MACROTHRAXMACROTHRAX
Real Name: Macrothrax
Identity/Class: Terrestrial insect mutate
Occupation: Would-be conqueror;
former agent of the Bug Lords (Crematrix, Pthira,
Ve'trock)
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Thread,
Tusk, Vespa;
formerly the Bug Lords (Crematrix, Pthira, Ve'trock)
Enemies: Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Bug
Lords (Crematrix, Pthira, Ve'trock), Chudley,
Stinger (Cassie Lang), Swarm
(Fritz von Meyer)
Known Relatives: Inapplicable
Aliases: "Dude," "Master," "the Rider of Crematrix," "the Slayer of Ve'trock," "the Tamer of Pthira"
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout Earth
First Appearance: Ant-Man II#2 (April, 2020)
Powers/Abilities: Macrothrax was a mutated
insect, able to communicate by transmitting chemical pheromones to
other insects.
Macrothrax wore a suit of armor that provided him
enhanced durability, sufficient to shrug off Stinger's blasts. While
wearing Stinger's helmet, Macrothrax was capable of controlling the
thoughts and actions of other insects. He also briefly had access to
size-altering Pym Particles.
Height: 6'1" (by approximation)
Weight: 175 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Red
Hair: Black (tiny black hairs on head)
History: (Ant-Man II#2 (fb) -
BTS) - Macrothrax became master of mutated insect hives around the
world. Macrothrax hoped to start an insect revolution with these
mutated hives.
(Ant-Man II#2 (fb)) - Learning of Fritz von Meyer,
whose consciousness had taken up residence within a mutated killer bee
swarm, Macrothrax killed Fritz, now calling himself Swarm, and forced
Swarm to use his scientific knowledge to create a ray capable of
granting the mutated insect hives humanoid form. Soon determining Swarm
to be impure due to the taint of his human conscious, Macrothrax and
the mutated hives attempted to kill Swarm, forcing Swarm to flee for
his life.
(Ant-Man II#2) - After Macrothrax's agents Thread, Vespa and Tusk located Swarm in Florida, Swarm worried Macrothrax would force him to recreate his ray again and he convinced the heroic Ant-Man to help against Macrothrax. Thread, Vespa and Tusk soon destroyed an enlarged bee blocking their progress in pursuing Swarm and the trio of mutated insect hives bowed as Macrothrax made his own presence known by commending Thread on his actions. Taking note of the enlarged bee, Macrothrax warned Ant-Man to no longer protect Swarm but Ant-Man refused to turn over Swarm without knowing further what was going on with Macrothrax. Revealing that Thread had informed him that Ant-Man could speak to insects, Macrothrax decided to show Ant-Man his plans by transmitting images of his revolutionary world takeover plans to Ant-Man via Ant-Man's helmet. Glimpsing Earth-20041, in which Macrothrax successfully took over humanity with insects, Ant-Man screamed and Macrothrax reiterated his order to turn over Swarm. Ant-Man refused, feeling as if Macrothrax was truly evil, and Macrothrax responded by ordering Thread, Tusk and Vespa to devour Ant-Man. Upon witnessing Ant-Man enlarge one of the rhino beetles that made up Tusk's body, Macrothrax became interested in how Ant-Man performed such an act and began forcibly prying into Ant-Man's mind through Ant-Man's helmet in an attempt to learn how Ant-Man's enlarged insects. Macrothrax managed to learn that the source of Ant-Man's powers were Pym Particles located in a cave of dirt before Ant-Man shrunk out of Macrothrax's range. Unable to find Ant-Man, Macrothrax and his agents departed. Finding Ant-Man's enlarged ant Chudley, Macrothrax and his agents tortured Chudley for information as to where he came from.
(Ant-Man II#3) - In the Florida Everglades, Macrothrax was sent a message from his Savage Land Bug Lords via insect messenger. Destroying the messenger, Macrothrax was flooded with a pheromone message from the Bug Lords, who were fearful of being discovered after Macrothrax had made his existence known to the human Ant-Man. The message soon dissipated and despite the Bug Lords' anger, Macrothrax informed his agents that he had plans of his own. Ant-Man, on the other hand, went to the Avengers for help in learning more about Macrothrax, giving them footage of Macrothrax from his helmet for research and their files. The Avengers matched Macrothrax's look with the armor worn by deceased Hero for Hire Humbug and Ant-Man decided to meet with the Black Cat, a former teammate of Humbug's, to see if they could find out more about Macrothrax using information on Humbug. Investigating the site of Humbug's death, Ant-Man, Black Cat, Spider-Man and Stinger were attacked by Thread, who revealed the Savage Land Bug Lords and Macrothrax's plans to eliminate humanity. Dispersing Thread and learning their next location to investigate would be the Savage Land, Ant-Man and his allies wondered why Macrothrax was not attacking them directly, unaware that Macrothrax was ordering Vespa and Tusk to attack Ant-Man's ant hill home to retrieve the Pym Particles there.
(Ant-Man II#4) - After acquiring the Pym Particles and
destroying every ant in the ant hill in the process, Macrothrax and his
surviving agents traveled to the Savage Land, where Macrothrax convened
with the Bug Lords. When the Bug Lords expressed contempt for
Macrothrax, Macrothrax assured the Bug Lords that humanity was no
longer a threat to them and revealed the stolen Pym Particles.
Unfortunately, when Macrothrax promised to lead an army against
humanity, the Bug Lords accused him of blasphemy and punished
Macrothrax until he gave the Pym Particles to the Bug Lords as an
offering. Thrown out of the Bug Lords' domain, Macrothrax regrouped
with Tusk and Vespa, assuring them that they would make the Bug Lords
see his vision moments before Ant-Man and Stinger arrived in the Savage
Land. Macrothrax immediately ordered Vespa to kill the heroes and use
their corpses to nest its brood but Stinger dispersed Vespa's form.
Ant-Man angrily accused Macrothrax of killing the ants in his ant hill
but Macrothrax calmly explained that many insects in the service of
their world hive. Macrothrax demeaned Ant-Man for having feelings about
dying insects before shoving Tusk into battle, ordering Tusk to give
his life in service to the world hive. When Stinger dispersed Tusk,
Macrothrax took advantage of the distraction to steal Stinger's
improved helmet and hurl her into a pit. He then returned to the Bug
Lords' domain, where the Bug Lords demanded to know what Macrothrax had
to say for himself. Placing Stinger's helmet upon his own head,
Macrothrax smiled and remarked on how good it was that they had asked.
Using Stinger's helmet to force the Bug Lords to follow his orders,
Macrothrax ordered Pthira and Crematrix to remove Bug Lord king
Ve'trock's head. The two controlled Bug Lords did as ordered and
Macrothrax then used the stolen Pym Particles to enlarge Crematrix and
Pthira to gigantic size. Proclaiming himself the new Bug Lord king,
Macrothrax rode Crematrix out into the Savage Land, announcing his
plans to grind humanity to dust.
(Ant-Man II#5) - Macrothrax rode Crematrix and lead
Pthira towards human civilization until Stinger decided to confront
Macrothrax herself. At first shocked at her appearance after he had
thrown her into a pit, Macrothrax was reminded that she had wings
before he engaged her in a fight, tearing the wings from her costume.
He then tossed her off of Crematrix but she clung to the Bug Lords'
side. Noticing her continued survival, Macrothrax accused humans of
climbing very ugly then ordered Pthira to destroy Stinger. Stinger was
rescued by Ant-Man, who was inside of gigantic suit of armor composed
of Savage Land insects summoned by the dying Ve'trock. Shocked that the
world hive would betray him, Macrothrax was told his teeth were about
to betray him by leaving his mouth on Stinger's foot but the insect
Macrothrax understood none of Stinger's threat. Stinger and Macrothrax
then fought as the giant Ant-Man battled Crematrix, unable to properly
pronounce Crematrix's name. Annoyed at Ant-Man's mispronunciations,
Macrothrax commented to Stinger that her father had a dim brain and
soon used Stinger's helmet in an attempt to force the bugs to turn on
Ant-Man. Stinger attacked Macrothrax but Macrothrax grabbed Stinger by
the neck and punched her aside, prompting an angry Ant-Man to focus on
Macrothrax. Stinger instead begged Ant-Man to let her finish her own
fight despite Macrothrax's comments of disliking the sounds emanating
from Stinger. When Ant-Man agreed to give Stinger sixty seconds to
finish her fight with Macrothrax, to which Stinger and a confused
Macrothrax both proclaimed "yay!" The two then fought furiously until
Stinger managed to steal her helmet back and use it to order Crematrix
and Pthira to deal with Macrothrax. Despite Macrothrax's claims that he
ruled the world hive, Macrothrax was then devoured by Crematrix and
Pthira.
Comments: Created by Zeb Wells and Dylan Burnett.
It was never clearly explained what exactly Macrothrax's connection to Humbug was. Presumably, it was due to both of their connections to the Savage Land Bug Lords and the world hive, which is what the story implied, but nothing was definitively explained as to why Macrothrax's and Humbug's armors looked so similar. Perhaps the Bug Lords granted that sort of armor to their most loyal servants or something?
Additionally, while Macrothrax was definitely some
sort of mutated insect due to his ability to communicate in insect
language and his appearance, he was not a mutated insect hive given
humanoid shape like his followers Vespa, Thread and Tusk. It was not
revealed how exactly Macrothrax was mutated into humanoid form.
This profile was completed 9/27/2020, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Macrothrax has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Ant-Man II#4, p14, pan2 (Macrothrax leaping, main image)
Ant-Man II#4, p6, pan2 (Macrothrax, headshot)
Ant-Man II#4, p16, pan6 (Macrothrax wearing Stinger's helmet)
Ant-Man II#5, front cover (Macrothrax's defeat by Ant-Man & Stinger)
Ant-Man II#5, p17, pan2 (Macrothrax unmasked)
Ant-Man II#5, p18, pan2 (Macrothrax's death)
Appearances:
Ant-Man II#2 (April, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art),
Darren Shan (editor)
Ant-Man II#3 (May, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art),
Darren Shan (editor)
Ant-Man II#4 (July, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art),
Darren Shan (editor)
Ant-Man II#5 (August, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art),
Darren Shan (editor)
First Posted: 09/15/2021
Last updated: 09/14/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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