Real Name: Miklos VryolakMINOTAUR
Real Name: Miklos Vryolak
Identity/Class: Human mutate
Occupation: former thief, plunderer, and bodyguard of his father
Affiliations: former agent of his father;
possibly Bova,
Man-Bull,
Matador,
and
Toro Rojo
Enemies: Iron Man (Tony Stark), Madame Masque, Jasper Sitwell
Known Relatives: Dr. Vryolak (father)
Aliases: Miklos the Minotaur
Base of Operations: a grotto on an island in the Aegean sea
First Appearance: Iron Man I#24 (April, 1970)
Powers/Abilities: Superhuman strength (Class 10-25) and durability (he could resist a point blank shotgun blast). Dense horns and hooves.
History:
(Iron Man#24 (fb)) - Miklos suffered from an unspecified disease, which proved
beyond modern medicine to cure. Desperate, his father, used a chemical he had
discovered in the ruins of a maze in the Aegean to treat his son. Miklos made an
almost immediate recovery, but then began to mutate into a partial bovine form,
taking on the appearance of a minotaur.
Dr. Vryolak sent Miklos on numerous missions, stealing money and other objects to finance and supply his father with the means for a cure. Rather than a cure, however, Dr. Vryolak sought to build an army of such powerful warriors.
(Iron
Man#24) - Madame Masque washed up on the grotto of the Vryolaks after a battle
with Mordecai Midas. Dr. Vryolak sold her golden mask to help fund his
experiments, and then sent Miklos into another village to gather more materials
for him. Dr. Vryolak promised to turn Madame Masque into another minotaur, a
mate for Miklos, but word of her mask made it to SHIELD, which sent both Jasper
Sitwell and Iron Man after her. Iron Man nearly exhausted his power fighting the
Minotaur, but managed to recharge his armor while sitting, apparently
unconscious, in some flaming wreckage created by their struggle.
Iron Man then followed Miklos back to the grotto, where Sitwell had gone to try to free Madame Masque. Miklos subdued Sitwell, but saw that, despite her disfigurement, Masque had the love of a normal man (Sitwell). When Iron Man arrived, Miklos fought him again, and their battle shattered a critical support strut in the cavern. As the cavern began to collapse, Miklos realized his father's plans at last, and saw that it was wrong to try to make any more like him. Miklos held up the ceiling of the cavern long enough for Iron Man, Sitwell, and Masque to escape, and then allowed to collapse, crushing both himself and his father.
(Marvel Year-in-Review 1992) - A Minotaur attended the Springdale branch of the Bar with no Name, enjoying the company of Bova, Man-Bull, Matador, and Toro Rojo.
Comments: Created by Archie Goodwin and Johnny Craig.
According to this story, the Labyrinth and the original Minotaur existed in the far Aegean, rather than Crete. What, if any, connection exists between the original Minotaur of legend, or any such being, and the means by which Miklos was mutated is uncertain.
CLARIFICATIONS:
He should be distinguished from:
Dr.
Vryolak
He discovered what he believed to be the legendary Labyrinth from mythology, and in its center, a formula to create a super-race, combining the power of beasts with the minds of men. When his son, Miklos, took deathly ill, he used the formula to save him, turning him into a minotaur in the process. Dr. Vryolak pretended to try to cure Miklos, but actually sought to create an army of such powerful warriors. When he learned the true nature of his father's plans, Miklos allowed both himself and his father to perish.
--Iron Man I#24 (24(fb), 24
Last updated: 08/16/04
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