REPTOID race
Classification: Extraterrestrial reptilians (see comments)
Location/Base of Operations: Tayp, the second planet out from the
star Kormuk (Earth designation unrevealed) in the Milky Way galaxy
Habitat: Temperate over much of the planet, small polar ice caps,
78% covered by water
Gravity: 120% of Earth
Atmosphere: 74% nitrogen, 23% oxygen
Known Members:
Teju (see
comments)
Estimated population: 3.6 billion
Affiliations: Teju was one of the
Prime Mover's pawns
in the 21st century of Reality-616 and was later one of the
Minions of Menace who
served the cyborg Korvac in the early 31st century of Reality-691
Enemies: (Teju) Namor the Sub-Mariner from Reality-616; Guardians of
the Galaxy (Major Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, Nikki Gold, Starhawk (Stakar/Aleta),
Yondu Udonta) and Galactic Guardians (Firelord, Hollywood/Simon Williams, Martinex,
Phoenix/Giraud, Replica, Spirit of Vengeance/Wileaydus) from the 31st century in Reality-691;
Thor Odinson (displaced from the 20th century of Reality-616)
First Appearance: (Teju) Giant-Size Defenders#3 (January, 1975);
Race identified (by Grott) in Thor Annual I#6 (1977);
Race name confirmed in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#8
(August, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Reptoids can stand erect and walk bipedally or
walk on all fours. They have superhuman strength and can used their long, powerful tails as
weapons to whip or batter enemies.
Reptoids are amphibious but possess a natural armor that
retains moisture even in hot, arid environments. This armor also provides protection from
impacts (like from blows delivered with superhuman strength).
Cultural Traits: Savage in battle
Type: Reptilian
Eyes: Two (black surrounded by red; no visible sclera)
Fingers: Three (plus opposable thumb)
Toes: Three
Skin color: Green and scaled, with a yellow underside
Hair: None
Average height: 6' when standing erect
Type of government: Tribal
Level of technology: Unimpressive, with no interstellar travel
History:
(The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#8: Alien Races: Reptoids
entry) - A reptilian race that called itself the Reptoids evolved on the second planet out
from the sun in the planetary system orbiting around the star Kormuk. These beings called
their homeworld Tayp.
(The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#8: Alien Races: Reptoids
entry) - By the late 21st century (Earth chronology; see comments), the Reptoid race's level of technology
remained unimpressive and they were unable to travel through space unless transported by
alien starships, alien technology or alien beings.
(Giant-Size Defenders#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the male Reptoid known
as Teju was chosen to serve as a pawn of the sentient terrestrial game-playing machine known
as the Prime Mover and was transported to an artificial arena-world somewhere in space in the
late 21st century. No details have been provided about where and when Teju was at the time
he was chosen by the Prime Mover.
Comments: An unidentified Reptoid (later identified as Teju) was created
by Steve Gerber, Jim Starlin, Len Wein, Dan Adkins, Don Newton and Jim Mooney;
Names "Teju" and "Reptoid" created by Len Wein;
Other details about the Reptoid race created by the staff of the first
volume of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (led by Head Writer Mark
Gruenwald).
Although the Reptoid in Giant-Size Defenders#3 had three digits
(two fingers and a thumb) on each hand and two toes on each foot, Teju had four digits (three
fingers and a thumb) and three toes on each foot in Thor Annual I#6. Also, while the images
from the first two volumes of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe show the Reptoids
as having digits that all ended in claws, Teju has never been depicted with any claws on any
of his fingers or toes. No explanation for these differences has ever been provided.
Perhaps the versions shown in the OHotMU are the 21st century
Reality-616 versions, and they differ in the presence of those claws.
Maybe something changed in 1000 years to get rid of the claws, or maybe
the Reality-616 versions have a somewhat different evolutionary path.
As far as Teju's varying toes, that could be artistic license or art
error (we've seen the Hulk with two toes!), or some sort of reality
warp changed him. Or something else?
--Snood
The penciler for all of the images of the Alien Races
that appeared in the first volume of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe was
listed simply as "Paty." This is the credited name preferred by Paty Cockrum. Why is this
significant? Well, the name of the home planet of the Reptoids, Tayp, is an anagram of
"Paty" and the name of the star that planet orbits, Kormuk, is an anagram of "Kokrum" which
looks like a phonetic way of spelling the name "Cockrum." Neat, huh? I've owned my copies
of the Official Handbook for almost 40 years but I never noticed these anagrams until I
was finishing this profile. It makes me wonder what other Easter eggs might be hidden in
other Alien Race profiles.
The main image is the one from the Reptoids quarter-page
profile in the original OHotMU. I chose to use it because I think it looks better than the
image from the deluxe edition of the OHotMU, even with the pink background. However, the
main reason is because this was the image drawn by Paty and to not use it in a profile that
literally has her name in it seems wrong.
Agreed...but why not include both? I added the Deluxe Edition
one...maybe they each represent a different member of the race...that's
what I like to think.
--Snood
When the
Prime Mover from Earth-616
played a game with the Grandmaster in Giant-Size Defenders#3, they each chose six pawns
to serve them in their game. The only one of the
Prime Mover's pawns
whose place of origin was revealed in that issue was Korvac who stated that he had been
born in the year 2977 and that the science of the 31st century was his to command. The
story in Thor Annual I#6 later revealed that Korvac was a native of the same alternate
future reality as the Guardians of the Galaxy, a timeline known as "Earth-691." Except for
the fact that none of them were from Earth-616, nothing was revealed about the planets of
origin of the other five pawns. Furthermore, there was no indication of whether or not
they also had been chosen from other time periods and/or timelines.
However, when Korvac, back in his native 31st century,
used probes that he had sent out "through time and space" to recruit five aliens to serve
as his lieutenants,
three of them were (or seemed to be) aliens who had served the Prime Mover alongside him.
Grott the Man-Slayer definitely fought the Hulk in GSD#3, and Dumog and Teju appeared to be
the same as two other pawns who had appeared, without being named, in that same issue. Again,
there was no indication as to where or when any of these three originated. The chances were
equally good that they came from Korvac's 31st century or from the 21st century where they
had previously fought the Grandmaster's pawns.
Of Korvac's five minions, Teju was identified as being a
Reptoid in Thor Annual I#6 but the races of the other four were not named until the first
volume of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Brahl's Achernonions, Dumog's
Fomalhauti, Grott's Grunds, and Tork's Procyonites) which also confirmed that Teju was a
Reptoid. However, while the quarter-pages entries for the Grunds, Procyonites and Reptoids
confirmed that Grott, Tork, and Teju, respectively, had been "among the minions of the
Earth-born cyborg Korvac in the Thirtieth Century," those entries AGAIN said nothing as to
where and when those individuals had originated.
Although other members of the Fomalhauti and Grund races
(and possibly the Achernonian race) have appeared in stories set in the mainstream Marvel
Universe, so far Tork and Teju are, respectively, the only Procyonites and Reptoids from
any timeline who have ever appeared in any Marvel Comics story. Could this be a case of
anti-reptilian bias on the part of Marvel's writers?
The Reptoids have quarter-page entries in the Alien Races
Appendices presented in the first and second volumes of the Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe. The information contained in these appendices is presumed to apply to the Reptoids
who existed in the mainstream Marvel Universe (Reality-616) during the late 21st century.
However, since this has never been confirmed, if Teju did originate in the 31st century of
Reality-691, then the data could instead apply to the Reptoids who lived in that era of that
timeline.
I find it slightly irritating that a species that evolved
on an alien world and that has its own language would choose a name for themselves that just
happened to be very similar to the word used on Earth to describe the class of Terran animals
that the aliens resemble. Oh well, at least their race-name is not derived from the name that
Earth astronomers use to designate the star that their homeworld orbits.
References in the handbooks and stories to the 20th century are topical, relevent only to the date at which the stories were published. The adventures took place in the 21st century due to the sliding timescale.
--Ye olde Snoode
Profile by
Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Reptoid race has no known connections to
- Reptil (Humberto Lopez), a young man whose magic amulet enabled
him to use his power to transform part or all of his body into that of any kind of
dinosaur--Avengers: The Initiative Featuring Reptil#1
- Reptile
(Webster), a greedy man who married Louisiana plantation owner Chloe in 1943 and began
killing people on the plantation while costumed as a reptilian creature but was stopped
and unmasked by the Human Torch and Toro before he could kill Chloe and inherit the
plantation--Sub-Mariner Comics#23 (1947)
- The Reptile
Men, a tribe of Swamp Men from the Savage Land who had reptilian features and were
once convinced by the alien Quor to follow him and help him raid other villages for the
Anti-Metal that he needed--Marvel Super-Heroes II#19
- The Reptilian Rocker, one of the multiple aliases used by
Behemoth Jack, a giant
sentient dinosaur who probably originated on an Alternate Earth and worked as a radio
disc jockey--Crazy Magazine#63
- Reptilicus (a.k.a. Mr. Slither), a data broker from Earth-928
's later 21st century whose avatar was an anthropomorphic lizard and who was active in the year 2099 A.D. as
a member of the Undernet team--Ghost Rider 2099#13
- Reptilla, a female witch from New Salem who was part of Salem's
Seven alongside her six half-siblings and could transform into a green-skinned form that
had a serpent tail instead of legs and two long serpents in place of her arms--Fantastic
Four I#185
- The
Reptilla
proto-husk, a duplicate of Reptilla created by Arnim Zola using some of her
DNA--Deadpool III#0
- Repto,
a being from the Body Banks on the planet Homeworld in the Microverse that was given the
form of a Repto so that it could serve in Baron Karza's Death Squad--Micronauts I#36
-
Reptos, a race of
savage and predatory bat-winged semi-humanoids from the Microverse who were natural enemies
of the Insectivorids--Micronauts Annual I#1
- Reptyl,
a murderous space pirate whose bipedal reptilian race originated within the Coalsack Nebula
and who briefly existed in the far more powerful mutated form of Reptyl Prime--Silver
Surfer III#11
- or any other people, races, items or locations whose names begin with
""Rept-"
images: (without ads)
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#8, page 31, panel 4 (main image)
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II#15: Appendix to Alien Races: Reptoids image
Appearances (aside from Teju):
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#8 (August, 1983) - Paty (penciler)
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II#15 (March, 1987) - Kyle Baker (artist)
First Posted: 12/29/2019
Last updated: 12/29/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me
know.
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