RIPJAK

Real Name: unrevealed

Identity/Class:
Extra-temporal (
Earth-691) Extra-terrestrial (Martian Masters) mutate

Occupation: former Chief Scientist for the Martian Masters

Affiliations: formerly the Martian Masters (esp. the High Overlord);
loose alliance with the Guardians of the Galaxy and the High Evolutionary of that era.
The Guardians at the time of this conflict included a time traveling Rita DeMara, Yellowjacket of the modern era of Earth-616.

Enemies: Bubonicus, Constabulary, Guardians of the Galaxy, mankind

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Interplanetary Serial Killer

Base of Operations: his starship, mobile throughout the Milky Way galaxy;
formerly Mon Olympus, Mars,
Earth-Guardians

First Appearance: (mentioned) Guardians of the Galaxy#49;
(seen) Guardians of the Galaxy#54 (November, 1994)

 

Powers/Abilities: Ripjak possesses superhuman physical abilities and wears an exoskeleton for support. His abilities without the exoskeleton are uncertain. His true form was originally one of the semi-amorphous, gelatinous bodies of the Martian Masters. His armor grants him superhuman strength (Class 25-50) and durability. Given the source of his powers, he would also likely possess superhuman speed, agility, endurance, etc.
In addition, he can extend six tentacles which can be used as extra-limbs, but also contain certain forms of weaponry, such as energy blasters. His armor can absorb and analyze various forms of energy
Many of the Martian Masters possess some degree of telepathic power. It is not certain if Ripjak has any of these abilities. He has not demonstrated any "spider-sense" sort of power.
Similarly, Ripjak's lifespan is unknown, but he is at least a few hundred years old.

 

 

Ripjak travels through space via a starship loaded with advanced weaponry and technology. His ship can fire an energy beam into a planet's magma core which will total planetary destruction within a matter of minutes.

 

 

History:
(Guardians#55 (fb)) - Ripjak is one of the Martian Masters, the race that does not originate from Mars, but rather used it as their base from which to attack Earth. The first of these attacks occurred at the start of the 20th Century, as detailed in "The War of the Worlds."
A second attack, at the start of the 21st Century was successful, and the Martian Masters took over Earth, slaughtering or driving off the vast majority of the human population in the process.
The Master that would become Ripjak engineered "The Final Pillage" hundreds of years after their great conquest of Earth. Earth's remaining natural resources were depleted and the long occupation ended with a glorious homecoming. He was elevated to a cabinet chair position by the High Overlord.

Soon afterwards, incurable plague began rampaging across Mars. The most sophisticated exo-suits were useless. It poisoned the inner-life fluid network and the Masters' own blood became acitoxic and ate away at them from within. While testing proved that Earth was not the cause, the scientist thought that it might provide the cure. As the death tolls climbed into the millions, he scoured the Memorial Tribute War Museum, eventually deciding that the preserved body of Spider-Man might provide benefit. Disconnecting it from the Eternal Heart, Ripjak then designed a transfusion apparatus and used himself as the first test subject: "Full ingestion of the terachnid-enriched hemoglobins was overwhelming. My body erupted, beginning a long, torturous mutation process. When it finally ended, I discovered that all of my fellow Martians had succumbed to the plague."
The scientist then found that his enhanced form required external armor tailored to his newfound contours. He instructed his lab-droids to build him just such a battle suit, and he became Ripjak.

(GotG#57 (fb)) - Ripjak set out trying to discover the cause of the depopulating pestilence on Mars. He spent decades probing, dissecting, and researching the bodies of his fellow Martians with no success. However, when he clandestinely expanded his research grid to a galactic scale, a breakthrough occurred. He found that the malady was synthetically produced, came from without, and was spreading. Utilizing Martian mech-organology, he constructed a subspace vessel in an effort to locate the source of the virus and to exact vengeance. He traveled to all parts of the galaxy and found that a large number of worlds had been similarly afflicted.
He continued his search and his analysis for centuries. As he found worlds dying from the disease, he used the weapons aboard his ship to destroy all life on those worlds, bringing an end to their suffering.
Eventually, around the 31st Century, Ripjak's actions drew the attention of intergalactic media. Seeing only the end result of his actions, he was assumed to be a genocidal serial killer.
Finally, Ripjak learned the name of his target: Bubonicus.

(GotG#49-53-BTS) - Charlie-27 was mistakenly identified as Ripjak, due to misinformation spread to the Constabulary by Rancor and her lieutenants.

(GotG#54, 55) - The Guardians of the Galaxy traveled to Mars, which had been under strict quarantine for centuries, in order to find the real Ripjak. He detected their presence as soon as they arrived. He allowed them to split up into small groups and then ambushed and defeated each of them. Of the group, Aleta was most seriously injured, when Ripjak siphoned a large portion of her light energy from her. Ripjak then left the planet in his starship, and detonated his former base, Mons Olympus. He traveled to the orbit of the planet Aran IV, whose natives were in the early stages of Bubonicus' plague. He used his ship to fire a pulse of radioactive energy into the planet's core, which resulted in the destruction of every indigenous life form on the planet.

(GotG#56, 57) - The Guardians, having managed to teleport away from the exploding base at the last second, tracked Ripjak to a planet in the Tombaugh system. They confronted him as a group and managed to hold their own against him. Ripjak then showed them the people suffering from the plague, and told the Guardians that they had stopped him from preventing this disaster. Aleta (having recovered from her injuries with the aid of Yondu) attacked him savagely, but Yondu then convinced Ripjak to reveal the reasons for his actions to the rest of the group. Despite internal conflict over doing so, the Guardians shared with Ripjak their computer data on Bubonicus, whom they had also previously encountered. As they studied the information, they were encountered by the 31st Century incarnation of the High Evolutionary, who also wished to put a stop to Bubonicus.
Despite additional internal strife, Vance Astro/Major Victory of the Guardians joined forced with Ripjak and the High Evolutionary, who traveled to the planet Sanctuary, which they correctly predicted as Bubonicus' next target. Ripjak and Vance assaulted Bubonicus, a struggle that escalated until a burst of energy from Bubonicus incapacitated Vance. When he recovered, the High Evolutionary told him that both Ripjak and Bubonicus had left the planet, and that he had managed to cure the people of Sanctuary while Vance was out.
As a result of disagreements over the alliance with Ripjak--among other things--the Guardians of the Galaxy split up to think things through, planning to eventually regroup and decide whether they wished to keep Vance as their leader or not.

 

 

Comments: Created by Michael Gallagher and Kevin West.

Ripjak seemed to have decent potential, but I really think the writers had no idea what to do with him: "Let's make this alien guy who got his powers from Spider-Man--that should be a popular idea! Then we'll have him...ummm...well, I'm sure things will work themselves out!"--Or maybe it was just the imminent cancellation of the title, which was just 4 issues away at that point.

It doesn't make sense to have Ripjak, one of the nasty Martian Masters, to be out on a mission of mercy. It would seem more likely that his mission was purely of vengeance on Bubonicus, and that he slew the dying races either to prevent spread of disease, or just out of anger for his prey having eluded him once again. He may have just told the Guardians he was a mercy killer to earn their aid in tracking down and stopping Bubonicus.

Ripjak's origins detailed that Spider-Man was the last hero on Earth to fall before the Martian Masters. He was also perfectly preserved and kept within an "Eternal Heart" meaning he may not actually have been dead. I thought I had remembered that Ripjak actually consumed Spider-Man's body, but he actually just gave himself a transfusion (or he may have actually consumed his blood). Spidey could still be around in that timeline's 31st Century.

Also, while the Martian Masters on Mars were wiped out by the plague, there is no reason to assume that the entire population of Masters had relocated to Mars (although I can't remember the exact details of where they came from originally). So, it's also possible that other Martian Masters exist in that timeline's 31st Century.

Most sources consider the 31st Century timeline of the Guardians of the Galaxy to be the definitive future version of Earth-Killraven.

Also, I don't think there's any evidence that Ripjak is male or female. Maybe the Masters are asexual. I forget.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

Mons Olympus has no known connection to:

Sanctuary, the planet that serves as a haven to repentant criminals, @ Guardians of the Galaxy#58,
has no known connection to:


images: (without ads)


Other appearances:
Guardians of the Galaxy#55-57 (December, 1994 - February, 1995) - Michael Gallagher (writer), Kevin West (pencils), Steve Montano (inks), Craig Anderson (editor)


First Posted: 12/29/2002
Last updated: 12/29/2002

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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