Magus (comics)
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The Magus is the name of two fictional characters in Marvel Comics' universe. The two characters are completely unrelated, except that they are both evil and both associated with a different good character named Warlock.
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[edit] Magus (evil Adam Warlock)
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The first Magus is a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. Strange Tales (vol. 2) #178. He was introduced by writer-artist Jim Starlin in his well-regarded run of Adam Warlock stories.
[edit] Character biography
The Magus is the evil, future incarnation of Adam Warlock. Although Warlock destroyed the Magus by preventing the Magus' timeline from having ever existed, a new Magus was created when Warlock obtained the Infinity Gauntlet and subconsciously cast out the evil aspect of his psyche. Both versions of Magus had essentially the same personalities, goals, and costumes. The original Magus from the future had a giant afro hairstyle.
The Magus was the mastermind of the events of the Infinity War crossover, in which he obtained several Cosmic Cubes and created doppelgängers of numerous superheroes and of Thanos. The Magus was absorbed into Warlock's Soul Gem at the end of the Infinity War, but eventually reappeared, this time menacing the new Captain Marvel.
[edit] Powers and abilities
When not endowed with additional power by cosmic artifacts, the Magus is superhumanly strong besting Thanos in hand to hand combat in Warlock (comics) #11, has god-like senses and is capable of manipulating cosmic energy on a cellular level for a myriad of effects, such as unassisted flight at escape velocity and the creation of force fields. He also has the ability to wield cosmic energy to produce destructive concussive force which he can emit from his hands. He can also render himself intangible. It is unknown if this act of creation is derived from his intellect or by simply manipulating his vast cosmic powers. The Magus is highly intelligent and well-read in philosophy. He is a highly gifted military strategist. The Magus’ perception of reality is different to most beings; he believes good and evil are ideas created to control sentient beings. The Magus believes he was created to battle the forces of Nihilism (such as Thanos). The Magus sees his goal as giving all forms of life a purpose (that purpose being mainly to worship The Magus). His followers can be fanatically loyal to him; they are ordered to kill all life forms that do not convert to his church or which are not humanoid (any sentient being that isn’t in the same shape as the Magus is considered a demon). Although merciless to foes, ostensibly the members of the Church of Universal Truth love one another and practice peace to their own kind. However, the Church itself has known political intrigue even amongst its own members.
[edit] Appearances In Other Media
- The Magus appeared as a boss in Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems. Upon beating him, the player recieves The Power Gem.
- An alternate take on The Magus appears in The Silver Surfer Animated Series episode Forever Wars (In a flashback). The episode features Adam Warlock being created to protect a planet called Karra-Des from a Kree invasion. The citizens fear that Adam Warlock will turn on them and send him into a Temporal Anomaly (where he relives his battle against The Kree). Some of the scientist, however, create warriors similar to Warlock. They eventually destroyed Karra-Des. The warriors strongly resemble The Magus in terms of design.
[edit] Magus (Technarchy)
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The Magus first appeared in the New Mutants (vol. 1) #18. This Magus is a techno-organic patriarch of an alien civilization, and should not be confused with another character called Magus who is associated with Adam Warlock. He was created by writer Chris Claremont. The character and his son the deceased New Mutant, Warlock, were intended as an homage to Jim Starlin's characters[citation needed]: the original Magus and Adam Warlock.
[edit] Character biography
The Magus is the ruler of the extra-terrestrial Technarchy. Due to a bizarre custom wherein Warlock was expected to kill his father, Warlock instead fled to Earth and joined the New Mutants. He did this to escape having to kill or be killed by his father and to escape the potential responsibility of being ruler of a world of depraved robotic fiends. The Magus followed him and the two fought. Eventually Magus was sent back to his origin.
Magus was tricked at one point by the New Mutants and "reprogrammed" into reverting to an infant state. He later returned to normal and sought out his son. When he finally confronted his son, Warlock had died and been reborn in a new body, and was no longer truly a member of the same species.
[edit] Powers and abilities
The Magus is a techno-organic entity, that is a creature composed entirely of living circuitry. His body is black and yellow, and tens to hundred of meters high. Like all others of his kind, his powers include shapeshifting, super strength, starflight, the ability to mimic and interface with any technological artifact, and the ability to transform any organic lifeform into a techno-organic being like himself via the infectious Transmode Virus. Though able to draw energy from a variety of ambient and artificial sources, transforming living beings and draining them of their life energy seems to be his preferred means of sustenance. His size and strength are limited only by the amount of power he can acquire and store.
The Magus is extraordinarily violent, brutal, and arrogant. His species, (save Warlock, who is a mutant) is incapable of love, compassion, or mercy. Entirely male, they reproduce by mechanical means, after which it is customary for father and son to fight to the death. Though the Magus boasts the power to tear apart stars, he has proven vulnerable to relatively mundane attacks. Nonetheless, he has occasionally performed feats whose grandeur is on par with those of beings like Galactus.
The Magus has also demonstrated a high level of intelligence and cunning. As proven by his ability to enter Limbo under his own power, Magus also possessed the ability to enter different dimensions at will.
