RETRIEVERS of ATLANTIS

Membership: "Aeristron", "Captiotron," "Ducotron," Electron, "Scyphozotron", Thermatron

Purpose: To keep Namor on the throne of Atlantis

Affiliations: Atlanteans, Namor

Enemies: Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Invisible Girl, Thing), Namor

Base of Operations: Atlantis;
    briefly active in Hollywood, California

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#195 (June, 1978)

Powers/Abilities: All of the Retrievers possess superhuman strength (Class 10-25) and durability, sufficient to trade a few blows with Namor. See the individual entries for individual powers.

History: The specific origins of the Retrievers are undetailed, but they are androids designed to keep the ruler of Atlantis on the throne.
(Fantastic Four I#195 (fb)) - After the people of Atlantis were revived from their comatose state (@ Super-Villain Team-Up#13), they came to see Namor as a god. Unable to stand the continued requests for healing, etc., Namor became disgusted with them and left Atlantis. He returned to Imperial Studios in Hollywood, where he made arrangements to employ Susan Richards.

(Fantastic Four I#195 (fb) - BTS) - Meanwhile, seeking to force Namor to return to Atlantis, the temporary ruling council of Atlantis dispatched the Retrievers.

(Fantastic Four I#195) - The Retrievers invaded Imperial Studios and made their demand to Namor. When he refused, Captiotron ensnared him, but Namor kicked his way free. Electron then stunned him with a punch and Thermatron weakened him via a dehydrating heat blast, all guided by Ducotron. Electron continued the assault with an electrical attack, until Sue Richards contained Electron with a force field. The Retrievers then focused on Sue, who held her own against them--knocking a catwalk on top of Thermatron, and expanding and destroying a trap created by Scyphozotron (who was also shattered in the process). She duped Captiotron into incapacitating itself against a fish tank she had made invisible, and the tank shattered as well, reviving Namor with a deluge of sea water. Namor punched out Aeristron, then grappled with Ducotron, who directed Thermatron and Electron to fire upon Namor while he held him. However, Sue then made Namor invisible, and he escaped Ducotron's grasp, so that the blasts from the other two Retrievers struck Ducotron instead, damaging him. As Ducotron collapsed, the other Retrievers were left without a power source, and they collapsed as well.

    Nonetheless, their message was received, and Namor decided to accept his heritage and return to Atlantis.

COMMENTS: Created by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard, and Pablo Marcos.

    Namor's powers are so inconsistent. Some writers use his undersea life powers (like being able to absorb & discharge electricity, like an electric eel), while others--like Wolfman--do not.

    Only Electron and Thermatron are named. I picked names for the remaining four...but they were weak. Skullogeist had the following recommendations:

• I was just looking over the RETRIEVERS OF ATLANTIS profile and noticed that the two officially named Retrievers both had the "-tron" suffix in common. Do you think this was intentional or just coincidence? In naming the unnamed retrievers, wouldn't it be cool to follow through with the pattern that Wolfman may or may not have intentionally started nearly 26 years ago?
• "Therma" is the Latin root for "heat". There's no Latin root for "electricity", so Wolfman probably just went with "Electron" since that was a recognizable word in itself. So with the "Latin root + tron" theme in mind, my picks for the remaining Retrievers would be:
• Aeristron for Airship ("aeris" being the Latin root for "air" and "atmosphere")
• Ducotron for Generator ("duco" being the Latin root for "to lead" and "to bring"), or maybe Edicotron ("edico" meaning "to announce or declare") or Magnustron ("magnus" meaning "great")
• Tendril is a tough one. I'd go with either Captiotron ("captio" meaning "to capture"), Prehendotron ("prehendo" meaning "to lay hold of"), or Raptotron ("rapto" meaning "to seize or carry away").
• Captiotron may also be appropriate for Jellyfish (given his jellyfish-like traps), but I'd go with Scyphozotron ("Scyphozoan" being the class that jellyfish belong to).
  
  And from the horse's mouth, Marv Wolfman, himself:
  "I have no memory of these characters. Feel free to do whatever you want; it's fine with me. And good luck on the Appendices."

    As they are all virtually identical in appearance (with the exception of color), I've only included the single image above.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

• RETRIEVAL SQUAD (Mowat, MacGruder ) - assistants to USAgent - uncertain connection to STARS--Maximum Security#1

"Aeristron" has no known connection to:

• AERIAN race - Pangea, winged humanoids, most presumably killed when Terminus destroyed heat generators of Pangea --Ka-Zar the Savage#2
• AERIC - Inhuman child --Inhumans II#1
• AERIE - floating city of Bird People  - aka SKY ISLE--Red Raven#1; X-Men I#44
• AERIE - New Jersey Palisades headquarters of the Owl--Daredevil I#3
• AERIE - Shiar heaven --Captain Marvel V#14 - BTS
• AERIE - former Dallas penthouse of Forge--Uncanny X-Men#184
• AERIE SHALAN - Pangea, home of Aerians--Ka-Zar the Savage#2
• Aeroika - Winged Ones, Tunnelworld, actively fought the agents of the Unnameable --Defenders I#78
• AERWAN race of Earth-Ultraverse (Karr, Shadowmage, Wynn) - dwell in the Wold--Solution#1
• other "Air" or "Ship" characters

Electron has no known connection to:

• ELECTRON ( ) - Imperial Guard Royal Elite--Uncanny X-Men#107
• ELECTRO of 1950s (Ivan Kronov) - Soviet soldier mutated into electrical being by military--Captain America Comics#78
• ELECTRO (Maxwell Dillon) - Sinister Six--Amazing Spider-Man I#9
• ELECTRO the robot - created by Professor Zog--Marvel Mystery Comics#4
• Elektro - giant robot built by Wilbur Poole, gained intelligence in lab accident--Tales of Suspense I#13
• other "Elect" characters

"Scyphozotron" has no known connection to:

• "jellyfish" of Earth-Shadowline - attacked Powerline and ship of Mangler Mike--Powerline#7
• other "Air" or "Ship" characters

Thermatron has no known connection to:

• THERMAL – Humanity’s Last Stand’s Mutant Liberation Front--Punisher III#15
• THERMAL MAN - android created by Professor Chen—Thor I#168
• THERMAL THIEF (                           ) - Energy Drainers--Captain America and the Campbell Kids
• THERMITE of Earth-S (Sam Yurimoto) - Redeemers--Squadron Supreme I#10
• THERMITE (                         ) - New Enforcers--Web of Spider-Man#99
• THERMO (Dr. Walter Michaels) - costumed criminal—Marvel Team-Up I#108
• THERMODYNAMIC MAN - see EQUINOX—Giant-Size Super-heroes?#1
• THERMATRONIC MAN - see THERMO--Marvel Team-Up I#108
• other "Therm" characters

"Aeristron"

(purple)

    Power of flight

--Fantastic Four I#195

"Captiotron"

(metallic blue)

    Prehensile, tendril-like limbs

--Fantastic Four I#195

"Ducotron"

(violet)

    The leader-android, he was the only one that can speak (he's also the only one with a mouth). He is their power source, data processor, and strategist. If Ducotron is incapacitated, the entire group collapses.

    He was badly damaged and incapacitated by a misdirected blast from Electron & Thermatron, but it would seem likely that he could be rebuilt.

--Fantastic Four I#195

Electron

(yellow)

    Projects electricity

--Fantastic Four I#195

"Scyphozotron"

(green)

    Employs a jellyfish-like trap.

He was blown apart by Sue Richard's expanding force field, but it would seem likely that he could either reform or be rebuilt.

--Fantastic Four I#195

Thermatron

(red)

    Projects heat

--Fantastic Four I#195