SYMBIONIC MANSYMBIONIC MAN
Real Name: Inapplicable
Identity/Class: Terrestrial artificial construct, cyborg
Occupation: Super-soldier
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Dr. Doom, Namor the Sub-Mariner
Enemies: Namor the Sub-Mariner
Known Relatives: Simon Ryker (creator)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Pacific Ocean near Easter Island
First Appearance: Super-Villain Team-Up#4 (February, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: It could absorb energy life from other beings through symbiotic contact. It had strength and durability proportional to the energy drained from the beings with whom it was in symbiosis.
History:
(Super-Villain Team-Up#4 - (fb) - BTS) - A super-soldier cyborg was created by
Dr. Simon Ryker. It lacked life energy, so Ryker asked to Reed Richards to use
his computers to give the energy to the super-soldier, but Richards refused. Ryker tried to find another source of energy.
(Super-Villain Team-Up#4) - From a laboratory on a ship of the U.S. Navy, at open sea near Hydrobase, Capt. Simon Riker siphoned energy directly from Dr. Doom armor and gave life to the cyborg. The Symbionic Man started to breathe in its basin of protogenic gelatin.
(Marvel Spotlight I#27/4) - The Symbionic Man was still "sleeping". Ryker freed the Symbionic Man in the Sea and it started to gather nourishment from the Ocean's life thanks to its symbionic powers. It awoke and became stronger. It was still under Riker's computers control. Its organism was so merged with the sea life that its vital signs was nearly undistinguishable from the Ryker's computers. The cyborg felt a void that needed to be filled, so it started to pursue Namor the Sub-Mariner, who was in waters.
The Symbionic Man reached the Sub-Mariner and
ambushed
him. Its tentacles started to drain Sub-Mariner's life and strength. The
transfer reached a point that Namor was so linked to the Symbionic Man
that he started to understand the needs of his enemy and those needs started to
became "his" needs, and vice-versa. But Namor freed himself from the Symbionic Man's grasp and
threw it away to crash in an ancient sunken flotsam.
There the Symbionic Man found a giant octopus, which it symbiotically linked to
and renewed its attack on Namor, speaking with the voice of the Atlantean. This
time the Symbionic Man used the octopus tentacles to drain Sub-Mariner's life,
but when Namor hit the giant octopus and freed himself again, it also broke the link
between the Symbionic Man and the beast.
Enraged, Namor threw the giant beast far away; it
accidentally crashed on the Ryker's Mother-Ship, seriously damaging it and
sending it falling into the Ocean.
The Symbionic Man, free from the control of the computers, declared that he
never wanted to harm Namor. It understood the significance of life, so returned to Namor the part of life that he stole, and died (if he actually ever lived).
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Herb Trimpe and Jim Mooney.
Clarifications:
The Symbionic Man has no known connections to
Images:
Marvel Spotlight I#27/4, page 8, panel 2
Marvel Spotlight I#27/4, page 10, panel 4
Marvel Spotlight I#27/4, page 13, panel 1
Appearances:
Super-Villain Team-Up#4 (February, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Herb Trimpe (layouts), Jim Mooney (finished art/inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Spotlight I#27/4 (April, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils/inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
First Posted: 04/13/05
Last updated: 04/13/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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