumably a planet on which the slaves would be trained to serve Prince Gareth's insurrection)

Known Members: Dirac (all Anubian pictures in this profile are apparently Dirac, and all text presumably rates to Dirac as well). Dirac apparently had the title of Lord amongst the Anubians, but it is unclear whether this was of royal significance, or just a title amongst the Slavers. It is unrevealed whether other Anubians were part of the Slaver force.

Affiliations: (Dirac, at least) Gareth's insurrection/mercenary forces

Enemies: Scania/people of Windhölme

First Appearance: Marvel Preview#11 (Summer, 1977)

Powers/Abilities: No superhuman abilities were identified or demonstrated. They are very lean and have multi-faceted eyes.

Traits: Dirac, at least, was calmly analytical and able to maintain his composure in various situations. Dirac orchestrated the slaughter and enslavement of multiple entire global populations.

Type:  Bilaterally symmetric semi-humanoid insectoid? bipeds
Eyes:Two (on head; multi-faceted; blue, red and yellow colors seen)
Fingers: Four (plus opposing thumb)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Pale green or white
Hair color: Pale blue or darker green (Dirac's hair was not colored consistently) or black
Average height: Approximately 5'10"?

History: Next to nothing is known of the Anubians as a race. All known information relates to the activities of Dirac in Gareth's insurrection.

(Marvel Preview#11 (fb) - BTS) - Prince Gareth, uncle of Emperor Jason and Grand Admiral of the Imperial Fleet, felt the throne was his by right and was too prideful to live in his nephew's shadow. To this end, Gareth amassed a large army of loyal troops and employed numerous mercenaries. 

(Marvel Preview#11 (fb) - BTS) - Anubian Lord Dirac was a leader in the slaver force who would slaughter the entire populations of whole planets, pillage those planets, and enslave the survivors to facilitate the insurrection.

(Marvel Preview#11 (fb) - BTS) - The slavers slaughtered the people of Pryd'ri (on which Sandy was taken prisoner) and another world (presumably executing the adults and the resistors and capturing the others).

(Marvel Preview#11 (fb) - BTS) - Within a month of their conquest, the slavers' target planets were uninhabitable, and within a year they were dead husks.

(Marvel Preview#11 (fb) - BTS) - The Scania of Windhölme were ambushed by the slavers, who burned down everyone over the age of 17, as well as anyone who resisted. The slavers spared only a few thousand youths out of Windhölme population of 8 million (the rest of whom were slain). The slavers rounded the remaining youths up to be secured in their slave-pens.

(Marvel Preview#11) - Lord Dirac oversaw the loading of Windhölme's youth aboard their ship's slave pens.

A warrior/trooper captain worried what if one of the youths tried something, but Dirac assured him that the children had lost too much, too quickly. Pointing out the youths' appearances, Dirac noted how they were in shock; by the time the youths recovered, they would already be in their slave-pens.

    Dirac's eyes swept the crowd one final time, fixing on the defiant face of Kip Hölm and noting that if any of the youths were a potential threat, it was him.

    After the ship took off, Kip had to be beaten into submission by the troopers, and he was then dragged before Dirac and the Slave-Master, who asked if there were other rebels.

    Dirac replied in the negative, noting that once this one's spirit was broken, the rest of his people would yield.

    Kip defiantly called the Slave-Master a slug and replied that his people would never yield to the likes of him, amusing the Slave-Master with his defiant barks; the Slave-Master called Kip "little mammal" and promised to break his will personally and make Kip his body slave, and that the Scania would watch Kip serve his every whim.

 

(Marvel Preview#11 - BTS) - Impressed by Kip's one-man stand, Sandy of Pryd'ri prepared to rescue Kip by turning out the lights.

 

 

(Marvel Preview#11) - Taking advantage of the darkness and distraction, Sandy pulled Kip free into one of the ship's massive air ducts. The slavers stumbled over each other trying to recover him.

By the time the lights came back on, Dirac instructed/advised the Slave-Master to let Kip go, as he was not wore the effort needed to ferret him out -- since the slave decks were sealed off from the rest of the ship he could do no harm, and they would deal with him when they returned to Kandahar.

(Marvel Preview#11 - BTS) - Dirac was not seen in the subsequent struggle, but he clearly escaped, while Star-Lord showed up and led the captives to rebel against and slaughter the Slave-Master and other Slavers.

    Dirac fled to Kyras Shakati's palace on Cinnibar.

 

 

 

 

 

(Marvel Preview#11 - BTS) - After Sandy slew Shakati and his youthful companion Arak, Dirac stood beside Arak's twin, Arion, as he fired a blast from his pistol at Kip and Sandy as they briefly embraced; Kip and Sandy dove out of the way and called to Star-Lord for help.

Arion wanted to try to finish them off, Dirac advised him that the pair's skinsuits were like battle armor and resistant to his blaster, and that Arion could best serve his brother's memory by fleeing to warn the prince (Gareth).

 

 

 

(Marvel Preview#11) - Dirac (or possibly another Anubian) witnessed as Star-Lord helped Kip escape from Arion and the torturer Tikos.

(Marvel Preview#11 (fb) - BTS) - Presumably Dirac warned Gareth about the escape and their intent to reveal his plans to Emperor Jason.

(Marvel Preview#11 - BTS) - Once the information on Star-Lord's data pack was confirmed, the Imperial guard moved against Gareth's mercenaries, while the fleet took up positions along the truce line, in case the Ariguans were tempted to try some mischief.

    Within a few hours after Gareth's death, the conspiracy was smashed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin.

    AFAIK, Dirac was not seen after he departed with Arion, who subsequently traveled to Sparta and was slain by Kip. I'd imagine Dirac was rounded up and tried alongside the other members of Gareth's conspiracy, but we don't know that.

    In his origin, Star-Lord was empowered in 1990 AD. Marvel Preview#11 gives me the impression that some considerable time has passed between Peter's transformation and the "present-day." On the tenth story page, Starlord thinks to himself that the fact that his weapon is limited only by the power of his mind is something that still scares him "after all this time." This is just a guess but I'd say that that indicates that Marvel Preview#11 takes place months or even years after Marvel Preview#4.
    --Donald Campbell

    Thanks to Don for providing the color images for the profile, and for alerting me that the Starlord special edition was colorized.

    Dirac has been through some colorful changes over the years.

    Profile originally by Snood.
Thanks to Donald Campbell for the updated information from Maximum Security!
 

anubians_race-dirac-UXM125

anubians_race_delegateAnubians of Reality-616

    As with the Anubian race from Reality-791, almost nothing has been revealed about the Anubians who live in Reality-616. Only two members of their race have ever been seen to be present at events that took place in Earth-616's reality.

(Uncanny X-Men I#125) - On the world called "Imperial Center" in the Shi'ar Galaxy, an Anubian with light green skin and dark blue eyes was a guest at the first state ball to be hosted by the newly-crowned Empress Lilandra. Among the other guests present at the ball were (beings who looked like) Kyras Shakati and his aides, Arak and Arion (plus a Pierson's Puppeteer and Popeye the Sailor Man).

(Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet#1) - Years later, an Anubian with white skin, red eyes and black hair was a delegate present at a meeting of the Intergalactic Council held on the planet Selandiar. This council had been convened by Shi'ar Majestrix Lilandra Neramani to welcome a new race, the Ruul, to the other civilized cultures of known space but two events delayed that welcome. First, Skrull Ambassador Kreddik demanded that the question of the threat that humanity posed to the civilized races of the universe be raised and the matter judged by M'ndavian justice. Then, news came that the planet Krylor had been destroyed and those assembled watched an audio-visual recording showing how the insane Ego the Living Planet had destroyed Krylor.

(Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet#1) - "Weeks" later, when Ego was attacking Selandiar, an Anubian delegate was among the thousands of sentients from whom the Earth mutant Charles Xavier telepathically harvested "psychic strength" without their consent. This gathered psychic power was soon afterwards used in an attempt to shut down Ego's insane mind but the Living Planet was instead defeated by Ruul technology.


   A day later, an Anubian was present when the intergalactic council addressed the question of humanity. The Anubian was among the delegates who were not impressed by the Skrull mutant Zcann's testimony about Charles Xavier and his dream. It was soon afterwards that the last of the M'ndavian Judgment Gems turned black, indicating that all of the members of the council had reached a guilty verdict against the human race.

--Uncanny X-Men I#125, Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet#1

Comments: The character (the Anubian at Lilandra's state ball) is either the Reality-616 version (of Dirac), or someone from Classic Star-Lord's timeline (Reality-791) who had traveled to Reality-616.

    Dirac's eyes are bright yellow in STARLORD, THE SPECIAL EDITION. If the Anubian in UNCANNY X-MEN#125 has blue eyes, then either Anubians can change the color of their eyes or it's not Dirac at Lilandra's state ball after all.
    --Donald Campbell

    Given the appearance of Kyras Shakati, Arak, and Arion, at the same ball, I'd ASSume that the intent was for this to be Dirac and that eye color could have been a mistake if it was contradictory.
--Snood

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Anubians have no known connections to

 

images: (without ads)
Marvel Preview#11, story page 1 (Dirac with troops);
    pg. 5, panel 2 (with Slavemaster, profile);
        panel 6 (with Slavemaster, from above)
    pg. 27, panel 2 (with Arion)
Uncanny X-Men#125, pg. 10, panel 5
 Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet#1, page 4, panel 3 (delegate)

Appearances:
Marvel Preview#11 (Summer, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Ralph Macchio (associate editor), John Warner (editor)
Uncanny X-Men#125 (September, 1979) - John Byrne & Chris Claremont (writers), John Byrne (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Roger Stern (editor)
 Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet#1 (October, 2000) - Kurt Busiek & Jerry Ordway, Will Blyberg & Paul Ryan (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 04/16/2013
Last updated: 07/30/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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