BYAN'HANTANDU
Classification: Semi-humanoid
extraterrestrial race
Location/Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe aboard an immense starship
Known Members: None identified
Affiliations: Employ several Darbians (including Blustar, Durbuur, and Jophurg)) and Grunds (Gromitz, Grundune and at least 2 others);
they see themselves as protectors of the Universe's inferior races (including -- presumably amongst hundreds -- humanity and an unidentified race of green reptilian humanoids);
creators of the "Cloak clones"
Enemies: Cloak (Tyrone Johnson), Dagger (Tandy Bowen), previous portal guardian,
Franklin Richards;
it is unrevealed how many races would consider them
enemies for taking their technology from them, but I would theorize
that most resented their involvement
Aliases: The Bosses,
the Head Honchos, the Head Limburgers, Oh Most Mighty Boss-Dudes (all terms used by the Grunds);
Byan'Nantandu (the ink is smudged, and this may be there
actual correct name (it's definitely an "N" in a reference in The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3)...but
in the original reference, the bar between the two vertical bars is
horizontal, not diagonal, which would be a capital "H" in my book)
First Appearance: The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (December, 1988)
Powers/Abilities: The Byan'Hantandu long ago lost their ability to ambulate (walk) and have
deteriorated physically to such an extent that the vast bulk of
their immense ship is dedicated to life support processes for
them. Unable to leave their life support apparati, they relied on the words of other to detail their ship's immense size.
As such, they are dependent on their pawns/agents to
continue their mission.
The Byan'Hantandu have
vast technology. They possess intergalactic travel, with an immense spacecraft. with planet-destroying Floo Bar turbines.
The ship's technology can perform a large number of
functions, including the formation of Bhontars.
They have enslaved members of other races to act as their agents.
They either communicate telepathically or use
technology to translate various race's speech to those with whom they
communicate.
They also have access to the mysterious Book.
Traits: The Byan'Hantandu travel the
universe with the intent to remove dangerous objects that might
pose a threat to inferior races. They follow the instructions of
the mysterious Book. They
blindly follow the Book, although they often no longer remember
the reasons for what they are doing. They have lost sight of the
reason behind their mission, and they are willing to destroy a
planet if they have troubles in the process of trying to extract
the object of which they seek. They are willing to destroy planets in order to motivate/control their servants.
They are happy to use, manipulate, and even mutilate others in order to accomplish their needs.
The Byan'Hantandu consider their purpose to be a benign, although not entirely unself-interested one.
It is uncertain if only three of the Byan'Hantandu continue to exist, or if there are others out there. It is similarly unrevealed whether the other members of their race engage in a similar mission, or if these three are a separate movement.
Type: Bilaterally symmetric semi-humanoid bipeds
Eyes: Two (on head; solid red color seen)
Fingers: Unrevealed
(most images of their hands are distant, partially obscured, or even
partially off-panel; certainly at least three (and possibly four)
fingers (plus opposing thumb)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Orange
Average height: Unrevealed (others are typically distant from
them, so it is difficult to asses whether they are 4' or 8' tall; they
can apparently no longer stand under their own power)
Other Distinguishing Features:
The Byan'Hantandu have wide mouths with a large number of
incisor-looking teeth toward the top of their heads (in what would be
the forehead in humanity), with a pair of eyes below that; they may or
may not have a nasal structure. They appear to have a small patch of
orange hair at the very tops of their heads.
History:
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) ) - As far back as the
Byan'Hantandu can remember, they have -- guided by their sacred "Book" -- traveled from galaxy to
galaxy, removing certain dangerous objects from the grasps of
planetary inhabitants who were too unsophisticated to safely
possess them.
As the eons passed, the Byan'Hantandu were forced to construct an increasingly elaborate life support on their ship to keep them alive to fulfill their mission.
Eventually their growing dependence on their life-support made them physically unable to leave the ship to perform the collections themselves. They recruited others to be there "hands."
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb)) - The Byan'Hantandu chanced upon the Darbians, who were strong but savage and uncontrollable. The Byan'Hantandu had the Darbians lobotomized to make them more cooperative, but this left them unable to perform any but simple tasks under explicit commands.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS)
- The Byan'Hantandu race gathered up at least four Grunds (including
Grundune and Gromitz) from the planet Grundar.
The Byan'Hantandu
found that the Grunds would only carry out their commands if it was fun
for them to do so. To this end, the Byan'Hantandu invented the "Galaxy
Game," a sort of scavenger hunt where they earned points for recovering
targeted items.
Each player was assigned a planetary totem; the
punishment for cheating (such as illegally accessing dimensional warps)
was to destroy that totem/planet.
The Byan'Hantandu
supplied their agents with rocket or jet cycles that could travel throughout a planet's atmosphere.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS)
- The Byan'Hantandu's Book foretold the the creation of an
incredibly dangerous object on Earth.
(The Mutant Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb)) - Jophurg brought the old man before the
Byan'Hantandu, who swiftly realized that this was the
previous portal guardian.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - Jophurg subsequently captured and transported Cloak to the Byan'Hantandu's spacecraft via a Bhontar.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point during Cloak's time on the Byan'Hantandu they collected a cellular sample from him.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and
Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS)
- Not needing the previous guardian, the Byan'Hantandu provided orders
to return him to the location from which he had been taken. They also
apparently instructed that they wished to deal with Cloak and Gromitz
and recover the target object as soon as possible.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 - BTS) - One of the Grunds (not Gromitz) instructed Jophurg thusly, and the Jophurg pushed a lever that then sent the previous portal guardian home via a Bhontar.
The Grund then had Jophurg carry Cloak (still in a Bhontar) and Gromitz to the Byan'Hantandu.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the Byan'Hantandu had their agents collect a cellular sample from Cloak and created a number of clones.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and
Dagger#3)
- Gromitz tried to explain himself, but the Byan'Hantandu silenced him,
asking Jophurg if this was the correct portal guardian of Sector
AEN-ZIOB, the receptacle of their target article, which Jophurg
affirmed. The Byan'Hantandu then asked Cloak what he had to say in his
defense before he surrendered the object to them. After Cloak told them
he was unwilling to surrender the gizmo without any sort of explanation
of its purpose or intent. Acknowledging that it was not their fashion
to act unreasonably and that it had been a long time since they had had
personal contact with a sentient race other than the child-like Grund
or the lobotomized Darbians, the Byan-Hantandu noted that, upon
reflection that it pleased them to explain their mission to him, in an
effort to effectuate intergalactic understanding.
After hearing their history, mission, and policy of destroying a planet as a penalty for the respective Grund's inappropriate behavior, Cloak argued against this, warning that Earth's champions would stop them and refusing to give them the target object unless they canceled their plans. The Byan'Hantandu informed Cloak that his comrades would not intercede as their ship was shielded from all forms of detection, and regardless of his threats, "Rules are rules, you now."
The Byan'Hantandu had Cloak placed in a torture chamber operated by Jophurg, but Cloak remained defiant, and the Byan'Hantandu realized they could not force their way through the portal nor make him grant them entry. They therefore had Cloak released from the torture chamber and told him that he would be allowed to roam their ship as he couldn't teleport back to Earth, and as long as they had him, they had the target article.
However, having reviewed their Book and learned that the portal keeper's main means of defense was to dispatch an attacker to the Darkforce dimension, the Byan'Hantandu next sent Blustar the Darbian to assault Cloak, making him fear for his life so he would admit him into the Darkforce dimension and thusly allow Blustar to recover the target article.
Despite his hunger for light energy and having no other defense against his battering at Blustar's hands, Cloak refused to allow him access to the only bargaining chip he had to save Earth.
The Byan'Hantandu
warned him that their would be no bargains, and as soon as their
spacecraft's floo bar turbines warmed up, they would cancel out the
molecular bonds that held Earth together, and it would cease together.
In response, Cloak
brought forth the device they had sought; acknowledging that they
wouldn't spare Earth, he asked instead that he be allowed to say
goodbye to someone important to him.
The Byan'Hantandu accepted the device and approved this request, and the Grunds prepared a two-way astral projection.
However, knowing Dagger was emotionally distraught after being blinded a few days before in a previous battle, Cloak provoked Dagger into lashing out at Cloak with her light energy, which was channeled back through the projector to the Byan'Hantandu ship. One of the Grunds noted that the feedback was overloading all systems, and the Byan'Hantandu ordered the shut down of all systems except life support to prevent their destruction.
As the Darbians labored in the control room, the two non-Gromitz Grunds reported that the power surge had jumped across all the influx condensors and knocked out most of their primary power sources. The Byan'Hantandu ordered them to begin repairs immediately and to re-route all remaining power to their life support systems.
Ultimately, considering Dagger a "begetter of living light" (despite the Book showing nonesuch in this sector for some time to come), who were considered sacred above all others in the myriad galaxies, the Byan'Hantandu announced that Earth would be spared.
As the ship was at minimal power, however, the Byan'Hantandu warned Cloak that they may not have sufficient power to send him home, and they offered Cloak the opportunity to become one of their agents. Refusing this, Cloak accepted the risk and insisted they send him home; he was placed in a Bhontar that was ejected from the ship.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - Meanwhile, while noting that their ship would hardly be able to manage a crawl from some time, the Byan'Hantandu discussed whether the power surge had affected the cloning process. Another of the Byan'Hantandu confirmed that the process had not been affected, and it was shown that they had at least 10 such clones.
One of the Byan'Hantandu noted that he thought the Grund would soon be out of jobs.
Comments: Created by Terry Austin, Dan Lawlis, and P. Craig Russell.
Per Giuseppe Mainardi of ItalyCloak fought off some "Inferno" demons and then seemed to die while trapped with the Bhontar. His Cloak was usurped by Ecstasy...and then he got better, in Cloak and Dagger III#8.
The Byan'Hantandu haven't shown up in over 30 years now, and, as far as I know, nothing's every happened with
the Cloak clones...wait a minute...maybe the guy we think is
Cloak is really a clone, and the real guy has been off living the
life of Reilly somewhere.
In retrospect, of
a story now 30 years ago, I would think that if they cloned Cloak, they
would just have the genetics of a pre-mutation Tyrone Johnson, which
wouldn't do that much for them...unless the mutation process altered
Cloak's genetics, or unless he was indeed a mutant despite the
Bendis-era ret-con of the long-established nature of mutants in the
Marvel Universe.
Clarifications:
The Byan'Hantandu have no known connection to:
Bhontars are some type of energy spheres used for transport across planetary/orbital distances.
They can travel through the air, through the upper atmosphere, across the vacuum of space and into the Byan'Hantandu ship.
The Byan'Hantandu
ship is apparently the source of their propulsion; without sufficient
propulsion, a traveler inside a Bhontar will remain floating in space
or wherever they are left.
Readily formed as needed by the Byan'Hantandu's Darbian servants under their guidance, the can be used to contain others, even those with teleportational powers, such as Cloak.
Once formed they appear to continue to exist until specifically deactivated. They can apparently be set to deactivate at certain points, such as when a certain destination is reached.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2)
- Jophurg the Darbian used a Bhontar to travel to Earth from the
Byan'Hantandu ship that was in space a relatively short distance away.
Confronting the previous portal guardian, Jophurg grabbed him,
generated a Bhontar around him, generated a Bhontar around himself, and
then transported them both back to the ship.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Byan'Hantandu realized the mistake, and the previous guardian was kept within a Bhontar while Jophurg was sent back to Earth (presumably in a Bhontar) to retrieve the current guardian, Cloak.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - Jophurg contained Cloak within a Bhontar, formed one around himself, and then transported them both back to the ship.
Cloak was placed next to the previous guardian, both of whom were kept within Bhontars.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - The previous portal guardian was sent back to Earth via Bhontar, while Cloak, still in his Bhontar, was brought before the Byan-Hantandu.
Cloak was eventually sent back toward Earth in a Bhontar, but the ship's drained batteries were unable to generate sufficient "propellant force" for it to reach Earth, leaving Cloak seemingly stranded in space.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#4)
- During Inferno -- when Earth was invaded by demons from
Otherplace/limbo -- the demon Crotus sent a pair of demons to assault
Cloak, who had begun to weaken from lack of oxygen. The demons
manipulated him via hallucinations, seeking to trick him into
teleporting into space where he would die, but he tricked them instead
into entering the Bhontar, after which he dispatched them to the
Darkforce dimension.
Nonetheless, exhausted and weak, Cloak seemingly perished.
Dagger was aided by
the New Mutants in flying into space to locate hi, but they found the
Bhontar empty except for Cloak's discarded cape/cloak.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (3-4
Note: Cloak's cloak was usurped by Ecstasy...and then he got better, in Cloak and Dagger III#8.
The Book is an
ancient source of intergalactic information of unrevealed origins. It
contains information on the past, present, and future, although some
information is out of date.
The previous portal guardian speculated that it was even older than the Byan'Hantandu
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) ) - As far back as the Byan'Hantandu can remember, they have -- guided by their sacred "Book" -- traveled from galaxy to galaxy, removing certain dangerous objects from the grasps of planetary inhabitants who were too unsophisticated to safely possess them.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS) - The Byan'Hantandu's Book foretold the the creation of an incredibly dangerous object on Earth.
(The Mutant Misadventures
of Cloak and Dagger#2)
- After the Byan'Hantandu's servant Gromitz the Grund lost the object
within the Darkforce dimension, the Byan'Hantandu had Durbuur
the Darbian bring them the Book, from which they learned the identity
and location of this sector's portal guardian. They sent Jophurg the
Darbian to bring the portal guardian to them.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS)
- However,
as the Book was out of date, Jophurg instead recovered the previous
portal guardian, an unidentified old man..
(The Mutant Misadventures of
Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb)) - Jophurg brought the old man before the
Byan'Hantandu, who swiftly realized that this was the
previous portal guardian.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (3
At some point
during Cloak's time on the Byan'Hantandu spacecraft, they collected a
cellular sample from him.
This process was used to rapidly generate at least 10 clones of Cloak.
After Dagger incapacitated the Byan'Hantandu's spacecraft and after Cloak's departure, the Byan'Hantandu were pleased to note that the power surge had apparently not affected the cloning process at all.
Proudly to look upon their work, one of the Byan'Hantandu complimented he and his associates on their foresight in collecting the cellular sample.
Another of the Byan'Hantandu noted that he thought the Grund would soon be out of a job.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3
Note: There's got to be a story for the 10 Cloak clones somewhere...
Floo Bar Turbines are weapons that cancel out the molecular bonds
holding a planet together, completely destroying it.
They require some time to warm up.
Floo Bar Turbines were present on the Byan'Hantandu's spacecraft.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - When the Byan'Hantandu explained the Floo Bar Turbines' nature and prepared to use them on Earth, Cloak realized that refusing to surrender the object that they sought was an insufficient bargaining chip.
He instead tricked
them into allowing him to say goodbye to his partner, Dagger, whom he
manipulated into releasing energy that caused some feedback overload /
power surge that crippled the spacecraft's systems.
The Floo Bar Turbines were no longer active at this point.
Repairs were initiated, but as the Byan'Hantandu surmised that Dagger was a begetter of the
living light, who where considered sacred above all others in the
myriad galaxies, they no longer wished to destroy Earth.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3
Note: I'm not sure what Floo Bar is supposed to represent, but it seems like it is a play on the term "FUBAR."
FUBAR stands for
"Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition," although the F may represent a word
starting and ending with the same letters as firetruck, and the AR may
also mean Any Repair or All Reason.
By my understanding, it is a military term dating to World War II.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (fb) - BTS)
- The Byan'Hantandu's sacred Book foretold the the creation of an
incredibly dangerous object.
As the time of the
object's creation approached, the Byan'Hantandu sent four Grund servants (including Gromitz and Grundune) to
collect the object.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2
- BTS) - Gromitz
took a shortcut using Cloak (Tyrone Johnson)'s portal to the Darkforce
dimension to take a shortcut back from the Byan'Hantandu ship to Earth.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2
- BTS) - Franklin Richards -- playing with the scraps from his father
(Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic)'s laboratory -- unwittingly created "the
most dangerous object in the universe" (in the process of trying to
create a "Gobot").
Instructed that it was time for bed, Franklin took his creation to his bedroom.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2)
- As Franklin slept, Gromitz flew in, grabbed the object, and departed. However, Grundune and
the other two Grunds then caught up to Gromitz.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (fb) - BTS) - Gromitz fled the other Grunds.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS)
- Reaching Cloak in advance of his
opponents/pursuers, Gromitz was unable to force open the portal as Cloak was ready for him.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - To prevent his opponents from obtaining the object, Gromitz hurled it through Cloak's partially-open portal.
After the Byan'Hantandu learned of what happened, they ordered Earth's portal guardian brought to them, but out-of-date information led to the retrieval of the previous guardian before recovering Cloak, the current guardian.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3)
- Cloak initially refused to surrender the device, intending to use it
as a bargaining chip against his captors, who planned to destroy Earth
as it was the totem-planet of the cheating Gromitz.
However, when the Byan'Hantandu prepared the destroy Earth regardless of Cloak's compliance -- considering possessing him was close enough to possessing the device since he couldn't teleport the distance back to Earth -- Cloak surrendered the device to them in exchange for allowing him to say goodbye to his partner, Dagger (Tandy Bowen). He then manipulated Dagger into projecting her energy and causing a power surge that disabled most of the Byan'Hantandu's spacecraft's power, disabling their planet-destroying Foo Bar Turbines.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2
The immense Byan-Hantandu ship apparently dwarfs the planet Earth.
Their ship has advanced cloaking technology, enabling them to approach a planet undetected.
They apparently could shield planets from the affects of their immense graviational pull as well.
As the eons passed, the Byan'Hantandu were forced to construct an
increasingly elaborate life support on their ship to keep them
alive to fulfill their mission. At the time of their encounter with Cloak, 96.4% of their ship existed solely for life support.
The ship has medical technology, and is capable of
performing neurosurgery, cloning techniques, and presumably
other procedures.
The ship carries powerful, planet-destroying weapons, such as the Floo Bar Turbines.
The ship has
technology allowing for "two-way astral projection"; such communication
also allows for transmissions of large amounts of energy
(The
Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 - BTS) - The Byan'Hantandu
brought their spacecraft to Earth to retrieve a dangerous object.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - The Byan'Hantandu's Grund and Darbian agents transported themselves and others (Cloak and the previous portal guardian) to and from the ship to retrieve the object.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - While the Byan'Hantandu planned to use their ship's Floo Bar Turbines to destroy Earth, Cloak tricked them into allowing him two-way communication with his partner, Dagger (Tandy Bowen).
Cloak then manipulated Dagger into projecting her energy back into the ship. One of the Grunds noted that the feedback was overloading all systems, and the Byan'Hantandu ordered the shut down of all systems except life support to prevent their destruction.
As the Darbians labored in the control room, the two non-Gromitz Grunds reported that the power surge had jumped across all the influx condensors and knocked out most of their primary power sources. The Byan'Hantandu ordered them to begin repairs immediately and to re-route all remaining power to their life support systems.
Regardless of the incapacitation of their Floo Bar Turbines, the Byan'Hantandu now considered Dagger a "begetter of living light," who were considered sacred above all others in the myriad galaxies; they announced that Earth would be spared.
As the ship was at minimal power, however, the Byan'Hantandu warned Cloak that they may not have sufficient power to send him home, and they offered Cloak the opportunity to become one of their agents. Refusing this, Cloak accepted the risk and insisted they send him home; he was placed in a Bhontar that was ejected from the ship.
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 - BTS) - The Bhontar (transport sphere) the Byan'Hantandu ship generated lacked sufficient propulsion, and Cloak was left seemingly stranded in space...
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2
unidentified extraterrestrial race
(The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and
Dagger#3 (fb)) - The Byan-Hantandu traveled to an unidentified world
where they presumably removed an object of power from a race they
considered too primitive to handle it.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2
Note: As the Byan'Hantandu were still ambulatory, this is presumably an ancient adventure, but whether it a century, a millennium, a million year, or billion years ago is unrevealed.
Nothing has been revealed about this encounter, other then what you see in the image.
The aliens are green, semi-humanoid bipeds.
They may be reptilian or maybe they're just green.
They have prominent calcaneal tuberosities and a stance indicating that they are digitigrade (standing/balanced only on their toes, or perhaps on their metatarsophalangeal joints (where the foot joins the toes)).
While you can't
tell too much from the image, they appear to live on a craggy,
mountainous world and they seem to revere or highly value a small
glowing globe; presumably that globe is what theByan'Hantandu came to
claim. They appeared to be lamentful about the object being taken from
them.
--The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3
images: (without ads)
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2, pg. 11, panel 1 (Franklin working on target object);
panel 3 (Gromitz stealing target object);
pg. 16, panel 1 (Byan'Hantandu ship);
panel 4 (Book, outside);
panel 6 (Bhontar, traveling through space);
pg. 22, panel 1 (ship, size comparison to Earth);
#3, pg. 1, panel 1 (ship, interior)
p3, panel 2 (Book, interior)
p8, panel 2 (Byan'Hantandu main image);
p9, panel 1 (Byan'Hantandu, original forms, visiting unidentified race)
panel 3 (Byan'Hantandu head shot);
pg. 17, panel 5 (Floo Bar turbines);
pg. 18, panel 1-2 (completed object, expelled by Cloak, and upheld);
pg. 23, panel 2 (Cloak clones)
Appearances:
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2 (December, 1988) - Terry Austin (writer), Dan
Lawlis (pencils), P. Craig Russell (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3 (January, 1989) - Terry Austin (writer), Mike
Vosburg (pencils), Scott Williams (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First Posted: 11/02/2001
Last updated: 8/15/2019
All characters mentioned or pictured are
™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real
thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
The 
"Cloak 
target-