kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh13-full PILGRIM KADAGAR golemkadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh13-face-ponytail

Real Name: None known;
    impersonated Pilgrim Kadagar (see comments)

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Reality-49327) golem/android duplicate circa 2026 A.D.

Occupation: Formerly served as leader of the Kadagar crime family (only because he was believed to be the real Pilgrim Kadagar)

Group Membership: Alkemist's golems;
    he was not a member of the Kadagar crime family, but as he was believed to be Pilgrim Kadagar, he led them until his exposure as an android/golem

Affiliations: Death's Head (Minion), Captain Jeanet Hutch, Pilgrim Kadagar, Tuck; (indirectly), the Tuck golem
    formerly Bethlehem Bardot and the Kadagar crime family (while they believed him to be Pilgrim);
    he was presumably subject to the Alkemist's control at some point, but this was not demonstrated

Enemies: Alkemist and his golems (notably golems of Captain America, Captain Jeanet Hutch, Union Jack, Wolverine, multiple versions of Tigon Liger, ), Bethlehem Bardot and the Kadagar crime family (after they learned he was not the real Pilgrim), Lorson;
    indirectly Earth-616's modern era's Mys-Tech (specifically Algernon Crowe and Ormond Wychwood)

Known Relatives: None;
    created by the Alkemist;

Aliases: Crime Boss of Clinton (an alias of the real Pilgrim Kadagar)

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly Clinton City, Earth's Mars colony, Reality-49327 circa 2026 AD;
    formerly Alkemist's base in the Teefoebee (TerraForming Base command), Clinton City, Earth's Mars colony, Reality-49327 circa 2026 AD;

First Appearance: Death's Head II#13 (December, 1993)kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh15-vwolvg1kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh13-face-earring

Powers/Abilities: Pilgrim Kadagar possessed the abilities and memory's of Pilgrim Kadagar, as detailed below. As an android, he definitely lacked a gustatory (taste) sense, and he presumably lacked the need for food, water, oxygen, and levels of temperature and pressure necessary for humans. 
    Below the surface of his synthetic skin, mechanical parts were visible.

    Pilgrim was an experienced combatant, especially proficient in knife-fighting, but also experienced with using handblasters, etc. He was sufficiently accomplished to contend against and deliver wounds to Wolverine. His personal weapon is a yellow jagged-edged two-sided sword with a central handle including a knuckle guard.

    He commanded all of the warriors of the Kadagar crime family.

    He spoke in something of a broken dialect, referring to himself in the third person and frequently speaking in fragments. 

    Although a cheat and a murderer, Pilgrim had gang honor, and his swearing by Kadagar blood was considered an honorable vow.

    Even knowing he was an android, the Pilgrim golem remained fiercely loyal to the Kadagar family, even to the point of destroyed itself to allow the rightful succession to occur peacefully.

Height: Unrevealed (the Pilgrim golem was up to about the chin of the 7' tall Death's Head, so perhaps; however, when the real Pilgrim is finally seen, he seems maybe a few inches taller as he was closer to Death's Head's nose, but I doubt the real Pilgrim is taller or the difference would be obvious to those who knew him well; perhaps 6'2" to 6'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (perhaps 200 lbs. to 230 lbs. assuming human density/weight despite the machinery to avoid obvious detection)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Dark brown

History:
(Death's Head II#13 - BTS) - Pilgrim Kadagar was the head of the Kadagar family who ran the black market business in Clinton City on the planet Mars since the colony was first established in 2011. 

(Death's Head II#15 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to avoid the prying eyes of their time period, Algernon Crowe and Ormond Wychwood of Earth-616's Mys-Tech's Techno-Wizards made arrangements with the Alkemist and Lorson on Reality-49327's Mars colony' Clinton City circa 2026 A.D. 

    Establishing a straight-tap wormhole between the two realities/times/locations, Mys-Tech financed Alkemist and Lorson's operation to fabricate golems (android replicas) of Earth's mightiest heroes using either living subjects or Mys-Tech's extensive database of previously scanned bio-traces.kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh13-posterior

(Death's Head II#14 (fb) - BTS) - Alkemist and Lorson established a base in Teefoebee (TerraForming Base command), the abandoned settlement of the first human colonizers on Mars; Clinton City had been built on the abandoned site.

(Death's Head II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to lay low after recent conflicts on Earth (such as the battles with Charnel), Death's Head and Tuck hijacked an A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) time dish and traveled to Reality-49327's Mars colony' Clinton City circa 2026 A.D. kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh13-fuller

(Death's Head II#13 (fb) - BTS) - At some point thereafter, the Alkemist's agents captured Pilgrim Kadagar, created a golem of him, and released the Pilgrim golem to take the place of the original.

(Death's Head II II#14 (fb) - BTS) - Two days before the main story, Pilgrim Kadagar encountered the Liger golem, which identified itself as an acquaintance of Death's Head's. Pilgrim apparently brought "Liger" back to the Kadagar ranch.

(Death's Head II#13 (fb) - BTS) <Thirty clocks before Pilgrim Kadagar revealed this information to Death's Head> - Pilgrim Kadagar was last confirmed to be flesh and blood.

(Death's Head II#13 (fb) - BTS) - At some point thereafter, the Alkemist's agents captured Pilgrim Kadagar, created a golem of him, and released the Pilgrim golem to take the place of the original.

(Death's Head II#13 (fb) - BTS) - <A few days after their arrival and "three clocks" (a few hours?) before the main story> - Alkemist and/or his agents captured Tuck. 

    Shortly thereafter, Death's Head was jumped by a quartet of Kadagar boys, leading Death's Head to believe the Kadagar gang had taken Tuck.

(Death's Head II#13) - After slaying the Kadagars who had assaulted him, Death's Head was confronted by Pilgrim Kadagar (secretly the golem, not even known to the Pilgrimkadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh13-panel golem at this point) and a number of his agents. When Death's Head expressed surprise as he thought Pilgrim did not like to get his hands dirty, the Pilgrim golem informed him, "The gangs are my hands. Cut the, cut me," and he demanded payment for having slain Kadagars. 

    When Death's Head noted that he and his partner just wished to leave, "Pilgrim" offered him "twelve clocks" to depart or the Kadagar would skin him. Death's Head seemingly accepted, only to put his weapon to the back of Pilgrim's head and demand Tuck's return. Though having no knowledge of Tuck or her fate, the Pilgrim golem instructed his men to drop their weapons.

    After giving up any advantage, "Pilgrim" swore to Death's Head by Kadagar blood that they did not have Tuck, and his reputation for gang honor caused Death's Head to believe him. They were then confronted by Captain Jeanet Hutch of the US Ultramarine Corp, who distrusted their false explanations of friendly reasons for their gathering. 

    Crushing the Pilgrim golem's wrist, Hutch -- acknowledging how hard it was to press charges against the Kadagar -- told him to get his gang out of their and that she did not want to see his face for at least a month. Hutch took Death's Head into custody.

(Death's Head II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Seeing circuitry through the wound he had received from Hutch when she crushed his wrist, the Pilgrim Kadagar golem discovered that he was an android.

    Still possessing Pilgrim's thoughts and emotions, the golem sought to find out who had done this to him and to learn where the real Pilgrim Kadagar was.

    The golem further resolved that all hell would break loose if Clinton City found out that the head of the clan was a fake .kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh15-vwolvg2

(Death's Head II#13) - Considering that Death's Head had covered for Kadagar and taken the heat from the law, the Pilgrim Kadagar golem subsequently bailed out Death's Head, revealed his situation, and sought his aid in finding who had done this as well as recovering the real Pilgrim; in exchange, the Kadagar would help Death's Head find Tuck.

(Death's Head II II#13) - After telling Death's Head about how he (Pilgrim) had been replaced by Golem robotic duplicate, Pilgrim Kadagar brought Death's Head to the Kadagar ranch and showed him the Tigon Liger golem who was waiting there. The Liger golem attacked Death's Head.

(Death's Head II#14) - The Pilgrim golem attempted to restrain the Liger golem, which hurled him across the room. Ultimately Pilgrim's lover, Bethlehem Bardot, destroyed the Tigon Liger golem, and Death's Head was convinced to aid the Pilgrim golem.

(Death's Head II#15 (fb) - BTS) - Tuck was replaced with a golem who -- believing itself to be the real Tuck -- escaped the Alkemist's facility.

(Death's Head II#14) - Bethlehem Bardot overheard the Pilgrim golem telling Death's Head that if his kin learned of his fate, there would be a massive succession gangwar. 

 kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh15-vwolv3   Hoping to learn more about the Liger golem, Death's Head used his cranial syphon to rip out the core of its android programming. Death's Head learned that it was made on the Mars colony, grown artificially in cyborganic vat, and that there was some connection to Teefoebee. After the Pilgrim golem explained that Teefoebee stood for Terra Forming Basecommand, which was the settlement of the first footers, and that Clinton City was built on the abandoned site, Death's Head and "Pilgrim" resolved to investigate Teefoebee. Despite Death's Head's skepticism, the Pilgrim golem brought Bethlehem with them to Teefoebee.

    After the Pilgrim golem discovered that he had no sense of taste, Death's Head took a sample of a Pharmocyl, a bitter drug, -- for future use.

(Death's Head II#14 - BTS) - The Tuck golem's fight with golems of Motormouth, Captain America, Union Jack, and Wolverine drew Captain Hutch -- with a riot squad on hold as back-up -- to the old quarter, near the old Teefoebee silos. 

(Death's Head II#14) - Death's Head and the Pilgrim golem arrived soon after.

(Death's Head II#15) - As the Wolverine golem slashed its claws against its sword, the Pilgrim golem noted its enjoyment of knife-fights, but considered it bad odds against a mark who spouted his own blades. Nonetheless, after the Wolverine golem complimented the Pilgrim golem on its speed but bet it was faster, the Pilgrim golem slashed the Wolverine golem through the chest, telling it that there were two things one should never do on Mars: Bet against Pilgrim Kadagar or try to match him edge for edge. As the fight proceeded, however, the Wolverine golem gave the Pilgrim golem a slash across the abdomen, but Hutch the fired a blast through the Wolverine golem's head, incapacitating it. 

    When the Tuck golem then revealed that the Alkemist was making the golems in the silos below the street, Death's Head asked if the Pilgrim golem was well enough to join them, and it replied, "No need t'ask, borgy! Gonna kill these beasts..the ones who cursed Pilgrim Kadagar this way."

 Death's Head, Hutch, the Pilgrim golem, and Tuck then joined forces to take down the Alkemist.

kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh15-golem-death-prep(Death's Head II#15 - BTS) - Meanwhile, Bethlehem Bardot observing silently from above, and she used the exposure of the machinery in "Pilgrim" to convince others in the Kadagar clan to help her eliminate the false Pilgrim and install her as leader of Kadagar. 

(Death's Head II#15 - BTS) - Alkemist and Lorson discussed how the individuals -- Pilgrim, Tuck, Hutch, and Death's Head -- responsible for destroying some of their finest and most expensive golems had re-entered their security perimeter.

(Death's Head II#15) - Testing the Tuck golem with a drink containing the bitter Pharmocyl, Death's Head blew her apart when she failed to taste it (see comments). The remaining three were then attacked by a Hutch golem and four Liger golems.

(Death's Head II#15) - Death's Head, Hutch, and the Pilgrim golem took out their attackers -- with Pilgrim engaging at least one of the Liger golems -- and continued investigating the golem facility, finding a screen displaying the golem models on offer for clients, after which Crowe and Wychwood confronted the investigators and confirmed their involvement.

    Expressing regret that the locals had unwittingly drawn Death's Head's attention and unwilling to risk a fight -- Crowe's reluctance was based on Death's Head dangerous power, while Death's Head's was due to Crowe and the other Mys-Tech's Techno-Wizards having their life force tied to the fabric of the universe, such that slaying them allegedly could destroy all reality -- Crowe agreed to call it a draw, and he cancelled Mys-Tech's contract with Lorson. As Crowe and Wychwood departed, Lorson pulled a weapon and threatened Death's Head, who swiftly (apparently) slew him.kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh15-golem-death

(Death's Head II#15 - BTS) - Security fences went down either with Lorson's death (which took out a computer console) and/or the Alkemist's departure, and the real Pilgrim and Tuck escaped.

(Death's Head II#15) - As the Pilgrim golem prepared to join Death's Head in looking for the real Tuck, they were confronted by Bethlehem Bardot and other Kadagar agents. When Bethlehem noted Pilgrim to be a copy and claimed leadership of the Clan Kadagar, Death's Head attempted to intervene, but Hutch told him that by clan law this was a genuine act of succession and that if he interfered, he would plunge the colony into civil war.

    Admitting that he was not Pilgrim but that he was Death's Head's friend, the Pilgrim golem received a weapon from Bethlehem, and he proclaimed "By the blood of the clan. By the future. I do this for Kadagar," and then blew his head off.

kadagar-pilgrim-49327-dh15-golem-corpse(Death's Head II#15) - However, the real Pilgrim subsequently showed up, proving himself by cutting and then bleeding from his arm.

Comments: Created by Dan Abnett, Salvador Larroca, Paul Scott, and Colin Fawcett as part of the Marvel UK imprint.

    The last/clan name was consistently Kadagar (three a's) in the first story in Death's Head II#13...but then in #14-15, it was consistently Kadogar (two a's, with a central "o"). Maybe there's some reason for the switch, in-story or otherwise. My preference is to use the precedent, especially when it is repeated multiple times throughout the first appearance. 

    Obviously this story was written a little under 20 years before the Krakoans/X-Men/etc. stories colonized Mars in the modern era, but this is an alternate reality, and the divergence must have occurred well before the Krakoan colonization. The fact that Clinton City was noted to have been named after the president who inaugurated the Mars expansion presumably indicates that Reality-49327 operates in real time (unlike Earth-616's sliding timescale/Marvel Time)...and that the writers were overly-exuberant fans of William Jefferson Clinton, inaugurated in 1993, who did nothing of the sort in the real world.
    Peter David made a comment in a future story where someone mentioned "President Clinton" and someone from the future asked if they meant Bill or Chelsea...however, as Chelsea was born in 1980, and the minimum legal age for becoming president is 35, there would have had to have been some special changes to allow her to have been president in time to have been the one to have initiated the Mars expansion.

    I don't know how long a "clock" is supposed to be, but I'd have thought it was a full clock, meaning 12-24 hours, but then Alkemist notes that they had taken Tuck a few hours back.

    Golems seemed to be equivalent to advanced Life Model Decoys. It seems to be a point of contention with some folks (or one folk) with regards to what the term android means. While there are multiple definitions and interpretations, the original definition comes from the Greek root "andro" (man) and the term "oid" meaning, like. At least in the Marvel Universe, the term "man" in this usage is meant to refer to mankind, rather than male vs. female (while I haven't seen the term in usage, the specific term to refer to taking the form of a woman would be "gynoid"). It is most commonly/consistently used as a specific type of robot in human form. While individual stories/writers sometimes use their own terminology, that's the official policy, spelled out by Mark Gruenwald, et al., in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition and reiterated in subsequent editions.
    If you believe differently...good for you, and have a nice day...

    It's good thing when Death's Head blew up the Tuck golem for not tasting the bitter Pharmocyl that it wasn't the real Tuck with her gustatory sense numbed from the golem process...or maybe from COVID-19, since this took place in 2026...
    On that same note, the Tuck golem believed itself to be the real deal and worked to take down Alkemist, etc. Presumably she/it could have been controlled by Alkemist, but is seems a little hypocritical for Death's Head to have destroyed the Tuck golem but to have tried to prevent the Pilgrim golem from destroying itself. 

    The real Pilgrim will get a profile at some point...probably a few years, though...

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Pilgrim Kadagar should be distinguished from:


images: (without ads)
Death's Head II#13, pg. 7, panel 1 (full-golem);
        pg. 8, panel 3 (face close-up; gloves; earring);
            panel 5 (posterior view);
        pg. 9, panel 3 (face, pony tail);
    #15, pg. 2, panel 4 (Wolverine golem striking Pilgrim golem's sword-weapon);
        pg. 4, panel 2 (raising weapon at lunging Wolverine golem);
        pg. 5, panel 1 (striking Wolverine golem)
        pg. 18, panel 3-7 (golem: taking weapon, blasting self; remains);

Appearances:
Death's Head II#13 (December, 1993) - Dan Abnett (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Paul Scott & Colin Fawcett (inkers), Stuart Bartlett (editor)
Death's Head II#14-15 (January-February, 1994) - Dan Abnett (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Paul Scott (inker), Stuart Bartlett (editor)

First posted: 06/15/2022
Last updated: 06/15/2022

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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