Bros Before Foes

Little known fact about yours truly: I have four brothers. Three step-brothers and a half-brother, to be specific. Having such brotherly ties allows me to appreciate the Robin brothers and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But little did I know Marvel had the brother team to end all brother teams unified into one man. The Collective Man, this Week's Z-Lister.

Premiering in "Contest of Champions #1" and created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, The Collective Man was one of many international characters invented for the mini-series. As the representative for China, The Collective Man was initially thought to be some Asian version of Superman. What was revealed was that The Collective Man was actually five brothers combined into one figure. The Tao-Yu Quintuplets (Sun, Chang, Ho, Lin, and Han) grew up as mutants in Wuhan, China. The five boys possessed the mutant ability to fuse into one being and have the collective strength and knowledge of all of five of them.

After "Contest of Champions", The Collective Man had a brief battle with The Hulk, but later appeared in a story where the Chinese government wouldn't let the boys visit their dying mother. In an attempt to barge past the government and see her, the boys discover the Chinese God Ho-Ti was working with the Chinese government. While four brothers fused to fight Ho-Ti, the fifth ran off to visit his mother. As the fight ensued, more brothers left The Collective Man form to see their mother until only one stood to fight Ho-Ti. Ho-Ti saw how pointless and sad the fight had become and left Earth, allowing the brothers to surround their mother as she died.

The Collective Man would confront another God some years later named Marduk. Marduk had fallen from grace and tricked The Collective Man into helping him. Using his mystical powers, Marduk altered The Collective Man's powers so that he/they could tap into the life force of every citizen of China. The overwhelming amount of power and corruption by Marduk turned The Collective Man into a giant, mindless monster who attacked the country. A team called The V-Battalion fought and defeated Marduk and The Collective Man and the hero returned to normal form. The boys discovered this misadventure left them with new powers like being able to create duplicate bodies and grow giant while in Collective Man form. The Collective Man could still tap into the life force's of China's people, but now he could use their strength to make him stronger and smarter without any repercussions.

Following these events The Collective Man battled The X-Men as the mutant heroes were attempting to take Shen Xorn away from the Chinese government. He later teamed up with The Mighty Avengers to defeat the former Inhuman King known as The Unspoken. In an attempt to stop organized crime in San Fransisco, The Collective Man battled Wolverine-who was acting as protector of organized crime. Wolverine was defending the criminal individuals as part of a long-con, so he called in some other X-Men to help defeat The Collective Man.

When I called The Collective Man an Asian Superman, I meant it. I mean, he fights Gods and taps into the power of everyday citizens. Actually, now that I say that he sounds more like Goku. I really like the idea of people fusing (like Goku) and gaining strengths that are just added up by the people who fused. There is an X-Men villain called Multiple Man with similar abilities, where he can divide himself, have each copy learn something new, and fuse back into him. Doing this allows him to learn new skills and new information. I imagine The Collective Man could do the same. With The Power Rangers and Voltron being relevant again-and probably Captain Planet one of these days-now could be the time for Marvel to put Collective Man on the forefront. He's ethnic, he's powerful, and he represents not only the strength of family, but the strength of a country. Next to Uncle Sam and Captain America, The Collective Man might be one of the most patriotic superheroes ever created, even if he's the patriot of another country. So yeah, I'd love to see this guy more and I'd love to see a smart writer play with the idea of five brothers having to fuse together to be a superhero. Hell, if nobody else wants to do it, I'll do it myself!

Thanks for reading!