ALL-DEVOURER
Real Name: Unrevealed (see comments)
Identity/Class: Demon
Occupation: Would-be destroyer of all life
Group Membership: None (see comments)
Affiliations: Fire dragon, Water elemental, electrical beast,
giant ant, giant snake, shadow
bat;
summoned by Bernard Roberts
Enemies: Iron Man (Tony Stark), Soo Lin Chu,
Mr. Chu (her grandfather) and his group of Chinese sorcerers;
victims (Bernard Roberts, Charlie Piala,
unidentified security guard, three unidentified
scientists)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Extradimensional realm
First
Appearance: Iron Man I#130 (January, 1980)
Powers: The All-Devourer is an ever-hungry fiend of
great destructive power. It can summon other demons or mystic entities
to accomplish its will. It possesses superhuman strength, durability,
etc. It can fire destructive energy blasts. As part of a spell from
seven ancient sorcerers, it is unable to traverse dimensions, and could
only access the Earth dimension after being summoned and killing seven
others. The powers observed by the All-Devourer may be only a fraction
of his total power as it had limited access to the Earthly plane when
observed.
Height: 10' (by estimation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Red
Hair: None
History:
(Iron Man I#130 (fb) - BTS) - The
All-Devourer is allegedly the fiercest of all Chinese demons, banished
from the Earthly plane centuries ago by the efforts of seven mighty
sorcerers. This spell of banishment required the sacrifice of seven
lives to allow it to return to Earth.
(Iron Man I#130 (fb)) - Bernard Roberts, the fiance of Soo Lin Chu, was a brilliant researcher in the microwave research section of Stark International Hong Kong. Roberts had no patience with safety procedures, and as a result he was injured by an accidental exposure to high levels of microwave radiation, causing a progressing physical degeneration that left him unable to speak, and threatened to ultimately take his life. Bitter, and blaming Stark International, Roberts began training under Soo Lin's grandfather, who was a member of the cult that had originally banished the All-Devourer.
(Iron Man I#130 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking vengeance, Roberts
used a computer (since he could no longer speak) to cast a spell to
summon the All-Devourer, only to become its first victim. The
All-Devourer sent agents to kill enough others to free him, succeeding
in killing three other members of Stark International.
(Iron Man I#130) - Tony Stark/Iron Man came to Stark International Hong Kong to investigate, but was unable to stop another agent, a Fire Dragon, from killing two more of his employees, security guard Charlie Piala and his partner.
Stark
continued to investigate, learning the truth from Soo Lin and her
grandfather. Returning to Stark International to perform an exorcism in
the same room Roberts had performed his summoning spell, Mr. Chu
undertook the ceremony while Iron Man fought more of the All-Devourer's
servants. However, after Mr. Chu finished the All-Devourer appeared on
the computer screen behind to mock his efforts, noting that words could
not banish it since words had not summoned it. Since the All-Devourer
had now gained sufficient power to partially manifest itself on the
Earthly plane, the computers then began leaking blood, and the demon
slowly rose from the pool that formed, intending to personally fulfill
the seventh sacrifice needed to fully return to Earth. Even this form
was sufficient to quickly overpower Iron Man. Realizing the method
Roberts had used to summon the All-Devourer, Soo Lin managed to type in
the counter-spell, completing it just before the All-Devourer could slay
Iron Man, and banished the demon once again.
Comments: Created by David Michiline (writer) and Bob Layton (art).
I'm not sure if this is an actual character
out of mythology, or if it was created by the above story-tellers. There
is a Chinese monster called the Taotie (饕餮), a.k.a. the greedy glutton
or insatiable beast. It's one of the "Four Perils," alongside Hundun
("chaotic torrent"), Qiongqi ("disturbingly strange") and Taowu
("block stump"). It's got varying descriptions for its physical
appearance, none of which exactly match the All-Devourer, but if its
able to assume different forms depending on the manifestation that
wouldn't matter. Even if the All-Devourer wasn't originally intended
to be that monster, it'd make sense for them to retroactively be one
and the same. - Loki
The All-Devourer could be summoned if needed by another villain, although whoever summons him is likely to become his next victim, so he's not helping his plight out any.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The All-Devourer Name has no known connections to:
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The Fire Dragon initially manifested as a green
sphere of fire (see Charlie Piala subprofile below to see this
look). When two security guards began to show the newly arrived
Tony Stark around the Hong Kong branch of Stark International's
"haunted" section the sphere appeared and chased the front-most
of the group, Charlie Piala, down the corridor towards the
others, then fried the unfortunate man down to his skeleton.
Having done so, it shifted into its dragon form. Charlie's
fellow guard tried to hold it off so that Stark could get away,
and ended up toasted too. Swiftly donning his Iron Man armor
Stark fought the dragon, but while his armor protected him from
its fiery breathe, it proved similarly immune to his repulsors.
Seeing this, Iron Man let the dragon entwine him in its tail and
then swallow him, so that once inside the creature his armor's
firefighting defenses, intended to protect him inside burning
buildings, kicked in. The armor discharged flame retardant foam,
exploding the creature from the inside. However to Stark's
horror the flames only took moments to reform, returning to
sphere shape. Manifesting a pair of glowering eyes, it stared at
Stark menacingly, giving him the impression it had been toying
with him, then departed at speed. --Iron Man I#130
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When Stark visited Mr. Chu on his boat in Hong Kong harbor they were attacked by a giant water elemental. Unable to don his armor, Stark tried throwing a pan full of hot coals into its gaping maw, but they fizzled out in seconds without slowing the monster down. While Stark tried to keep it occupied Mr. Chu swiftly found a potion designed to stop this kind of elemental, and when he threw it into the creature it froze the beast solid. Stark then shattered the ice to ensure it couldn't resumed its assault once it melted. --Iron Man I#130
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While Mr. Chu and Soo Lin were performing the exorcism Iron Man held off four of the All-Devourer's minions that showed up - a humanoid giant that fed off electrity and threw lightning, a giant ant and giant snake, and a shadowy bat-like creature. Iron Man absorbed the energy the first of these threw at him and sent it back, overloading it, then as the ant and snake grappled him he apparently electrocuted his armor exterior to stop them too. He also defeated the bat, though how he did so was not depicted. --Iron Man I#130
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Bernard Roberts was a brilliant scientist working in the microwave research section of Stark International's Hong Kong branch. With no patience for the rigid safety procedures Stark insisted on, he bypassed precautions and as a result suffered an accident that bathed him in microwave radiation, resulting in an ongoing physical degeneration that eroded his vocal cords until he could no longer speak, and threatened to eventually take his life. Bitter and blaming Stark for his own mistake, Roberts began spending time with his fiance Soo Lin Chu's grandfather, determined to study Mr. Chu's magical texts. Discovering the spell to summon the All-Devourer, he used a computer to cast the spell he could not vocalize, intending to have it destroy Stark International; instead he became the demon's victim, the first of the seven human sacrifices it needed to fully manifest on the Earthly plane. --Iron Man I#130
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Charlie Piala was one of two security guards keeping people out of the "haunted" section of Stark International's Hong Kong branch. When Stark arrived to investigate the incidents they were assigned to show him round, with Charlie leading the way. Unfortunately for Charlie, this meant he was the first of the trio to encounter the Fire Dragon (in its sphere form), and though he tried to run for his life, it caught up with him and immolated him. --Iron Man I#130
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Charlie's unidentified fellow guard also began showing Stark around the "haunted" section of Stark International, Hong Kong. He witnessed his friend being killed by the Fire Dragon, and when it assumed its draconian form he tried valiantly but vainly to hold it off to give Stark time to flee, dying moments later as it devoured him. --Iron Man I#130
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images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#130, p15, pan5 (main image)
Iron Man I#130, p14, pan10 (manifesting through the computer)
Iron Man I#130, p16, pan1 (fighting Iron Man, size comparison shot)
Iron Man I#130, p16, pan13 (banished)
Iron Man I#130, cover (Fire Dragon vs. Iron Man)
Iron Man I#130, p5, pan1-2 (clear view of dragon, attacking security
guard for size comparison)
Iron Man I#130, p11, pan5 (Water Elemental, with Stark for size
comparison)
Iron Man I#130, p14, pan1 (other servants, with Iron Man for size
comparison)
Iron Man I#130, p10, pan6 (Bernard Roberts, facing forward but image
yellowed by candle light)
Iron Man I#130, p9, pan6-7 (Bernard Roberts, untinted images)
Iron Man I#130, p4, pan1 (Charlie Piala, clear but partial face view,
name tag visible)
Iron Man I#130, p4, pan5-6 (Charlie Piala, pursued and burned by sphere
form of Fire Dragon)
Iron Man I#130, p4, pan8 (Charlie Piala, dead)
Iron Man I#130, p4, pan7 (unidentified secrity guard, clear face view)
Iron Man I#130, p5, pan3-4 (unidentified security guard, death)
Appearances:
Iron Man I#130 (January, 1980) - Bob Layton (writer/artist), David
Michelinie (plot), Roger Stern (editor)
First Posted: 12/18/2001
Last updated: 11/09/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Fire Dragon
Other servants
Bernard Roberts
Charlie Piala
Unidentified security guard