CHERRON CHERRON
Official Name: Cherron
Nature: Extraterrestrial world; star system and galaxy unrevealed (see comments)
Natives: Haifs (including Meru), Haif-Nas (including Dalia)
Population: Unrevealed; all but two are believed (at least by themselves) to have perished in the planet's destruction;
only Meru has been confirmed as still surviving.
Capital City: Unidentified
Government: Formerly ruled by the Haifs
Languages: Unrevealed
National Defense: Unrevealed
Places of Interest: None were identified, and they no longer exist
Visitors: None known
Traits: The people of Cherron were split into the Haifs and Haif-Nas sects and/or sub-species.
The Haifs were allegedly smug, supercilious telepaths, philosophers, and scientists. Not wishing to perform what they considered mundane labor, they subjugated and enslaved the Haif-Nas.
Meru, at least, could submerge dominant personality traits in others, bringing out often baser traits or personality elements. It is not clear whether all of the Haifs had mental powers equivalent to Meru's.
Meru, at least, if not all of the Haifs and/or all of the people of Cherron, has some degree of superhuman strength.
Meru, at least, could psychically sense Dalia even when she mentally submerged her memories via self-hypnosis.
The Haif-Nas were allegedly a noble people willing to fight for their freedom. It is not clear whether all of the Haif-Nas had shape-changing powers as Dalia did, but she did refer to them as her "native powers."
Dalia, at least, could apparently recover rapidly from severe wounds (such as from a life-saving surgery after receiving otherwise fatal wounds);
Dalia, at least, had the training to induce a hypnotic trance to submerge her memories, although appropriate stimulation could cause the memories to recur.
The people of Cherron had the technology for interplanetary and interstellar travel. The Haifs utilized a series of power station; the destruction of a series of these was sufficient to cause a chain reaction that could destroy the planet. The Hair-Nas were experienced with explosives.
Meru and Dalia, at least, rode upon hover discs; Meru's had a device that could apparently enhance his psychic powers. He carried a similar hand-weapon, which could -- at least if overloaded -- completely disintegrate two superhuman beings. Dalia carried a weapon that allowed her to levitate other beings.
Following their bodies' physical destruction, Meru and Dalia, at least, could survive as disembodied consciousnesses/energies that could inhabit inanimate objects (at least) and mentally influence others (even an Asgardian, such as Valkyrie).
Type: Bilaterally symmetric semi-humanoid reptilian bipeds
Eyes: Two
(on head; solid white color seen, with no visible iris or pupil); Dalia
may have had light blue eyes, rather than solid white
Fingers: Two
or three (plus opposing thumb) - they wore these weird gloves that had
the thumb and index finger distinct, while the lateral digit(s) were
kept together, although there looked to be two digits within that
portion of the glove)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Pink (Haifs); Blue-gray (Haif-Nas )
Average height: Approximately 7'2 (Meru looked giant when
Spider-Man jumped on his shoulders, and he seemed a bit bigger than the
6'6" Thor; the narrative marked him as "some seven feet plus")
Other features:
They had scaled flesh, a pair of large fangs on both upper and lower
jaws, a long, thin, forked tongue, and pinioned ears (like the fin
on a fish). They appeared to only have hair only on the very tops of
their heads.
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#115 (March, 1983)
History:
(Marvel
Team-Up I#115 (fb)) <According to Dalia> - Meru was a world of
beauty and splendor, but what should have been a paradise was instead a
Hell as the Haifs enslaved and oppressed. the Haif-Nas.
Inevitably, revolution fomented. The Haif-Nas tried to use reason and diplomacy, but the Haifs responded by (presumably figuratively) tightening the yoke on their servants.
The Haif-Nas turned to more forceful means, finally giving the Haifs an ultimatum: Set them free and grant them the equality they deserved, or Cherron would fall in ruin around them all.
(Marvel
Team-Up I#115 (fb) - BTS) - Meru of the Haifs and Dalia of the Haif-Nas
fell in love. As their love was forbidden, Meru took Dalia to another
world where they could share their love freely. Realizing the end of
the world was coming, Dalia agreed (perhaps encouraged) Meru to take
them both off world to save his life.
(Marvel Team-Up I#115 (fb)) <According to Dalia> - The Haifs laughed at the Haif-Nas, who employed technological skills the Haifs did not believe they could ever master, destroying key power stations across Cherron.
This set up a chain reaction in the planet's core that tore Cherron apart
(Marvel Team-Up I#115 (fb) - BTS) - After Cherron's destruction, Meru felt betrayed by Dalia and sought her death.
Dalia fled from Meru, and he pursued her "for ages."
Eventually Dalia took refuge on Earth where she took human form as a homeless woman, "Jane Doe," and used an induced hypnotic-trance to wipe her memories to prevent Meru's probes from discovering her.
(Marvel Team-Up I#115) - Meru eventually pierced the veil and sought out Dalia, battling Thor Odinson and Spider-Man (Peter Parker) in the process. Dalia regained her memories and confronted Meru, and both were disintegrated when Meru overloaded his weapon.
(Marvel Team-Up I#116) - Meru and Dalia's formless, intertwined essences floated through Manhattan, eventually agreeing they wanted revenge on Spider-Man and Thor, whom they blamed for their plight. They sensed the magical properties of the sword Dragonfang, entered it, and used its energies to take control of the Valkyrie (Brunnhilde). Ultimately, Thor shattered Dragonfang with his mystic hammer, Mjolnir, expelling the disembodied form of the merged aliens. Thor then opened a space warp through which he dispatched the energy form.
(Quasar#14 (fb) - BTS) - Meru (and most likely Dalia, since they were last seen merged) was captured by the Stranger. He was returned to his original form (whether he was first returned to his physical form and then captured or vice-versa is unrevealed) and imprisoned on the Stranger's laboratory world, where he underwent various forms of tests.
(Quasar#14, 15 - BTS, 16) - During the Over-Mind (Gromm)'s attack on the Stranger, Meru was one of those freed and sent to attack the Stranger's allies. After the Over-Mind's defeat, man of the Stranger's former prisoners escaped after this struggle, but Meru's fate remained unrevealed.
Comments: Created by J.M. DeMatteis, Herb Trimpe, and Mike Esposito.
I'd think Cherron was likely in the Milky Way galaxy, as Dalia happened to end up on Earth while fleeing Meru, but they got have been teleporting or warping around the larger universe.
Obviously the Haifs and Haif-Nas names were plays on "the haves and the have-nots." They were apparnently sects and/or sub-species of the same race, although that race was never identified...perhaps they were the Cherronians, Cherrosians, Cherros, Cheerios?
Donald Campbell points out that "I think the fact that Meru and Dalia's home planet was named 'Cherron' was a nod to a Star Trek episode entitled "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" which was also about racial prejudice. In that story, the Enterprise crew encountered Bele and Lokai, two humanoids from Cheron, a planet whose humanoid inhabitants had truly bizarre pigmentation patterns. All Cheronians were neatly bisected in their skin colouring, with one half of their bodies being solid black and the other half being solid white. Those who were black on the right side were dominant over those who were black on the left side. Anyway, the people of Cheron also wiped each other out but without destroying the planet."
I know Meru went one-on-one with Thor, but Thor was at a disadvantage because Blake's personality was in running the show. I'd put Meru closer to Spidey's class of strength. I know he ripped some webbing, but it was within seconds of it being formed, and we've seen countless times where it gets ripped up relatively easily before it's had a chance to "set."
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Cherron has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Marvel Team-Up I#115, story pg. 19, panel 8 (Cherron, form orbit);
pg. 20, panel 1 (Haif-Nas subserviant to Haifs);
panel 2 (Haif-Nais appearling to Haifs);
panel 3 (power plants blown up);
panel 4 (Cherron destroyed)
Appearances:
Marvel Team-Up I#115-116 (March-April, 1982) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer),
Herb Trimpe (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Tom DeFalco (editor)
Quasar#14-16 (September-November, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mike
Manley (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Len Kaminski (editor)
First Posted: 02/15/2017
Last updated: 02/15/2017
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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