ARRO GORON
Real Name: Arro Goron
Identity/Class: Extratemporal human technology user (2469 AD to 1959 AD)
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Policemen of an unidentified American city (1959)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: A jail cell in an unidentified American city in 1959; (originally) Earth in 2469
First Appearance: Tales to Astonish I#3/1 (May, 1959)
Powers/Abilities: An inventive genius, Arro Goron built a time machine; although he displayed no paranormal abilities, Goron was in good physical shape, despite his advanced age (see comments).
Along with his time machine, Goron employed other advanced technology, including a sky seat and a gravity beam.
Goron's body was surrounded by a personal force field (possibly projected from the device at his left hip?). The force field was originally used in his own time-period to protect him from dust and rain, but for unknown reasons its power had been increased following Goron's journey through time; its increased power repelled everything that attempted to touch Goron. The force field required a recharge every twenty-four hours, and its power was eventually exhausted.
Height: 6' (by
approximation)
Weight: 170 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unknown
Hair: White
History: (Tales to Astonish I#3/1 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Arro Goron is largely unrevealed, but at some point in the 25th Century, he inherited a fortune; he used his wealth to begin construction of a time machine.
(Tales to Astonish I#3/1) - By 2469, after spending his entire inheritance and forty-five years of his life, the penniless Goron had completed his invention, so he climbed aboard the time machine and journeyed back to the 20th Century. The time machine materialized above an American city -- since there were few surviving records from this primitive world of over 500 years in his past, Goron was understandably startled by the odd clothes the people wore and the cold and ugly structures they inhabited, and he wondered how people could live in such drab surroundings.
As his time machine continued to float over the metropolis, Goron became aware of a disturbance outside when soldiers below (who thought him to be an alien invader) began firing cannons at his craft; then a jet fighter swooped in and fired its missiles at the flying time machine, but the puny weapons were unable to penetrate the craft's force field.
Goron landed his time machine and disembarked to show the people in the city he meant no harm; a group of policemen rushed forward and tried to apprehend him, but the lawmen were unable to do so because of Goron's personal force field. Goron laughed when he realized nothing could touch or harm him, so he was free to do whatever he pleased; since the uppermost thought on his mind was acquiring wealth (for all his finances had been spent on the time machine), Goron flew on his sky seat and used its element seeker to guide him to Fort Knox, where he easily stole a stack of gold bars, and he soon had enough of the precious metal to make him a king.
Flying on the sky seat, Goron transported the gold bullion back to his time machine, and within a few minutes he had returned. But as he approached, both the time machine and sky seat faded from existence, and Goron (and the gold) dropped to the ground. Although uninjured from the fall because of his force field, Goron realized he now had no way to get back to the future, so he fled from the pursuing police. The panic-stricken Goron hid in a subway tunnel, and he woefully thought of his beautiful home that he would never see again. With its power eventually exhausted, Goron's force field faded away, and he was spotted by the police -- no matter where he ran, the lawmen were waiting for him. As the police closed in on him, Goron surrendered and could only wonder to himself why the time machine had vanished.
The silent Goron was arrested and taken into custody; when he arrived at the police station, the desk sergeant mentioned to the arresting officers that some men from Washington were flying down to talk to Goron because he was obviously from another world.
Goron sat brooding alone in the cold bleak surroundings of a holding cell, and he continued to ponder why his time machine had disappeared... then he realized he was the victim of a time-paradox: The time machine had never existed, for it was a thing of the future, and because he was now imprisoned in the past, he could never have built it! (see comments)
Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Steve Ditko (artist).
Goron mentioned he'd spent 45 years working on the time machine, so I figure he was probably at least 60 years old -- maybe by the 25th Century, human life-expectancy was extended by futuristic science, and Goron was considered to be only middle-aged.
Goron's reasoning regarding the disappearance of his time machine seemed a little flawed -- by his scrambled logic, he shouldn't even be in the jail cell because he hadn't been born yet! Maybe he didn't have a very good understanding of temporal mechanics and didn't realize he had actually been transported to a divergent past... or maybe he was just so hysterical that he wasn't thinking rationally. So why did the time machine disappear? Maybe Immortus was doing a little "cleaning" in the time-stream, and he thought Goron's travels would interfere with his plans, so he took it away from him.
Notice in the main image the way Goron is posed and the gesture he's making with his hands -- looks like Ditko could have been practicing for the later-introduced Dr. Strange.
Profile by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Arro Goron has no known connections to:
A futuristic device somewhat shaped like a giant light-bulb, it was built by Goron and transported him from his home in the 25th Century back to the 20th Century. The time machine could fly, and it was equipped with an "anti-electro-gravity" force field; the force field was resistant to 20th Century artillery and missiles.
The time machine also carried a sky seat (a flying one-man reconnaissance vehicle; top speed unrevealed); the sky seat was equipped with an element seeker, which could be attuned to locate quantities of gold.
Both the time machine and sky seat faded from existence, leaving Arro Goron stranded in the 20th Century.
--Tales to Astonish I#3/1
A small device about the size of a handheld flashlight, it was used by Goron to levitate a stack of gold bullion out of Fort Knox.
--Tales to Astonish I#3/1
Earth in the 25th Century, it was the "world of tomorow" where Arro Goron came from. It was a clean and peaceful world with beautiful floating cities.
When Goron found himself stranded in the primitive 20th Century, he hid in a dirty subway tunnel and longingly thought of his home.
--Tales to Astonish I#3/1
images: (without ads)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p5, pan6 (Main image, Arro Goron in jail cell)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p3, pan1 (Headshot, laughing Arro Goron realizes his force field protects him from capture)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p2, pan6 (Arro Goron uses force field to avoid capture by police)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p4, pan2 (Arro Goron flees from police after time machine fades away)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p1, pan3 (Arro Goron's time machine appears above city in 20th Century)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p2, pan1 (Arro Goron looking out of interior of time machine at 20th Century city below)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p3, pan2 (Arro Goron on sky seat, flying out of time machine)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p3, pan5 (Arro Goron and gold bars drop to ground as sky seat and time machine fade away)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p3, pan3 (Arro Goron uses gravity beam to steal gold from Fort Knox as guards look on)
Tales to Astonish I#3/1, p4, pan6 (Arro Goron thinks about his world of 2469)
Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#3/1 (May, 1959) - unidentified writer, Steve Ditko (pencils and inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Artie Simek (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
Last updated: 05/20/17
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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