SIR OSSILOT
SIR OSSILOT
Real Name: Presumably Ossilot
Identity/Class: Terrestrial fauna (ocelot) mutate (New Men)
Occupation: Knight, warrior
Group Membership: Knights of Wundagore (notably Sir Gote, Sir Hogg, Sir Lepard, Sir Lyan, Sir Ram, Sir Ursus; and Count Tagar, Sir Porga), New Men (presumably including Bova Ayshire)
Affiliations: Jonathan Drew, High Evolutionary (Herbert Wyndham), Magnus, Thor Odinson
Enemies: Chthon, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Man-Beast and his New Men, Rigellians (notably Arcturus);
formerly High Evolutionary
Known Relatives: The High Evolutionary is his figurative father and the other New Men are figurative siblings;
presumably married (see comments)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
perished in space near Wundagore II (allegedly the 5th planet in the Sirius star system, Milky Way galaxy);
formerly Wundagore II;
formerly High Evolutionary's citadel atop Mount Wundagore, Transia, Europe, Earth
First Appearance: Thor I#134 (November, 1966)
Powers/Abilities: An ocelot (see comments) evolved and mutated into humanoid conformation, Sir Ossilot presumably had enhanced human strength, speed, and reflexes. He presumably had enhanced olfactory and auditory senses, as well as enhanced nocturnal vision.
As a Knight of Wundagore, he was trained and experienced in armed and unarmed combat, wore armor (including space armor as needed), wielded a sword and possibly a lasso-launching hand-weapon and/or a bola.
He was presumably highly-skilled in climbing, leaping, and swimming.
He flew atop an atomic steed, upon which he wielded some sort of energy sword
He was also experienced with the space suit and energy blasters.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6')History:
.
(Thor
I#132-134 - BTS) - In recent years, Count Tagar and Sir Porga brought Jane Foster to the
High Evolutionary's citadel to educate the New Men in the ways of the
outside world. (Thor I#134) - As Thor arrived approached Mount Wundagore, investigating Jane Foster's disappearance via a Rigellian tracking device, the Knights of Wundagore -- including Sir Ossilot, Sir Lepard, and Sir Lyan -- detected and approached him via their atomic steeds, after which they lassoed him.
Certain they would bring him to Jane, Thor allowed them to bring him into the High Evolutionary's Citadel, after which he tossed the Knights around when they refused to release him. One of the other knights called Sir Ossilot and Sir Lyan to his side.
The Knights soon agreed to stop fighting and discuss matters, and -- at Thor's request -- one of them removed his helmet, revealing his true nature. When Thor forced his way in to confront the High Evolutionary, the distraction caused the Evolutionary's wolf-subject to be over-exposed to Isotope C.
After the energies around the wolf caused an explosion, the High Evolutionary noted how the wolf would be evolved farther than he had ever dared to go before. Sir Ossilot asked if the Evolutionary could not halt the machine, but the Evolutionary noted that the rays were now deadly to him and that it was too late.
(Thor I#134 - BTS) - Rendered both mad/malevolent and uncontrollably powerful, the wolf
(identified as the Man-Beast) plotted to destroy those around him.
(Thor I#135) - After the Man-Beast attacked Thor, the High Evolutionary told his Knights -- including Sir Lepard -- to stand back as he attempted to destroy the Man-Beast with his sub-sonic discordion. Only pained, the Man-Beast fled out of range and locked himself within the Evolutionary's genetic laboratory, which contained his evolutionary ray.
(Thor I#135 - BTS) - As at least one Knight, possibly Sir Ossilot, watched, the Evolutionary throw some object against the wall to demonstrate that the Man-Beast had created an anti-matter barrier to prevent them from breaching his vault. By the time the Evolutionary used his induction device to force the Man-Beast to confront them, the Man-Beast had already created a number of his own New Men, who then engaged Thor and the Evolutionary.
(Thor I#135) - Donning his cathode gloves, Count Tagar led the Knights of Wundagore to engage the New Men. After Thor subdued the Man-Beast, the Knights forced the rest of the New Men into the Evolutionary's Star Chamber, which then transported them to the "galaxy Dromisana."
(Thor I#135 - BTS) - Deciding that they would continue to endanger mankind if they remained on Wundagore, the High Evolutionary instructed Thor and Jane Foster to depart. With his citadel in the form of a starship, the Evolutionary piloted it to depart Earth.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - Sir Ossilot was one of 38 Knights of Wundagore aboard the Evolutionary's Citadel-turned-ship. Eventually -- after traveling through hyperspace --the Evolutionary's ship...
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS/ Tales to Astonish I#94/2 (fb) - BTS) - ...emerged near an apparently hospitable star system, and they landed on a near-Earth-like planet.(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - The Evolutionary sent forth his Knights to explore this planet, and they discovered and reported an abandoned city.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - One of the Knights (presumably Count Tagar), officially claimed the world in the name of the High Evolutionary.
(Tales to Astonish I#95/2 (fb) - BTS) - They named the world Wundagore II...(Tales to Astonish I#94/2 (fb) - BTS / West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - ...and they (re)built the city, adapting it to their use.
(Iron Man I#111 (fb) - BTS) - The Evolutionary and his Knights encountered the giant praying mantis-like creatures apparently native to this world..
As these creatures made no use of the world's riches, the High Evolutionary banished them to the swamps.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - Meanwhile, the High Evolutionary used the menagerie of animals contained in his citadel to evolve a female of each species he had already evolved for his knights.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - The High Evolutionary presented the women to his knights to become their wives.
The Evolutionary told the couples to go forth into the new city and to be fruitful and multiply; he further advised them that he had exhausted his stores and that from then on, they would be responsible for replenishing their numbers.
(Tales to Astonish I#94/2 (fb) - BTS) - Their little civilization thrived and flourished in peace and prosperity initially.
(West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (fb) - BTS) - The High Evolutionary left his charges to their own pursuits as he remained in his laboratory and devoted himself to his research.(Tales to Astonish I#94/2 (fb) - BTS) - Eventually the High Evolutionary had the Hulk transported to Wundagore II.
(Tales to Astonish I#96/2 - BTS) - The maddened New Men / Knights of Wundagore then broke into the High Evolutionary's base.
High Evolutionary assaulted the maddened Knights, but he was mortally wounded and then subjected himself to his
Genetic Accelerator.
(Iron Man I#111 (fb) - BTS) - The Rigellians serving the rogue Arcturus believed themselves to have found a new home when one of their space probes discovered Wundagore II.
The Rigellians found traces of a once-thriving civilization, but they saw only wild beasts foraging in it cities. The Rigellians were overjoyed, and they considered that this world would be New Rigel.
When the Rigellians' exploratory craft landed, the wild beast fled, but cosmic radiation born by the ship from its journeys through space somehow caused the beasts to re-evolve back into the forms of the New Men, bereft of the savagery that had previously afflicted them.
Speaking and clothing themselves, the New Men returned to their cities to see if they could recall what had caused them to devolve.
Whether they learned what had happened to them, they recalled that they were the Knights of Wundagore and that they had returned to their home.
(Iron
Man I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Although there was
plenty of room on the planet for them all, the Rigellians were
unwilling to live with beasts, and the Knights of Wundagore were
willing to fight to keep their world and drive off the invaders.
(Iron
Man I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Prior to any actual war being declared, the Rigellians allegedly attacked and wounded a number of the New Men. The Rigellians also allegedly tortured some of the New Men for information.
(Iron Man I#110) - Wearing space suits and astride their atomic steeds as well as dragonfly-like ships, the Knights of Wundagore -- including Sir Lepard, Sir Lyan, Sir Ossilot, Sir Ram and many others -- assaulted Arcturus' fleet.
Although the Rigellians were caught by surprise and initially reeling, the Knights considered that the Rigellians would recover and counter-attack; however, win or lose, they vowed they fight for the realm as true sons of the lost creator.
(Iron
Man I#111 - BTS) - The Rigellians in the ship carrying Iron Man and
Jack of Hearts called an alert to battle stations as their space
shields had been breached.
(Iron Man I#111) - Sir Lyan exhorted the other Knights to slay the invaders, and other knights noted that their power-lances ruptured the ship's hull, and they hoped that they might destroy the command ship
When a blast hit a fuel storage cell, the explosion hurled Iron Man from the Rigellian ship into the middle of the attacking Wundagorians.
Sir Lepard announced this to Sir Ram, and what appeared to be Sir Lyan advised that this might be a destruct drone and ordered the others to attack it.
Seeking only to defend himself, Iron Man pulled the approaching Sir Lepard and Sir Ossilot from their atomic steeds.Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby , and Vince Colletta.
Why doesn't Sir Ossilot look like an ocelot?
An ocelot is a medium-sized felid, averaging 15.7-19.7" (40-50 cm) at the shoulder and 15.4-34.2 lbs. (7-15.5 kg). They typically have brown eyes (which reflect in a golden hue when illuminated). Ocelots are of the species Leopardus pardalis. In Thor I#134-135, not including the clearly identified Count Tagar and Sir Porga, who weren't part of the armored Knights of Wundagore, there were four main Knights who were fairly clearly and consistently pictured, and then a fifth Knight shows up in the background in a couple panels in #135. Sir Lepard, "Sir Liyan," and "Sir Ossilot" were names that were used when they were fully armored, none of them are identified with their helmets off. The armors shown in the fully-armored Knights (left image) don't match the armors shown when they aren't wearing their masks (right image), so it really hard to tell who is whom. In the armored image linked to above, Sir Lepard is described as being spun about by Thor...but there are two fully armored knights, and neither of them seems to be wearing armor similar to that worn by Sir Lepard as seen in his helmet-less form a few pages later. |
Sir "Liyan" is pretty obvious in his unmasked form with the thick mane. 
Sir Lepard fits pretty well with the guy with the whiskers.
Then there's the big one, who looks like orange and somewhat
bushy-faced in Thor I#134, but in Thor I#135, he goes from more
bushy-faced to smooth-skinned and back again....and even a tan color.
His bushy-faced appearance makes him look like a bear or perhaps some
sort of rodent, or maybe a sloth (sloth's have little human-like ears like that).
And then the fourth one, over the High Evolutionary's left shoulder
(also shown at Thor's feet in the unmasked image from Thor I#134). He
looks fairly nonspecific, and I don't know what he is supposed to be...
And finally, the fifth one, over Sir Liyan's right shoulder, seen in a
couple panels in Thor I#135...I don't know what he is supposed to
be...maybe some sort of ape...
I don't think Bill Mantlo and/or Keith Pollard knew what an ocelot was when they identified the brown-furry-faced as Sir Ossilot in Iron Man#111.
I don't know whether they were specifically trying to match the appearance of the unidentified bushy-faced one from Thor I#134-135 or not, but the character at least looks a little more feline, with the pronounced philtrum dividing the upper lip. Still, it doesn't look much like an ocelot...
Regardless, in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II (Deluxe Edition) #15: Wundagore entry (March, 1987) writers Mark Gruenwald and/or Peter Sanderson and penciler Cynthia Martin identified the bushy-faced character as Sir Ossilot. Did they do so based on the choosing The character from Thor I#134-135 that most resembled the character from Iron Man I#111 is certainly the bushy-faced knight, but was that part of the decision process? Who knows?
And so, the subsequent New Men entries in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#8 (August, 2006) and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#8 (July, 2009) followed Gru's lead and identified the bushy-faced character as Sir Ossilot.
It would have been a lot simpler if Stan and Jack had identified the Knights more clearly in Thor I#134-135. I feel like Stan chose to use the name Sir Ossilot because it sounds a little like Lancelot, but there really wasn't an unmasked character in those issues that really looked much like an ocelot...
Perhaps something happed to Sir Ossilot to give him that bushy face...maybe -- although I highly doubt it -- someday there will be an in-story reason that could clarify this matter. Certainly living on the magically-infused Mount Wundagore could have had some sort of effect on him.
So, going with the assumption that the bushy-faced knight is Sir Ossilot, he shows up again in X-Men Annual#12/3...
I'm going with the assumption that the Sir Lyan, Sir Lepard, and Sir Ossilot in the Iron Man issues and X-Men Annual#12/3 were the same as the ones from the Thor issues, and the various Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries on the New Men and Knights of Wundagore supports that, as do the Official Index to the Marvel Universe entries for the relevant issues.
That being said, if the battle with the Other took place over two decades ago (it had been defined as 1958, but subsequent stories may have retconned that), and we know that over half of the 42 extant Knights of Wundagore perished in that battle, it doesn't seem unreasonable that the Sir Ossilot seen in X-Men Annual#12/3 might have been a precursor of the Sir Ossilot encountered decades later in Thor I#134.
Being different incarnations would explain the different New Men being knighted alongside Sir Ossilot in various issues, and it might also explain why Sir Hogg did not have the pig snout of the Sir Hogg in the Iron Man issues. Sir Lyan in Iron Man I#111-112 looks significantly different than the Sir Liyan in Thor I#134-135 (and its spelled differently) and in the OHotMU Wundagore and New Men's head shots. Plus Sir Leppard in the X-Men Annual is spelled differently than Sir Lepard in Thor I#134-135 and Iron Man I#111.
However, that is also problematic, as there were not female New Men (besides Bova) prior to the arrival on Wundagore II, so the Evolutionary would have had to created a new successor, rather than any sort of reproduction/succession.
Going purely by Marvel Time (which is roughly one year per 4-5 years of real time), the devolved New Men were present on Wundagore for close to 3 years before being re-evolved. It's anyone's guess how quickly those animals would have reproduced vs. how many were consumed by predators, and it is further unknown if when the radiation from the Rigellian ship re-evolved the New Men if their offspring were then evolved for the first time.
While Sir Ossilot is only identified by name in Thor I#134 and Iron Man I#111, and shown in Thor I#135, if it is the same guy, then he would have been behind-the-scenes in Tales to Astonish I#94-96 (I don't really see anyone matching the bushy-faced guy or the one from Iron Man I#111; none of them are called by name besides Sir Ram); and in the High Evolutionary back-up in Avengers West Coast Annual#3.
In AWC Annual#3, the High Evolutionary provided same species wives for each of his knights, which means Sir Ossilot would have been married. While his wife was not ever shown, I would suggest the name "Lady Pardalis" (wife; presumed widow).
Thanks to Proto-Man for providing high-resolution digitally-remastered headshots of Sir Ossilot.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Sir Ossilot should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Thor I#134-135 (November-December, 1966) - Stan
"The Man" Lee (writer/editor), Jack "King" Kirby (penciler), Vince "The
Prince" Colletta (inker)
Tales to Astonish I#94/2 - 96/2 (August-October, 1967) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Marie Severin (penciler), Herb Trimpe (inker)
Iron Man I#110-111 (May-June, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Keith Pollard (penciler), Fred Kida (inker), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Iron Man I#112 (July, 1978) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Keith Pollard (penciler), Fred Kida (inker), Jim Shooter (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#6: Knights of Wundagore entry (June, 1983) - Mark Gruenwald (editor/head writer/designer), Peter
Sanderson, Mark Lerer, Dan Fingeroth, Lou Mougin (writers), Joanne Harras, Bob Harras, David Cody Weiss, Fred Baumana, Roger Stern, Bob Simpson (researchers), Mike Mignola (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker),
Eliot R. Brown (technical advisor/typesetter), Michael Carlin (associate editor/designer)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe II (Deluxe Edition) #15: Wundagore entry (March, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer/producer), Peter Sanderson (writer/researcher), Cynthia Martin (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Howard Mackie (assistant editor), Marc Siry, David Wohl, Marc McLaurin (editorial assistants), Gregory Wright (assistant editor)
X-Men I Annual#12/3 (October, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Ron Lim (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
West Coast Avengers Annual#3/3 (October, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Ron Lim (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#8 (August, 2006) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator), Sean McQuaid, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, Michael Hoskin, Mark O'English, Chris Biggs, Eric J. Moreels, Mike Fichera, Al Sjoerdsma, Barry Reese, Chad Anderson, Madison Carter, Anthony Flamini & Rich Green (writers), Michael Short (assistant editor), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#8 (July, 2009) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator),
Stuart Vandal, Mike Fichera & Madison Carter (coordination assistants), Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, David
Wiltfong, Madison Carter, Mike Fichera,
Chad Anderson, Chris Biggs, Eric J.
Moreels, Mark O'English, Al Sjoerdsma, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Anthony Flamini, Rich Green, Markus Raymond, Andrew Goletz, Rob London, Mike O'Sullivan & Jeph York (writers), Brian
Overton (copy editor), Alex Starbuck (editorial assistant), John Denning & Cory Levine (assistant
editors), Mark D. Beazley (editor, special projects), Jeff Youngquist
&
Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
First posted: 01/29/2023
Last updated: 01/29/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Thor I#132-134
