VE'TROCK

Real Name: Ve'trock

Identity/Class: Terrestrial insect mutate (? - see comments)

Occupation: King of the World Hive

Group Membership: The Bug Lords (Crematrix, Phthira)

Affiliations: Ant-Man (Scott Lang), the Bug Lords;
    formerly Macrothrax

Enemies: Macrothrax Swarm (Fritz Von Meyer)

Known Relatives: None (see comments)

Aliases: King of the Bees, Wasps and Ants; Ve'trock the Betrayed

Base of Operations: The Savage Land, Antarctica

First Appearance: (cloudy image seen): Ant-Man II#3 (May, 2020);
    (fully seen): Ant-Man II#4 (July, 2020)

Powers/Abilities: Ve'trock was a gigantic, insect-like being with moth-like wings capable of flight, a sticky tongue and sharp claws on each leg. His size granted him an unspecified degree of superhuman strength and durability and he was also capable of emitting sounds of anger that would cause pain to specific insectoid victims.

Height: 11'0" (by approximation)
Weight: 500 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Red
Hair: Pink-yellow (antennae)

History: (Ant-Man II#3 - BTS) - After the Bug Lords' agent, Macrothrax, failed to reacquire the bee man Swarm, Ve'trock and the other Bug Lords sent a message scent to Macrothrax using an insect messenger. In the message, the Bug Lords expressed anger at Macrothrax and Ve'trock personally reminded Macrothrax that they saw all, warning that the heroes Macrothrax had attracted might find the corpse of their previous agent. After the Bug Lord Phthira ordered Macrothrax to go to their agent's resting place, Ve'trock ordered Macrothrax to stop the heroes from finding the Bug Lords.

(Ant-Man II#4) - Macrothrax later returned to the Bug Lords at their Savage Land base and Ve'trock immediately expressed contempt for Macrothrax. When Macrothrax assured the Bug Lords that humanity would no longer threat, as he planned to enlarge all insects to the size of the Bug Lords and lead them in conquering humanity, Ve'trock was affronted by Macrothrax's ambition and accused Macrothrax of blaspheming against the Bug Lords. Ve'trock's screams caused Macrothrax to fall to the floor in pain and Macrothrax ultimately turned over his stolen Pym Particles to Crematrix in an effort to stop the pain. The Bug Lords then tossed Macrothrax outside their base but when Macrothrax later acquired the heroic Stinger's insect communication helmet, he returned to the Bug Lords' base. Ve'trock expressed anger that Macrothrax had now lured superheroes Ant-Man and Stinger to the Bug Lords' location but Macrothrax responded by using the helmet to force Crematrix and Phthira to remove Ve'trock's head. Shocked, Ve'trock proclaimed the act to be sacrilege as his queens turned on him, under the control of Macrothrax.

(Ant-Man II#5) - After Macrothrax enlarged Crematrix and Phthira and went on a rampage across the Savage Land, the dying Ve'trock pulled Ant-Man to him with his tongue and asked that Ant-Man listen and witness his death. Admitting that he knew why Ant-Man had actually tracked Macrothrax to the Savage Land, not because Macrothrax stole his Pym Particles but to avenge the death of an ant, Pam, Ve'trock proclaimed Ant-Man to be a friend of the insect World Hive. Ant-Man agreed that perhaps that was true but when he asked what he could do against two continent-sized Bug Lords, Ve'trock used the last bit of life to ask the World Hive to provide a way for Ant-Man to defeat the mind-controlled Bug Lord queens. Ve'trock then died moments before the Savage Land insects swarmed over Ant-Man and provided him a giant suit of armor to battle Macrothrax and the Bug Lords.

Comments: Created by Zeb Wells and Dylan Burnett.

It was not clear exactly what the Bug Lords were. They were obviously insects of some sort and rulers of the insect World Hive but it was not clear whether they were extraterrestrial insect gods that somehow made it to Earth and decided to rule the insects, or perhaps ancient terrestrial insect mutates, or what exactly. Their agents were insect hives mutated into humanoid form.

In terms of relatives, Ve'trock was explained as the World Hive king with Phthira and Crematrix as queens but who knows if insects have marriages like humans so I chose not to list Crematrix or Phthira as relatives of Ve'trock.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ve'trock has no known connections to:


images: (without ads)
Ant-Man II#4, p9, pan1 (Ve'trock yelling, main image)
Ant-Man II#4, p8, pan6 (Ve'trock, headshot)
Ant-Man II#4, p7, pan3 (Ve'trock in his base)
Ant-Man II#5, p7, pans4-6 (Ve'trock's death)


Appearances:
Ant-Man II#3 (May, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art), Darren Shan (editor)
Ant-Man II#4 (July, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art), Darren Shan (editor)
Ant-Man II#5 (August, 2020) - Zeb Wells (writer), Dylan Burnett (art), Darren Shan (editor)


First Posted: 02/02/2021
Last updated: 02/02/2021

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.!

Back to Characters