STAR THIEF
STAR THIEF
Real Name: Ditmil Pirvat
Identity/Class: Human mutate; citizen of India
Occupation: Adventurer; seeker of knowledge;
formerly activist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Inhumans (Black Bolt/Blackagar
Boltagon, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw, Medusa/Medusalith Amaquelin, Triton),
Inhuman High Council, New Warriors
(Firestar/Angelica Jones, Marvel Boy/Vance Astrovik, Namorita Prentiss,
Night Trasher/Dwayne Taylor, Nova/Richard Ryder, Speedball/Robbie
Baldwin), Nova
0:0, Uatu the Watcher
Enemies: Stane International (Robert Hanklin
and unrevealed others)
Known Relatives: Wife, son, and daughter (names
unrevealed, all deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Attilan, Blue Area
of the Moon;
formerly New Delhi, India;
born in Nagpur, India
First Appearance: New Warriors I#5 (November, 1990)
Powers/Abilities: Star Thief's body generates
cosmic energy which his containment suit channels; he has to
periodically vent excess energies when they build up within the suit.
Usually firing energy from his hands, he can also release energy blasts
omni-directionally from his entire body. These blasts are powerful
enough to incinerate a rocket and its payload. Star Thief's powers
enable him to fly at supersonic speeds, though he requires his suit's
navigational wings to do so properly. The suit protects him from
physical assault, but he is specifically vulnerable to microwaves and
other energy attacks. He possesses an unspecified degree of superhuman
strength (somewhere between enhanced human and Class 25...meaning the
maximum weight he can lift is somewhere between 800 lbs. and 25 tons) though whether this is part of his mutation or provided by the
suit has not been revealed. Star Thief needs his suit to survive.
He is
fluent in English and Hindi.
History:
(New Warriors I#6 (fb) ) - Ditmil Pirvat was a happily
married man living with his wife and two children near the Indian
capital of New Delhi. One day, while out for a drive, the family car was
accidentally hit by an energy beam fired from a faulty, experimental
satellite's ozone analyzer. His family died instantly, but the blast
mutated Pirvat. When a team, dispatched after the blast, discovered him,
his body was fluctuating between decayed flesh and irradiated cosmic
energy. In order to help him survive, a containment suit was hastily
crafted for him.
(New Warriors I#6 (fb) - BTS) - His traumatic experiences convinced Privat that mankind had no business exploring the stars. Now calling himself Star Thief, he struck out to make sure there'd be no more rockets launched by single-handedly blowing them up.
(New Warriors I#5) - Star Thief traveled to North Africa where the European Space Agency (ESA) was to launch an unmanned Titan rocket carrying communication satellites among other things. He managed to sneak aboard and kept himself hidden until right after the launch. He then vented sufficient cosmic energy to completely incinerate the rocket. As he swooped down to destroy the launch equipment, he decreed that man's wasteful exploration of space would no longer be tolerated, adding that anyone who would continue to do so would be destroyed.
(New Warriors I#6 - BTS) - Having learned of the Inhumans' existence, Stane International prepared to launch a toxic missile at the their home, Attilan, in the Blue Area of the Moon. They planned to pilfer Attilan as soon as all the Inhumans had died as a result of the Blue Area becoming a poisonous wasteland.
(New Warriors I#5 - BTS) - In the months that followed, Star Thief disrupted two more missile launches. This caught the attention of Marvel Boy who felt adamant the New Warriors should stand up against all kinds of criminals. As fate would have it, Namorita had learned Stane International was about to illegally dump large amounts of hazardous chemical waste by launching it into (allegedly) space. Figuring this would attract Star Thief's attention, the team spent the next few days locating Stane's launch site, finally pinpointing it to the Babyun islands in the Philippines.
(New Warriors I#5) - The New Warriors' gamble paid off: not too long
after their arrival in the Philippines, Star Thief made his move against
Stane's rocket. Fearing that having him destroy the waste filled missile
would cause massive pollution, the heroes tried to prevent him from
reaching the rocket. Though he didn't want to hurt them, Star Thief
reluctantly blasted them away and made his way inside the rocket,
followed by Namorita, Marvel Boy and Firestar whose powers were the only
ones that seemed to affect Star Thief. The other Warriors were busy
fighting off a battalion of Stane-controlled Mandroids sent into battle
by Robert Hanklin, the project coordinator who also ordered the
missile's immediate launch. Inside the rocket, Star Thief discovered the
massive amount of toxic waste and realized the New Warriors were right
to stop him. However, before he could figure out what to do, the rocket
took to the air with Hanklin revealing its destination wasn't space, but
the Moon.
(New Warriors I#6) - In space, nothing could deter Star Thief's plans to blow up the rocket, not even the fact Namorita, Firestar and Marvel Boy would die in the process. However, as the rocket neared the Moon, the Inhumans picked up their life signs and sent their teleporting dog, Lockjaw, to retrieve Star Thief and the New Warriors. Safe and sound in Attilan, they were brought before the Inhuman High Council where Star Thief revealed his tragic origins and his quest to stop mankind from exploring space. He then attacked the Inhumans, claiming their obscene city and alien colony needed to be eliminated. Marvel Boy protected the immediate bystanders with a telekinetic shield, even as Star Thief flew off to carry out his threat.
(New Warriors I#6 - BTS) - On Earth, the remaining New
Warriors learned of Stane International's true intentions.
New Warriors I#6) - Chased across the Blue Area by the New
Warriors and the Inhuman Royal Family, and his containment suit damaged by
Gorgon's mighty hooves, Star Thief accidentally wandered into the
Watcher's home. Relatively uncharacteristically, Uatu involved himself and showed Pirvat
the glories of the cosmos. This convinced him that the stance he had taken
against man's exploration of space was wrong. He realized it was
rather the exploitation of space that needed to stop. Uatu then released
Star Thief into the custody of the heroes who immediately saw to it that
his containment suit was fixed. Star Thief then joined with Black Bolt
and Firestar to meet the fast approaching rocket. Combining their
powers, the three heroes succeeded in completely disintegrating the
missile and its deadly payload. In the aftermath, already touched by the
Inhumans' kindness, Star Thief was allowed by Black Bolt to remain in
Attilan while he adjusted to his new existence and attempted to
reconnect to his humanity.
(Nova II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Star Thief received an anonymous message from Earth, warning him of two powerful beings who were headed for the Moon to destroy Attilan. He wasted no time informing the Inhuman Royal Family.
(Nova II#12) - When a struggle in space between Nova and his alternate reality (Earth-9442) counterpart Nova 0:0 took the two to the Moon, Star Thief accompanied Black Bolt, Medusa, and Karnak who went out to meet them. Star Thief watched as Medusa ordered the two combatants to take their quarrel elsewhere. Nova, annoyed to be treated so poorly, mouthed off to Medusa, which was all it took for Star Thief to believe they couldn't be reasoned with. He attacked to protect his adopted home, which led to a ferocious fight that ended with Nova 0:0 leaving Nova to the Inhumans' mercy.
(Nova II#13) - Brought before the Inhuman High Council, Nova tried to disprove the anonymous warning Star Thief had received from Earth. It wasn't until he got a closer look at Richard Rider that Star Thief realized this was the Nova that had helped him before. Convinced of his innocence, Star Thief vouched for Nova and got him cleared despite the council's initial misgivings.
Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks)
The environment seemed to be on everyone's minds in the early 1990s. Organizations like Greenpeace were openly praised for their bravery, while a decade or so earlier they were branded eco-terrorists for interfering with legitimate business men who got rich from clubbing baby seals to death for the pelt industry or slaughtering whales to harvest their blubber. How quickly the wheel turns. 1990 saw the start of an all too brief period of growing eco-consciousness, we were all concerned about pollution, deforestation, global warming and an ozone layer with holes big enough to drive a Death Star through. Heck, Jack Lemmon spent most of his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson talking about how he'd learned entire species of animal were going extinct while on a trip to the Galapagos Islands. In other words, preservation and conservation had hit the mainstream.
Elsewhere on TV, kids learned about environmental dangers from watching Captain Planet, a cartoon that also started in 1990. At the same time, New Warriors was perhaps the most environmentally conscious comic on the shelves...And Star Thief might be the pinnacle of that. A man who loses his family after a science project gone awry, somehow gaining superpowers because he's hit by ozone only to swear he'll dedicate his new existence to ridding humanity of pollution and wasteful spending? It's almost enough to make you wanna yell "the power is yours!"
Star Thief's co-creator Fabian Nicieza was nice enough to clarify the origins of Pirvat's nickname. Star Thief might be a bit confusing to some, since he's neither from the stars or a thief. "He was looking to figuratively "steal the stars" from mankind by destroying all those space shuttles and rockets. As for him staying with the Inhumans, it was partially because the authorities on Earth would be after him for having destroyed billions of dollars worth of equipment. But, honestly, he could no longer fit into human society and the Inhumans offered sanctuary. I never returned to Star Thief and I always intended to. No one else ever used him, have they?"
Also, eagle eyed readers will note that the bumper sticker on Pirvat's car reads "I brake for cows" a nice nod to the fact bovines are sacred animals according to Hindu religious customs. The fact the banner is in English we'll chalk up to the fact India's a former British colony ;-)
Star Thief received a profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#11 (2009)
I suspect that Star Thief must have left their company again. His power
levels are so high that he'd have a hard time not being a major player in
all the conflicts the Inhumans have been in since his joining them on the
moon, if he was still present among them.
--Loki
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Star Thief should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#11 (main image)
New Warriors I#5, p3, pan2 (I am Star Thief)
New Warriors I#6, p12, pans3,4,5 (origin and pre-transformation)
New Warriors I#6, p19, pans1&2 (sees the light thanks to Uatu)
Nova II#13, p4, pan1 (stands up for Nova)
Appearances:
New Warriors I#5 (November, 1990) - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks), Danny
Fingeroth (editor)
New Warriors I#6 (December, 1990) - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Larry Mahlstedt (inks), Danny
Fingeroth (editor)
Nova II#12 (December, 1994) - Tom
Marrinan (writer), Dario Carrasco Jr. (penciler), Tom Stegbauer
(inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Nova II#13 (January, 1995) - Chris Marrinan (writer), Dario Carrasco
Jr. (penciler), Mark Stegbauer (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Last updated: 01/11/15
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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