COTATI ELDER

Real Name: None (members of his race do not have names)

Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (Cotati)

Occupation: Elder of the Cotati

Group Membership: Member of the Cotati race

Affiliations: Swordsman (Jacques DuQuesne) - host form;
    Avengers (Hawkeye, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Silverclaw,  Swordsman, Thor, Vision),  Libra (Gustav Brandt), Mantis, Priests of Pama

Enemies: Kree, Thanos, indirectly the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer

Known Relatives: Quoi (son)

Aliases: Supreme Exemplar, Swordsman

Base of Operations: Tamal;
    formerly Earth

First Appearance: Avengers I#130 (December, 1974)

Powers/Abilities: The elder Cotati  has incredible mental powers and telepathy.  He is a sentient plants, and his true form looks like a twenty foot tall tree, which gains sustenance through photosynthesis just like normal plants. He require sunlight, water, and contact with soil for survival. His powers allowed him to inhabit the body of the Swordsman, who was buried beneath him, and in that form, he could become mobile and communicate and interact with the outside world. He shares a giant communal mind with the rest of the Cotati. In the form of the Swordsman, the Cotati elder possessed all the abilities of the original Swordsman.

History:
(Giant-Size Avengers#4 (fb)) - There was a prophesy that one day, the perfect human, the Celestial Madonna, would have a union with the perfect plant, and from their union would spring the perfect child, the Celestial Messiah. As it ended up, Mantis was the Celestial Madonna, and the perfect plant was none other than the eldest Cotati on Earth.

(Avengers I#134/Avengers I#124 (fb/bts)) - When the Priests of Pama spread throughout the universe, taking the Cotati with them to a plethora of worlds, the Cotati elder was taken to Earth and planted in a temple in what would become Vietnam. 

Avengers I#130) - The Swordsman was buried amidst a garden of Cotati, directly under the Cotati elder (unbeknownst to anybody present).

(Avengers I#131) - The eldest Cotati on Earth inhabited the body of the Swordsman and briefly appeared before Mantis before vanishing.

(Avengers I#132-133) - The eldest Cotati, still in the form of the Swordsman, had a conversation with Libra regarding Mantis, whom had recently gone missing with the other Avengers. The Cotati promised that Mantis would return soon.

(Giant-Size Avengers#4) - Standing before Mantis and the Avengers, the eldest Cotati on Earth explained Mantis' origin as well as explaining the Celestial Madonna. In the end, Mantis agreed to marry the eldest Cotati and produce the perfect offspring with it as she, as the Celestial Madonna was fated to do. Immortus officiated their wedding, and the Cotati and Mantis converted their forms to pure energy and left for space to conceive their perfect child.

(Silver Surfer III#4 (fb) / Fantastic Four I#325 (fb) - BTS / Avengers: Celestial Quest#2 (fb)) - The eldest Cotati relocated and settled on Tamal.

(Fantastic Four I#323 (fb) - BTS) - The Cotati decided that only they were fit to raise the Celestial Messiah. The Elder Cotati removed the powers Mantis had gained as the Celestial Madonna and stole away the pod that was their offspring.

(Fantastic Four I#325) - The High Cotati traveled within a pyramid to Earth, standing beside Kang and revealing the pod that would become the Celestial Messiah. They asked Mantis to cease her Vendetta, and when she refused they sent Kang and the Priests of Pama to assault Mantis and her allies, the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. After Mantis overpowered the Priests, she confronted the Cotati directly, unleashing the psychic powers she had developed under the Priests' previous training to prepare her to join the Cotati. Unable to stand up to Mantis' assault, fueled by her burning desire to be reunited with her son, the High Cotati fled with the pod to their chosen realm, a realm of pure thought. Mantis sent her psychic essence after them, leaving her physical form behind.

(Avengers: Celestial Quest#3) - When the Avengers and  Mantis landed on Tamal in order to protect the now adolescent Quoi, the offspring of Mantis and the Cotati elder, from Thanos, the Cotati elder greeted them in the form of the Swordsman. The Cotati elder had a happy reunion with Mantis and explained to the Avengers the history of the Cotati. Later on, the Cotati elder was there when Mantis had her very uncomfortable reunion with Quoi. The Cotati elder was apologetic after Quoi's rude treatment of Mantis, stating that he had grown up without a "mother's touch." Mantis apologized repeatedly for her absence during Quoi's upbringing, but the Cotati elder reassured her that he knew it was beyond her control and that her presence on Tamal would have been tough for the Cotati communal mind. 

(Avengers: Celestial Quest#5) - When Quoi was kidnapped from Tamal, the eldest Cotati, tried fruitlessly to pick up a trace of Quoi using his senses. The Cotati were greatly angered at the Avengers for failing to protect Quoi. The eldest Cotati tried to defend the Avengers, but was overtaken, his individuality drowned out by the communal mind of the Cotati, and along with the rest of the Cotati,  he attacked the Avengers. The Vision knocked the Cotati elder's Swordsman form unconscious, and the Avengers, after struggling through the Cotati, escaped the planet.

Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema, and Joe Staton

Profile by Stunner

Clarifications: 
Not to be confused with:

No connection to:

images: 
Avengers: Celestial Quest#5 page 8 panel 5
Avengers: Celestial Quest#3 page 24 panel 3
Avengers#130 page 1 panel 1

Avengers I#130-134 (December, 1974-April, 1975 ) - Steve Englehart & Roy Thomas (#132) (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Joe Staton (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Giant Size Avengers#4 (June, 1974) - Steve Englehart (writer), Don Heck (pencils), John Tartaglione (inks), Len Wein (editor)
Fantastic Four I#323 (February, 1989) - Steve Englehart (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Romeo Tanghal (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Fantastic Four I#325 (April, 1989) - Steve Englehart (writer), Rich Buckler (pencils), Romeo Tanghal (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers: Celestial Quest#3-5 (January-March, 2002 ) - Steve Englehart (writer), Jorge Santamar'a (pencils), Scott Hanna & Scott Koblish (#5) (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 03/14/2005
Last updated: 03/14/2005

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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