Sobek (comics)

Sobek is a fictional supervillain published by DC Comics. He first appears in 52 #26 (2006), and was created by Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen and Pat Olliffe.

Fictional character biography

The Golden Age version of the character was one of several alien Crocodile Men from the planetoid Punkus who joined the Monster Society of Evil under Mister Mind. Crocodile Men played a large part in the group. In another Marvel Family story, it featured the Hiss-Men, who are creatures from a million years ago that resemble the Crocodile-Men. Possibly they are Crocodile Men that landed on Earth, or Hiss-Men that left the planet as the rest of their race were killed by humans and the Marvel Family.

The current Sobek was first believed to be a bioengineered humanoid crocodile, created in Doctor Sivana's lab. Sobek is found in Dr. Sivana's residence, claiming to be a crocodile Sivana got from the Nile and experimented on before he escaped from his cage in Sivana's lab, and befriended by Osiris, as the Black Marvels were at a charity dinner hosted by Mrs Sivana, who wanted her husband found.^[1] He is named Sobek after the Egyptian god, claiming he doesn't have a name. From then on, Sobek puts on a facade of cowardice and timidness (essentially becoming the Black Marvel Family analogue of Tawky Tawny) to fool everyone around him. When Osiris suffers despondancy after accidentally killing Persuader and thinks his powers are evil and are causing the disasters in Khandaq, Sobek convinces him to give up his powers. Once Osiris becomes human, Sobek quickly devours him, claiming 'I'm not so hungry anymore'.^[2]

Soon after, Sobek is revealed to be Yurrd the Unknown, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing famine. Yurrd has been created along with Roggra, Zorrm, and Azraeuz as a group of bioengineered monstrosities sent to attack the Black Marvel Family, he causes crops to die so even the magic of Isis cannot restore them. Yurrd was the first to be sent out as a sleeper agent until the time looked right to strike. Black Adam and Isis are lured to the Horsemen when Black Adam feels Osiris's power returning to him. He tells Black Adam that Osiris was too stringy. In the ensuing battle, Yurrd is the first of the Horsemen to be killed, his jaws ripped apart by Black Adam. The other ones are killed by Adam except for Death,^[3] who escapes to the nearby nation of Bialya. Adam kills millions of people, before finding, torturing, then killing Death to find out who created the Horsemen.^[4] In 52 #52, a shot shows Black Adam wearing new boots, which the writers revealed in interviews^[5] to be in fact made of Sobek's flesh.

52 Aftermath

Yurrd and his fellow Horsemen return in the six-part miniseries 52 Aftermath: The Four Horsemen. The entity functioning as Yurrd remanifests in the country of Bialya where the Four Horsemen's spirits have joined Death's, where he confronts Batman and Superman and disrupts the relief efforts for the Bialyan survivors. Corpses are taken control of to build a mound that will resurrect the Horsemen, and when the heroes try to destroy it by throwing a block of ice at it, the Kinetic energy resurrects the villains. Yurrd takes on his true form during these events, now resembling a humanoid Hyena. He is able to possess Batman, due to their hunger for revenge. His essence is eventually absorbed into a bio-containment unit ingested by Veronica Cale.^[6]

Blackest Night

In the The Power of Shazam! tie-in to the Blackest Night crossover, Sobek's original body was reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps. He located Osiris, who had also been transformed into a Black Lantern (albeit with full control over his mind, due to Black Adam mystically restoring his corpse), and fought with him. Osiris destroyed Sobek and himself by calling out "Black Adam!", resulting in the magical lightning hitting them both and destroying their rings' connections to them.^[7] Osiris is later resurrected as a White Lantern.

Later when Osiris is in Arkham Asylum, he believes Killer Croc to be Sobek when a jailbreak is caused and attacks him brutally.^[8]

In other media

Television

• Although Sobek has never actually appeared outside of the medium of comics adapted from the comic book character, it is noteworthy that the Egyptian god of whom he was named after did appear in "Black Adam's Return," an episode of The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! He appears as a crocodile brought to life and enlarged by Black Adam's ally Princess Jemia. The Hiss-Men also make an appearance in one episode allied with another villain, Ibac, for unexplained reasons. They transport themselves into the Marvel's house while they are asleep, bind and gag them, and bring them to Ibac. They are planning to create an army of Hiss-Men using humans taken from the present, and defeat early humanity, but are defeated and have their time-travel technology taken, like in the comics.

References