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Terrax
Real
Name: Tyros Occupation: Former dictator, former herald of Galactus Identity: Unknown to the general public of Earth Legal Status: Citizen of Lanlak Other Aliases: Terrax the Tamer Place of Birth: City of Lanlak, planet Birj Place of Death: Queens, New York Marital Status: Unrevealed Known Relatives: None Group Affiliation: Herald of Galactus Base of Operations: Lanlak, later mobile within the known
universe First Appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #211 Final Appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #260
History: Tyros was originally the dictator of the small
city-state Lanlak on the world of Birj (sometimes translated
as Terran), a moon of the gas giant Marman in a solar
system eighty thousand light years from earth. Tyros ruled
through the use of his limited power over earth and rock.
This power, which apparently was a mutation unique to
Tyros, enabled him to animate constructs of stone, which
would patrol his kingdom maintaining his firm control.
Tyros loved power and conquest, and led a life of debauchery
and violence. Somehow, he came to the attention of Gatactus,
the world devourer. Galactus had been seeking a new herald
to guide him to fertile planets, which he needed for sustenance.
The space being surmised that the common fault in most
of his former herald was that their moral values prevented
them from fulfilling their duties. For a new herald, Galactus
sought an individual who would have no compunction in
finding worlds for Galactus to render lifeless.
When the Fantastic
Four came to Galactus to ask him for aid in their
battle against the Sphinx,
Galacius agreed, but only with the condition that the
Fantastic Four would journey to Birj and subdue Tyros
for him. The Fantastic Four reluctantly did this, and
in doing so, they freed the city of Lanlak from Tyros'
rule. Brought before Galactus, Tyros was exposed to Galactus'
cosmic power, and was transformed into Terrax the Tamer.
His minor control over stone was augmented to an incalculable
degree. Now, he could affect all matter of rock and stone
on nearly a planetary scale. His body was changed so that
it would withstand the vacuum of space. Finally, Galactus
gave Terrax a weapon called the cosmic axe capable of
generating waves of cosmic force.
As Galactus's new herald, Terras found more worlds for his
master than any of the previous heralds. Terrax likened
the discovery of new planets to the feeling of conquest.
On several occasions, Terrax annihilated large segments
of the population himself using his cosmic powers. As
Galactus had hoped, Terrax's lack of morality made him
a successful herald. But whereas Galactus' other heralds
had a sense of loyalty to their master, Terrax had none.
Indeed, he served Galactus out of fear for his master's
power, but even conquered that fear on several occasions
to defy Galactus' wishes. Shortly after being transformed
into Galactus' herald, Terrax fled from his master and
overthrew the ruling body of a small-unnamed planet. He
enslaved the entire population and set himself up as the
planet's deity.
Huge segments of that world's people died erecting temples
and cities to glorify Terrax. Terrax planned to use the
survivors of his reign as the first wave of a planned
universe conquering army. But before Terrax could proceed
any further, Galactus summoned his herald. Fearful of
his master's wrath, Terrax hid in a black hole. Utilizing
the powers of the Earth mutant Dazzler, Galactus freed
Terrax and made him obedient to his will again.
But Terrax's rebellious nature could not be totally stifled,
and after a while, Terrax again fled his master. This
time, he went to Earth. Utilizing his power, Terrax levitated
the entire island of Manhattan into earth orbit and used
the lives of its millions of inhabitants to bargain with
the Fantastic Four. To spare Manhattan, Terrax demanded
that they destroy Galactus by attacking his ship. Galactus
had by now realized that his herald had become a liability
to him, Returning Manhattan to Earth, Galactus stripped
Terrax of his cosmic power and the transformed alien was
sent hurtling from the top of the World Trade Center down
to the street below. Although seriously injured, Terrax's
alien physique enabled him to survive the fall. An unidentified
passerby took Terrax's broken form unknown to both the
Fantastic Four and the Avengers, who were present at the
site, to a nearby hospital. He remained there for several
months in a semi comatose state.
Victor von Doom, looking for
a pawn to use in a plot against the Fantastic Four, discovered
the fact of Terrax's survival. Terrax was kidnapped from
the hospital and brought back to Doom's kingdom of Latveria
by a squad of robots dispatched by Doom. There, after
six weeks of Doom's advanced treatments, Terrax recovered.
But, having been stripped of cosmic power, Terrax had
no memories of having been the herald of Galactus, and
thus called himself Tyros once more. Doom had recently
perfected a device that was capable of endowing an individual
with limited cosmic power. Tyros readily agreed to be
exposed to the device's energies, as he wished revenge
against the Fantastic Four. Garbed in a special suit that
would channel and regulate the cosmic energies in his
body, Tyros set off for New York. Unknown to him, the
power Doom gave him would consume Tyros's body within
a matter of hours. Thus, Doom would not be faced with
an adversary whose power was vaster than his own, once
Tyros had served his purpose.
Tyros defeated the Fantastic Four and, detesting the fact he
was in the service of any master, he turned on Doom and
immobilized the Latverian monarch in his armor. At Tyros's
moment of seeming triumph, the Silver
Surfer, the first of Galactus's heralds, arrived to
save the lives of his friends, the Fantastic Four. Tyros
believed that his power level was equal to that of the
Surfer's but Tyros was no match for someone who had received
cosmic power from Galactus himself. Because of this, Tyros
was forced to use his powers to the limit in order to
combat the Surfer. This only served to hasten his inevitable
deterioration. As the two former heralds of Galactus engaged
in battle, Tyros was totally consumed by the "power
cosmic." Though many thought he was dead, Terrax
had merely been stripped of the power Doom had given him.
Terrax remained in hiding for many years afterwards to
avoid punishment for his crimes.
Height: 6 ft. 6 in. Weight: 2,750 lbs. Eyes: Grey Hair: None
Strength Level: Terrax's strength had been augmented
by Galactus to enable him to lift (press) 75 tons without
supplementing it in any way by additional cosmic energy.
Terrax's previous level of strength is unknown.
Known Superhuman Powers: Terrax possessed vast cosmic
power granted him by Galactus. Terrax's body was coated
with a flexible rock-like shell that was impervious to
extremes of heat and cold, from 50 degrees above absolute
zero to the interior of a small sun, pressure up to 100
Earth atmospheres, and concussive force up to a fall at
terminal velocity from the limit of Earth's exosphere.
His body had been sustained by cosmic energy, making it
unnecessary for him to eat or breathe.
Terrax's mutant ability to psionically manipulate the molecules
of rock and earth was augmented by Gaiactus's transformation
at least a hundredfold. Terrax could move planetary masses
up to 100 miles in diameter. He could move asteroids of
10 miles in diameter at speeds of up to thousands of miles
per hour. He could control the direction of a swarm of
meteors within 100 miles of his person. With concentration,
he could affect a small piece of matter 1000 miles away
from him. The farther the distance, however, the less
mass he was able to affect. Standing on a planetary surface,
he could affect tectonic plates sufficiently to cause
earthquakes and create chasms in the surface thousands
of feet deep or wide. Deploying his powers to the maximum
extent, he could separate a landmass the size of Manhattan
Island and levitate it miles off the Earth's surface.
On worlds with lesser gravities, he could lift even greater
masses.
Terrax, like all of Galactus's heralds, was able to enter warp-space
and negotiate through it in order to cover great spatial
distances. Traversing through the normal universe, he
was able to attain .75 the speed of light.
Weapons: Terrax wielded a cosmic axe which had several
powers of its own. It was capable of emanating waves of
destructive force sufficiently powerful to rent a tear
in Galactus's own ship. It could also project highly impervious
force shields. Since it operated independently of rock
and earth, the axe augmented the scope of Terrax's power.