Man, I can't wait until Melvin Potter becomes a villain in "Daredevil" season three. See, he's supposed to be a villain called The Gladiator in the comics. Hey he's obscure, why don't we talk about him? Okay so-wait. Who's this guy? Oh. The other Gladiator. Well, he's a Z Lister too!
Created by Chris Claremont and David Cockrum in 1977's "Uncanny X-Men #107", Gladiator is a character designed after DC Comic's Superman. Clearly not in appearance. Chris and David wanted to create a team of cosmic characters for The X-Men to clash with and ultimately decided to replicate another team of teenaged heroes, The Legion of Superheroes. The LoS was a team of young heroes in DC Comics who protected the universe generations after the existence of The Justice League. One of LoS reoccurring members of Clark Kent who was taken from his time period and fought alongside the LoS. It was his adventures as Superboy in the future with this team that led to his expertise as Superman in the present day. Yay time travel! Chris and David created The Imperial Guard to be a homage to The Legion of Superheroes, even Gladiator's name "Kallark" is a combination of Superman's two names "Kal-El" and "Clark Kent". Further more, early drawings of the character had his face resemble how Superman's face was drawn in the 70's and his symbol is a reference to Superman's symbol, just upside down.
Kallark comes from the Strontian race which was under the rule of the Shi'ar Empire. While Kallark was a loyal soldier he was told of a Strontian rebellion being formed against the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar feared resistance from the Strontian race most of all because of their unique power set. Kallark and many other Strontians were ordered by the Shi'ar to kill the Strontian elders and stop the rebellion. The only survivor of this battle was Kallark.
Explanation!? The Strontian race have the powers of super strength, super speed, enhanced durability, X-Ray vision, heat vision, flight, vacuum breath, frost breath, fast healing, enhanced senses, psychic defenses, and teleportation. However, all these powers are only accessible through confidence. Essentially the entire race lives off the "The Little Engine That Could" morality. If Kallark thinks he can shatter a planet, he can shatter a planet. If Kallark believes he's fast enough to rewind time, he is fast enough to rewind time. The only reason Kallark survived the battle against the Strontian rebellion is because he had more devotion to the cause and more confidence in himself.
As a reward for his victory, The Shi'ar made Kallark The Gladiator the leader of the Imperial Guard, a group of warriors who act as enforcers of the Shi'ar Empire. It was because of his place on The Guard that Gladiator was involved with many confrontations with Earth heroes. For example, when Jean Grey became possessed by The Phoenix Force she used her powers to destroy an entire planet. The Shi'ar sent Gladiator and The Imperial Guard to arrest The Phoenix, but even they weren't strong enough against both The Phoenix and The X-Men. However, The X-Men and Gladiator did work together later to defeat some Shi'ar traitors. Once while chasing down some shape-shifting aliens called The Skrulls, Gladiator mistakenly beat up The Fantastic Four. With the help of Spider-Man and Captain America, Kallark was able to arrest the actual Skrulls. There was also a time when most of Earth's heroes vanished while fighting the villain Onslaught and The Shi'ar sent Gladiator and The Imperial Guard to protect Earth for the time being.
While the relationship between The X-Men and the Shi'ar seemed friendly-even to the point when Kallark sent his son Kubark and his son's bodyguard Warbird to The X-Men's school-the characters came to clash again after a teenage version of Jean Grey was brought from the past to the present. Kubark and Warbird told Gladiator of Jean Grey's return and The Shi'ar Empire kidnapped Jean and put her on trial for the crimes her future self committed. And yes, that is pretty stupid. It took the X-Men, The Guardians of The Galaxy, and The Starjammers to battle The Shi'ar Empire and The Imperial Guard, with Jean using her advanced powers to defeat Gladiator.
It's funny how many times Marvel ended up creating interesting Superman copies. Between Hyperion and The Sentry and Gladiator I think Marvel may have better Superman ideas than DC right now. If not DC, than definitely Zach Snyder. I really like Gladiator and, yet again, I wish there was more lore to him. He's always a character who happens to be around, but this is a character who's entire strength comes from his ego. It's like the opposite of the Hulk! I want to see this guy fight battles he may doubt himself on. At the very least his son Kubark/Kid Gladiator could be fun to follow. Because he was created as an X-Men character don't expect to see him in a movie or comic event anytime soon, but at least now you know a Superman with a weakness that makes sense!
Thanks for reading!
Kallark comes from the Strontian race which was under the rule of the Shi'ar Empire. While Kallark was a loyal soldier he was told of a Strontian rebellion being formed against the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar feared resistance from the Strontian race most of all because of their unique power set. Kallark and many other Strontians were ordered by the Shi'ar to kill the Strontian elders and stop the rebellion. The only survivor of this battle was Kallark.
Explanation!? The Strontian race have the powers of super strength, super speed, enhanced durability, X-Ray vision, heat vision, flight, vacuum breath, frost breath, fast healing, enhanced senses, psychic defenses, and teleportation. However, all these powers are only accessible through confidence. Essentially the entire race lives off the "The Little Engine That Could" morality. If Kallark thinks he can shatter a planet, he can shatter a planet. If Kallark believes he's fast enough to rewind time, he is fast enough to rewind time. The only reason Kallark survived the battle against the Strontian rebellion is because he had more devotion to the cause and more confidence in himself.
As a reward for his victory, The Shi'ar made Kallark The Gladiator the leader of the Imperial Guard, a group of warriors who act as enforcers of the Shi'ar Empire. It was because of his place on The Guard that Gladiator was involved with many confrontations with Earth heroes. For example, when Jean Grey became possessed by The Phoenix Force she used her powers to destroy an entire planet. The Shi'ar sent Gladiator and The Imperial Guard to arrest The Phoenix, but even they weren't strong enough against both The Phoenix and The X-Men. However, The X-Men and Gladiator did work together later to defeat some Shi'ar traitors. Once while chasing down some shape-shifting aliens called The Skrulls, Gladiator mistakenly beat up The Fantastic Four. With the help of Spider-Man and Captain America, Kallark was able to arrest the actual Skrulls. There was also a time when most of Earth's heroes vanished while fighting the villain Onslaught and The Shi'ar sent Gladiator and The Imperial Guard to protect Earth for the time being.
While the relationship between The X-Men and the Shi'ar seemed friendly-even to the point when Kallark sent his son Kubark and his son's bodyguard Warbird to The X-Men's school-the characters came to clash again after a teenage version of Jean Grey was brought from the past to the present. Kubark and Warbird told Gladiator of Jean Grey's return and The Shi'ar Empire kidnapped Jean and put her on trial for the crimes her future self committed. And yes, that is pretty stupid. It took the X-Men, The Guardians of The Galaxy, and The Starjammers to battle The Shi'ar Empire and The Imperial Guard, with Jean using her advanced powers to defeat Gladiator.
It's funny how many times Marvel ended up creating interesting Superman copies. Between Hyperion and The Sentry and Gladiator I think Marvel may have better Superman ideas than DC right now. If not DC, than definitely Zach Snyder. I really like Gladiator and, yet again, I wish there was more lore to him. He's always a character who happens to be around, but this is a character who's entire strength comes from his ego. It's like the opposite of the Hulk! I want to see this guy fight battles he may doubt himself on. At the very least his son Kubark/Kid Gladiator could be fun to follow. Because he was created as an X-Men character don't expect to see him in a movie or comic event anytime soon, but at least now you know a Superman with a weakness that makes sense!
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment