Membership: None named (ranged from hundreds to thousands in number)SILENT ONES
Membership: None named (ranged from hundreds to thousands in number)
Purpose: Takeover and enslavement of Earth; Usurping the physical forms of the beings powerful enough to contain their energies
Affiliations: Harrison Budge, Lo Chin,
Sui Ti Kama, Lotus Shinchuko (formerly),
a sumo wrestler and numerous ninjas and other martial artists (pawns)
Enemies: Master Kee (deceased), Sons of the Tiger (Abe Brown, Bob Diamond, Lin Sun)
Aliases: (possibly) The Seven Silent Ones (See Comments)
Base of Operations: Dimension of the Silent Ones; formerly Earth
First Appearance: (mentioned) Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#1/6 (April, 1974), (seen) Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#10/3 (March, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: The Silent Ones possessed vast energy manipulating powers, enabling them to open dimensional portals, create and animate solid objects or humanoid creatures, grow to great size and strength (the sole survivor, pictured above, grew to 20 feet in height), and form powerful force fields. Their power was so great that it gradually burnt out their physical forms, requiring them to usurp the forms of others powerful enough to contain their energies.
History: (Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#11/3 [fb]) - The Silent Ones are a group that evolved and separated from humanity millions of years ago, around the time of the Neanderthals (See Comments). What changed them and motivated them was never clearly described. They apparently represent some evil force that balances out the force of good on the wheel of life. Following some unrevealed war in humanity's past (perhaps the Great Cataclysm, @ 18,000 B.C.) which nearly wiped out the entire race, the Silent Ones watched and waited as humanity slowly began to redevelop, once again from a more primitive state. When this occurred, the Silent Ones abducted a human woman, and used both natural and unnatural means to implant their darker lusts and passion in the new race of humanity.
Their
activities over the next however-many-years have not been
described. At some point, the Silent Ones relocated to another
dimension. Eventually, they found that their power was so great
that it was burning out their forms. The Silent Ones whose forms
died from their power were placed in stasis. In the modern era,
only one of the Silent Ones remained. He sought vessels powerful
enough to contain the energies of the Silent Ones, into which
they could transfer their minds and powers. He used promises of
riches and power, often involving the use of addiction to opium
or other narcotics, to convince several pawns on Earth to serve
them and aid in his quest for these vessels.
(Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#1, 3, 4/4, Album issue?, 7/4, 8/4,
9/5-BTS) - In the modern era, the last living member of the
Silent Ones believed that the Tiger Amulets, possessed by the
kung fu sensei Master Kee, could unify and empower a group of
three people to become such vessels. He manipulated events to
train these people to use the power of the amulets and travel to
the dimension of the Silent Ones. This began with the murder of
Master Kee, who gave the amulets to his disciple, Lin Sun, who
kept one for himself and gave two of them to two other students
of Kee, Abe Brown and Bob Diamond. These three became the Sons of
the Tiger, set out to avenge Kee, and learned of the existence of
the Silent Ones. After several encounters with the Silent Ones'
pawns, they managed to access the power of the amulets to travel
to their dimension. 
(Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#10/3, 11/3) - The last survivor again tested their power, then confronted the three warriors, and explained some of his race's past. He then awakened the hundreds or thousands of dead and mummified Silent Ones to claim the forms of the Sons of the Tiger. The Sons tapped into the power of their amulets and created an army of warriors, embodiments of the Tiger's Power. The warriors attacks on his mummified ancestors caused the last survivor to weaken and stagger back, and Lin Sun knocked him back through his own time portal. This destroyed him, and the mummified Silent Ones crumbled to dust.
Comments: Silent Ones was created by...well...conceived/mentioned by Gerry Conway (writer), from an origin given by Bill Mantlo (writer) and George Perez (artist).
Changing writer syndrome: A big build up, a poorly fleshed-out explanation, and an anti-climactic finish to a nearly one year long story. Lots of holes--I'm not even going to begin questioning the details. It was still a good story, you just felt like something was still missing.
I wonder what Conway had planned for the Silent Ones. He initially referred to them as the Seven Silent Ones. I'd like to see him do some sort of epilogue, reuniting the Sons of the Tiger for one last struggle and to make some sense of this. Maybe in the pages of the Defenders?
The Silent Ones are one of those races that existed before the age of humanity that some describe. They take credit for Eve taking the apple from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
Satan (possibly Marduk Kurios or some other demon), as detailed in the Spyros entry, has also been, and is most typically, ascribed as having tempted Eve.
Even though the one guy wouldn't shut his cake-hole once the Sons of the Tiger encountered him, all of the other dead ones were silent. I guess that's what the name means?
Any pre-history buffs want to give me an idea
what era the Neanderthals existed?
Neanderthal man (homo
sapiens neanderthalensis) existed circa 400,000 B.C. to 30,000 B.C., the
Cenozoic Era, Quaternary Period. Specific dates supplied by
discoverychannel.com in this article.
If the Silent Ones evolution first diverged millions of years ago, then this
evolutionary divergence did not first occur during the time of the Neanderthals,
although an evolutionary divergence of some kind could have happened for the
Silent Ones during the time Neanderthals existed. -- Kyle
Lotus Shinchuko received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#12 under the Sons of the Tiger entry.
CLARIFICATIONS: The Silent Ones have no known connection to:
Profile updated/edited by Kyle Sims
Harrison Budge had been an agent of the Silent Ones for years. After
the successful completion of his first mission for them, he was
given the young Lotus Shinchuko by them as a reward. He came to
the apartment of the Sons of the Tiger and used a knock-out gas
to incapacitate them. He brought them back to his base, where he used
computer generated images to confront them with their greatest
fears. When they overcame their fears, he sent several robots
after them. They defeated him, but he managed to escape, and led
them to a cavern below the Queensboro bridge. There he attempted
to take them out with a machine gun to make up for his previous
failure, but was again defeated. He was possibly killed either by
other agents of the Silent Ones, or by the subsequent explosion
caused by Lotus Shinchuko.
Budge is skilled in the use of conventional and unconventional weaponry. He had access to advanced technology.
-- Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#7/4 ([9/5(fb)], 7/4, 8/4
Lo Chin led a group of ninjas and ran a large heroin operation. His group set a trap for Lin Sun while he was investigating the
Silent Ones, and they succeeded in capturing him. Sun would have
been killed if his allies, Brown and Diamond, had not arrived in
time to save him. The Sons of the Tiger defeated his men, but he
escaped back to his base: a jumbo jet which remained in the air
almost constantly, receiving fuel while in flight, as well. The
Sons managed to board the plane when it landed to pick up Chin. They overpowered Chin's agents, threw the pilot through the front
windshield, escaped by parachute, and left the jet to crash. Chin
was apparently killed in the crash. Despite this, some of his men
attacked (and were defeated by) the Sons of Tiger "under Lo
Chin's orders" as they left the airport.
He was a skilled planner, but not a fighter. For unknown reasons, his legs were very weak, and he most frequently used a wheelchair. -- Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#3 (4/4, [Album issue]
Sui Ti Kama led a band of ninja assassins. It was this group that
carried out the assassination of Master Kee. He also ran an opium
den. Both his organizations were based in Chinatown. Lin Sun was
initially overpowered by him, but took him out when his abilities
were magnified by the Tiger amulets.
He is large and powerful man, and a skilled martial artist. -- Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#1/6
A sumo warrior
was dispatched to battle the Sons of the Tiger following Budge's defeat and before they were ambushed by Lotus Shinchuko.
He
nearly crushed Lin Sun to death before all of the Sons eventually
overpowered him.
The sumo was immensely strong and could withstand an incredible degree of punishment.
-- Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#8/4
images:
Other appearances:
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#3-4 (August-September, 1974) - BTS
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#7-9 (December, 1974 - February, 1975) - BTS
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu#11 (April, 1975)
Last updated: 03/22/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
All characters mentioned or pictured are
™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real
thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com