MAARIN race

Classification: Humanoid extraterrestrial race

Location/Base of Operations: Planet Maarin (later Mekka), orbiting the star Kirthom, in the Milky Way Galaxy

Known Members: None identified

Affiliations: Mekkans (Torgo, others)

Enemies: None

First Appearance: (Planet Maarin mentioned): Fantastic Four I#91 (October, 1969); (Maarin race, fully seen): Fantastic Four I#174 (September, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: The Maarin did not appear to possess any superhuman powers compared to normal Earth humans, but their technology had progressed to the point where mechanized servants did most of their work.

Type: Bilaterally symmetrical humanoid bipeds
Eyes:
Two
Fingers:
Presumably five (at least four confirmed - see comments)
Toes:
Presumably five
Skin Color:
Caucasian
Average Height:
6'5" (by approximation)

History:
(Fantastic Four I#174 (fb)) - Centuries ago, the humanoid inhabitants of the planet Maarin progressed to the point where they created mechanical servants they called Mekkas. The first Mekka ever created was named Torgo, and all later Mekkas were made smaller in stature and power. After Mekkas proved to be extremely efficient in the everyday life of the Maarins, the Maarin people began transforming their home planet into a semi-mechanical form, a process they called "mekkanization."

(Fantastic Four I#174 (fb) - BTS) - As part of the mekkanization of their planet, the Maarin created the Tower of Life, an immense structure that powered all of their mechanical creations. They also instilled in their creations a strict primal directive against killing.

(Fantastic Four I#174 (fb)) - Upon creating artificial plants and allowing their natural plants to die off, the Maarin found that the artificial plants proved especially susceptible to a certain space-virus that had drifted onto the planet. When the artificial plants oxidized the space-virus, the resulting oxidized virus killed every single humanoid Maarin on the planet. Torgo sadly buried all of the Maarin as they perished.

(Fantastic Four I#91 - BTS) - Centuries afterward, Torgo was placed into a fighting arena by the Skrulls of Kral, under threat of the destruction of his home planet Maarin.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.

I chose to list Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott as the creators of the Maarin race, as they were the creative team responsible for first showing the Maarin race in Fantastic Four I#174. The planet Maarin was first mentioned in Fantastic Four I#91, but none of the Maarin people were seen. The creative team in that issue was Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott.

The Maarin appeared almost identical to the human beings of Earth, albeit possibly a bit taller on average, and presumably had five fingers and toes. The Maarin were only shown in a flashback and were usually shadowed, as their flashback story was a sad one. Therefore, because of the shadows in the images, it was difficult to 100% confirm that they had five fingers and toes. One of the Maarin clearly had at least four fingers and his fifth finger was probably just covered by the angle of the art.

New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Maarin have no known connections to:


images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#174, p4, pan5 (main image - in flashback, two Maarin scientists creating Torgo)
Fantastic Four I#174, p5, pan2 (in flashback, two of the Maarin creating the artificial plants)
Fantastic Four I#174, p5, pan3 (in flashback, Maarin dying from virus; Torgo [center])


Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#91 (October, 1969) - Stan Lee (writer, editor), JackKirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)
Fantastic Four I#174 (September, 1976) - Roy Thomas (writer, editor),John Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks)


First Posted: 12/15/2013
Last updated: 08/21/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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