CREATURE from KOSMOS

Real Name: Pilai

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Kosmos) sub-class of Kosmosian race (Creature caste)

Occupation: Criminal;
    former prisoner

Group Membership: Stranger's laboratory world subjects

Affiliations: Possibly Kolai, Pelel, Pirei, and another unidentified Kosmosian Creature

Enemies: Ant-Man (Hank Pym), Stranger, Vernon Van Dyne, Wasp (Janet Van Dyne)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Pilei (see comments)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly the Stranger's laboratory world, on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy;
    formerly a prison realm associated with the dimension of Kosmos;
    formerly the planet Kosmos, within the dimension of Kosmos

First Appearance: (Creature from Kosmos) Tales to Astonish I#44/1 (June, 1963);
    (as Pilai) Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2/ Deluxe Edition#14 (January, 1987)

Powers/Abilities: Pilai was only seen in his gelatinous, amorphous form, containing a large amount of formic acid and able to be reshaped, extending tendrils and/or forming hands. He can presumably maneuver through any space between objects. His gelatinous form allowed him to resist bullets and explosive shells. Despite his gelatinous state, his mass allows him to shatter large metal pieces of machinery or wooden structures.

   The large percentage of formic acid making up his system makes his susceptible to chemicals used to neutralize formic acid (see comments).

   He is apparently very comfortable within the great heat of a magma pool. The heat of the magma apparently turned him red in color.

    He possess unspecified mental powers, enabling him to communicate telepathically, mentally influence/control others, and to generate fear in others (humans and insects have proved susceptible) -- the ants serving Ant-Man (Hank Pym) proved reluctant to confront Pilai.  
    In at least one instance, this fear has proven great enough to cause death via close range eye-to-eye contact. 
   Presumably, his confinement in the Stranger's Laboratory World neutralized his mental powers, which is why Hyperion could only perceive inarticulate bellows.

    Presumably like the other Kosmosian Creature caste seen, he possessed an outer semi-humanoid biped shell, approximately 50 feet tall,  with enormous strength and durability, and can extend tentacles from within his shell. However, perhaps the only way he could escape his prison was by abandoning his shell; or perhaps his shell had been destroyed or removed prior to his being imprisoned.

Height: Variable (able to reach at least 50' tall)
Weight: Unrevealed (due to the nature of his full volume and his physical composition being unrevealed, it is difficult to speculate on this; all I can note is that a 6' tall, 200 lb. man would weight about 7 tons at 50'.)
Eyes: Apparently green sclera and black iris, or large green iris with no visible sclera
Hair: None

History:
(Tales to Astonish I#44/1 (fb) - BTS) - Pilai was a criminal on the world of Kosmos -- by his own account, the greatest his world had ever seen. Alone, he almost succeeded in smashing Kosmosian society and enslaving them all; ultimately failing, he was instead imprisoned.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to use a gamma ray beam to pierce space and detect signals from other planets, Earth scientist Dr. Vernon Van Dyne developed a booster device to strengthen his device's power. 

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1) - As Van Dyne's booster sent his rays beyond the Milky Way galaxy...

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 / Deluxe Edition#14: Wasp) - ...via hyperspace to the distant planet Kosmos...

(Avengers I#382/2 (fb) - BTS) - ... accessing its extradimensional prison realm.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1) - Pilai somehow used the ray to escape his prison...

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 / Deluxe Edition#14: Wasp) - ...and/or prosecution on his homeworld by teleporting himself through hyperspace to Earth.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1) - Arriving in Van Dyne's laboratory, Pilai introduced himself and noted his back-story before revealing that he was going to enslave Earth as he had failed to do on Kosmos. He first resolved to destroy Van Dyne's machine to keep others from Kosmos from following him and to slay Van Dyne himself to prevent him from revealing his presence...

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 / Deluxe Edition#14: Wasp) - ...and potentially contacting the authorities on his home planet.

Pilai commanded Van Dyne to look into his eyes, and Van Dyne futilely struggled to resist, ultimately meeting Pilai's gaze and dying as a result.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1 (fb) - BTS) - Pilai departed Van Dyne's laboratory but remained hidden within the building that contained the lab.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1 - BTS) - Vernon's daughter, Janet, found his dead body and sensed an acrid mist. She called Dr. Henry Pym (with whom her father had recently consulted) and, after ants confirmed Vernon's fate, Pym investigated Vernon's lab as Ant-Man. 

   Concluding that something powerful and alien was responsible, Ant-Man had Janet call FBI agent Lee Kearns, after which he learned from his ant allies that the creature that had been in there left behind traces of formic acid. They concluded that the creature must be similar to them, as ants also secreted formic acid; however, it was alien and they feared it. 

   Sending ants to monitor the FBI and to seek out the creature, Ant-Man returned to his laboratory where he revealed his dual identity to the vengeance-seeking Janet Van Dyne and began to transform her into the Wasp to act as his partner to help stop the creature.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1) - Pilai apparently tunneled out from under the building containing Van Dyne's lab, causing earthquake-like tremors as it made its way to the docks, from which it violently emerged, uprooting and smashing the docks.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1 (fb) - BTS) - FBI, police, and the military were dispatched to fight the creature.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1) - As Pilai swam through the water toward the George Washington Bridge, police began to clear Manhattan, while military stood ready to fire.

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1 - BTS) - After Ant-Man explained that the creature had been drawn by her father's space probe and that it was what had killed her father, he and the Wasp went out to confront the creature. 

(Tales to Astonish I#44/1) - The military found their bullets and shells did nothing to harm the amorphous creature. Wasp tried to prove herself by going after the creature, but she soon found herself uncontrollably drawn to fly toward its grasp. 

   After Ant-Man pulled the Wasp away and broke Pilai's influence on her, they returned to his laboratory where Pym created an "antidote" to the formic acid of which the creature was composed (see comments). 

   They then filled a number of shotgun shells with this antidote, and they had a number of ants carry the shells and the shotgun to the roof of a building near to where Pilai rampaged. 

   The ants absorbed the recoil as Ant-Man fired the antidote-containing shells into the creature, who eventually began to writhe in pain before apparently fading away.

(Quasar I#14 (fb) - BTS) - Under unexplained circumstances, Pilai was captured by the enigmatic alien Stranger, who placed him on his laboratory world. 

    Pilai remained within a magma pool.

(Quasar#14) - Racing through the habitats in search of his missing teammates (brought there by the Over-Mind, who sought vengeance on the Stranger), Earth-712's Hyperion passed over the lava pit and Pilai.

     Hyperion wondered where the Stranger got all of those he had seen and further wondered what he was doing with them, but ultimately -- unsure whether he could understand the creature's inarticulate bellows -- he continued on to the next habitat rather than trying to ask the subject.

(Quasar#14 - BTS) - The Over-Mind deactivated the laboratory world's habitats' force barriers.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, H.E. Huntley, Jack Kirby, and Don Heck.

    I don't think Pilai was seen again beyond the one panel in Quasar I#14, so we don't know for sure that he escaped. Maybe he liked hanging out in the lava...

    I don't know what specific chemical would be used to neutralize formic acid. I'd imagine any base, such as sodium bicarbonate would work. I'm not sure if that antidote was some sort of anti-venom. Anyone?  The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 / Deluxe Edition#14: Wasp entry expanded on and clarified/updated some details on Veron Van Dyne's technology and interaction with Pilai. Most of it was solid expansion, but there was one distinct contradiction, as Janet Van Dyne had departed the lab and returned to find her father dead in TTA#44, while the OHotMU entry noted that she found his body after hearing the sounds of the struggle -- not 100% mutually exclusive, as she could have heard the sounds of the struggle upon returning.

    Donald Campbell points out that "the winning entry for the contest from QUASAR#14 specifically lists Pilai as the Kosmosian" on the Stranger's World "so reports of his death are exaggerated. Of course, his fellow Kosmosian Creatures probably don't know that yet". Since writer Mark Gruenwald, noted Master of the Obscure, both wrote that story and chose the competition winner, there's no arguing with this one. Pilai is alive and well. Donald further points out a number of other seemingly "dead" characters amongst the captives, and suggests "that maybe all these beings didn't 'just happen' to survive their seemingly-inevitable deaths, that maybe the Stranger used their imminent deaths as a cover so that he could secretly abduct them without anyone knowing.".
    In case you didn't know, the winning entry in the above contest was submitted by none other than Donald Campbell. 

   Thanks to Donald Campbell for supplementary research, and to David Zuckerman for providing the digital images, so I didn't have to smash my nearly 60 year old comic in the scanner.

   At the time of the original and Deluxe Edition Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe volumes, Pilai was the only Kosmosian seen, and so the information and the images in those volumes reflected the information from his first appearance. Subsequent stories have ret-conned things somewhat, but since Pilai doesn't have any great full body images, I think we can take the the original (right) and Deluxe Edition (left) Kosmosians profile images as accurate for his amorphous form. If he has an outer shell form, it presumably mirrors those seen in the Creatures of Kosmos profile.

Refurbed main by Ron Fredricks.

    Pilai originally was partially featured in a Creatures of Kosmos profile I posted 09/03/2001, days after first publishing the Appendix.

    This profile was completed 9/19/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Creature from Kosmos should be distinguished from:

• CREATURE from the BLACK BOG (    ) - ship developed problems, forced to land on Earth in the Florida Everglades, became trapped in a bog, saved by John and Martha, rewarded them by restoring their youth via water from the Fountain of Youth. 20' high, superhuman strength, advanced starship--Tales of Suspense I#23
• CREATURE from KROGARR - extraterrestrial, used matter transmitter to travel through TV of Joe Hanson, kidnapped Hanson to Krogarr; slain for seeming duplicity by other members of race when Hanson vanished after his electricity was cut off--Tales to Astonish I#25
• CREATURE from KRANGO (    ) - native of Krango, powerful warlord, sent to Earth, captured three people, executed when they could not be forced to submit (the Krangoans could not figure out that the "people" were actually statues--Tales of Suspense I#30
• CREATURE from PLANET X - giant ape-like creature captured and displayed in an Earth zoo circa 2165 AD--Strange Worlds#3/3
  
• CREATURES of the ABYSS of the pre-Cataclysmic era - possibly associated with Anu, undersea demon-creatures, summoned by Xanthes to slay Kull and his crew, but defeated--Kull III#3
• CREATUREs of the CAVE - @ 8000 BC, battled Tribe of the Moon --Alpha Flight I#83 (83(fb)
• CREATURES of the NIGHT - possible name for a pack of 16^th century werewolves associated with the Silver One --Savage Sword of Conan #14/4
• CREATURES of the NIGHT - group of three Undying Ones or their agents who manipulated Kenneth Ward and were exposed and destroyed by Dr. Strange--Dr. Strange I#183
• CREATURES from the BOTTOMLESS PIT - elven survivors from pre-Cataclysmic Atlantean civilization--Strange Tales I#68/2
• KOSMOS - evolved cosmic cube--Fantastic Four Annual#23
• Other Creatures or Kosmos deals

Appearances:
Tales to Astonish I#44 (June, 1963) - Stan Lee (plot/editor), H.E. Huntley, a pen name for Ernest Huntley Hart (plot), Jack Kirby (pencils), Don Heck (inks)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 (May, 1983) - Mark Gruenwald (editor/head writer/designer), Peter Sanderson, Mark Lerer, Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco (writers), David Cody Weiss, Bob Simpson, Joanne Harris, Peter David (research), Paty Cockrum (Kosmosians penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Michael Carlin (associate editor/designer)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 / Deluxe Edition#14 (January, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer/producer), Peter Sanderson (writer/researcher), Eliot Brown (technical illustrator), John Buscema (Wasp penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Gregory Wright (assistant editor), Marc McLaurin (editorial assistant), Howard Mackie (consultant)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 2 / Deluxe Edition#15 (March, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald (writer/producer), Peter Sanderson (writer/researcher), Eliot Brown (technical illustrator), Kyle Baker (Kosmosians penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Gregory Wright (assistant editor), Marc McLaurin (editorial assistant)
Quasar I#14 (September, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mike Manley (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Len Kaminski (editor)
Avengers I#382/2 (January, 1995) - George Perez (writer), Jeffrey Moore (pencils), Tim Dzon (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Thunderbolts I#13 (April, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First posted: 09/22/2021
Last updated: 09/19/2021

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