FERNUSAN race

Classification: Extraterrestrial race

Location/Base of Operations: Fernius (planet)

Known Members: "Green Thing"

Affiliations: Unidentified slave race

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Humans (especially an unidentified farmer), birds

First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#51/3 (March, 1964)

Powers/Abilities: Fernusans have incredible mental powers capable of manipulating matter to harm other life forms, generate a personal force field and hover above the ground. They use electro-psychic means for short-range direct communication. At least one Fernusan was capable of vast interstellar travel via teleportation hops, although it is unrevealed if it was augmented.

Traits: Fernusans are sentient plants and require limited sunlight for sustenance, as well as occasional exposure to soil and moisture for nutrients. About 1' tall with wide leaves/fronds, each has an intelligence center which, if damaged, incapacitates it. Notably, there are three tendril-like roots that presumably help anchor the Fernusan to soil. At least some are capable of generating large flowers. Fernusans are elitist and take to conquest to alleviate boredom.

Type: Vegi-Forms (intelligent plants)
Eyes: Two or more eye stalks
Fingers: None
Toes: 3 leg stalks with no toes
Skin color: Varies from plant type
Average height: Varies from plant type

History:

(Tales of Suspense I#51/3 (fb) - BTS) - On planet Fernius, the self-described "vegi-forms" developed the highest form of intelligence and became the dominant life-form, coercing humanoid natives to serve them nutrients and tend their needs. However, subjugation of the local species eventually bored the Fernusans and they decided to conquer another world. Rather than use technological means, they chose one of their own to explore the universe to find another inhabited planet.

(Tales of Suspense I#51/3 (fb)) - Finding little life in its own galaxy, the chosen Fernusan came across Earth and, detecting water, vegetation, animals and humans, went to investigate and challenge a representative of the dominant human species.

(Tales of Suspense I#51/3) - The Fernusan selected an inconspicuous greenhouse in the US Midwest, nestled itself in the soil, and challenged the farmer there to a winner-takes-all duel. To demonstrate its power, the Fernusan levitated the greenhouse, then disintegrated it into dust. Daring the farmer to attack, it instead put up a mental force field tuned only against humans, then used its mental powers to stretch and twist the farmer's body so that he was helpless to move. Declaring itself victor, the Fernusan levitated upward, intending to travel back to Fernius to begin an invasion, but a crow swooped down, seeing the Fernusan as a ripe vegetable, and damaged the Fernusan's intelligence center, leaving the alien harmless. The farmer speculated that there may be a providence watching over the planet and humankind (see comments).

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Matt Fox.

Given the multiple pantheons of the Marvel Universe, the semi-religious closing of the story could be interpreted now with the crow being one of Odin's ravens or the Native American trickster god, etc. (assuming this can be placed in the Earth-616 universe).

The name of the Fernusan, the "Green Thing" is based on the title of the story. Being a plant its name was probably unpronounceable or had some sort of plant based one such as Chlora Phil or Bud Grassley.
--AvatarWarlord

This was one of many such alien invasion stories from the 1950s and 1960s featuring weird intelligent plants as well as ending in the Earth being saved due to some unforeseen danger to the invader(s) caused by the simplest of things that humans take for granted.
--AvatarWarlord

This story was reprinted in Creatures on the Loose#21 (January, 1973), which is where the images are from.

This story was published around the time Iron Man had already become the main feature of Tales of Suspense. In the same issue Iron Man faced the villainous Scarecrow for the first time. It is not unlikely that this story took place around the same time.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Grendel Prime. Sub-profiles by AvatarWarlord.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Fernusans have no known connections to

The Green Thing has no known connections to:

"Green Thing"

A member of its race travelled the vast distance of space to Earth in prelude to conquering the planet and appeared on a rural farm and engaged a lone farmer in a series of feats of power to test humanity's strengths and weaknesses. After showing the farmer that it could levitate his greenhouse and disintegrate it, create a mental forcefield to prevent the man from physically attacking it and affect the man's cellular structure, making him unable to move due to altering his size and shape, the alien declared victory and decided it would be child's play for his race to conquer the planet. As it was flying off, a nearby crow swooped down on the Fernusan and killed it, thinking it was simply food. The Fernusan did not have a chance due to its one weakness, it could only mentally affect one species at a time.

--Tales of Suspense I#51/3

slave race

Sometime in the past, the Fernusans conquered their planet and enslaved all its inferior and weaker races. According to the "Green Thing" this unidentified race served as slaves to the Fernusans' hedonistic lifestyles, catering to all their needs. They were bipedal and looked like humanoid goat-like dogs.

--Tales of Suspense I#51/3

unidentified farmer

A lone uunidentified farmer on a rural country property was tested by the Fernusan to see if humans were easy to conquer by testing humanity's strengths and weaknesses. After showing the farmer that it could easily levitate his greenhouse and disintegrate it, created a mental forcefield preventing the man from physically attacking it and affecting the man's cellular structure making him unable to move due to altering his size and shape, the alien declared victory and decided it would be child's play for his race to conquer the planet. The farmer witnessed a crow swoop towards the "Green Thing" and kill it and thought it was ironic that a mighty alien intelligence could be defeated by the simplest of creatures.

--Tales of Suspense I#51/3

images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#51/2, p15, pan6 (main image)
Creatures on the Loose#21/3, p2, pan4 (nestled in soil)
Tales of Suspense I#51/3, p15, pan6 (slave race)
Tales of Suspense I#51/3, p16, pan1 ("Green Thing")
Tales of Suspense I#51/3, p15, pan5 (farmer)

Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#51/3 (March, 1964) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script/pencils), Matt Fox (inks)

Last updated: 07/19/2017
Last Updated: 06/21/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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