History:
THE MONOLITH
Classification: Extraterrestrial technology
Creator: The Celestials
User/Possessors: the Beast-Killer, Dave Bowman, the
Celestials, Woodrow Decker, Egel,
Dr. Heywood Floyd, Vera Gentry, Jalessa,
Marak, Herbert Marik,
Moon-Watcher, the
New Seed, Harvey Norton, Gordon Pruett, Vira
Aliases: "Great Spirit," "New Rock," "Stone Spirit"
First Appearance: (prose) 2001: A Space Odyssey by
Arthur C. Clarke (1968)
(film) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
(Marvel) 2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition I#1 (1976)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Monolith is apparently a sentient creation. When people touch the Monolith they are given foresight into the future and knowledge, particularly knowledge which is useful in science and technology. People who enter the Monolith are shown a variety of extraterrestrial landscapes but are ultimately placed into some sort of artificial environment created by the Monolith to sustain them, based in some way on the place the visitor came from. When the visitor dies (experiencing a time distortion effect in which years seem to pass within minutes), the Monolith usually transforms their remains into one of the New Seed. The Monolith's size is apparently variable.
History:
(X-51 I#12 (fb) - BTS) - The Monolith was fabricated by the enigmatic Celestials.
(X-51 I#12 (fb)) - 150,000 years ago Uatu the Watcher noted the arrival of the Monolith in the Great Rift Valley of Africa.
(2001: A Space Odyssey (movie/book)/2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition I#1) - The Earth hominid (Man-Ape) known as Moon-Watcher beheld the Monolith and was the first of his people bold enough to reach out and touch what they called the "New Rock." From the knowledge imparted by the Monolith, Moon-Watcher created the first weapon and slew a wild pig for food. He also learned how to build traps to capture wildlife and to lead other Man-Apes in groups to overwhelm their enemies.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#1) - At various times the Monolith was visited by the prehistoric man called the Beast-Killer. Calling the Monolith the "Stone Spirit," the Beast-Killer learned how to fashion a stone blade which he used to kill a sabertooth tiger. With additional knowledge, the Beast-Killer fashioned his first spear.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#2) - The hunter Vira sought out the "Stone Spirit" and begged it for food and water. The Monolith gave her knowledge to help her survive as she used nearby bones to garb herself as a fearsome creature in order to terrify other prehistoric people into bringing her the food and water she needed.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#3) - Dubbed the "Great Spirit," the Monolith was visited by the inventor Egel, who learned how build a bronze club. The raider Marak demanded to know how Egel created the club, so Egel brought him to the Monolith. Touching the Monolith, Marak beheld images of the distant future and of the woman Jalessa. With knowledge from the Monolith, Marak and Egel taught Marak's army of raiders to make more weapons, "protectors" (shields) and armor from bronze, domesticate horses, preserve fresh water and create the wheel.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#4) - With use of the wheel Marak created chariots and increased his power even further. At the same time, Jalessa went to see the "Stone Spirit" within the Spirit Chamber she had built for communing with the structure. From the Monolith she learned not to fear Marak but to instead approach him and propose an alliance. Because he had seen Jalessa in his own visions, Marak agreed to marry her.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#8) - The robot X-51 was imprisoned by Colonel Kragg and Dr. Broadhurst, afraid that he would run amock as other robots had done. From his cell, X-51 beheld the Monolith and burst free of his restraints so that he could approach it.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#9) - After leaving the experiment facility, X-51 - now "Mr. Machine" - again encountered the Monolith. Touching it, he sensed the Monolith would guide him along his path.
(X-51 I#12) - As the Monolith appeared over Earth's moon, Uatu the Watcher took note of its reappearance. The Monolith sought out X-51, who was now the hero Machine Man. Passing inside the Monolith, Machine Man was shown a possible future in which X.E.R.O. and other automatons had enslaved humanity. With this knowledge Machine Man led his allies the Blood Brothers against X.E.R.O. and slew him. The Monolith reappeared then and Machine Man entered it again, this time being transported to the Monolith's masters, the Celestials.
(2001: A Space Odyssey (movie/book)/2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition I#1) - In "2001," the Monolith was discovered just below the surface of Earth's moon. Dr. Heywood Floyd identified it as "approximately four million years old." Dr. Floyd and other scientists examined the Monolith and touched it. Knowledge gained from the Monolith led to Earth launching the Discovery 1 mission to explore Jupiter. En route, the Discovery 1's computer HAL betrayed them and killed all of the astronauts except Dave Bowman, who deactivated HAL. Above Jupiter, Dave found a Monolith hovering above. Entering an EVA pod, Dave went closer to the Monolith and finally entered it. Dave saw terrifying scenes of extraterrestrial landscapes that were beyond his comprehension. He then found himself inside an Earth-like mansion. Bowman lost track of time, years seeming to pass in mere minutes. Finally he died as the Monolith hovered over his bed. The Monolith transformed Bowman's remains into one of the New Seed so that it could explore the universe.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#1) - In "2001," astronaut Woodrow Decker explored an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter and encountered the Monolith. Woodrow jumped inside the Monolith to evade death as the asteroid crumbled apart. Within the Monolith, Woodrow saw alien landscapes he couldn't understand then found himself in a rustic, pastoral setting similar to Earth. Woodrow lived the rest of his life in this place, dying of old age. The Monolith then oversaw the transformation of Woodrow's remains into one of the New Seed.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#2) - In the future, astronaut Vera Gentry of Explorer Unit 5 went into the orbit of Jupiter's moon Ganymede to explore it but found herself pursued by violent extraterrestrials. Attempting to hide from them she found the Monolith and accidentally stepped into it. She beheld strange sights she couldn't understand then found herself swimming in a peaceful pool. She lived out her life at the side of the pool, then the Monolith used her remains to create one of the New Seed.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#4) - In "2001," astronaut Herbert Marik was evacuating the doomed space station Liberty I above Mars when he beheld the Monolith outside the station. Marik went to examine the Monolith and was pulled inside the structure, through a bizarre landscape and finally deposited in a kingdom based on the one Marak had built in the ancient past. The Monolith found that Marik resisted the aging process and so could not be transformed into the New Seed; the Monolith left Marik to live out his days as a man.
(Marvel Treasury Edition I#37/2010: The Year We Make Contact/2010: Odyssey Two) - In 2010, a joint US/USSR mission on the spacecraft Leonov investigated the derelict Discovery One above Europa. A massive Monolith (possibly the same one Bowman met) appeared near the Leonov. Max Brailovsky attempted to explore the Monolith with an EVA pod but the Monolith emitted a burst of energy which destroyed the pod, killing him. The rest of the Leonov crew kept away from the Monolith but soon learned a massive circular object near the equator of Jupiter was manufacturing Monoliths, a new one every two minutes, expanding the size of the dark spot on Jupiter as more and more of them surrounded the planet. The Monoliths swallowed up Jupiter and transformed the planet through nuclear fission into a new star. Discovery One's computer HAL merged itself with the Monolith and sent out a final message to Earth, warning humanity to never set foot on Europa. The presence of the new star swiftly transformed Europa into a habitable environment. The massive Monolith remained to guard the planet from humanity.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#5) - In "2040," Harvey Norton was playing at being the super hero White Zero in Comicville (a super hero fantasy setting) when he beheld the Monolith in front of him, recognizing it from reports of its appearance on the moon in 2001. Harvey touched the Monolith and briefly felt a union with the structure of the universe but the moment was interrupted when the actors in his super hero fantasy opened a trap door under his feet. Feeling out of step, Harvey later wandered along a beach when the Monolith appeared to him. Touching it again, Harvey received a message from the Monolith which summoned him to journey into space. Harvey immediately applied to be a trainee in the space program.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#6) - Harvey's journey in space brought him to Neptune, where he encountered a female extraterrestrial and helped her return to her home galaxy. The woman's enemies killed Harvey but in his dying moments the Monolith appeared and created an environment for Harvye in which he could be a super hero again as "Captain Cosmic." Harvey died in the environment, happy at having been a hero. From his remains the Monolith created another of the New Seed.
(2001: A Space Odyssey I#7) - The Monolith caught up astronaut Gordon Pruett and placed him in an environment similar to his home in Colorado. Pruett grew old and died, then the Monolith made a New Seed from his remains.
Comments: Created by Arthur C. Clarke. Adapted for comics by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia.
The various references in the narration to "2001" as the year in which certain sequences occurred might not be the actual year - it could be taken as simply "the future." After all, Machine Man's adventures didn't take place in 2001. Heck, the Discovery 1 mission was supposed to be 18 months after the Monolith's discovery on the moon, so that's already into 2002.
In any event, all of the "future" sequences are likely set outside of Reality-616 - that would be everything after X-51 I#12 in the above history.
Earth-97112 In 2001, Dave Bowman commanded Discovery One on the mission to Jupiter to investigate the radio signal sent from the monolith, which had previously been discovered on the Moon. During the journey, the intelligent computer HAL 9000 killed several crew members, forcing Bowman to shut it down. When Bowman reached Jupiter, he encountered another monolith, which transported him through space and transformed him into a New Seed. In 2010, the American-Soviet mission was sent to Jupiter to investigate what had happened to the Discovery One. Marvel Treasury Edition: 2001, A Space Odyssey #1 (January, 1976)
The comic adaptation and the
movie are broadly similar, given the former is adapting the same tale
as the latter, but there are some differences. Most could be put down
the comic expanding on things the movie left out, but which could have
happened off panel, usually stuff that the novel included. The ending
of the movie (and tbh the start) tends to confuse people if they've
not read the novel, because Kubrick effectively adapted the novel
fairly accurately but didn't explain any of what was happening in
those sections - we got the see the visuals as described in the novel
but without the accompanying explanations the novel provided because
in the medium of film you'd either need a character to explain them
(but the start had only apes who couldn't speak and the end only had
one character who wasn't going to talk to himself) or a narrator
(which Kubrick presumably didn't want).
One minor but noticeable one, given what I said about choosing an
Earth number - the novel says Hal was created in 1997, the film in
1992, and the comic in 1991. Same day and month, but different
year.
The really significant difference, and the one that I think breaks the
comic away from the movie. What happens to astronaut Dave Bowman in
the end. If you've not read the book it's very open to interpretation
- he seems to age back and forth and then becomes a giant cosmic space
baby. The novel clarifies - the Monoliths were left by aliens to push
evolution along on various planets. One on the planet, intended to
advance a primitive species to start tool using, then another on their
closest satellite, to activate when that species has developed enough
to get out to that satellite, and then the final one further out in
their solar system, which connects the evolving species to the
original aliens, who now exist as beings of pure thought/memory (going
from my own memory of the book, so I might be off on a few details a
bit). Those aliens basically ran Bowman up and down his memories in a
simulation, hence him shifting back and forward in age, before he got
turned into the Starchild and sent back to Earth to help the rest of
humanity evolve. OSLT.
Anyway, the novel and film both have sequels which continue the story,
and which I think would clash with what the ongoing comic does. Kirby
seems to have read the novel I think, or else he more or less
correctly interpreted what the aliens had done to Bowman, BUT he works
it as Bowman being rapidly aged rather than being run back and forth,
so that's a tad off - might still be close enough to handwave though.
But then the series has the Monolith appearing to humans throughout
history and turning them into more Starchildren, because "there needs
to be more than one seed to sow the harvest of a new species."
Basically, because when he wrote the comic there was no sequel
book/movie yet (Clarke didn't write it until 1982), Kirby had to come
up with his own continuation, and it's very Kirby and not very Clarke.
So, short version - I think we have to rule the comic a different
continuity from the movies and the novels. - Loki
The adaptation of the movie in the treasury edition is bloody beautiful, if you like Kirby. If you don't like Kirby, why are you on this site?!
The Monolith itself was derived from a pyramid-shaped device in Arthur C. Clarke's 1951 short story "Sentinel of Eternity." Clarke and Stanley Kubrick reworked that idea together, with Kubrick creating the film version while Clarke wrote the book of the film. Some people mistakenly identify "Sentinel of Eternity" as the first appearance of the Monolith; it's more like the prototype-Monolith.
The Monolith has a significant presence in Clarke's fiction that is beyond the scope of this profile, which is only concerned with the Monolith's depiction within the Marvel Multiverse. Suffice to say, you can start with the Monolith's Wikipedia page.
Marvel Super Special I#37 was an adaptation of the film 2010. It was also released as 2010 I#1-2.
This profile was completed on 11/24/2025 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Monolith should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition I#1, page 1 (main)
2001: A Space Odyssey I#1, page 13, panel 5 (large)
Appearances:
2001: A Space Odyssey Treasury Edition I#1 (1976) - Jack Kirby (script,
pencils, edits), Frank Giacoia (inks)
2001: A Space Odyssey I#1-9 (December, 1976-August, 1977) - Jack Kirby
(script, pencils, edits), Mike Royer (inks)
Marvel Super Special I#37 (1984) - J. M. DeMatteis (script), Joe Barney
(layouts), Larry Hama (layouts), Tom Palmer (inks, finishes), Bob
Budiansky (editor)
X-51 I#12 (July, 2000) - Karl Bollers (script), Joe Bennett (pencils),
Bob Wiacek (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First posted: 09/18/2026
Last updated:11/24/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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