SHAITANSHAITAN
Real Name: Shaitan
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Microverse) extraterrestrial (Spartak native); technology-user
Occupation: Warrior;
former ruler of the Acroyears (via Karza's thoughtwash);
former prince
Group Membership: Formerly the Acroyears
Affiliations: Antrons race, Centauri race, Dog Soldiers, Faceless Priests, Worldmind of Spartak;
perhaps indirectly Hydra, Kronos race, Membros race, Phobos race, Reptos race; likely Lobros race;
formerly Argon (while he was controlled by Karza), Karsh, Baron Karza;
he briefly assisted the forces of Homeworld, Kaliklak, Neep, and Spartak against Karza
Enemies: Baron Karza, Steve Coffin, Desert Demons (Margrace), Enigma Force/Time Traveler/Shadow Priests, King Evek, Karsh, Micronauts (Acroyear, Biotron, Bug, Cilicia, Marionette, Microtron, Arcturus Rann), Prince Pharoid, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division), Slug, Vespian, Queen Zoyburt
Known Relatives: Acroyear (brother), King Acroyear (father, deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Homeworld, Microverse;
formerly Spartak, Microverse;
First Appearance: Micronauts I#1 (February, 1979)
Powers/Abilities: Shaitan possessed enhanced strength
characteristic
He was proficient
He wore metallic armor
Upon his
Height: Unrevealed; approximately 6'9"; relative height after standard transfer to Earth, 6.75"
Weight: Unrevealed; approximately 284 lbs.; relative height after standard transfer to Earth, 2.64 oz.
Eyes: (Undead) White with no visible pupil; (originally) pink
Hair: None
History:
(Micronauts
I#12 (fb) / Micronauts Annual I#2 (fb) - BTS) - A comet traversed the
skies of Spartak, heralding Shaitan's birth along with his twin
brother, Acroyear. Shaitan was born the only albino among his people.
(Micronauts I#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Shaitan treacherously allied with the tyrant Baron Karza.
(Micronauts I#48 (fb) - BTS) -
At some point, Shaitan taught Karza's Chief Scientist DeGrayde about
the secrets and limitation of Acroyear armor.
(Micronauts I#9 (fb) - BTS) - With the aid of Karza, Shaitan thoughtwashed his people of planet Spartak to ally themselves with Karza, with apparently only Prince Acroyear able to resist.
(Micronauts I#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Shaitan thusly forced the proud race of Acroyears to submit to Baron Karza and to become shock troops in his war to dominate the Microverse.
(Micronauts I#38/2 (fb)) - Flying by ship into space
to escape Baron Karza's Dog Soldiers, Bug came across Prince Acroyear
being held prisoner by Shaitan, who intended to hand him
over to Karza and ally the Acroyears with Karza's growing empire. Bug
freed the Crown Prince from his energy shackles, and the two fought
Acroyear warriors loyal to Shaitan, escaping in a commandeered
spaceship.
Prince Acroyear subsequently declared to Bug his undying friendship.
(Micronauts I#12 (fb)) - Shaitan was nevertheless able to recapture Acroyear, and he sold Acroyear into slavery to fight in Karza's arena as entertainment.
(Micronauts Annual I#1/2 (fb)) - On Homeworld, on the day before the return of Arcturus Rann from his 1,000 year journey, and after King Acroyear and Bug arrived at the Imperial Stadium for the gladiatorial Great Games, Prince Shaitan was introduced by Baron Karza to Homeworld's royal family. Princess Mari addressed him as the turncoat of the Acroyears. Shaitan urged Karza to kill the royals for their disrespect, but Karza requested patience from his ally for the timing of his eventual coup. King Evek, upon hearing Karza openly admit his plans for a hostile takeover, drew his sword, but Karza blasted King Evek and Queen Zoyburt, killing them both. Shaitan demanded Karza kill Princess Mari and Prince Argon too, but the siblings fled on horseback to the rebel's headquarters. Baron Karza granted Shaitan permission to dispatch an Acroyear air patrol to search for the escaped royals, but he had secretly allowed Mari and Argon to escape to lead him to the rebel's hideout.
Later, Shaitan joined Karza at the Imperial Gallery to watch the gladiators fight. Shaitan anxiously complained they should be searching for the rebels, but he was surprised to discover that his deposed brother, Acroyear, had survived to reach Homeworld as a combatant. As a Shadow Priest offered a wager on the battle before him, Shaitan became enraged, fully expecting his brother to be killed, but not in such an undignified manner. Though both Acroyear and Bug triumphed in the games, Karza denied their freedom and commanded they return to fight again the next day...the day unbeknownst to the despot when Arcturus Rann would return.
(Micronauts I#1) - Sitting beside Baron Karza after the baron's recent insurrection and takeover of Homeworld, Shaitan witnessed the return of Arcturus Rann from his 1000 year journey. While Rann fought for his life entertaining Karza and Shaitan in an arena battle, alongside new allies Acroyear and Bug, Shaitan complained that Karza's infamous Body Banks could not function on extending the lives of his own people of Spartak. Though Karza seemed nonplussed, Shaitan fretted as his brother Acroyear with Bug, Rann, and Princess Mari escaped with two roboids Biotron and Microtron.
(Micronauts I#2) - On the command Battle Cruiser, Shaitan pursued the Micronauts' ship the Endeavor through a breach in the Spacewall (the barrier surrounding the Microverse) and warping to Earth, where the Microverse inhabitants were scaled at approximately 1/12th their normal size compared to Earth's humans. Shaitan contemplated the blood feud between himself and his brother that could only be resolved by one of their deaths. In Daytona Beach, Florida, Shaitan's forces attacked the Micronauts as they befriended young Steve Coffin. As the Endeavor warped to safety, Shaitan's Battle Cruiser was struck with a rake by Steve.
(Micronauts I#3) - Shaitan warped away, and he continued pursuit of the Endeavor via following a tracking device hidden on the Micronauts' ship. At the Speedway Skating Circus skateboard park, Shaitan attempted to close in for the kill by splitting the Battle Cruiser into six separate fighter crafts. However, he had not counted on the flying glider-pack wearing Micronauts retaliating against each fighter individually. Shaitan warped away to safety.
(Micronauts I#4) - Returning back to the Microverse defeated, losing two Battle Cruisers in combat with the Micronauts, Shaitan faced Baron Karza's wrath. Karza quickly severed their alliance, removing the Thoughtwash over the Acroyears which fooled them into thinking their king, Acroyear, was dead. Shaitan feared for his life with his betrayal now discoverable, but he nonetheless headed home to Spartak.
(Micronauts I#9) - After Prince Acroyear was welcomed
home to Spartak and hailed as the king now that Karza's Thoughtwash had
been lifted, Prince Shaitan was captured and held prisoner in the
Judgment Tower. Despite being bound, Shaitan was permitted to attend a
war council meeting where his brother prepared for the arrival of
Karza's forces against Spartak. Once Karza began a devastating attack,
King Acroyear entered the Crystal Chamber and summoned the planet's
Worldmind for council.
(Micronauts I#10) - Shaitan mocked King Acroyear's beloved Lady Cilicia, accusing her of showing a naive faith in King Acroyear contacting the planet's imaginary Worldmind. Cilicia struck Shaitan, knocking off his helmet. Shaitan accused Cilicia of hating him because of him being an albino, and he begged her to appease Karza as the only way of survival for their race.
Meanwhile, Acroyear, merged with Spartak's Worldmind, destroyed Karza's fleet with the planet itself hurling rock and magma at the fleet and increasing the gravitational pull. On Homeworld, during Karza's absence while attacking Spartak, the rebellion under Prince Argon advanced and burned Karza's Body Banks.
With Karza's forces defeated on Spartak, but the losses against his
people high, King Acroyear solemnly ordered Shaitan to be returned to
await the decision of the elders regarding his fate. Blaming Shaitan
for betraying his people to Karza, King Acroyear declared Shaitan no
longer his brother. Though Shaitan accused the king of hating him for
being an albino outcast, Acroyear denied ever rejecting or hating him.
(Micronauts I#12) - In the aftermath of the defeat of Baron Karza and liberation of Homeworld, Shaitan faced the Warrior Tribunal in the Tower of Judgment on Spartak, charged with the crime of treason against his people and the world. Shaitan not only accepted the charges, but boasted he would have done it again if he could have won the throne occupied by his brother.
By law, Shaitan was allowed to challenge the verdict by combat called a Blood Feud. The ritual began with a portent in the skies, as what appeared to be a comet - but was actually a Time Traveler - passed overhead.
Fighting against his brother upon the inhospitable Shattered Plains, with each armed with a Force Hammer on the left arm and an Energy Blade in the right hand, Shaitan made the first strike. Taunting the king for growing soft, losing his emotionless edge after his time with the Micronauts, Shaitan appeared to have the advantage in combat.
King Acroyear pleaded with Shaitan to surrender and face exile rather than succeed, gain freedom, yet live hunted by the Tribunal until slain. Though Shaitan battered Acroyear with his hammer, Acroyear attempted to parry the blows using Shaitan's blade, but accidentally stabbed and killed him when Shaitan lunged forward.
(Micronauts I#21/2 / Micronauts I#26/2 (fb)) - On Spartak, at the imperial city's sacred Temple of the Rock, Karza's Faceless Priests -- strange pale humanoid entities with featureless faces except glowing eyes -- raided the tomb of Shaitan. Vespian, captain of the Acroyear Royal Guard, responded to the call for help from the temple guards. The entities performed a ritual of dark sorcery which revived Shaitan. The entities slew several of the royal guardsmen with a simple touch while Shaitan, in his traditional armor, floated above a flaming crater over his grave, alive yet apparently bereft of his soul. Shaitan then released arcane energy, killing the remaining guardsmen in the temple save at least one witness determined to warn the king.
(Micronauts I#23/2) - On Homeworld's Sandzone, in the Syanite Desert, an encamped Shaitan within the Grey Oasis summoned centaurian Prince Argon and his captive, the rebel leader Slug. Argon, his mind under a post-operative command planted by Baron Karza, was subservient to Shaitan. Shaitan revealed that Karza's Body Banks provided him the means for immortality of a sorts. Shaitan and his Centauri soldiers were attacked by Prince Pharoid, the Lord of Aegyptia, and his team, the Desert Demons.
(Micronauts I#24/2) - In the Sandzone of Homeworld, the Aegyptans and Centauri battled. Shaitan summoned his Faceless Priests to ready his Sandskimmer. As Shaitan threatened to kill Slug, Karsh, the Chieftain of the equine Centauri interrupted, fearing he would be left behind as Shaitan fled. As Shaitan slew Karsh, Prince Pharoid attacked Shaitan. Though Pharoid stabbed Shaitan with his rapier to the hilt, Shaitan appeared unaffected. Slug freed herself and aided Pharoid, while Shaitan fled with the mind-controlled centaur Argon, claiming he was the only one that mattered to Shaitan's master plan.
(Micronauts I#25/2) - In Homeworld's Primal Zone, the 1,000 year old undead Faceless Priests surrounded a lava lake and performed an arcane ritual led by Shaitan. Shaitan commanded the mind-controlled centaur Prince Argon into an ebony sphere at the center of the lake. Baron Karza was resurrected, taking over Argon's host-body, his mind freed from the atomic fires at the core of Homeworld where it had been since his seeming death. Karza ordered Shaitan to gather his forces while claiming the Enigma Force was now bound to his (Karza's) will.
(Micronauts I#26/1) - Through a mind-breach in the
Space-Wall connecting him to S.H.I.E.L.D's psychic ESPers members, the
newly resurrected Baron Karza traveled to Earth along with Shaitan and
some faceless priests. After tearing the secrets of the Enigma Force
from Commander Rann's brain, Karza was able to mind-bind the Enigma
Force to his own will, as well as protect himself from the Time
Travelers' and Captain Universe's interference. Biotron noted that his
sensors detected that the newly returned Shaitan was registered as
neither alive nor dead. Karza teleported away with Shaitan to rule over
the armies of Hydra.
(Micronauts I#27) - Karza, with Shaitan and the forces of Hydra, broadcast an announcement to the people of Earth declaring his intent for conquest of two "universes," accompanied by a subliminal mind-controlling message (see comments).
Shaitan expressed his dismay that the mind-control would only impart loyalty to Karza, and not himself as Karza's self-appointed general. Karza retorted that it was his own genius that orchestrated his return as well as Shaitan's, and that Shaitan almost failed in his one task of delivering Argon as Karza's host-body. Karza then pummeled Shaitan repeatedly with his detachable fist as Shaitan begged for him to cease.
After Karza explained his plan of attack, Shaitan requested that he at least be permitted to slay his brother, King Acroyear. Karza belittled Shaitan, mocking his request as of negligible importance compared to his plans. Embittered, Shaitan considered betraying Karza again. As Karza's forces with Hydra began their attack on Earth from the Fantasyworld amusement park, Shaitan alerted Karza of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s and the Micronauts' counter-attack.
Karza engaged Rann in combat, easily overpowering him and taking him back to Hydra's headquarters under Fantasyland. With the Time Traveler bound and Rann mind-shocked into a coma, Shaitan realized that Karza would soon have full access to the Enigma Force and have no need for servants such as himself. Shaitan then secretly reached for Karza's interdimensional transporter in hope to find the one force left that could stop Karza: the Worldmind of Spartak.
(Micronauts I#28) - As Karza's war raged on both Earth and in the Microverse, Shaitan betrayed the Baron for failing to offer him a place at his side and for denying him the chance to slay his brother. Shaitan then activated the interdimensional portal, trapping Karza's fleet in hyperspace, while opening the gate to allow the forces against Karza from Homeworld, Spartak, Kaliklak, Neep, and many other worlds to arrive on Earth.
Though Karza's victory seemed near, the tide of battle on Earth was
quickly reversed towards the side of the resistance. As King Acroyear
fought hand to hand against Baron Karza, Shaitan considered two options
to defeat Karza: penetrate the force field around Rann and slay him,
thereby cutting off the power of the Enigma Force feeding Karza, or
summon the Worldmind of Spartak as his brother once did. 
Shaitan chose the latter, and used his right as a prince of Spartak to reach into the Microverse and summon the planet's might. However, both Karza and King Acroyear appreciated the folly in his plan. As the Worldmind's power consumed his undead form -- as the Worldmind could only inhabit a truly living being -- Shaitan melted and died a second time. Obsessed with vengeance, Shaitan apparently cared not if the summoning of the Worldmind to Earth would critically harm his home planet by depriving access to its lifeforce.
(Micronauts I#28 - BTS) - Aware that if Karza was not stopped, two universes, Earth's and the Microverse, would fall to the tyrant, King Acroyear realized he had no choice but to summon the Worldmind himself, despite the risks.
Acroyear called on every last iota of life-energy from his homeworld and blasted Karza again and again, destroying Karza at the cost of also killing the Worldmind.
(Micronauts I#30 (fb) - BTS) - Having always maintained the great Space Arks that once brought their ancestors to Spartak, the planet's population escaped with their lives despite the geological disruptions that accompanied Spartak's demise.
(Micronauts I#29) - A coffin with Shaitan's only remains - his helmet and sword - was part of a funeral service on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in the aftermath of Karza's defeat on Earth.
Comments: Appearance created by unidentified parties for Mego's Micronauts action figure line.
adapted to Marvel and given the identity of Shaitan by Bill Mantlo, Michael Golden, and Josef Rubinstein.
Shaitan was based on the metal die cast 1977 Mego Micronauts action figure called Acroyear II, a "fully posable space warrior." He came with metallic globes on both hands, resembling the Force Hammers seen in Micronauts I#12, during the Blood Feud. He was released in three colors, red, silver, and blue (matching Shaitan). See the image below.
The "Meet the Micronauts" page at the end of Micronauts I#1 describes Shaitan as Acroyear's "turncoat brother whose treachery forces the proud race of Acroyears to submit to Baron Karza and to become shock troops in his war to dominate the Microverse. Acroyear is described as "Prince of the Acroyears" and this term is often repeated. Though both Acroyear and his twin Shaitan were princes, Acroyear was later defined as his world's king by Micronauts I#9, presuming his father had died by this point in the story at the start of Micronauts I#1.
In Micronauts I#27, although Karza boasted about the conquest of two universes, he also said two "solar systems" and realistically was likely focusing on planetary conquest of Earth, Homeworld, and perhaps Homeworld's neighboring planets.
This profile was completed 7/25/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Micro-Mike Fichera
CLARIFICATIONS:
Shaitan should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Micronauts Annual #1, pg.12, panel 1 (full armored body)
Micronauts I#12, pg.11, panel 3 (without his helmet)
pg. 13, panel 4 (wielding Force Hammer on left hand)
pg. 16, panel 1 (death/impalement)
#21, pg.16, panel 5 (undead appearance);
#28, pg. 17, panels 6-7 (undead destruction);
#29, pg. 1, panel 1 (coffin)
Toy image - from the actual toy in Mike Fichera's collection
Appearances:
Micronauts I#1-4 (January-April, 1979) - Bill Mantlo
(writer), Michael Golden (penciler), Josef Rubinstein
(inker/embellisher), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#9 (September, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Michael Golden (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker/editor)
Micronauts I#12 (December, 1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Michael Golden (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker/editor)
Micronauts Annual#1 (1979) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Steve Ditko (artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#21/2 (January-February, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Howard Chaykin (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker/editor)
Micronauts I#23/2 (November, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Pat
Broderick (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Louise Jones (editor)
Micronauts I#24/2 (December, 1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer, co-plotter),
Pat Broderick (penciler, co-plotter), Armando Gil (inker), Louise Jones
(editor)
Micronauts I#25/2-26/1&2 (January-February, 1981) - Bill Mantlo
(writer, co-plotter), Pat Broderick (penciler, co-plotter), Armando Gil
(inker), Louise Jones (editor)
Micronauts I#27-29 (March-May, 1981) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Pat
Broderick (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Louise Jones (editor)
Micronauts I#38 (February, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), John Garcia (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
Micronauts I#48 (December, 1982) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Butch Guice (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Al Milgrom (editor)
First posted: 09/03/2021
Last updated: 07/19/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
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