main imageRAVEL race

Classification: Semi-humanoid extraterrestrial race

Location/Base of Operations: Mobile throughout space

Known Members: Mendak, Protoff, several unidentified soldiers

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Iron Man (Tony Stark); indirectly Kristin (last name unrevealed)

First Appearance: (in shadow): Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part One (1998?); (fully seen): Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part Two (1998?) (see comments regarding dates)

Powers/Abilities: The Mendak aliens had superhumanly dense hides that allowed them to withstand the weight and pressure of a collapsed spacecraft without being crushed, although the hides could be pierced by extremely sharp and durable objects, such as a large, sharp metallic shard. They were also much stronger than normal Earth humans, as it took all of Captain America’s enhanced strength to activate an override that was made for the Ravelians' strength level.

Traits: Each Mendak alien had a thick, durable hide (similar in appearance to a rhinoceros), two clawed toes on each foot, four clawed fingers on each hand, two nodules similar to rhinoceros horns, as well as four upturned and two downturned tusks protruding from their mouths. Their body types were semi-humanoid, allowing them opposable thumbs and the ability to stand on two legs. They also had very large, elongated faces and ears and a circle of horns protruding from the top of their skulls.

Type: Bilaterally symmetrical semi-humanoid bipeds
Eyes: Two (black irises surrounded by white)
Fingers: Four (including opposable thumb)
Toes: Two
Skin Color: Gray (with lighter gray spots)
Average height: Unrevealed (roughly human-sized, around 6' - 6'2")

History: 

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Two (fb) - BTS/Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Four (fb) - BTS) - The Ravel alien race existed as conquerors, encountering many other alien races in their travels. During their journeys, one Ravelian spaceship came near to Earth, where it became trapped in a sub-space anomaly that disrupted its navigation systems, throwing it into Earth's gravitational field.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part One (fb) - BTS) - The Ravelian spacecraft punched through Earth's atmosphere, emitting magnetic resonance that prevented their landing from being detected by most, even disguising their approach from nearby alien systems. They were, however, noticed by the Avengers Mansion circuit boards, prompting Captain America to investigate.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Two (fb) - BTS) - As the craft plummeted to Earth, the Ravelians' computer systems monitored Earth's media transmissions and sent a "linguistic burst" directly to the Ravelians' brains, allowing them to quickly learn the English language and some of its culture.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Four (fb) - BTS) - Upon crashing, the Ravelian had their spacecraft begin burrowing into the Earth in an effort to convert Earth's resources into poisons that they intended to release into atmosphere to destroy all indigenous life on Earth and pave the way for a Ravelian invasion.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part One) - After recruiting Iron Man to help investigate the supposed crash site, Captain America located the Ravelian ship despite Iron Man's sensors not picking up any evidence of such a crash. While Captain America investigated the strange Ravelian footprints outside the spacecraft and Iron Man removed the door of the ship to check it out, the Ravelian Mendak, hidden in the nearby shadows, commented to himself that they should all get to know each other before the heroes die.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Two (fb) - BTS/Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part Three (fb) - BTS) - Not wishing for the heroes to learn of the Ravelians' goal of contaminating Earth's atmospheric chemicals into poisonous gas weapons, the Ravelian Mendak had himself pinned underneath a piece of the crashed ship's debris so that he could present himself as a sympathetic figure to the investigating Captain America and Iron Man, hoping to distract the two heroes long enough for the Ravelians to destroy them.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Two) - As they continued to investigate the Ravelian spaceship, Captain America and Iron Man overheard the supposedly trapped Mendak. Upon rescuing Mendak, Iron Man and Captain America were informed of the Ravel's origins as traders who had become trapped in Earth's gravity field via a sub-space anomaly. Mendak then informed Iron Man and Cap that they had learned about the two Avengers' heroic natures via Earth's television broadcasts and asked for their help in repairing the ship. When Captain America commented that they could get help for the repairs, Mendak quickly announced that the Ravel did not wish exposure on Earth, as Earth's television broadcasts had revealed to the Ravel the existence of less heroic types on Earth. Agreeing to keep it a secret, Captain America and Iron Man whispered to one another their suspicions about the Ravelians and how their ship seemed heavily armored for a trading ship. Captain America also noticed tracks leading from the ship to where Mendak had been trapped, commenting to Iron Man his suspicions that part of the ship's debris could have been dragged to present Mendak in a sympathetic situation to the heroes. Mendak then interrupted them, asking them to come along to main crash site, where the other Ravelians wished to thank the two heroes for their help. As the ship repairs began, Mendak commented to himself about his plan to destroy the two heroes was going smoothly.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Three) - Captain America led some of the Ravelians in getting the spaceship's stabilizer into position to allow Iron Man to weld it back together. While Iron Man carried off some of the debris, Mendak thanked him and Captain America for their assistance, prompting Iron Man to explain that it was no problem. Iron Man then announced that he would like to learn more about the Ravelians' crash, revealing that some of the ship's pieces looked to be cut off rather than broken. Mendak quickly made up a reply, explaining that the ship's parts were designed to break off cleanly to prevent damage to other parts of the ship. Mendak then commended Iron Man on his inquisitive nature, revealing that Iron Man's armor must have come from an inventive mind. Mendak then invited Iron Man to return to space with them, where Iron Man could learn so much more. Iron Man declined the offer as Captain America was attacked by the Ravelian Protoff, who had grown tired of taking orders from humans. Captain America easily subdued Protoff as Mendak arrived and chastised Protoff for his attack. Captain America then explained to Mendak that Protoff displayed the skills of a militant, rather than a simple trader, but Mendak made the excuse that many of the Ravelians were former militants turned traders in search of a more peaceful life. Mendak then invited Captain America to join the Ravelians in space, commenting that many of the Ravelians could use ideals like the Captain's. After Captain America declined, a ruptured gas main exploded on the outside of the ship, prompting both Avengers to rescue some of the Ravelians. Learning from Iron Man's scans that the gas was Earth-born, the two Avengers confronted Mendak and demanded answers, exclaiming that either the Ravelians were accidentally contaminating Earth's atmospheric chemicals into poisons or they were doing it deliberately. Mendak then took that moment to reveal his true goals of destroying the heroes by pointing a Ravelian blaster at them and asking if they wanted their deaths to be considered accidental or premeditated murder.

(Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Four) - Mendak thanked the heroes for the repairs to the Ravelian ship and happily exclaimed that the heroes' altruism was easily manipulated. He then revealed that Ravelian ship had been burrowing into the ground while keeping the appearance of a crash site in an effort to transform Earth's resources into poisons that the Ravelians intended to release into the air to kill indigenous life and pave the way for a Ravelian invasion. Iron Man quickly revealed to Captain America that the Ravelian ship contained an emergency override for their star drive and explained that if they could trigger the override, they could forcibly launch the Ravelians back into space. The two heroes then ran for the maintenance shaft containing the override while Mendak monologued about how the other Ravelians had had to keep their bloodlust in check while working the heroes to repair the ship. Mendak then unleashed the Ravelians against the heroes. Avoiding the soldiers, Iron Man made his way to the shaft but found it blocked by a force field, prompting Mendak to gloat about how, while the heroes were distracted with repairs, the Ravelians managed to study the heroes and find ways to counter them. As Iron Man was being drained of his armor's power, Captain America dove through the field (as it was tuned for Iron Man's armor, not flesh and blood) and fell down the maintenance shaft. Finding himself in front of the emergency override, Captain America bolstered all of his strength to activate it. With the star drive tuned to the Ravelians bio-signatures, Mendak announced that all of the Ravelian soldiers would be transported into space without a ship. As the Ravelians were all instantly transported into space unprotected, their crashed ship fell into the tunnel it had burrowed. With the Ravelians defeated, Captain America told Iron Man he was glad to have Iron Man's help against the Ravelians and Iron Man replied that the next time Cap wanted a getaway, Iron Man would just buy him an island.

Comments: Created by D. G. Chichester and Daerick Gross.

Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! was a four-part Marvel Cyber Comic featured on Marvel's website during the late 1990s-early 2000s. Since the Cyber Comics have not existed on the Marvel website for many years, it was difficult to determine exactly when the Captain America/Iron Man comic was active on the website. Given the suit of armor Iron Man wears in the comic and the known dates of some of the other Cyber Comics, I would place this comic as being published online sometime in 1998.

Thanks to D. G. Chichester himself for the images!

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Ravel have no known connections to

KristinKristin

Kristin was a fling of Tony Stark's who joined Stark aboard a yacht cruise that was interrupted by Captain America, whom Kristin did not see. Not wishing to reveal his identity of Iron Man, Stark hurried Kristin into the lower depths of the yacht, asking her to get started without him. Once Captain America had recruited Stark as Iron Man to help investigate the arrival on Earth of the Ravelians, Stark sent Kristin a text message, claiming that he was in demand and hoping that the yacht would be enough of an apology to Kristin. Kristin grumbled that rich guys were all the same and wondered what she was going to do with yet another yacht.

 

 

 

 

--Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part One

MendakMendak

Mendak was the leader of the Ravel alien race who was pulled to Earth along with other Ravelians after their ship became trapped in Earth's gravity field. Mendak plotted to destroy Captain America and Iron Man when they arrived to investigate the crash and had himself pinned underneath some of the spaceship debris to present himself sympathetically. Mendak hoped to distract the two Avengers while he plotted to destroy them. While investigating the Ravelian spacecraft, Captain America overheard Mendak's yells for help, and both he and Iron Man rushed to Mendak's rescue. Finding Mendak pinned underneath the spacecraft, Iron Man nearly blasted the craft's debris off of Mendak but Captain America warned that if the pieces were drastically moved, a shard of the spacecraft would fall and cut Mendak in half. Terrified, Mendak repeated his pleas for help and Iron Man eventually managed to lift up the debris while the Captain America pulled Mendak to safety just as the metallic shard came down and missed cutting Mendak. After being rescued, Mendak informed Captain America and Iron Man of the Ravelians' status as traveling traders and how they had crashed on Earth. Mendak then asked for help but when Captain America commented that they could get help in repairing the ship, Mendak quickly exclaimed that the Ravelians did not wish exposure to Earth as a whole because of the less heroic types on Earth. Agreeing to help, Captain America and Iron Man began repairs to the ship while Mendak secretly monologued to himself about his plan to destroy the two heroes. As the repairs continued, Mendak attempted to distract heroes by offering each of them a place in space aboard the Ravelian ship but when part of the ship exploded, projecting poisonous gas, the two Avengers demanded answers from Mendak as to whether they were accidentally or deliberately contaminating Earth's atmospheric chemicals into poisons. Mendak then revealed his true goals of destroying the heroes by pointing a blaster at them. Iron Man and Captain America quickly made their to the Ravelian ship's emergency star drive override while Mendak unleashed the other Ravelians against the heroes. Captain America soon activated the override, which was tuned to the Ravelian bio-signatures, sending Mendak and the other Ravelians into space without the protection of a spaceship.

--(in shadow): Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part One; (fully seen): Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part Two (Part Three, Part Four,

ProtoffProtoff

Protoff was another Ravelian who had crashed to Earth with a group of others. Despite thinking humans as a sub-species, Protoff agreed to aid in Mendak's plan to destroy the investigating Iron Man and Captain America by pretending to be sympathetic figures. After Captain America and Iron Man agreed to help repair the crashed Ravelian ship, Protoff and several other Ravelians helped Captain America place the ship's stabilizer in position for Iron Man to weld it back together. Following that job, Protoff grew tired of taking orders from humans and attacked Captain America. Easily subduing Protoff, Captain America held him in place when Mendak arrived and chastised Protoff for his attack. Protoff apologized to Mendak and Mendak thanked Captain America for handling the attack with restraint. After Mendak revealed his true plans of global destruction, Captain America and Iron Man made their way to the Ravelian ship's emergency star drive override while Mendak unleashed Protoff and the other Ravelians against the heroes. Once Captain America had activated the override, Protoff and the other Ravelians were teleported back into space without the protection of their ship.

--(unidentified): Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part Two; (identified): Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! – Part Three (Part Four,

images: (without ads)
Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Two, p10, pan3 (Ravel race, main image)
Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Four, p6, pan1 (Ravel race, supplemental image)
Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part One, p4, splash page (Kristin)
Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Three, p3, splash page (Mendak)
Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Part Three, p5, pan3 (Protoff)

Appearances:
Captain America/Iron Man: Invasion Force! - Parts One - Four (1998?) - D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (art), Gregg Sanderson (editor)

Last updated: 11/28/13

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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