CENTAURANS race CENTAURANS race
Classification: Semi-humanoid
extraterrestrial race;
interacted with at least one person on Earth in pre-modern era
Location/Base of Operations: Centaurus (see comments)
Known Members: None identified
Affiliations: Loose affiliation with Victor Farrington
Enemies: None identified
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#45 (September, 1963)
Powers/Abilities: The Centaurans possessed space travel technology, presumably warp or other faster-than-light technology to allow them to travel from "far off Centaurus" to Earth. The one Centauran seen knew how to repair a damaged or otherwise sub-functional spaceship.
One Centauran space wanderer carried a Time Sphere, which he could mentally activate to show images of the future. It is unclear whether the activation required mental powers, or whether the technology allowed any to activate/direct it if they knew how.
Generally humanoid, the Centaurans had a somewhat enlarged cranium, perhaps indicating advanced intelligence or other mental capacity (such as telepathy).
Traits: The Centaurans appreciated that wealth by itself was worthless, and that life had things of much greater value than money.
They alleged were a highly advanced culture with a "superior way of life."
They were not above using "Told you so," tactics
Type: Bilaterally symmetric semi-humanoid bipeds
Eyes: Two (on head; no visible iris -- perhaps it was white?)
Fingers: Four (plus opposing thumb)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Orange
Average height: Approximately 6'10"
History:
(Tales
of Suspense I#45 (fb) - BTS) - The people of Centaurus long ago learned
that life held richer joys than the quest for wealth, and they came to
consider money virtually worthless.
(Tales of Suspense I#45 (fb)) <In the Earth year 1963> - A Centauran space wanderer landed on the luxurious estate of Victor Farrington to make emergency repairs. The wealthy and greedy Farrington avoided informing the authorities in hopes of gaining exclusive rights to the alien's world's ores and minerals via trade agreement, after which he would sell them to the rest of mankind at a huge profit.
(Tales of Suspense I#45 (fb) - BTS) - A student of galactic languages, the Centauran spoke with Farrington in his native tongue
(Tales of Suspense I#45 (fb)) - The Centauran was surprised that Farrington spoke only of trade and was not interested in his planet's advanced culture or their superior way of life. When Farrington discussed his obsession with wealth, the Centauran told him this was foolish and shared what his people had learned; but Farrington continued to assert his fanatical obsession with money.
The Centauran saw in Farrington's eyes that greed made Farrington selfish, even ruthless to his fellow men, and he told Farrington that it could lead to no good. He advised Farrington to mend his ways before it was too late.
When Farrington questioned how the Centauran could know what would happen in the future, the Centauran produced a time sphere. Concentrating, the Centauran used the time sphere to show an image of Farrington 20 years into the future. Farrington was ecstatic to see an image of himself sitting atop and surrounded by large amounts of gold. When Farrington laughed at how wrong the Centauran had been, the Centauran departed, telling him he left Farrington to his fate.
(Tales
of Suspense I#45 (fb) - BTS) - The Centauran completed repairs on his ship.
(Tales of Suspense I#45 (fb)) - The Centauran departed Earth.
(Tales of Suspense I#45) <In the Earth year 1983> - While passing through solar sector XB-61, the Centauran visited the barren asteroid to which Farrington had been banished for his crimes against humanity (generally lying, cheating, and stealing for money). Confronting Farrington, the Centauran reminded him how he had told him no good would come of his ruthless pursuit of riches: "You mocked me then! But now you know that both I and my time sphere foretold the truth!"
Noting that the judges let him keep his wealth but then banished him to this forsaken asteroid where all is money with worthless. He agreed that the prediction had come true, but it did him no good.
The Centauran further admonished the tragic human, noting that he had learned too late that wealth meant nothing by itself. He further added that when the entire human race learned that lesson, then mankind will truly have come of age.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Matt Fox.
The race is not named in its sole appearance...they just say the alien if from far Centaurus. In an effort to avoid confusion with the Centaurian race, I went with the name Centaurans...
Getting my information from an astronomy website, so correct me if I'm wrong: Centaurus is a constellation that contains the stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri (see the Centaurians profile), as well as the galaxy Centaurus A, one of the brightest galaxies in the night sky; and the globular cluster Omega Centauri; plus the Blue Planetary nebula and the Boomerang nebula.
The Time Sphere was a little off in its depiction of the future, as Farrington was shown without his headgear, but since he wasn't wearing a face mask, it would seem he could somehow breathe on the asteroid and perhaps could put on and take off the headgear at will...however, you CAN tell from the image he wasn't happy with his current station in life, but Farrington was so excited by the wealth he saw for his future self that he probably didn't even look at his face.
It's debatable whether this story takes place in Reality-616, as it seems unlikely that some conventional tribunal on Earth-616 circa 1983 would have banished a person to a distant asteroid for mundane crimes. It's not really a conventionally held technology, but there were many advanced societies on Earth-616 even in what might be two decades before the modern era (before the rocket launch that empowered the Fantastic Four). Farrington could have wronged someone from one such society, and they could have done this to him...Nothing to exclude it, so leave it in.
The images come from my scans of the Marvel Masterworks of this issue, and as you get closer to the book's spine, they don't want to lay flat, and the image gets more distorted. That being said, I don't want to pull my issue of Tales of Suspense I#45 and crush it in the scanner to resolve this issue...
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Centaurans have no known connections to
The unidentified alien flew this from far Centaurus, presumably indicating it has warp drive capacity.
It had landing gear (wheels) that lowered as he prepared to land the vessel.
In 1963 (Earth time), he stopped on Earth for emergency repairs.
In 1983, he flew through solar sector XB-61 where he sought out the asteroid to which Farrington had been banished.
--Tales of Suspense I#45
"...being beyond time, it is also beyond all natural laws..."
This allowed it to float in the air on its own
With mental concentration, the Centauran could transform the sphere into an image of the future.
It is unrevealed whether the Centauran possessed mental abilities that allowed him to activate the time sphere, or whether the time sphere could be activated by anyone who knew how to do so.
--Tales of Suspense I#45
images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#45 "I come from far Centaurus!" pg. 1, panel 1 (ship, rear oblique);
pg. 3, panel 2 (main image);
panel 3 (time sphere);
panel 4 (controlling time sphere);
panel 6 (image from time sphere);
pg. 4, panel 1 (rear view)
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#45 (September, 1963) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script/penciler), Matt Fox (inker)
First Posted: 04/09/2016
Last updated: 04/09/16
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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