Terrax: Difference between revisions

Terrax the Tamer is a fictional supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. First appearing in the pages of Fantastic Four, Terrax became a regular villain of the mid-nineties comic New Warriors. Once a herald of Galactus, Terrax often finds himself battling the Silver Surfer and other heroes with a cosmic bent.

Terrax was originally known as Tyros, ruler of the city-state of Lanlak on the planetoid Birj, which was a satellite of the gas giant Marman. Tyros possessed limited powers over the elements of earth and he abused these powers in order to become tyrant over his people. Tyros was ruthless and cruel, which brought him to the attention of Galactus, who had decided that the weakness of his former Heralds had been their compassion. Galactus compelled the Fantastic Four against their will to retrieve Tyros for him, in exchange for assisting the Four in combating the Sphinx.

Empowered with the "Power Cosmic," Tyros was transformed into "Terrax the Tamer, master of all things rock and earth." But his ambition and power-lust drove him to challenge Galactus, who easily defeated him by stripping away the power cosmic.

Later, Doctor Doom used his technological expertise to restore some of Terrax's former power, in exchange for his help in destroying the Fantastic Four. During the battle, Silver Surfer appeared and ultimately destroyed him.^[1]

A re-embodied Terrax is the threat that unites the fledgling super-hero team, the New Warriors.^[2] His energies are dissipated and held at Genetech. The founder of the company, Harmon Furmintz then tries to absorb Terrax's energies. Terrax dominates the man's body, destroys much of Genetech ^[3] and goes on a highly destructive rampage through the Queens side of the East River. The New Warriors, two members of Psionex and the Fantastic Four all work to stop him. Harmon is lost.

He later waxes nostalgic about his destructive powers.^[4] Shortly afterward, Terrax engages the Silver Surfer and was marooned on an uninhabited, grassy planet and his axe was cast into a nearby asteroid field. During the Herald Ordeal, Silver Surfer led a group of former Galactean heralds in opposition to Morg, Galactus' then Herald. Terrax was the last former herald that the Silver Surfer collected by saving him from that unnamed planet and finding his axe.^[5] Terrax joins the other heralds in battling Morg. Morg and Terrax take almost instantly to a rivalry, as they are the only two heralds that wield axes and both enjoy fights. During the battle, Terrax' axe crumbles and Morg successfully knocks him out. After the battle, Terrax takes the recently deceased Morg's axe and takes to the stars on an asteroid, content to never see any of his allies again.^[6] Terrax is captured by Tyrant where he is held with several others who are less than enthusiastic to share his company.^[7] Terrax and his fellow prisoners manage to free themselves, and Terrax again takes off, wanting only to be left alone.

Terrax is recruited by Thanos of Titan to again fight Tyrant.^[8] Terrax is seen fighting in a very Roman looking arena. He wins the battle and wins the one thing he probably has the least use for in all the world - a beautiful woman.^[9] She leads him into the desert with promises of riches for her safe return, but he is ambushed by her brothers. Thanos comes in at the tail end of the slaughter, and the woman appeals to him to save her from Terrax, to which his response is that she had made her bed and it was time to lie in it. Terrax lets Thanos know that he is ready to battle him, and Thanos replies that he offers vengeance against Tyrant. Terrax then helps Thanos recruit Ganymede and eventually Legacy and Jack of Hearts, who are collectively betrayed by Thanos. While Thanos is battling Tyrant, Terrax and the others flee in Thanos' craft, the Demeter.

He also appeared as a momentary annoyance to the Sentry, mostly to display Sentry's level of power. He takes Terrax's axe away from him and further humiliates "the tamer" by shattering it with his bare hands. Terrax's portrayal in the series has been called into question, as he uncharacteristically and inexplicably is first found fighting random helicopters on Earth and babbling about pseudo-environmental outrages.^[10]

In the events of Annihilation: Silver Surfer, Terrax has been captured by Annihilus' forces for an unknown purpose. Following the events of Annihilation, Terrax is freed from the control of the Negative Zone life forms and with Paibok and the Delinquent (an Elanian alien formerly known as Infant Terrible) as escapes to a desolate planet controlled by Randu the space parasite.^[11] Terrax destroys it but looses a female Centaurion who he seems to have been attracted to during the battle. In his anger over her loss and the dismayed behavior of Randu's other victims who had come to rely on their capture he destroys the planet. He is currently flying about through space and at this time it's unknown what if any part he will play in Annihilation: Conquest.

Terrax was apparently born with a limited mental control over rock and earth, which he used to create simple constructs. After his powers were enhanced by Galactus, his ability increased vastly in terms of volume and complexity, granting him great psionic powers over mineral matter.

He was also awarded superhuman strength and durability, as well as abilities including force field projection, matter manipulation, the power to fuse machinery, energy absorption (usually through his axe), resistance to telepathy, and more. Like all of Galactus's Heralds, he is immune to the vacuum of space.

His cosmic-powered axe is magically sharp and can generate waves of force (he himself can project personal energy attacks as well). Originally he could fly through space on his own by riding masses of stone which he levitated, but after taking over a human body (Harmon Furmintz, the creator of Psionex), he needed the additional power of his axe to travel through space. Terrax is also a gifted and adaptable close combat fighter. With his cosmic axe in synergy with his abilities as a Herald, he is capable of breaking planets apart.^[12]

Terrax appears as a servant to Galactus in Season 1 of Fantastic Four voiced by Tony Jay and later voiced by Ron Feinberg. They appear in the episode, "The Silver Surfer and The Coming Of Galactus". Terrax's appearances in Season 2 episodes "To Battle the Living Planet" and "When Calls Galactus" have him as Galactus' 2nd herald and seem to ignore his Season 1 appearance. Terrax betrays Galactus by feeding him a poisonous planet and tries to blackmail the Fantastic Four into killing Galactus, but in the end, Terrax is punished by Galactus, who strips him of the Power Cosmic and transforms Terrax into a worm-like creature.

Terrax was to appear in the scripted (unproduced) second season of The Silver Surfer (TV series).[1] He would make his debut as Galactus' 3rd Herald as he had less of a conscience than the Silver Surfer and Nova. His axe allows him to absorb the power cosmic from The Surfer and Nova. He would have also appeared in the 3 part episode "Down To Earth" along with The Fantastic Four. Mr Fantastic uses the recently discovered Negative Zone as a means to hold Terrax.

Terrax is also mentioned in the hip hop song "Metal Thangz" by Pharoahe Monch: "if it's activatin me, believe i'm captivatin' heat, plus i'm decapitatin three MC's with my axe like Terrax's, practice allows me to receive information like faxes"

It was revealed that Terrax will be a villain in the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer video game. He is the second herald of Galactus, and has a refuge in the Himalayas. He is colossal in size (the Thing mistakes him for a statue), and can only be hurt when a beam of light is connected to a purple crystal to power him down. At the end of the fight, Terrax smashes through the wall of the mountain and falls (presumably) to his death.

• Marvel Directory's profile on Terrax
• Grand Comics Database's article on the Fantastic Four issue containing Terrax's debut