SANDOMAR II
Official Name: Sandomar II
Nature: An extraterrestrial planet located in a planetary system (presumably the Sandomar system) within the Greater Magellanic Cloud (Kree Galaxy)
Environment: Unrevealed. It is presumed that Sandomar II possessed a life-sustaining biosphere. However, it's also possible that the planet was not naturally habitable and that Kree could only survive there within the habitat created by the life support systems of their base(s).
Gravity: Unrevealed. Sandomar II is presumed to have possessed a gravitational field that was not significantly different than that of the Kree homeworld Hala
Atmosphere: Unrevealed. It is presumed that Sandomar II possessed an atmosphere that contained an unspecified combination of gases (nitrogen and oxygen) that the Kree could breathe without artificial aids. However, it's also possible that the only breathable atmosphere on the planet was artificially generated by the life support systems of the Kree base(s).
Natural Satellites: Unrevealed. Judging by the main image, there may have been six (or more) spherical bodies that orbited relatively close to Sandomar II but it has not been confirmed that any of them were moons. Additionally, one of those spheres may have been the only inner planet (presumably named Sandomar I)
Natives: Unrevealed. It has not been revealed if there were any native sentients before (or after) the Kree occupied the planet
Population: Unrevealed. Any data regarding the number of Kree who were stationed at the base(s) on Sandomar II is classified
Capital City: Unrevealed. If the only Kree on the planet were the troops stationed there, then Sandomar II may have had a military command center instead of a capital city.
Government: Kree military
Major Languages: Kree
Planetary Defense: Unrevealed. Sandomar II is known to have been equipped with unspecified weaponry that were capable of striking targets in local space. These weapons could only function if manned by Kree so they could not be operated via any form of remote control.
On one occasion, the Kree planned to use the planet itself as a weapon by detonating it when a Skrull armada was in close proximity. No details have been revealed about exactly how the Kree planned to cause Sandomar II to explode. It has also not been revealed how long the Kree had possessed the capability of detonating the planet via a remote signal.
Places of Interest: Unrevealed
Visitors: Councilor Phae-Dor;
almost "visited" by the Skrull armada commanded by Emperor Kylor
First Appearance: Silver Surfer III#6 (December, 1987)
History:
(Silver Surfer III#6 (fb) - BTS) - Sandomar II was a planet in orbit around a star in the Greater Magellanic Cloud
that appeared to be green (even though truly green stars cannot exist; see comments).
(Silver Surfer III#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some time in the past, the Kree Empire established bases on the planets Sandomar II and Sandomar IV. The number of these bases, how they were distributed between the two planets (i.e., one base on each planet, one base on one planet and multiple bases on the other, or multiple bases on both planets) and the number of troops garrisoned on each planet is classified Kree military information that has not been made available to outsiders.
(Silver Surfer III#6 (fb) - BTS) - At some point after the Kree established their base(s) on Sandomar II, they MAY have rigged the planet to explode in response to a specific remote signal. How or even if this was done has not been revealed.
(Silver Surfer III#5) - After receiving confirmation (from the captured spy Captain Tar-Rell) that the Kree had learned that the Skrulls had lost their shape-changing powers, the self-proclaimed Emperor Kylor ordered his armada to depart from the Skrullworld Tarakar and begin the "Second Kree-Skrull War."
(Silver Surfer III#6) - The first target to be attacked by Kylor's armada was an outpost that marked the edge of the Kree Empire. This outpost, located on a planet whose name has never been revealed, was outgunned by the "death ships" of the Skrull Empire and the planet was quickly ravaged by the surprise attack that seems to have wiped out all of the Kree military personnel stationed there. Aboard the Skrull command ship, 30,000 miles above the surface of the ravaged planet, Emperor Kylor stated that they would obliterate the Kree bases on Sandomar II and IV in less than twelve tarkis.
(Silver Surfer III#6) - On the Kree homeworld, the Supreme Intelligence learned of the Skrull attack
on the outpost and informed its three Controllers that its deduction concerning the sudden weakness of the Skrulls
had been confirmed. After analyzing the data, the Supreme Intelligence devised a plan for a counterattack and began
issuing orders. First, the Supreme Intelligence told
Nenora that the A-fleet and F-fleet had the
best chance of intercepting the Skrull armada and appointed her to act as moment-to-moment coordinator. Next,
the Supreme Intelligence ordered Tus-Katt to have an ethernet "lasered" between Hadrib and
Yikk in order to slow the approach of the Skrulls to Sandomar II, and confirmed to Tus-Katt that it believed that
the Skrulls would strike there first. Finally, the Supreme Intelligence ordered Phae-Dor to oversee the evacuation
of Sandomar II and, when Phae-Dor questioned why they weren't going to fight, revealed that its plan was to
detonate the planet when the Skrull armada came close enough.
Phae-Dor liked that plan!
(Silver Surfer III#6 - BTS) - Tus-Katt and Phae-Dor carried out their orders, and the ethernet
slowed the Skrull armada enough that Phae-Dor was able to travel to Sandomar II and oversee the complete
evacuation of its fully-manned garrison before the Skrulls got there.
It has not been revealed what (if anything)
Phae-Dor had to do to prepare the planet for its detonation.
(Silver Surfer III#6) - Aboard a starship not too distant from Sandomar II, a scanner operator
informed Councilor Phae-Dor that the Skrull fleet was coming. Phae-Dor gloated aloud about how the Skrulls
would, in moments, attack what they believed was a fully-manned garrison but, as the fleet swept close upon
it, the planet would explode in their "ugly green faces!" The scanner operator then mentioned that the evacuation
had gone well and Phae-Dor replied, "Of course! I was in command..." but the Kree were then surprised to see
that the Skrull fleet was turning away from the planet without attacking! As the shocked Phae-Dor muttered aloud
about how the Kree could not attack the Skrull fleet because there was no one left in the garrison to man the
weaponry, he realized that the Skrulls must have been warned of the trap.
At that moment, the Supreme Intelligence contacted Phae-Dor, stating that there was a
traitor amongst them and ordering Phae-Dor to return to "Kree-Lar" at once. Phae-Dor protested that the
Supremor could not suspect him but the Intelligence replied that it suspected everyone at the moment but, by
the time he reached it, its cybernetic mind would have reduced the suspects to a manageable number.
Phae-Dor
was left with no choice but to obey.
(Silver Surfer III#6) - Meanwhile, on the bridge of the command ship of the Skrull armada, Emperor Kylor and his two closest aides, Ripan and Aptak, all shared a laugh at how, thanks to their spy, they had tricked the Supreme Intelligence by feinting towards Sandomar. Aptak stated that the Kree would have to fortify the next garrison-world because they couldn't allow the Skrulls to pass unchallenged a second time but that the Skrull fleet would be ready!
(Silver Surfer III#6) - Later, on the Kree homeworld, the Supremor stated that it had found the traitor as it confronted its three controllers and its simian-techno, Nullet, the only four beings who had known of its plan for Sandomar II. After revealing that it had reviewed a massive amount of data concerning the four and found nothing, the Supreme Intelligence stated that it still had no hard evidence so it immediately executed Nullet because he, as the being who maintained its mechanical systems, was the only one who could have altered its databanks to hide his tracks. Nenora expressed her amazement that a Skrull could have penetrated the heart of the Kree Empire while, in her mind, wondering if Nullet could have been a Skrull-brother because she had thought that she was the only Skrull spying on the Supreme Intelligence.
What happened to Sandomar II after this near miss with its own destruction has not been revealed. Hopefully it was "defused" at some point.
Comments: Created by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Joe Rubinstein.
When I first started this profile, I was concerned about how plausible it would have been for Phae-Dor to convert Sandomar II into a planet-sized bomb in less than twelve tarkis (however long that was). The plan seemed to be that a massive explosion that would generate a lot of fast-moving debris which would damage the Skrull fleet like shrapnel from a land mine, something like how the planet Alderaan exploded in "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope." Given that a "superlaser" from the Death Star was required to cause that planetary explosion, I was thinking that I should include a link to one of the various websites which discuss how much energy would be needed to destroy a planet. However, I was overlooking a certain planet-destroying weapon that already existed in the Marvel Universe - the Antimatter Projectors designed, created and used by the Illuminati during the Incursion storyline.
In any event, although certain types of stars can (and inevitably will) explode, there are no natural processes or phenomena that will ever cause a planet to explode. I was going to suggest that using a weapon to cause a planet to artificially explode would have required an incredibly-advanced technology but the existence of those human-created Anti-Matter Projectors has really undercut that argument. So, instead, I'm going to take the position that using a planet like a proximity mine to destroy a space fleet seems incredibly wasteful because planets, especially inhabitable ones, are valuable resources that shouldn't be destroyed for short-term gains. Of course, the fact that Sandomar II could be evacuated so quickly suggests that it had a limited population which could mean that the planet did not actually have a life-sustaining environment. In that case, shattering the planet into a debris field would have made mining its natural mineral resources easier because the mined material would no longer have to be transported out of a planet's gravitational well.
Small Magellanic Cloud
In the real world, the Small Magellanic Cloud is an irregular galaxy that is the
sixth largest galaxy in the Local Group, making it smaller than the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the
Triangulum Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud and NGC 205. More information about this galaxy can be found
here on Wikipedia.
Although the Small Magellanic Cloud does not appear in Silver Surfer III#6, that issue is the only Marvel comic in which that galaxy has ever even been referenced. The presence of that reference caused me to have some thoughts about the SMC and I figured that I might as well mention them here, in this Comments section.
First, since the distance between the two Magellanic Clouds is roughly
75,000 light-years, that means that the SMC is the closest galaxy to the LMC. With that in mind, it seems likely that
the SMC would have been the first galaxy (outside of their own) that the imperialistic Kree race would have targeted
for their expansion. So, shouldn't that galaxy be full of planets that the Kree had colonized and/or conquered? And
yet, no such planet has ever even been mentioned. It makes me wonder if there might be some reason WHY the Kree
Empire hasn't expanded into the SMC, a reason that might make for an interesting story.
On the other hand, according to Official Handbook entries, only four of the known alien races
(Kree, Cotati, Vorms, Spartoi) originate from the Large Magellanic Cloud. Since this is far less than the twenty-plus
races known to be from the Andromeda Galaxy, maybe it's just that it has never occurred to any writer to choose to
identify the SMC as the home of any sentient species?
Second, the way the Omniscient Narrative describes how the Skrull warships
came "from out of the Small Magellanic Cloud" sounds peculiar, almost as if the SMC was somehow providing cover
for their approach. However, given the vast amount of empty space between the two galaxies, that could not possibly
be the reason. Also, since the two galaxies are not aligned in such a way that starships traveling from Andromeda
would have to pass through the SMC to reach the LMC, that means that the Skrull fleet traveled to the SMC (or to
some point between the two galaxies) first, and then changed course towards the LMC before attacking the outpost.
I can't see how using this odd course to approach the outpost would have given the Skrulls any tactical advantage, so
why did they bother?
I think the answer is that the information that we now know circa 2022+
was not so readily available in 1987. There was no internet...there
were encyclopedias...and I don't think an understanding of the scope of
a galaxy or the universe was understood by most. Compare it to sci-fi
from the 1950's.
--Snood
Third, while trying to figure out the relative locations of the Magellanic Clouds
and the Andromeda Galaxy, I realized that they are (I think) all on the same side of the celestial sphere, as seen from
Earth, and not on opposite sides. In other words, Earth is not midway between the Andromeda Galaxy and the home
of the Kree Empire, as Ronan once told Rick Jones. I guess that whoever decided that the Kree Empire was located in
the Large Magellanic Cloud didn't take that statement into account.
See the above--Snood
While truly green stars may not be able to exist in the real/our universe, I suspect in the Marvel Multiverse, where gamma rays are so prominent, it is different--Snood.
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The planets Sandomar II and Sandomar IV have no known connections to:
Hadrib has no known connections to:
Yikk has no known connections to:
Presumably located within the Greater (or Large) Magellanic Cloud, this outpost's presence served to mark the limits of the Kree Empire in that region of space. Based on the direction from which the outpost was attacked, that region was presumably close (in astronomical terms) to the Small Magellanic Cloud, possibly on the side of the Kree galaxy (LMC) that was nearest to the other galaxy. The name of the planet upon which the outpost was built has never been revealed.
When the self-proclaimed Skrull Emperor Kylor decided to initiate the "Second" Kree-Skrull War, this outpost was the first Kree installation that his armada targeted. Approaching from out of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the Skrull "deathships" attacked, with each ship firing deadly beams of neutron radiation that laid waste to the outpost. Outgunned by the armada, the outpost had no chance of victory or even survival but, being Kree, they presumably fought until they died. Although it seems likely that all of the Kree who had been stationed at the outpost were killed, this outcome has never been explicitly confirmed.
The Skrull attack left all of the outpost's buildings in ruins and/or on fire, and the surface of the planet (at least, that which was in close proximity to the outpost) was also ravaged and aflame.
After news of the attack reached the Kree homeworld, the Supreme Intelligence interpreted it as confirmation of its deduction concerning the sudden weakness of the Skrulls and informed its three controllers of this outcome. Phae-Dor protested that this confirmation had come at the cost of Kree lives, prompting Tus-Katt to ask why Phae-Dor cared since "the outpost military" were mostly Pink. Phae-Dor replied that they were mostly Pink, not entirely, indicating that it was only the loss of Blue Kree lives that bothered him.
Based on the location of this outpost, the Supreme Intelligence was able to deduce that the Skrull armada would next strike at Sandomar II, and it made preparations for a counterattack to take place there.
The fact that the Kree base on this planet was described as an "outpost" instead of a "colony" suggests that it was probably small and minimally equipped, and that its primary purpose was to act as a physical symbol of the border of the Kree Empire. As such, it presumably was not meant to be capable of holding off a significant enemy attack but was only intended to survive long enough to alert other imperial forces to the threat.
The fact that it was not described as a "colony" also suggests that all of the Kree present were military personnel and not civilians.
--Silver Surfer III#6
Two locations within the Kree Empire, Hadrib and Yikk were presumably both planets. However, the only thing that is known for certain about them is that, if an ethernet were "lasered" between them, then any starship traveling on a course from a certain outpost at the edge of the Kree Empire to the planet Sandomar II would travel more slowly than it would normally.
--Silver Surfer III#6 - BTS
A planet within the Kree Empire where (at least) one military base had been established. Based on its name, this planet was presumably part of the same planetary system as Sandomar II, and both planets were in orbit around the same green star. However, if Kree planet-naming conventions are different from the Roman numeral designation naming system used by science fiction writers from Earth, then maybe even that apparent proximity is just an assumption.
As with Sandomar II, virtually nothing has been revealed about Sandomar IV. This includes any information about its physical characteristics (i.e., its environment, gravity, atmosphere, and natural satellites), any native life-forms, or anything about Kree base(s) that were located on the planet (i.e., the number of bases, the number of troops stationed in them, and the weapons systems that were available to them).
As far as can be determined, Kylor's armada never actually visited this planet or obliterated its base(s).
--Silver Surfer III#6 - BTS
images: (without ads)
Silver Surfer III#6, page 6, panel 3 (main image)
page 1 (outpost being attacked)
Only Appearance:
Silver Surfer III#6 (December, 1987) - Englehart (writer), Rogers (pencils & colors), Rubinstein (inks), Higgins
(editor)
First Posted: 06/17/2022
Last updated: 06/17/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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