EMISSARIES of the OVERLORDReality-6966
EMISSARIES of the OVERLORD
Reality-6966
Membership: Two were seen, but neither was identified
Purpose: Serving the Overlord (Rakkhal)
Aliases: "Mighty Masters" (from an unidentified giant of an unidentified race);
"lackey," "fool" (from the Overlord);
"guard" (from the Surfer)
Affiliations: Overlord;
at least one being resembling the Emissaries of the Overlord served Thanos and later Nebula in Reality-616 (see comments)
Enemies: Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) of Reality-616, unidentified giants of unidentified world under the Overlord's domain
Base of Operations: Unidentified world(s?) of the Overlord, in a distant galaxy, Reality-6966
First Appearance: Silver Surfer I#6 (June, 1969)
Abilities: The Overlord's emissaries were
large humanoids (the emissary picking up the Silver Surfer looks like
he's a good 8' tall compared to the 6'4" Surfer) who likely possessed
some degree of superhuman strength and durability. 
They have a thumb and a
forefinger, after which their gloves conceal what is either a wide
third digit or a pair of digits within a single section of the glove,
for whatever reason.
They carried energy pistols and rifles able to slay giant humanoids.
They wore uniforms with helmets
and an oxygen supply that allowed them to survive, function, and
communicate on various alien worlds as well as in the cold and vacuum
of space. Their helmets have a pair of tassels streaming from the top,
which are presumably decorative. The helmet also have a pair of
projections, one on each side; it is unrevealed whether these are
decorative or if they serve some function, such as
communication/transmissions. They could speak and hear each other
easily while traveling at high speeds in the upper atmosphere or even
in space.
They used small ships,
such as a two person craft that did not appear to cover their bodies
(indicating their uniforms provided sufficient protection), to travel
interplanetary distances. Traveling interplanetary distances seemed to
only take seconds.
They used single person landcrafts (capable of transporting a captive) to travel across a planet's surface.
History:
(Silver Surfer I#6 (fb) - BTS) -
In Reality-6966's 45th century, the Overlord (Rakkhal) progressively
conquered the universe. Those who survived his assaults were fashioned
into an army of slaves who furthered his conquest.
An uncertain number (at least two,
presumably more) served as his Emissaries, going on specific missions,
such as collecting any being who might oppose the Overlord. Eventually,
the Overlord felt there were no more beings left to conquer.
(Silver Surfer I#6) - Having traveled forward in time from the modern era of Reality-616, the Silver Surfer was distraught by the universal devastation. When he finally found survivors (giant humanoids) and learned that they were savage creatures who wished to turn him over to their Overlord for a reward, he allowed the creatures to beat him into submission.
(Silver Surfer I#6 (fb) - BTS)
- Either the Overlord apparently sensed the Silver Surfer's presence,
and two Emissaries traveled to the giant creatures' planet in a
two-person spaceship.
(Silver Surfer I#6) - As the
Emissaries reached the giants' planet, one of them noted that they had
reached their destination, while the other replied the Overlord saw and
knew all.
After landing, one of the
Emissaries remained in the ship, while the other confronted the giants,
telling the "lowly, brainless swine" to cringe and get on their knees
before the Emissaries of the Overlord.
The giant who had captured the
Surfer begged his "mighty masters" for mercy, noting that they had a
prize for the Supreme One. The Emissary demanded silence, telling the
creature that it existed only to obey and not to speak.
When the cowering creature asked
if he was to be rewarded, the Emissary assured him that he would, as
the Overlord was the most generous of all. After the Emissary picked up
the Surfer and prepared to bring him to the Overlord, the cringing
giant asked when he would get his reward, and he while stood up and picked
up a large rock behind the Emissary's back, apparently intending to strike him if he did not receive his reward.
As the Emissary carrying the Surfer replied that he would get the
reward sooner than he expected, the Emissary in the ship fired an
energy rifle, shattering the rock and presumably killing the creature (that was his reward, in case it wasn't clear).
After the Emissary in the ship
urged the other to enter the craft swiftly to avoid trying the
Overlord's patience, they took off into space and swiftly prepared to
land on the Overlord's planet.
As the one Emissary approached via
a landcraft carrying the Surfer's still apparently unconscious form,
the Overlord loudly demanded the captive be brought to him.
Acknowledging that he heard and obeyed, the Emissary announced that the
captive now lied before him.
The Overlord noted that the
presence of an alien humanoid indicated that he had erased all human
life (with the exception of his servants) as he had thought, and that
there must still be some corner of the universe that had escaped his
notice. He resolved to learn where that was and destroy it.
When the Emissary asked if he
should pry the information from the captive's helpless form, the
Overlord insisted he needed no lackey for such a task, and he picked up
the Surfer, reviewed his accomplishments and demanded to know from
whence he came. Reviving and reinvigorated by the desire to avenge
mankind, the Zenn-Lavians, and the rest of the people of this universe,
the Surfer attacked. Surprised by the Surfer's powerful blast, the
Overlord toppled to his back.
Shouting that none may attack the Supreme One without paying the penalty of instant annihilation, the Emissary drew and cocked his energy pistol. However, not wanting the Surfer to die until he had learned his secrets, the Overlord told the "fool" to stop as he fired a blast that struck and apparently slew the Emissary.
The Overlord then stood over the perhaps headless Emissary, noting that he found a foe to give him battle and that he would furnish him much amusement..."and none shall deprive me of that pleasure!"
(Captain Marvel I#31) - Someone wearing armor resembling one of the Emissaries of the Overlord served as one of the Thanos-Thralls. See sub-profile.
(Avengers I#125) - Someone wearing armor resembling one of the Emissaries of the Overlord served as one of the Thanos-Thralls defeated by the Avengers during a planned Earth invasion. See sub-profile.
(Nova III#1) - Someone wearing armor resembling one of the Emissaries of the Overlord served as one of Nebula's minions. See sub-profile.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, John Buscema, and Sal Buscema.
At the end of
Silver Surfer I#6, the Surfer went back in time and prevented the
nuclear explosion that affected Ralgand and caused his son, Rakkhal, to
be a powerful mutant and eventually the Overlord. However, while the
Surfer believed this prevented the Overlord's existence, it instead
just diverged Reality-6966 (Overlord's reality) from Reality-54531
According to
space.com, the Milky Way galaxy has 100 billion stars, and I think the
size and scope of a single galaxy is beyond what most writers imagine
when writing about conquering a galaxy. Space.com further estimates 100
billion to 200 billion galaxies in the universe, and while in the real
world, the number of planets that can and do support life is very
small, in the Marvel Multiverse, many stars support one or more
populated planets. Certainly the idea of conquering the entire universe
is pretty spectacular, but in the world of comics, it's definitely
possible.
Maybe the Overlord could imbue power into those he conquered and bent
to his will, and maybe they could do the same to those they conquered,
and his power just spread in all directions, with greater levels of
technology and capacity for travel...
Just to put some numbers to it, let's say 1% of the
stars in the Marvel Universe support a single populated planet...at 1
trillion planets, even in you conquered a planet a second, that would
take over 31,000 years. Seems pretty far-fetched, but if his power and
influence somehow expanded geometrically rather arithmetically, it is
more plausible.
See the sub-profile for the apparent Emissary of the Overlord appearing in Reality-616.
I was just going to
add a note to the previous Emissaries sub-profile, but after re-reading
the story, I remembered how much I liked it, plus the discussion of the
Emissary (or not) of Reality-616 seemed too much for a sub-profile.
Additionally, it was Markus Raymond who deserves the credit for indentifying the Thanos-Thrall character as an Emissary of the Overlord. That stumped a lot of us!
Thanks to John Holstein for pointing out the Avengers I#125 appearance!
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Emissaries of the Overlord have no known connections to:
| The Emissaries of the Overlord used small ships, such as a two person craft that did not appear to cover their bodies (indicating their uniforms provided sufficient protection), to travel interplanetary distances. Traveling interplanetary distances seemed to only take seconds. (Silver Surfer I#6) - A pair of the Overlord's Emissaries flew a ship, presumably from the Overlord's world to the world of an unidentified race of giant savages to investigate a being not having been conquered by the Overlord: Reality-616's Silver Surfer. After the Emissaries had recovered the Surfer, they flew the ship back to the Overlord's world. --Silver Surfer I#6 |
The Emissaries of the Overlord used single person crafts (capable of transporting a captive) to travel across a planet's surface. The relatively long craft had a pair of wheels on its back end and was controlled via a lever on a control panel. (Silver Surfer I#6) - After the Emissaries of the Overlord captured the Silver Surfer, one of the Emissaries used one of these landcraft to transport the Surfer to the Overlord. --Silver Surfer I#6 |
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|
The Emissaries of the Overlord used energy rifles that could shatter large rocks and apparently slay a superhumanly strong giant extraterrestrial. (Silver Surfer I#6) - As one of the Emissaries picked up the Surfer and prepared to bring him to the Overlord, the giant who had subdued the Surfer asked when he would get his reward, and he stood up and picked up a large rock behind the Emissary's back, apparently intending to strike him if he did not receive his reward. As the Emissary carrying the Surfer replied that he would get the reward sooner than he expected, the Emissary in the ship fired an energy rifle, presumably killing the creature. --Silver Surfer I#6 |
|
The Emissaries of the Overlord used hand pistols that reportedly could
deliver "instant annihilation" to a target, perhaps even one as
powerful as the Silver Surfer. Having felt the Surfer's power, the Overlord apparently believed the pistol was at least potentially powerful enough to slay the Surfer. (Silver Surfer I#6) - After the Silver Surfer caught the Overlord off guard and knocked him on his back, the Emissary who had delivered the Surfer drew and cocked his energy pistol while shouting that none may attack the Supreme One without paying the penalty of instant annihilation. However, not wanting the Surfer to die until he had learned his secrets, the Overlord told the "fool" to stop as he fired a blast that struck and apparently slew the Emissary. --Silver Surfer I#6 |
|
|
(Captain Marvel I#31) - After Thanos acquired the Cosmic Cube and used it to capture Mentor, Eros, Iron Man, Captain Mar-Vell, Moondragon and Drax the Destroyer, the mad Titan braggedabout what he had accomplished and what he was going to do. As part of this boasting, Thanos showed his captives his fleet of space raiders that were ready to plunder Earth and were crewed by his personal horde of outcasts and criminals collected from throughout the galaxy. A being wearing armor very similar (with the two-tone blue (or blue and purple) colors being the primary difference) to the Emissaries of the Overlord was shown to be part of this horde (see Note). (Avengers I#125 (fb) - BTS) - Thanos sent a massive fleet to conquer Earth. Ultimately the Avengers destroyed the universal translator, which prevented communication amongst the various alien races, leading to disarray and ultimately their defeat. |  |
|
(Nova III#1) - A being who looked like one of the Emissaries of the Overlords (but with solid gray armor) was one of the eight minions that the space pirate Nebula gathered to accompany her to Earth and help her to kill the being she called Nova-Prime (a.k.a. Earthling Richard Rider) to avenge the death of her father, Zorr. Nebula and her team attacked Nova in New York City and caused a lot of damage before Nova was able to unleash an energy pulse that dealt with most of them and motivated Nebula to abandon her team and escape to save herself. This Emissary-ish character only appeared in a single panel, and he was not among any of the minions that Nova was shown battling or defeating. He and the other surviving minions were presumably taken into custody after Nebula abandoned them and fled. |
Here's who we can identify from that panel from Captain Marvel I#31:
Left to right: Alpha Centaurian, Jalin (a Sagittarian), a Queega, an Aakon, an Astran, apparently a Reality-616 version of one of the Emissaries of the Overlord, a Tribbitite, one of the Worldform, Inc. enforcers (a la Ramrod), an Archeopian,
one of the
semi-humanoid race that
resembled costumes once worn by the Tinkerer and his men, unidentified
(oval-patterns over both eyes; the only thought, who doesn't quite fit to me is Para-Man), a Skrull, an unidentified blue-skinned alien, a Badoon, a Rigellian, and a Xeronian.
In Nova III#1, several of the eight minions resemble some of the Thanos-thralls who appeared in a symbolic group shot from Captain Marvel I#31. Those six were a Badoon, a Skrull, a Xeronian, someone wearing a differently colored version of the Emissaries of the Overlord armor, a yellow-skinned minion who looked like a member of the semi-humanoid race that resembled costumes once worn by the Tinkerer and his men (either miscolored yellow, perhaps based on the pale image from Avengers I#125, or perhaps the aliens come in different colors or can change color). The bald humanoid with a clear helmet around his head may or may not be the blue-skinned Thanos-Thrall with the orange skullcap extending to a point over his forehead. The two minions who did not appear in CM#31 were a Monster of Badoon (named Joonvit) and a Shi'ar.
images: (without ads)
Silver Surfer I#6, pg. 13, panel 2 (ship);
panel 2 (mostly full);
pg. 14, panel 1 (rear view);
panel 2 (picking up Surfer);
panel 5 (with rifle);
pg. 15, panel 2 (land craft);
panel 3 (upper body, rotated, best detail);
panel 4 (silence!; nice helmet shot);
pg. 16, panel 2 (with pistol);
panel 3 (blasted/slain by Overlord);
Captain Marvel I#31, page 9, panel 4 (apparent Emissary in the Thanos-thralls);
Avengers I#125, pg. 9, panel 6 (with Thanos-Thralls);
Nova III#1, pages 28, panel 1 (Nebula's minions)
Appearances:
Silver Surfer I#6 (June, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Sal Buscema (inks)
Captain Marvel I#31 (March, 1974) - Jim Starlin (story & art), Green & Milgrom (inks), Roy Thomas
(editor)
Avengers I#125 (July, 1974) - Steve Englehart (writer), John Buscema (penciler), Dave Cockrum (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Nova III#1 (May, 1999) - Erik Larsen (writer), Joe Bennett (penciler), Armando Durruthy (inker), Ruben Diaz (editor)
First posted: 12/12/2020
Last updated: 01/06/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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