TARANITH GELSTAL
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extra-dimensional (Negative Zone, Sorenio) alien
Occupation: Former Explorer; Former mock deity
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Posed as deity to people
of Mantracora
Enemies: Fantastic Four Known Relatives: None Aliases: Taranith Gelstal, High Lord
of the Keep Base of Operations: Negative Zone,
formerly the Keep, its citadel on the planet Mantracora; First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#254
(May, 1983) Powers/Abilities: Telepathy. It could communicate
with and even manipulate others to some extentIt was a unique
type of life of an unnamed race. It could scale solid walls. It
could duplicate human speech with effort. The
alien was a brilliant and devious inventor. It manipulated the
people of Mantracora into believing it was their god for many
years. It created a machine able to drain psionic energy into a
battery to power a starship. It had a group of loyal followers
who kept a look out for minds suitable for hits needs. Its ship
possessed anti-gravity drives. It also possessed access to
mind-numbing drugs. The alien wore an exoskeleton and helmet to
appear as the roughly humanoid Taranith Gelstal. Height: 19" History: (Fantastic Four I#254 (fb) - BTS) - Approximately thirty sun-cycles
ago (however long that is on Mantracora) in the Negative Zone, an
alien crashed on the planet Mantracora. It found a world of
primitive barbarism, and none of the technology it would need to
repair its ship. The creature found that the natives worshipped a
being known as Taranith Gelstal. Realizing that Gelstal held a
position of power and influence, the alien slew Gelstal and
usurped his role, designing an exoskeleton to manipulate the
human sized form. For the next period of years, the alien, as
Taranith, would periodically choose two natives of Mantracora to
serve ascend into Taranith's citadel and join his brotherhood. In
reality, the alien would choose the natives with the most
powerful minds, lead them deep into the bowels of its citadel,
drug them, and hook them up to a machine that would drain their
minds of its energy. Their bodies stayed alive while the machine
continually drained them of their psionic energy. The alien
drained this energy into a power battery, hoping to one day gain
sufficient power to allow its starship to escape Mantracora. (Fantastic Four I#254) - The
Fantastic Four, while exploring the Negative Zone, traveled to
the planet of Mantracora, and came to the city ruled by Taranith
in order to investigate the unusual energies in its Keep.
Taranith invited Reed and Sue Richards into the Keep to join him in a feast,
while his agents captured the Human Torch and the
Thing. Reed and Sue were drugged, and the alien brought Reed to
its machine and drained his mind into its battery. Gaining
sufficient power, the ship broke free from the base of the Keep,
just as the other members of the FF revived broke free. It
revealed that Reed's mind was forever lost, and they were trapped
on its ship. The alien had not encountered for the level of
power of Reed's mind, and his consciousness reasserted itself and
enabled him to take control of the ship. The alien, realizing it
was foiled, fled into an escape pod and exited the ship. However,
after years of inactivity, the pod was improperly maintained. It
overheated and exploded, apparently killing the alien. Reed used a cybernetic link-up to remotely
control his physical form while his mind was trapped in the ship.
He piloted the ship to the Distortion Zone, enabling the FF to
return to Earth, despite Annihilus' destruction of their portal.
The energies of the distortion zone enabled Reed to return his
mind to his body as he passed through to Earth. Comments:
Created by John Byrne. It seems like it might be only the city that
was named Mantracora, but I refer to the planet by the same name
for simplicity's sake. I think it's worth noting that the plot of Fantastic
Four #254 bears some amazing similarities to the Doctor Who serial "The Krotons,"
which saw a group of aliens posing as god-like beings and manipulating the local
populace into send two of their own brightest each year to "serve" them, in
actuality being killed and drained of mental energy to rechange their In All-New OHotMU Update#4 Taranith's race was revealed as the Sorenio.
planet
of origin unrevealed
Weight: 31 lbs.
crashed spaceship. Here's a rundown on that story...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/krotons/plot.shtml
In addition, the design of Taranith Gelstal's mask, and the name Mantracora,
bring to mind another Doctor Who story, "The Masque of Mandragora."
http://wheelinspace.com/masque_of_mandragora.htm
I can't the only Doctor Who fan who has picked up on all those similarities.
--Ben Herman
Gelstal's
SHIP
--Fantastic Four I#254 (254 (fb) - BTS, 254, 255
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#254-255 (May-June, 1983) - John Byrne (writer/artist), Al Milgrom (editor)
Last updated: 02/09/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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