History: ("Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" story (fb) - BTS) - The Dreadnought raider began a campaign of hijacking automated supply ships bound for the Omega Space Station.
THE DREADNOUGHT
Classification: Extraterrestrial
(presumably) spacecraft (fringe
item)
Creator: Unrevealed
User/Possessors: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Hostess Fruit Pies ad
"Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" from X-Men I#117 (January,
1979) and other issues published that month
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Dreadnought
functions as a typical space-faring raider aircraft and is equipped
with sufficient shielding and armor to withstand the intense pressures
and vacuum of space. It also equipped with extendable metallic claws
capable of grasping objects and carrying them through space.
History:
("Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" story (fb) - BTS) - The
Dreadnought raider began a campaign of hijacking automated supply ships
bound for the
Omega
Space Station.
("Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" story) -
Following another raid and hijacking of an automated supply ship, the
Dreadnought was spotted by the Kree superhero Captain Marvel. Catching
up to the Dreadnought, Captain Marvel exerted his strength to grab the
Dreadnought and use its momentum combined with his strength to hurl the
Dreadnought raider ship into another galaxy, forcing the Dreadnought to
release the supply ship in its possession. Thankful that the
Dreadnought had been driven off, the local denizens praised Captain
Marvel for saving their shipment of Earthly Fruit Pies from Hostess.
Comments: Created by an uncredited creative team (see comments below).
There's some debate as to whether the Hostess Fruit Pies and Twinkies ads take place on Earth-616 or the reality of Earth-51914. Personally, I'm of the opinion that they all take place on Earth-616, given that several of the Hostess villains have shown up on Earth-616 (Icemaster, the S-Wing of a prison visited by the robot Elektro, just to name a few), not to mention that some of the Hostess ads were indexed in the 2000s series of the Official Index to the Marvel Universe. Yes, there is an Earth-51914 in which that Earth's Spider-Man defeated villains using snack cakes (as seen in Spider-Verse I#1) but those cakes weren't Hostess brand in that issue. Yes, the Appendix's Master List states that Earth-51914 in which the stories happened as depicted in the Hostess ads but that's a reference to the events and it wouldn't be the first time events from a different reality also took place on Earth-616 (I'm looking at you, Gorilla-Man meeting the founding X-Men from the X-Men: First Class series). Per Snood's comments in other Hostess-themed profiles, I'm choosing to take it as the events of this story take place in Reality-616 and not Reality-51914...
You can get the whole story, and some clever commentary, from Seanbaby's The Hostess Page. It might not meet with the Comics Code Authority's approval so kids, ask your parents before checking it out! --Snood
Back Issue#130 by TwoMorrows Publishing reveals that the writer of most of the comic book Hostess ads was ad agency copywriter Tony Macchia, although it speculated that Len Wein and Marv Wolfman may have written some of the earlier ones. As for the artists, the ads varied but many were "penciled by Sal Buscema or Ross Andru, with John Romita, Sr., George Tuska, Gene Colan, Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum, and Marie Severin among the Marvel Marvelites drawing some of the others. Even then-newcomer Frank Miller drew two of them!"
We can only assume the Dreadnought
was extraterrestrial in nature. It very well could have been designed
and created on Earth and then became active in space. Additionally, the
Omega Space Station is only mentioned in the comic strip ad. While we
do see some locals thanking Captain Marvel in the last three panels, we
aren't told if these locals are denizens of the Omega Space Station or
some other spacecraft or station near to where Captain Marvel hurled
the Dreadnought away. One might assume that the denizens could be the
inhabitants of the supply ship the Dreadnought had stolen but the first
panel of the strip specifically mentions that the supply ships being
raided by the Dreadnought were automated....
This profile was completed on
06/08/2026 but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the
Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Dreadnought has no known connections to:
The Omega Space Station was an extraterrestrial space
station that became the victim of the Dreadnought's raids. After
several raids in which the Dreadnought hijacked the space station's
automated supply ships, Kree hero Captain Marvel spotted the
Dreadnought and hurled it into another galaxy, saving the Omega Space
Station's further shipments, including a local shipment of Hostess
Fruit Pies.
--"Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" story (fb)
- BTS (BTS,
images: (without ads)
"Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" story, pan2 (Dreadnought from
behind, main image)
"Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" story, pan3 (Dreadnought
getting hurled away by Captain Marvel)
Appearances:
"Captain Marvel Meets the Dreadnought!" (January, 1979) - uncredited
creative team
First Posted: 09/27/2026
Last updated: 06/08/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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