Stranger (comics)

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The Stranger

The Stranger battles the Avengers in Avengers vol. 1, #138. Art by George Tuska[citation needed].
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11 (May 1965)
Created by Stan Lee
Jack Kirby
In story information
Abilities Energy manipulation

The Stranger is a cosmic entity that appears in the fictional Marvel Universe. The Stranger first appears in Uncanny X-Men #11 (vol. 1, May 1965), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Contents

[edit] Fictional character biography

The Stranger first visits Earth out of curiosity, and after an encounter with the mutant X-Men departs, taking the supervillain Magneto and his servant Toad off-world for further study. [1] Soon after, Magneto escapes and returns to Earth, although is then recaptured by the Stranger. [2] Almost nothing is learned about the entity's motivations, which would become his trademark. The Stranger then becomes convinced that mankind is dangerous and sets out to destroy the Earth, but is dissuaded from this course of action by Bruce Banner and his alter-ego the Hulk, [3] and later the cosmic being Silver Surfer. [4]

The Stranger returns several years later to aid the Fantastic Four against the villain the Overmind, [5] He is later impersonated by the Toad, who battles the superhero team the Avengers. [6] The true Stranger encounters the Kree warrior Captain Marvel [7] and later Spider-Man and the Gardener when trying to obtain the Soul Gem from the corpse of Adam Warlock. The Stranger, does, however, recover the Reality Gem. [8] The Stranger then aids superhero team the Champions to contain a Null-Life bomb he left on Earth during the first encounter with the Silver Surfer. [9] After enlisting the aid of the Thing and the Hulk to fight against the threat of the Olympian god Pluto, [10] the Stranger is not seen for some time.

The Silver Surfer eventually encounters the Stranger once again, and questions him about his motivations and origins. The entity the Living Tribunal manifests, and claims that the Stranger could have represented its fourth face (each face signifies a different aspect of its being).[11]

The only other fact known about the Stranger is that he acquires sentient beings - unwillingly - from across the universe for his collection on "Labworld." Past specimens have included the sentient island Krakoa, Magneto and the Toad, and the villains the Abomination and Mercurio the 4-D Man. The hero Quasar later frees many of the specimens. [12]

The Stranger recently posed as the entity The Beyonder and captured several heroes and villains who were then manipulated into fighting each other for the purpose of study. [13]

[edit] Powers and abilities

The Stranger has the ability to channel and manipulate cosmic energy for virtually any use, with feats including size shifting,[14] molecular manipulation,[15] space travel,[16] intangibility,[17] energy projection,[18] virtual invulnerability,[19] and assembling a planet from segments of inhabited worlds from across the universe. [20]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11
  2. ^ Uncanny X-men vol. 1, #18
  3. ^ Tales To Astonish vol. 1, #89 - 90
  4. ^ Silver Surfer vol. 1, #4
  5. ^ Fantastic Four vol. 1, #113 - 116
  6. ^ Avengers vol. 1, #137 - 138
  7. ^ Captain Marvel vol. 1, #42
  8. ^ Marvel Team-Up vol. 1, #55
  9. ^ Champions vol. 1, #12 - 13
  10. ^ Marvel Two-In-One Annual #5
  11. ^ Silver Surfer vol. 3, #31
  12. ^ Quasar #14-16 (Sep. 1990 - Nov. 1990))
  13. ^ Beyond! #1 - 6 (2006)
  14. ^ Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11
  15. ^ Uncanny X-Men vol. 1, #11
  16. ^ Silver Surfer vol. 1, #4
  17. ^ Silver Surfer vol. 1, #4
  18. ^ Captain Marvel vol. 1, #42
  19. ^ Silver Surfer vol.2, #27
  20. ^ Beyond! #1 - 6 (2006)

[edit] External links

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