GIGANTO
Real Name: None
Identity/Class: Sub-species of Humanity, mutate
Occupation: Servant of the Mole Man
Group Membership: Together with other Gigantos
Affiliations: Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Franken-Castle (Frank Castle), Inorganic Techno Troid, Kro, Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), Mole Man (Harvey Elder), Moloids, Monster Metropolis, Reed Richards of Earth-4280, Skreeal, Tricephalous;
formerly Colin Sixty
Enemies: Alpha (Andy Maguire), Avengers (Captain America/Sam Wilson, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Nova/Sam Alexander, Spider-Man/Miles Morales, U.S. Agent/John Walker, Vision), Brad, De'Lila, Devil Dinosaur, Fantastic Four (Ant-Man/Scott Lang, Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Richards, Medusa, Miss Thing/Darla Deering, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Ms. Marvel/Sharon Ventura, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, Thing/Ben Grimm), Future Foundation (Alex Power, Invisible Woman/Susan Richards, Spider-Man/Peter Parker), Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch/Noble Kale), Rylend Grant, Hallows' Eve (Janine Godbe), Hercules, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Hunter of Monster Special Force (Robert Hellsgaard, Yamato, others), Justice League of America, Moon Girl (Lunella Lafayette), Old Atlantis, Skrulls, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green), Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett), Wolverine (Laura Kinney)
Known Relatives: Unidentified mate, unidentified brothers
Aliases: "That Monster from the cover of Fantastic Four#1"
Base of Operations: Monster Island, sea of Japan
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#1 (November, 1961)
Powers/Abilities: Giganto is 30' tall, and possesses an unknown degree of superhuman strength and endurance. It is also an expert at digging tunnels, and can hold its breath beneath water for an extended period.
History:
(Marvel Universe#7) - Giganto was one of the mutates
genetically engineered by Deviant scientists to serve as part of Kro's
invasion force against humanity, and gathered at Monster Island. However, Kro
was forced to abandon Monster Island when it was invaded by the Monster
Hunters. Giganto, with the other mutates, found a new master in the Mole
Man.
(Fantastic Four I#1) - The Mole Man, having nurtured his hatred of the surface world, sent Giganto out on missions to the U.S.S.R., Australia, South America, and French Africa to destroy atomic plants located there, thus ensuring that when all the plants were destroyed, he would hold supreme power on the earth. He had Giganto perform this task by tunneling beneath the plants, then pulling the entire facility beneath the surface.
His assaults caught the attention of the new super-hero team, the Fantastic Four, who journeyed to Monster Island to stop the Mole Man. The Mole Man released Giganto against them, but he was held back by the flame of the Human Torch.
(Fantastic Four: First Family#3) - A Giganto with a decidedly lizard-like appearance and tail followed the Fantastic Four back to New York and the team became embroiled with battling it in public. After being knocked out to sea, it tunneled back underground and escaped.
(X-Men: The Hidden Years#20, [21]) - The Mole Man unleashed Giganto against the X-Men as they fought him in his realm. The mutants were powerless against Giganto's mass and might, and as they fought against him, the Mole Man summoned a whole legion of mutates to fight them. The mutates occupied the X-Men until the mutants were finally subdued in the Mole Man's echo chamber.
(Fantastic Four I#264) - Having learnt that the millionaire Alden Maas had destroyed part of his underground kingdom by tapping into the earth's core, the Mole Man teamed up with the Thing and Human Torch to battle him, and unleashed Giganto to break their way into Maas' facilities. However, Maas died before they arrived, denying the Mole Man his vengeance.
(Avengers West Coast#54) - Believing that the Avengers were responsible for an assault upon his kingdom, the Mole Man unleashed several of his monsters against them, including Giganto, who assaulted Los Angeles. It was intercepted there by Iron Man, who hurled it into the ocean while he and the US Agent attempted to determine what to do with it.
When Giganto began to move again, the US Agent attempted to blind it with the after-burners of his skycycle, but the creature struck out at the US Agent, separating him from his vehicle. Ultimately, the Mole Man was convinced by Wonder Man that the Avengers were innocent, and, using a whistle only his creatures could hear, summoned them back home. Giganto abruptly broke away from Iron Man and the US Agent, went beneath the waves, and tunneled back to Subterranea.
(Fantastic Four I#347) - Giganto was among the creatures of the Mole Man's whose minds were taken over by the Skrull De'Lila, during her search for a lost Inorganic Technotroid. She set Giganto out to create diversions for her.
(Fantastic Four I#348) - Giganto was summoned by the Mole Man to capture Skrulls who had landed upon Monster Island, also looking for the Inorganic Technotroid. It also fought the "new" Fantastic Four (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk and Ghost Rider), and attempted to crush the Hulk in its grip, but set him free after being stabbed by Wolverine.
(Fantastic Four I#349) - The Inorganic Technotroid was finally found to be in the possession of Giganto's mate, who had lain upon the saucer containing it as though it were a nest. Although the Mole Man and De'Lila each attempted to claim the Inorganic Technotroid for their own before it could imprint on someone else, it wound up imprinting on Giganto's mate, who accepted it as though it were their own child.
(Fantastic Four I#400) - Giganto was conjured up from the timestream alongside the Mole Man by the rogue Watcher Aron to oppose allies of the Fantastic Four who had come to prevent him from creating a pocket universe. Giganto battled the Thing, but was buried by a cliffside the Thing toppled onto it.
(Fantastic Four III#1) - Giganto was among the army assembled by the Mole Man for an invasion of the surface world, but the plan was abandoned when the Mole Man learnt that the Fantastic Four were still alive.
(JLA/Avengers#1) - Giganto was among the monsters of Monster Island who opposed the Justice League of America during their search for the Ultimate Nullifier.
(Hercules III#4) - During his labors for the reality TV show "New Labors of Hercules," Hercules was sent to capture a Giganto as a reimagining of his labor to defeat the man-eating mares of Diomedes. Hercules snared a Giganto using an enormous chain, then swung the captured monster like a weapon at its three brothers, knocking them all down. The Mole Man sent his Moloids against Hercules, but Hercules rolled the captured Giganto at them like a bowling ball, chasing them all back underground.
(Marvel Holiday Special 2005) - The Moloids employed Giganto to help them find the Mole Man by capturing people dressed as Santa Claus, mis-interpreting Mole Man's last spoken words "Santa."
(Punisher VIII#13) - Giganto cracked open the street for Franken-Castle and Man-Thing and then attacked with them Hellsgaard and his Hunter of Monster Special Force in the streets above Monster Metropolis to prevent them from kidnapping Morbius, but they got away in a helicopter.
(FF I#4) - Mole Man and Reed Richards of Earth-4280 rode Giganto to the surface near Old Atlantis in Antarctica to destroy the city and gain control over a machine under it.
(FF I#5 (fb)) - Mole Man and Reed remained on Giganto's shoulder while Mole Man ordered the destruction on Old Atlantis. The present members of the Future Foundation (Alex Power, Invisible Woman and Spider-Man) couldn't prevent it.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#692) - Giganto rampaged through Yancy Street because he was looking for a mate according to Mister Fantastic. The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man fought the monster until Alpha knocked Giganto out with one punch.
(Amazing Spider-Man I#693) - The Fantastic Four returned Giganto to Subterranea using drill cars.
(FF II#2) - Mole Man attacked with Giganto the new Fantastic Four (Ant-Man, Medusa, Miss Thing and She-Hulk) in Manhattan because he considered them cheap impostors. Ant-Man, Medusa and She-Hulk knocked out Giganto and Mole Man before Miss Thing could even join the fight.
(Iron Man IV#28) - Mandarin Ring user Colin Sixty rode Giganto into battle in Mandarin City deep beneath the earth, but Iron Patriot (James Rhodes) defeated Colin.
(Iron Man IV#28 - BTS) - Giganto presumably left with Mole Man when the latter abandoned the campaign of the other ring bearers.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Nova VI#3) - Mole Man had Giganto fight Ms. Marvel (Khan), Nova (Alexander) and Spider-Man (Morales) in the arena for the entertainment of the Moloids.
(Nova VI#4) - Nova fought Giganto until the roof of the cave suddenly collapsed due to an attack by Mole Man's son Mole Monster and his army. Giganto was knocked out by the debris.
(Astonishing Ant-Man#3 - BTS) - S.H.I.E.L.D. transported a Giganto egg on a freighter out of Miami.
(Astonishing Ant-Man#3) - Hijacker tried to steal the egg, but was stopped by Captain America (Wilson) and Ant-Man (Scott Lang). The egg hatched and the monster headed to Miami, but Ant-Man shrunk it down before it could cause any damage.
(Astonishing Ant-Man#3 - BTS) - S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill promised Captain America to find a home for the young Giganto in the Savage Land Nature Refuge.
(Vision II#4) - The Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man and Vision) stopped an attack by Giganto on the surface world.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#8) - Giganto, Tricephalous and Skreeal were behind Mole Man when he confronted Squirrel Girl. On Mole Man's order Giganto seized Squirrel Girl's date Brad.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#9) - Giganto held on to Brad while Mole Man blamed Squirrel Girl for sending Kraven to Subterranea. Giganto was surprised to see Mole Man accept Squirrel Girl's apology. Mole Man ordered Giganto to release Brad, who still believed the whole situation was staged. Giganto had a big, dumb smile on his face when Mole Man proposed to Squirrel Girl, who was not interested...though he had a hard time understanding no for an answer.
(Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#10) - Giganto, Tricephalous and a group of Moloids were around Mole Man when Squirrel Girl's friend Nancy Whitehead arrived to tell him that Squirrel Girl was not interested in him, which angered him.
(All-New X-Men II#12) - Mole Man attacked Toronto's subway system with Giganto and Moloids, but they were thwarted by Wolverine (Kinney).
(Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur#13) - Giganto was part of another attack by Mole Man on New York City. Hulk (Cho), Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl thwarted the attack.
(Marvel 2-in-One I#2) - Giganto was on Monster Island when Mole Man and Googam quarreled over the rule of the island. The two decided that whoever's followers beat the visiting Human Torch and Thing first would rule the island. In the end Doctor Doom defeated the heroic duo and Giganto declared him the new ruler of Monster Island.
(Fantastic Four VI#35/2) - Giganto was part of an attack by Mole Man and an army of Moloids on Central Park. He got knocked out by the Thing after swatting away the Human Torch.
(Hulk Annual II#1) - Mole Man set out to take revenge on humanity for leaking radiation into Subterranea in Viridian, New Mexico. The Hulk (Banner) battled Giganto and absorbed the Gamma radiation from the monster, while a film crew making a documentary about the Hulk filmed it. During the fight the film crew was abducted by Moloids and the director Rylend Grant ended up killed by Giganto because he wasn't willing to quit filming the underground battle between the Hulk and Giganto.
(Fantastic Four VII#15) - The artificial intelligence Metamind lured Mole Man into another attack on New York City to learn more about the Fantastic Four. Giganto was part of the attack and once again defeated.
(Chasm: Curse of Kaine#4) - Giganto brought Mole Man to the surface during another attack in Queens, New York. Hallows' Eve put on a mask that turned her into a giant monster to fight Giganto.
(Avengers Academy: Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic#57) - Mole Man made a video for the ClikClok app with Giganto and four dancing Moloids.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
In MK 4 #21 a monster resembling Giganto appeared at the side of the mole man but had eye stalks that differentiated him from Giganto.
How do we know that Giganto wouldn't develop eye-stalks for any number of reasons? Maybe he was mutated. Maybe he's always had them but kept them into his skull before now. Maybe it was something he ate. Maybe it's like antlers on a deer or something...--Ronald Byrd
Yeah, multiple versions of these creatures aren't uncommon. We already knew about two different versions of MM's Giganto (the bright green one and the olive-green one), there was a two-headed version of Tricephalous in one book, multiple versions of Namor's Giganto (the "son," the white Moby Dick one, the alternate future one with the tentacles...--Madison Carter
Because Giganto's mate and "brothers" are virtually identical in appearance, some of the above listed appearances may be of any one of the monsters.
Giganto didn't receive a name until Avengers West Coast#54.
Giganto also appeared in What If I#36, "What If the Fantastic Four had no powers". In this reality, the Mole Man never awoke Giganto to fight the Fantastic Four in their first encounter.
Giganto's appearance in Fantastic Four I#400 could be from an earlier or later point in its chronology, since Aron brought all of the adversaries he conjured up from different points in time.
As seen in Avengers/Invaders#10 (June, 2009) a Giganto was killed in 1943 by the Red Skull (Johann
Shmidt) when he used a Cosmic Cube to alter
history, creating a new timeline (Earth-93198);
the Invaders and Avengers restored the original
timeline, reviving this Giganto. Other monster corpses seen floating in the ocean were the Atlantean Giganto, Behemoth and Titano.
--Markus Raymond
Thanks to MD Carter for allowing me to borrow the original main image from his website, The Monsters of Jack Kirby.
Profile by Prime Eternal. Updates by Markus Raymond (2010-2025).
CLARIFICATIONS:
Giganto should not be confused with:
images:
Fantastic Four I#264, p18, pan1 (main)
Fantastic Four I#1, Cover (first appearance)
Avengers West Coast#54, p7, pan1 (vs Iron Man)
FF I#4, p20 (in Antarctica with Mole Man and alternate Reed)
Hulk Annual II#1, p22, pan1 (swatting Hulk and jumping)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#1 (November, 1961) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), George Klein (inks)
Fantastic Four I#264 (March, 1984) - John Byrne (writer/pencils/inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)
Avengers West Coast#54 (January, 1990) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Paul Ryan (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Fantastic Four I#347 (February-March, 1991) - Walter Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams (pencils), Art Thibert (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#348-349 (April, 1991) - Walter Simonson (writer), Arthur Adams & Gracine Tanaka (pencils), Art Thibert & Al Milgrom (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#400 (May, 1995) - Tom DeFalco & Paul Ryan (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Dan Bulanadi (inks)
Fantastic Four III#1 (January, 1998) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Marvel Universe#7 (December, 1998) - Roger Stern (writer), Jason Armstrong (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
X-Men: The Hidden Years#20 (July, 2001) - John Byrne (writer/pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Lysa Hawkins (editor)
JLA/Avengers#1 (September, 2003) - Kurt Busiek (writer), George Perez (pencils/inks)
Hercules#4 (September, 2005) - Frank Tieri (writer), Mark Texeira (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Marvel Holiday Special 2005 (January, 2006) - Shaenon Garrity (writer), Roger Langridge (artist), Al Gordon (inker), John Barber, Ralph Macchio (editors)
Fantastic Four: First Family#3 (July, 2006) - Joe Casey (writer), Chris Weston (penciler), Gary Erskine (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Punisher VIII#13 (March, 2010) - Rick Remender (writer), Tony Moore (pencils), Mike Hawthorne (inker), Axel Alonso (editor)
FF I#4-5 (July-August, 2011) - Jonathan Hickman (writer), Barry Kitson (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#692-693 (October-November, 2012) - Dan Slott (writer), Humberto Ramos (pencils), Victor Olazaba (inker), Stephen Wacker (editor)
FF II#2 (February, 2013) - Matt Fraction (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Tom Brevoort with Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Iron Man IV#28 (August, 2014) - Kieron Gillen (writer), Joe Bennett, Cliff Richards & Derlis Santacruz (pencils), Scott Hanna & Rick Magyar (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Nova VI#3-4 (March-April, 2016) - Sean Ryan (writer), Cory Smith (artist), Devin Lewis (editor)
Astonishing Ant-Man#3 (February, 2016) - Nick Spencer (writer), Ramon Rosanas (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
Vision II#4 (April, 2016) - Tom King (writer), Gabriel Hernandez Walta (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl II#8-10 (July-September, 2016) - Ryan North (writer), Erica Henderson (pencils), Tom Fowler (inks), Wil Moss (editor)
All-New X-Men II#12 (October, 2016) - Dennis Hopeless (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur#13 (January, 2017) - Brandon Montclare & Amy Reeder (writers), Natacha Bustos (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Marvel 2-in-One I#2 (March, 2018) - Chip Zdarsky (writer), Jim Cheung (pencils), John Dell, Walden Wong & Jim Cheung (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Fantastic Four VI#35/2 (November, 2021) - Jason Loo (writer/artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Hulk Annual II#1 (July, 2023) - David Pepose (writer), Caio Majado (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
Fantastic Four VII#15 (March, 2024) - Ryan North (writer), Ivan Fiorelli (artist), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Chasm: Curse of Kaine#4 (January, 2025) - Steve Foxe (writer), Andrea Broccardo (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Avengers Academy: Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic#57 (August 27th, 2025) - Anthony Oliveira (writer), Pablo Collar (artist), Lindsey Cohick (editor)
First Posted: 02/23/2003
Last updated: 10/03/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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