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GAROKK THE PETRIFIED MAN

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Human (British) Mutate;
16th century to modern era

Occupation: Dictator, sun god;
former sailor

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Guard-Beast, Death Cult, High Evolutionary, Ko-rat, Lemurans, Pandorians, Snowmen, Sun People, Swamp Men, Zabu, Zaladane, Zebra Kids;
formerly Ka-Zar, Tongah

Enemies: Avengers (Captain Universe/Tamara Devoux, Hawkeye/Clint Barton, Hyperion, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Spider-Man/Otto Octavius, Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew, Thor/Odinson), Bhadwuans, C'jime, High Evolutionary, Ka-Zar, M'rin, Nereel, Sauron (Karl Lykos), Sheenarians, X-Men (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Havok/Alex Summers, Longshot, Rogue/Anna-Marie, Sprite/Kitty Pryde, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: The Petrified Man, Lazarus, Kirk Marston (second body), Sun God, Terminus

Base of Operations: Savage Land;
formerly England (place of birth)

First Appearance: Astonishing Tales I#2 (October, 1970)

Powers/Abilities: Originally, after drinking the liquid in the cup at the Garokk idol, Garokk developed immortality. Over the following centuries, his skin took on a stony appearance and his eyes began to glow. He was granted visions of the actions of his worshippers in the Savage Land, and could sense their nearness through a heat under his skin. After five hundred years, a second contact with the idol granted him the power to expel fiery blasts through his hands or eyes. He could also project of fiery image of himself above those who believed in Garokk. When summoned by his followers, Garokk could teleport vast distances into his worshippers' temple. Eventually, Garokk was driven mad, and only the black pool could cure him, seemingly killing him and granting him final rest. Garokk has demonstrated super strength in some of his forms. He has been able to control and/or generate blinding lights, heat, lava flows, and concussive force from his eyes and hands, though the frequent use of these powers has at times left him weakened. Garokk has been able to augment his size to various heights, weights, and disabilities, and to transform himself into an energy form. Garokk has demonstrated limited telepathic abilities. At times, Garokk has had a direct connection to the entirety of the Savage Land. He briefly commanded the powerful Terminus armor. The full extent of Garokk's powers remains unrevealed.

Height: Variable; (standard) 7'
Weight: Variable; (Standard) 355 lbs.
Eyes: (As human) Brown; (as Garokk) Yellow
Hair: (As human) Brown); (as Garokk) virtually none

History:

(Astonishing Tales I#5 (fb) - BTS) - The followers of Garokk developed a city in the Savage Land. In the caverns beneath their city, a black pool bubbled, heating the city. The liquid from the pool was fabled to grant immortality, power, and madness to those who drank it.

(Astonishing Tales I#3 (fb)) - Centuries ago, the ship H.M.S. Drake was sent south to find new passage. In their third month of journey, they struck ice and, eight days later, hit an iceberg. All aboard were killed except for one sailor, who was washed into the warm jungle of the Savage Land. Though he initially believed himself dead, he came upon the stone visage of Garokk the Sun God, who was worshipped by many of the indigenous people there. Before the visage was a cup of water and the sailor drank it down, shocked by how it coated his throat. As Garokk's worshippers tried to spear the man, he ran and fled from several dinosaurs. Weeks later, he awoke back in England, where he hailed from, with no memory of how he'd arrived there. Over the following decades, he realized that he was not growing old even though all those around him were aging and dying. The years turned to centuries and the man's skin began to take on a stony appearance like the features of the visage. Maddened because he was unable to die, he began calling himself Garokk and distancing himself from his fellow man. Meanwhile, in the Savage Land, Zaladane took over the cult that worshipped Garokk. She believed that through committing atrocities in his name, she could fulfill prophecy and Garokk would return to them. She lead the cult in killing many of the indigenous peoples of the Savage Land.

(Astonishing Tales I#3 (fb) - BTS) - Garokk began suffering from a constant mental compulsion to return to the Savage Land, and was beset by visions of others seeking to kill in his name. He decided to go to Ka-Zar, the self-proclaimed lord of the Savage Land, for help, and traveled to New York to do so.

(Astonishing Tales I#2) - Garokk showed up at the dwelling place of Ka-Zar and tamed the sabertooth, Zabu. When Ka-Zar arrived home, Garokk introduced himself and told him briefly of his mission.

(Astonishing Tales I#3) - Garokk appeared before Ka-Zar and Zabu, revealing his stony appearance and shocking them. After Garokk explained his origins, Ka-Zar and Zabu agreed to return to the Savage Land with him. They flew and then boated to the Savage Land, and Garokk was beset by his memories of the place. Tongah of the Fall People attacked, claiming Garokk was responsible for Zaladane's murder of his family, until Ka-Zar calmed him. Tongah agreed to ally with Ka-Zar against Zaladane. Garokk sensed Zaladane's forces approaching, and they watched as they flew overhead on winged steeds.

(Astonishing Tales I#4) - As Ka-Zar rushed on unicorn-back to the City of the Vala-Kuri, where Zaladane was attacking, Garokk parted ways with Tongah, leaving Garokk wondering what his purpose was. He felt himself drawn to the very idol he'd initially received his powers from. Frustrated, he placed his hand upon the statue and was shocked when a fire seemed to surround his hand, joining him with the very rock. When a tyrannosaur approached, Garokk killed it in a fiery blast, realizing his new powers. He sent a fiery image of himself over Zaladane and her forces and demanded that the fighting end and that peace reign. Zaladane's forces surrendered, infuriating her. Garokk bid them all peace, then his image faded.

(Astonishing Tales I#5) - Garokk was saddened to learn he still had his life and powers. He watched savages fight a sea monster and, disgusted by war, he blasted them all with fire, killing them all. Seeking peace and death, he determined that he must kill all to find it. Maddened, he set the jungle on fire and threatened Tongah and Zabu when they approached, but Zaladane summoned him and he was overcome by her need for her god, teleporting to her in the nearby temple. She entreated him, but he attacked her then began to lay waste to the temple. Ka-Zar attacked him, trying to appeal to him, but Garokk was far too mad and sent them plummeting below into the caverns beneath the temple. Ka-Zar pushed Garokk into the fiery pit there and Garokk was finally allowed to pass, his form melting. Filled with peace, he sank into the fires. A statue came crashing down, trapping the Guard-Beast and Zaladane below in the caverns.

(X-Men I#115 (fb)) - Zaladane grew furious when the Sheenarians brought their extra-dimensional city into the Savage Land. She led several priests and acolytes in kidnapping Kirk Marston, and used him as a mortal sacrifice to reawaken Garokk, the Petrified Man (who took over Marston's form). Garokk banished the city to their home dimension, then he and Zaladane constructed a city of their own, using slave labor to do so. They planned to take over the Savage Land, fighting against the forces of Karl Lykos, Ka-Zar, Nereel, and Tongah to do so.

(X-Men I#116 (fb) - BTS) - The City of the Sun God was intended by Garokk and Zaladane to be a peaceful place for all tribes of the Savage Land to live in peace, whether it had to be forced on them or not. They utilized the machinery that kept the Savage Land running, however, not realizing they were inadvertently harming the land itself.

(X-Men I#115 - BTS) - Because of the City's construction, the machinery weakened, and it began to snow, turning the Savage Land frozen.

(X-Men I#116) - The flying navy (on pteradons), including Ko-rat, managed to capture Banshee, Colossus, Cyclops, and Ka-Zar when they approached. Garokk and Zaladane were determined to sacrifice them to flames, but the other X-Men arrived to fight them. Garokk, severely depleted, fled to the machines beneath the city and began to absorb more power. Cyclops pursued him and they fought until the ground beneath them collapsed. Garokk was sent spiraling downwards in a chasm to his death though Storm had tried to save him, while Cyclops was saved. The threat over, the Savage Land returned to its normal state.

(Wolverine: Black, White & Blood#4/3 - BTS) - Garokk survived through unrevealed means and planned to take control over the Savage Land and conquer the world. To achieve his goal Garokk began to petrify the brains of the dinosaurs and mammoths living in the Savage Land to control them.

(Wolverine: Black, White & Blood#4/3) - A large crowd of different Savage Land races gathered to hear Garokk speak, among them the Lemurans, Pandorians, Snowmen, Sun People and the Swamp Men. Garokk promised the people they would be outcasts no longer as he would use the mighty beasts, who were now under his control, to seize the Savage Land for them to control after which they would take the world. Garokk's speach, however, was interrupted by Wolverine and Sauron who were temporarily working together. Within seconds Wolverine managed to claw out Garokk's stone-like eyes, Sauron tore of one of his eyes and Wolverine beheaded the would-be-conqueror who then turned to dust. Noting how easy it had been to defeat Garokk, Sauron remarked he would presumably show up again as he had the resurrection thing going. With Garokk out of the way the different Savage Land races went their own way.

(Uncanny X-Men#149 (fb) - BTS) - Garokk survived and his body mutated, becoming half crystalline. Magneto forced Garokk to stand as the guard to his Antarctic base.

(Uncanny X-Men#149) - While the X-Men were looking for Magneto in the Savage Land, Storm thought she heard Garokk whispering her name. Garokk manifested elsewhere and attacked Colossus and Sprite (Kitty Pryde). He quickly knocked Colossus out, but was wounded when Kitty phased through him. Furious, he channeled lava through a wall at her, but Storm cooled the lava. Garokk then threw Colossus' form into Storm and blinded Nightcrawler and Wolverine with his crystal form. Garokk picked Storm up to toss her in a pit in revenge, but Kitty phased through him again, causing him to fall into the pit after Storm. They both landed on a ledge and Kitty came down after them. When Garokk lunged at Kitty to attack, he fell off the ledge and continued plummeting.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Through unknown means, Garokk was loaded into the giant Terminus armor, his very life force powering the vast destructive giant.

(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#12) - Unaware of his actions, he worked to devastate the Savage Land, which had already been laid waste to by another Terminus imposter. He was attacked by the X-Men (Colossus, Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Havok, Longshot, Psylocke, Rogue, Storm, Wolverine), shaking off an attack from Havok and Dazzler and firing his staff at them. Psi-shields in the armor defeated Psylocke with psychic feedback, and easily repelled Longshot's thrown blades. Wolverine's Adamantium claws damaged him, but the armor's self-repair quickly fixed the damage. Preparing for a final strike, Terminus was blown down by Storm's high winds and buried in a landslide. Soon freed, he knocked Rogue and Psylocke from the air and resisted attacks from Storm's lightning and the offensive weaponry of M'rin's forces (on the back of flying C'jime). Returning fire, he was shocked when Rogue managed to burst through his helmet and find Garokk inside. Rogue began absorbing Garokk's vast well of power while Wolverine and Havok disabled the armor's self-repair systems. Dazzler and Storm liberated Garokk from the armor, which quickly collapsed, destroyed. Garokk was shocked to find himself with no memories since his death, and even more saddened to see the Savage Land dead. He willingly offered his life to the High Evolutionary, who strapped Garokk into a vast machine that drained Garokk's energies and suffused him into the land itself, restoring the Savage Land to what it once was.

(Ka-Zar Annual '97 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to reassert himself, Garokk depended upon the Death Cult, a faction of his Sun People, to prepare the body of an outworlder for him to inhabit. Garokk used his control of the Savage Land to cause chaos, flooding lands and causing dinosaurs to stampede.

(Ka-Zar Annual '97 (fb)) - The Death Cult captured Shanna on the prophesied Night of Terror and prepared to slay her for Garokk. The High Priestess and Trole oversaw the capture of Zabu as well just as Ka-Zar and Zira attacked, though they were soon captured by the superior numbers. Laid before Garokk's visage, Ka-Zar called Garokk mad, but Garokk told them that by his rebirth and the destruction of the Savage Land, a new day of paradise would be ushered in. Garokk claimed to be the very spirit of the Savage Land while the High Priestess prepared Shanna's body for the slaying, sprinkling her with Garokk's own ashes. Ka-Zar managed to free himself and interrupt the ceremony. The time passed, the cave collapsed in on Garokk, who vowed revenge as he madly laughed. His Death Cult escaped and promised to fulfill his wishes.

(Ka-Zar V#20) - Back in his stony body, Garokk stayed in his temple while the Savage Land was ravaged by the Bhadwuans. Ka-Zar sought Garokk's aid, reminding Garokk of their former friendship, but Garokk refused to help him.

(Avengers V#12) - Garokk the Petrified Man watched as the High Evolutionary released evolved dinosaurs in order to recruit the evolved Zebra Kids.

(Avengers V#13) - The Avengers were led by Garokk (who was found by Captain Universe, who commended him on his job of watching the Savage Land) to the High Evolutionary, who summoned a Terminus (resurrected using the harnessed power of the Zebra Kids) to fight the heroes.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby and Sam Grainger.

Wolverine: Black, White & Blood features different short stories set at different points in time. Even though the stories are in black, white and red we can see Wolverine is wearing his yellow and black costume which first debuted in Giant-Size X-Men#1 and since he began wearing his classic brown and tan costume in X-Men I#139 we've placed the entry between X-Men I#116 (December, 1978) and Uncanny X-Men#149 (September, 1981).

Garokk received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#3.

Special thanks to Prime Eternal for his help with Ka-Zar V#20.

Main image refurbed by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Garokk the Petrified Man has no known connections to


images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89, Garokk's entry (main image)
Astonishing Tales I#3, p5, pan5 (human form)
Astonishing Tales I#2, p7, pan7 (in purple hat)
X-Men I#115, p15, pan6 (as stone deity)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#12, p12 (as Terminus)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#12, p34, pan6 (firing energy)


Appearances:
Astonishing Tales I#2 (October, 1970) - Roy Thomas (writer), Jack Kirby (penciler), Sam Grainger (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
Astonishing Tales I#3 (December, 1970) - Gerry Conway (writer), Barry Smith (penciler), Sam Grainger (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
Astonishing Tales I#4 (February, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), Barry Smith (penciler), Sam Grainger (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
Astonishing Tales I#5 (April, 1971) - Gerry Conway (writer), Barry Smith (penciler), Frank Giacoia (inker), Stan Lee (editor)
X-Men I#115 (November, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (writer/penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
X-Men I#116 (December, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (writer/penciler), Terry Austin (inker), Roger Stern (editor)
Uncanny X-Men#149 (September, 1981) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (penciler), Joe Rubinstein (inker), Louise Jones (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#12 (1988) - Chris Claremont (writer), Art Adams (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Bob Harras (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#3 (September, 1989) - Peter Sanderson (writer), Josef Rubinstein (inks), Mark Gruenwald, Gregory Wright, Sara Tuchinsky (editors)
Ka-Zar Annual '97 (1997) - Brian K. Vaughn (writer), Walter McDaniel (penciler), Jon Holdredge, Allen Martinez, Nathan Masengill, Whitney McFarland, Rob Stull (inkers), Matt Idelsen (editor)
Ka-Zar V#20 (December, 1998) - James Felder (writer), Kenny Martinez (penciler), Anibal Rodriguez, Rodney Ramos (inkers), Bob Harras (editor)
Avengers V#13 (July, 2013) - Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer (writers), Mike Deodato (artist), Tom Brevoort, Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Avengers V#13 (August, 2013) - Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer (writers), Mike Deodato (artist), Tom Brevoort, Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Wolverine: Black, White & Blood#4/3 (March, 2021) - Steven S. DeKnight (writer), Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Oren Junior (inks), Lauren Amaro, Mark Basso, Jordan D. White (editors)


First Posted: 12/05/2007
Last Updated: 02/09/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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