GIGANTUS GIGANTUS
Real Name: Gigantus
Identity/Class: Deviant Mutate
Occupation: Servant of the Mole Man
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Servant of the Mole Man and Kro, ally of the Moloids and other Deviant Mutates
Enemies: Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Thing), the "new" Fantastic Four (Ghost Rider, Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine), the Monster Hunters (Dr. Druid, Zawadi, Ulysses Bloodstone, Makkari), "Ulvar"
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Goliath; The Monster That Walked Like a Man
Base of Operations: Monster Island
First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery I#63 (December, 1960)
Powers: Gigantus possesses superhuman size, stretching several stories high; he can also breathe underwater, using gills; by simply wading through the sea, he can generate destructive tidal waves
History: (Marvel Universe#7) - As the Monster Hunters pursued their captured friend Makkari to Monster Island, they were intercepted by Gigantus, who rose up before them to bar their path. Thinking quickly, Ulysses Bloodstone turned their craft's VTOL engines upon him, scorching him with flame. They were able to land safely, although their craft was destroyed by tidal waves when Gigantus went beneath the waters again.
(Journey Into Mystery I#63 (fb)) - In the city of
Mu, deep beneath the ocean, Gigantus' king ordered him to rise to
the surface, and take command of the Earth (Or maybe Gigantus
made that up, and it was the Mole Man). 
(Journey Into Mystery I#63) - Gigantus arrived on the surface and in haste and peace (as he does not wish to cause anyone harm), informed humanity to vacate their cities. The people of Earth began to comply, but one man, Mr. Baxter, created a massive giant even bigger than Gigantus named "Ulvar," claiming his creation was a powerful alien from Centaurus II. Thinking he was outmatched, Gigantus returned to Mu.
(Fantastic Four I#347, 349) - Determined to obtain a Skrull Inorganic Technotroid lost in Subtearannea, the Mole Man summoned forth Gigantus to defeat two teams of the Fantastic Four for him. However, the Mole Man ultimately ended the conflict when he realized what hopeless odds he was facing.
(Warlock and the Infinity Watch#7) - To get the attention of Adam Warlock, Gigantus, along with many other monsters, was sent crashing through the forests of Monster Island by the Mole Man.
(Warlock and the Infinity Watch#42 - BTS) - Gigantus was likely among the monsters evacuated to Subtearannea by the Mole Man, in anticipation of the tidal wave created during Atlantis Rising.
Comments: Created by Stan "The Can" Lee and Jack "The Mack" Kirby. Err... Stan "The Man" Lee, and Jack "King" Kirby.
In Conspriacy#1, it was hinted that CONTROL was responsible for cleaning up
after Gigantus' attack and keeping the public from becoming aware of his existence.
I know what you're asking yourself. You're asking,
"Self, why didn't the Prime One list JIM#63 before Marvel
Universe#7? After all, it's his first appearance." Well,
here's why: we don't know when Marvel Universe#7 occurs, but it
is before Marvel: The Lost Generation#2, which is set in 1958. Since Gigantus' first appearance is from 1960, I'm placing it
chronologically after Marvel Universe#7. It's not as
though it has any impact on his continuity, since that still
makes JIM I#63 his first public appearance. Gigantus appears in a nightmare that Nightmare gave to Peter Parker in Sensational Spider-Man#-1.
Gigantus' home, Mu, is the name of the continent which, according to legend, Lemuria rested upon.
The Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#7 bears this out,
as the continent destroyed by the Celestials. Mu also appeared in Namora#1/2, also depicted there
as having survived its sinking to become an underwater city, complete with people spurred into attacking
the surface world...but populated with humans, not orange-skinned monsters. A humanoid civilization from Mu is also mentioned (but not seen) in Marvel Tales I#144's "The City That Time Forgot." These Muvians constructed the city of Para-Diss, but found it was too beautiful for them to live in it, so they abandoned it. When the city was found and then abandoned by a pair of explorers in the modern era, it crumbled to pieces when they left, dying of "a broken heart."
You can learn more
about Mu Time to clear up a goof on the part of the Marvel
editorial. When Gigantus first appeared in Journey Into
Mystery I#63, his name was "Goliath," but when that story
was reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell #10, he was re-named
Gigantus, which sounds so much more impressive, no? However, on
the back page of Marvel Universe#7, editor Tom Brevoort would
have you believe his name was originally Gargantus, and
previously appeared in Strange Tales I#80. Do not be deceived.
Gargantus was an entirely different creature. And now a word on coincidences. I've spoken
with both Walt Simonson and Roger Stern and uncovered something
rather wonderful. When Art Adams drew Gigantus into the monsters
of FF#349, it was not at Simonson's behest; it is also unlikely
that when Tom Raney drew Gigantus among the monsters in Warlock#7
that he had FF#349 in mind; but then, when Roger Stern made
Gigantus explicitly one of the Mole Man's monsters in
Marvel Universe#7, he had no idea that Gigantus already had a
history as one of the Mole Man's monsters! It's moments such as
these that make me love continuity. As my website, Sersi's
Loft *coughshamelessplugcough* is
concerned with tracking appearances of Deviants, and the monsters
of Monster Island are now Deviants, I have to wonder what other
creatures are out there that I haven't heard of, especially
lurking in the background of Monster Island in issues of Warlock
and the Infinity Watch. Hey, Snood-- when do we get a Mole Man's
Monsters profile? :-) My final nitpick: Gigantus is mis-colored green
in Fantastic Four I#349, and brown in Warlock and the Infinity Watch#7. And here's a theory from Cary that ties the Fantastic
Four and Gigantus even closer together: by
The monsters in Fantastic Four I#349
also include Van Doom's Monster (Tales to Astonish #17); he also appears in
Warlock #7, along with Zzutak (Strange Tales#88), X (Tales to
Astonish#20),
Kraa (Tales of Suspense#18), the Monster from "Fear in the Night" (Journey Into
Mystery#65), the Brute That Walks (also Journey Into Mystery#65), the Glop (Journey Into
Mystery#72),
a Martian (Strange Tales#78), the Creature from Krogarr (Tales to Astonish
#25), and Googam (Tales of Suspense#17). Now, it would be wonderful if all of these monsters who
(aside from Zzutak and X) are not part of the Marvel Universe as
of yet were brought into the fold through these cameos, but
sadly, such is not the case.
See, Tom Raney didn't choose these monsters with the intent of
making them "canon"-- he was just creating an homage the Marvel
Monsterworks trade paperback, which is where he got all of the
images. There are all sort of incongruities in these
appearances-- Kraa, Googam and the Creatures From Krogarr are way
too tall, Kraa is dead, the Brute That Walks is human again, the
"Fear in the Night" monster is from another world, Van
Doom's Monster was rendered inert, etc. They don't fit the mold
of a Mole Man monster, which are typically Deviant Mutates.
One
wonders if the Fantastic Four's original headquarters was named for Charlie's
boss? I mean, it could very well have had a different name when Mr. Baxter
and Charlie had their offices there. And, when the former died of
old age, the latter made sure the world learned just how it had been saved from
Gigantus. Hence, a posthumous renaming in Baxter's honor.
CLARIFICATIONS: "Ulvar" appeared to be an
alien from Centaurus II who challenged Gigantus' supremacy but was really an artificial
prop built
by Mr. Baxter. It was dismantled after Gigantus retreated.
-Journey Into Mystery I#63 Mr. Baxter and Charlie were two men who
designed fake dinosaurs and other such creatures for films. Refusing to surrender to Gigantus, they built
Ulvar and tricked
him good. -Journey Into Mystery I#63 We'll have to assume that
Baxter was a designer on the same scale of Jim Henson's Creature
Shop, or that Gigantus can be fooled by paper mache
images: (without ads) Other appearances: Last updated: 05/31/06 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. 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!
Gigantus, aka Goliath, has no known connection to:
Fantastic Four I#347 (February, 1991) - Walter Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#349 (April, 1991) - Walter Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams & Gracine Tanaka (pencils), Art Thibert & Al Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch#7 (August, 1992) - Jim Starlin (writer), Tom Raney (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)
Marvel Universe#7 (December, 1998) - Roger Stern (writer), Jason Armstrong (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
