Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Uncertain, either a human mutate (native of southern Mexico), or a robot that believed itself to be human (see comments)
Occupation: Warrior
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Mr. Kline/Assassin (employer and director); Dark Ones, demonic servants, Doomprayer (agents)
Enemies: Iron Man (Tony Stark), Marianne Rodgers (pawn)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Soulfather, "lord of the earth and of the inner mind" (as called by himself)
Base of Operations: A subterranean base below Washington, D.C.
First Appearance: Iron Man I#42 (October, 1971)
Powers/Abilities: Seemingly able to "draw energy from the lava that feeds the world," Mikas could use this power for a variety of effects, including superhuman physical strength and durability, teleportation, forming energy shields, and firing powerful energy blasts from his hands. He also possessed psychic powers, enabling him to cast illusions and mentally control some people.
The nature of the beings that served Mikas--such as Doomprayer, the Dark Ones, and demon-like creatures--is unrevealed -- they may have been robots, illusions, or mutated living creatures.
Height: Unrevealed (6'2"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White
History:
(Iron Man I#42 (fb) - BTS) - The past of Mikas is largely unrevealed -- by his own recollection (see
comments), he had been a child living a life of misery and squalor in south Mexico, until Mr.
Kline found him and mutated him with "radiation baths," which endowed
him with his powers. Mikas was also provided with a base located twenty
feet beneath a street in Washington, D.C. -- this subterranean location
was decorated to appear as a demonic realm (complete with fiery
sulfuric pits).
(Iron Man I#42) - Mr. Kline tasked Mikas to take control of Marianne Rodgers, who had foiled the plot of Kline's previous two operatives, Demetrius and the Slasher. Mikas teleported to Marianne's hotel room and succeeded in entrancing her, making her his pawn despite her own formidable psychic powers.
Meanwhile, Iron Man had willingly surrendered himself into police custody for questioning after Senator McJavit (actually a robot serving Kline) accused him of being an anarchist; but as Iron Man waited in a holding cell, an image of Mikas and Marianne appeared to his eyes only, with Marianne possessing a demonic appearance. Smashing out of the prison to investigate, Iron Man realized the image was just an illusion, but a flash of light took him to a hellish realm where Mikas and Marianne really were. While two of his demonic servants tackled Iron Man, Mikas claimed that he drew his godlike power from the Earth itself, and that he would mentor Marianne and help her understand her own psychic ability.
After tossing the two demonic creatures aside, Iron Man turned his attention to Mikas, who revealed details of his past (see comments) while he blasted Iron Man with energy from his hands -- with his armor's power running low, the golden Avenger grew weak and passed out, even as Marianne seemed to have accepted Mikas as her master.
(Iron Man I#43) - While Mikas continued to batter the chained Iron Man to prove his power, he revealed that his master was Mr. Kline, and that his true purpose was the destruction of Tony Stark -- seeing the man she loved being beaten slowly reawakened the mind of Marianne Rodgers, and she would eventually break free from Mikas' control. But while he gloated over his defeat of Iron Man, a projected image of Mr. Kline appeared and reminded Mikas who the real master was (see comments).
Mikas summoned the Dark Ones to either kill Iron Man and Marianne or throw them to Doomprayer. Desperate to save Marianne, Iron Man released all of his armor's remaining energy (including his life support) in one devastating blast, which brought down Mikas' base, apparently killing Mikas and his allies.
Contemporaneously at Stark Industries, the Guardsman (Kevin O'Brien) was following a set of instructions to locate and help Iron Man if he didn't report back at regular intervals; using a rocket aircraft, the Guardsman flew to Mikas' base in time to recharge Iron Man's armor and save his life.
As Guardsman, Iron Man, and Marianne flew away in the rocket, a fragment of a mechanical hand was seen in the rubble of Mikas' base, indicating that he had apparently been a robot (see comments).
Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and George Tuska.
Although the revelation that Mikas was a robot didn't occur until the final panel of the last page, Mr. Kline made a statement a few pages earlier [see red rectangle] which hinted and/or suggested Mikas' true nature.
Some of Mr. Kline's other agents were robot duplicates
of "real" people (including replicas of the Scorpion,
Mr.
Hyde, and the Night
Phantom), but it was unrevealed if this robot was based on
an actual Mikas -- unless Mikas' childhood memories
were entirely fictitious, it's always possible they were taken from the living man who became Mikas, but whose fate
is unrevealed (i.e. maybe there's still a living Mikas somewhere who
could return some day).
--Ron Fredricks
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mikas should not be confused with:
The Dark Ones used by Mikas have no known connection to:
Mikas' demonic servants have no known connections to:
Doomprayer has no known connections to:
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Standing perhaps 9 feet tall, the Dark Ones appeared to be two large robots, although they could have been men in armor. They presumably possessed superhuman strength sufficient to combat Iron Man, and possibly other abilities as well. However, they were destroyed by the collapse of Mikas' base before they could be observed in action. --Iron Man#43 |
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When Iron Man first appeared in Mikas' subterranean base, these two scaly green-skinned creatures attacked him; but the golden Avenger easily swatted the small demons off of himself, and sent one flying into Mikas. Later, after Mikas defeated Iron Man and had him bound in chains, three other similar reptilian creatures were present. --Iron Man#42 (#42, 43 |
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In Mikas' subterranean base, Doomprayer dwelt in a seemingly bottomless pit under a transparent section of the floor in Mikas' throne room. Doomprayer was told in legends to have been an immense snake, whose coils wound down to the molten core of the Earth. Whether Mikas somehow enslaved this legendary creature, or if it was just an illusion or another robot was never revealed. It was not seen after the destruction of Mikas' base, and may have escaped or been destroyed. --Iron Man#43 |
images: (without ads)
Iron Man I#42, p5, pan6 (main image - Mikas)
Iron Man I#42, p5, pan3 (headshot - Mikas)
Iron Man I#42, p16, pan1 (Mikas fires energy blasts from his hands at Iron Man)
Iron Man I#43, p20, pan6 (mechanical hand of Mikas)
Iron Man I#43, p15, pan3 (Mr. Kline implies Mikas is also an android)
Iron Man I#43, p16, pan4 (Dark Ones; Iron Man and Marianne Rodgers [left])
Iron Man I#43, p17, pan4 (Dark Ones; Marianne Rodgers and Iron Man [left])
Iron Man I#42, p15, pan4 (Iron Man vs demonic creatures)
Iron Man I#42, p15, pan5 (Iron Man swats demonic creatures off, and one hits Mikas)
Iron Man I#43, p16, pan6 (Doomprayer; Iron Man and Marianne Rodgers [foreground])
Appearances:
Iron Man I#42 (October, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Jean Izzo (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
Iron Man I#43 (November, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Jim Mooney (inks), Al Kurzrok (letters), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 09/07/2001
Last updated: 08/11/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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