Purpose: Security personnel,
items of the Collector's collection
Affiliations: The Collector/Taneleer Tivan (leader, possessor), Captain Cutlass, harpies, exemplars of extraterrestrial races, Neanderthal men, a mythic Hydra, "Sharazade", a soldier of the American Civil War, a satyr, a Roman Centurion
Enemies: Glob
(Joe Timms), Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), Hulk (Bruce
Banner), other prisoners of the Collector
Base of Operations: Collector's spaceship, mobile
in the universe;
previously the ancient Roman Empire
First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#198 (April, 1976)
History: (Incredible
Hulk II#198 (fb) - BTS) - The gladiators collected by
Taneleer Tivan had been abducted in the past, from a unrevealed places
of the ancient Roman Empire. Some of them were expert fighters, and
champions, and thus had won and had survived to many duels and "shows,"
part of their job in the arenas of the classic Roman Empire.
They became prisoners of the Collector,
and their life was prolonged by the advanced technology of the
Collector's spaceship. The gladiators kept on training with weapons and
tools with which they were already proficient.
(Incredible Hulk II#198)
- Century later, in recent years (the modern/heroic age), the Collector
added the Hulk to his museum, Bruce Banner caused the escape of other
two prisoners, the Man-Thing and the Glob. The Collector unleashed the
gladiators, quite sure that they would be able to capture the two
monsters. The first two fighters to hit were Tiberius and Brachus. They
were very self-confident, and they did the best they could, but the two
monsters were much too powerful for them. The gladiators had to fight
also other prisoners of the Collector, and even the Hulk, but
eventually they followed the jade giant to freedom, outside the
spaceship.
Almost all the prisoners of the spaceship were freed by the Hulk, but
they died few minutes after exiting the ship. The prison technology
protected them from aging, but outside the influence of the protection
they rapidly aged, turning to dust. Some gladiators were among them.
Shortly thereafter, the spaceship was covered by the
extremely rapid growth of vegetation in that part of Florida near
Omegaville. In few weeks, nobody could tell that anyone had been there.
It is likely that some gladiators were knocked out during the riot, so some of them could be survived into the spaceship, for a while.
Given the fact that
existed an "Arabian Night" area in the museum, the gladiators could
belong to an "Ancient Rome" exposition, together a soldier that looked
like a Roman Centurion. Or, more broadly, they all could be part of a
"Classic Era" section, including the soldier (a Greek/Trojan/Spartan
one) and the mythic creatures like the Hydra, the Satyr and the Cyclops.
Profile by Spidermay.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The gladiators of the Collector
should be distinguished from:
Tiberius was a normal human, with the training and expertise of a
fighter of the classic era. He was proficient in the use of many melee
weapons, which he used to kill, beat and overcome his adversaries. His
favorite weapon was the trident.
He had lived centuries captive in the Collector's
spaceship, so, mythic beings and monstrous creatures did not scare
him.
In the arenas of Rome, Tiberius won
many tournaments and had become a champion. He was very self-confident
and did not hesitate at attacking a larger, unknown creature like the
Glob. However, his experience and equipment, against super-beings, was
not enough. Tiberius stabbed the Glob with his trident, but the Glob
flung Tiberius away without any effort.
--Incredible Hulk II#198
Comments: Created
by Len Wein and Sal Buscema
--Incredible Hulk II#198
Comments: Created by Len Wein and Sal Buscema
The Collector ordered to
Brachus to use his sword. He did use a short-sword which is very
similar to a Gladius. The drawings did not care for such details, but
a typical weapon of the Roman legionnaires was a short-sword, with a
greater pommel, called, in Latin, "Gladius". The gladius was also used
in pair with the large rectangular shield, in tight formation, in the
Roman legions. Thus, it had to be wielded with the right hand. Brachus
was so highly trained that he succeeded in using the net with the
right hand and the short sword with the left hand.
First posted: 03/14/2026
Last updated: 03/14/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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