GIGANTUSGIGANTUS
Official Name: Gigantus
Nature: Former (destroyed) extraterrestrial world (see comments) in the Andromeda galaxy
Natives: Gigantans (aka Gigantians and Eternals of Gigantus)
Population: Zero;
formerly Quintillions
Capital City: Unrevealed
Government: Unrevealed
Languages: Unrevealed
Defense: They formed their own army and then an extraplanetary armada in response to the attack by the Eyungians.
Places of Interest: Unrevealed
Visitors: Eternals of Eyung (invaders)
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#115 (October, 1971)
History:
(Quasar I#16 (fb)) - Apparently at some point the Celestials visited the immense world (see comments) that
would become known as Gigantus, experimenting on its natives and
diverging three races, a baseline normal, Deviants, and Eternals. The
Eternals apparently became the dominent race (see comments).
(Fantastic Four I#115 (fb) / Quasar I#16 (fb)) - The Eternals of Eyung attacked Gigantus in a war that lasted millennia.
When the Gigantians threatened to overwhelm their attackers, the Eyungians, decided to destroy what they could not conquer, and they launched a series of anti-matter Reaction Bombs, which imbedded themselves deep in Gigantus' surface, setting off a chain of ever-mounting explosions that would end in total destruction.
Seeing the impending end, the Gigantians launched a vast armada into space to take vengeance on the Eyungians.
Gigantus exploded, and the fragments were hurled through the universe with cataclysmic fury:
"Some to vanish in grat maelstroms of searing, swirling cosmic energy..."
"Some to come to rest, to flame, to burn, to grow..."
"To live again as stars, as moons, and as blue-green planets, fertile and lush..." (see comments).
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, John Buscema, and Joe Sinnott.
As the dominant race was called Eternals, we can extrapolate that they
were the result of experimentation by the Celestials, and that there
were likely Deviant and baseline normals at some point, as we've seen
with many other races, including the Skrulls.
The implication of the fate of
Gigantus' remnants is that Earth (and perhaps the sun and other planets
in the solar system) may have been formed from a fragment of Gigantus.
In Quasar I#16, it was noted that the Reaction Bombs were anti-matter
weapons, but perhaps they annihilated significant chunks, with the
explosive force dispersing the rest of Gigantus' matter.
HOW BIG IS GIGANTUS?
Gigantus was originally described as dwarfing
whole galaxies...that's a bit on the crazy side. I'm not an expert in
astronomy, but I would think a solid mass larger than a galaxy couldn't
exist for a number of reasons...like gravity. Where is its light and heat coming from?
Then again, since comic
books are science fiction, there could be some advanced technology,
energy phenomenon, or magical reason why it could exist.
More appropriately, perhaps, the Eternals of Eyung
noted: "Our planet would be less than a mountain here, our population
but a village."
In the original Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe#10 (October, 1983), it was stated that Gigantus' "size
approached the limit at which a planet can exist before fissioning into
a sun." The Deluxe Edition OHotMU#12 (November, 1986) reiterated that
information. However, the Overmind profile in OHotMU DE#9 (August,
1986) stated tha Gigantus was about the size of Jupiter.
In New Mutants Annual#1 (I think), interstellar
mutant thief Lila Cheney was noted to have a base on a Dyson Sphere,
which is a hypothetical megastructure that encompasses a star and
captures a large percentage of its power output. You can Google it for
more information, there are all kinds of variant theories, etc.
Using the original concept, if a Dyson Sphere was
made around Earth orbit, for example, it would have a radius of 93
million miles or a diameter of 186 million miles. Compare that to
Earth's diameter (roughly 12,700 miles), Jupiter's diameter (roughly
140,000 miles), and the Sun's diameter (865,000 miles).
At some point, it was theorized
that Gigantus may
have represented a Dyson Sphere. The Over-Mind's 21st century OHotMU
profiles, as early as 2006's All-New OHotMU#6, list Gigantus as a
"galaxy-dwarfing Dyson Sphere." I was pretty sure the idea came up
in-story (I was thinking that Quasar thought that in Quasar I#16, but I
couldn't find it).
Regardless of what the original story said, I'm still skeptical that Gigantus was galaxy-dwarfing. I think it was meant to be much larger than Jupiter...and a Dyson Sphere fits nicely.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Gigantus has no known connection to
images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#115, pg. 7, panel 6 (Gigantus);
pg. 8, panel 4 (Eyungians assaulting Gigantus);
pg. 10, panel 5 (Gigantus exploded);
pg. 11, panel 1 (Gigantus debris);
panel 2 (maelstrom);
panel 3 (burning remnants)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#115 (October, 1971) - Archie Goodwin (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
First posted: 10/05/2019
Last updated: 10/05/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!