TARSIS
Official Name: Tarsis
Nature: Debris field (beginning to form an asteroid belt);
formerly an extraterrestrial planet
located in a planetary system at the outer rim of the Greater Magellanic Cloud
(Kree Galaxy)
Environment: Outer space;
previously a life-sustaining biosphere
Gravity: Multiple very small gravitational fields associated with individual asteroids;
previously a planetary gravitational field that was not greater than that of the planet
Hala
Atmosphere: Vacuum;
previously an unspecified combination of gases (nitrogen and oxygen) that the Kree could
(presumably) breathe without artificial aids
Natural Satellites: None;
It has not been revealed if Tarsis was orbited by any moons prior to its destruction. If any
moons had existed, then they would have either been shattered by collisions with debris from Tarsis or lost in
space once they were no longer held by the gravitational pull of Tarsis
Natives: None;
It has not been revealed if there were any native sentients before the Kree colonized the
planet
Population: None;
Population who lived on Tarsis before the coming of Galactus has not been revealed
Capital City: None;
The name of the capital city that existed before the coming of Galactus has not been revealed
Government: None;
before the coming of Galactus, Tarsis, as a Kree colony, would have been ruled by a Kree
governor
Major Languages: None;
pre-Galactus, probably a Kree language
Monetary Units: Kredits (before Galactus)
Planetary Defense: None;
pre-Galactus, unspecified units of the Kree military, including an unspecified number of
fighters
Places of Interest: None known (all now destroyed)
Visitors: Galactus (Galan), the Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd), Captain Mar-Vell, Lieutenant Ran-Deff
First Appearance: The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (April, 1997)
History:
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (fb) - BTS) - Once upon a time, Tarsis was a habitable planet located in a star
system at the rim of the Greater Magellanic Cloud.
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Tarsis was apparently colonized (and/or conquered) by the Kree, thereby becoming a Kree planet.
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (fb) - BTS) - Lieutenant Ran-Deff was present on Tarsis at some time before the coming of Galactus and considered it to be "a beautiful, peaceful planet."
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Silver Surfer led Galactus to Tarsis where the world-devourer began to assemble his Elemental Converter. Kree forces attacked the invaders but their attempts were futile. Kree weapons were unable to harm Galactus or his machine, and the Silver Surfer easily blasted Kree fighters out of the air while flying too fast for the Kree to get a systems lock on him.
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (fb) - BTS) - Captain Mar-Vell was given the mission of extracting a Kree Intelligence Matrix from Tarsis before the planet was consumed by Galactus. During this mission, Mar-Vell commanded (at least) six other Kree, including Lieutenant Ran-Deff, four privates and the pilot of the evac transport.
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (fb) - BTS) - Mar-Vell's team acquired the Intelligence Matrix and began withdrawing to the evac transport.
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1) - As Mar-Vell's team neared the landing zone, Kree forces continued their futile attacks on Galactus as he powered up his Elemental Converter and on the Silver Surfer who blasted Wing Four just as its pilot radioed, "Wing Four, going in! Cover m--**" The burning fighter crashed just behind Mar-Vell's team, prompting Lieutenant Ran-Deff to say, "Close one! Remember when this used to be a beautiful, peaceful planet?" Captain Mar-Vell ordered him to "Belay the chatter!" and reminded his team that they were waiting for that Intelligence Matrix back at headquarters and that the evac transport was just beyond the ridge they were on. Mar-Vell then gave the order, "Let's go get it!"
As they neared the transport, its pilot called out to the captain that it was about time they showed and expressed his thought that he would have breathed his last, waiting for them. The captain replied that today was as good a day to die as any other.
Upon boarding the transport, Captain Mar-Vell ordered the unit to be locked down, stat. As soon as Lieutenant Ran-Deff reported that the Matrix had been stowed, Mar-Vell ordered all stations to be secured and to prepare for departure. However, when a planet-quake then struck, Mar-Vell ordered an emergency take-off, and the transport launched immediately, before the hatch was fully closed. Unfortunately, Ran-Deff wasn't secured yet (because his harness had jammed) and when the transport was then struck a glancing blow by a crashing fighter, both he and the Matrix were thrown out through the still-open hatch.
Within seconds, Captain Mar-Vell reacted, using his air-jet belt to fly out of the transport and down to the two falling objects where he chose to grab hold of the falling soldier, allowing the Matrix to fall to its destruction in the burning landscape below. As he flew Ran-Deff back to the transport, Mar-Vell criticized his sloppy work and told him that he was on report. Once back aboard the transport (as it flew over Galactus), Mar-Vell declared that the mission was a scrub and ordered the pilot to get them up beyond the ionosphere before the whole place blew!
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1) - As the Elemental Converter activated, Kree observers reported that the cascade effect was beginning and ordered all units to fall back! The campaign was over, Tarsis had fallen, and they were pulling out! As the transport departed, Captain Mar-Vell looked back at the exploding planet and recalled Ran-Deff's words.
(Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 - BTS) - Later, at Regional Command on the planet Kree-Lar, Colonel Hez-Tarr reminded Captain Mar-Vell that his mission had been to extract the Intelligence Matrix from Tarsis before Galactus consumed the planet so that they might obtain valuable telemetry for the Supreme Intelligence that could have led to the development of a defense against Galactus but that he had allowed it to plunge to its destruction by choosing to save a subordinate whose duty required that he lay down his life for the empire if needed. After berating Mar-Vell a bit more, the colonel gave Mar-Vell his new orders from Central Command and dismissed him.
Soon afterwards, Mar-Vell reported for duty on the imperial starcruiser Pama in spacedock and met two of his new ship-mates, Colonel Yon-Rogg and Medic Una, the latter of whom volunteered to show Mar-Vell to his quarters. Along the way, Una mentioned that she had expected Mar-Vell to be someone "less rigid" because she had scanned Colonel Hez-Tarr's report on his actions in "the Tarsis operation." Una went on to state that she had never met a Kree soldier who placed greater value on a human life than on a military objective. And they continued to talk...
Comments: Created by Tom Brevoort with Mike Kanterovich, Scott Kolins and John Lowe.
The debris left behind by the destruction of Tarsis may have spread out to become an asteroid field orbiting the star that Tarsis had once orbited. Eventually, after thousands or millions of years, some (or much) of that debris might be pulled together by their mutual gravitational attractions to form another planet. Or not.
Although the miniseries doesn't explicitly say so, I've always suspected that the reason why Mar-Vell was not stripped of his rank and confined to Stockade for the rest of his life due to his failure to carry out this mission was because either someone in Central Command (like Minister Zarek) and/or the Supreme Intelligence itself had taken notice of the "lapses of judgment" in his military record and had begun to consider him as a potential candidate for their respective schemes.
Another thing that wasn't made clear was why the recorded data couldn't simply be transmitted off the planet by subspace radio or whatever means of really advanced communications technology the Kree possessed. Perhaps there was something about the presence of Galactus or the operation of his Elemental Converter that would have disrupted any attempted data transfer? Just a thought.
Although it's never been officially established, it seems likely that Tarsis was the last planet that Galactus had consumed before the Silver Surfer summoned him to Earth. Consider the following two chronologies:
Timeline of Events depicted in The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel
LS:
1. The Silver Surfer was present when the planet Tarsis was consumed by Galactus.
2. Mar-Vell traveled (for an unspecified time) from Tarsis to Kree-Lar.
3. Mar-Vell was part of the crew of the starcruiser Pama during its voyage (of unspecified duration) from
Kree-Lar to the Absolom Sector.
4. The Pama landed on a planet in the Absolom Sector where the crew was swiftly overwhelmed by Brood.
5. Mar-Vell, Yon-Rogg and Una left the Brood planetoid aboard the Sick Bay jettisoned/launched from the Pama.
6. Three weeks later, the trio were found in space by Lady Deathbird's scoutship. Mar-Vell demanded that they be
escorted to the Kree homeworld but the Shi'ar regent set course for Kree-Lar instead.
7. Several weeks later, on Kree-Lar, Mar-Vell checked out from Central Medical for his new assignment aboard the
Hala[sic] under Colonel Yon-Rogg.
Fantastic Four Chronology:
1. Fantastic Four I#48 (March, 1966) - The Silver Surfer led Galactus to Earth (Note: Galactus had
previously been led to Earth in 1582 A.D. by a different Herald - see S.H.I.E.L.D. I#1 & 3).
2. Fantastic Four I#50 (May, 1966) - Thanks to interference from the Watcher Uatu, Galactus was forced to leave Earth
but he punished the Silver Surfer for his betrayal by trapping him on Earth.
3. Fantastic Four I#64 (July, 1967) - First modern contact with the Kree occurred when the Fantastic Four encountered
and defeated a Kree Sentry stationed on a small deserted island in the South Pacific Ocean.
4. Fantastic Four I#65 (August, 1967) - The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree contacted the Fantastic Four in their
dreams, then Ronan the Accuser arrived on Earth to judge them but was defeated.
5. The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#3 (June, 1997) - Mar-Vell and Una were assigned to Colonel Yon-Rogg's
new ship, the Hala, just in time to be part of the mission to a far-off backwater planet where the native
"Earthlings" had recently defeated a Kree Sentry and repelled Ronan the Accuser.
6. Marvel Super-Heroes I#12 (December, 1967) - Carrying Captain Mar-Vell, Colonel Yon-Rogg and Medic Una, the Kree
starship Helion arrived at Earth.
The events on Tarsis (depicted in the first 8 pages of TULOCM#1) must take place before FF#48 and the events on Kree-Lar (shown in the final 2 pages of TULOCM#3) must take place after FF#65. That means that 18 FF issues, more than one year of stories, must take place within the same time period as the whole TULOCM miniseries.
Not all planets "consumed" by Galactus are as thoroughly destroyed as Tarsis and the Skrull Throneworld were. For example, in Reality-7940, seen in Marvel Two-In-One I#100, Earth-Galactus Devoured survived even though Galactus had absorbed all of the planet's life-force, the life-giving energy that helped sustain life on it. Despite this loss, the planet remained intact and some human survived and began to rebuild civilization. I wonder, what percentage of the planets consumed by Galactus are completely reduced to rubble floating free in space and how many remain intact and barely habitable?
Considering the incredible amount of energy that would be required to destroy a planet in the way that Tarsis was, it seems unbelievably wasteful that Galactus would choose to use such methods to obtain the energy he needs. I suppose that's why it was later claimed that Galactus only needed to consume the "nigh-mystic energy" that was the target planet's Life-Force instead of other, less exotic forms of energy, like that which he expended in order to get that which would sustain him.
In Incredible Hulk II#191 (September, 1975) it was revealed that the Tribbitites enslaved the Broggs from Tarsis 12. Same planet or just one from the same star system?
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The now-destroyed planet Tarsis has no known connections to:
The vehicle that was sent to evacuate Captain Mar-Vell, his team and the Kree Intelligence Matrix from Tarsis before Galactus consumed the planet.
It was not made clear if this spacecraft was specifically designed to serve as an evacuation transport or if it was just a transport that had been assigned to evacuate Mar-Vell and his team from that particular planet.
The transport was approximately 30 feet in length and about 12 feet high and 12 feet wide. Its overall shape could be described as a rectangular cuboid with a rounded nose. The hull was relatively smooth, with the only three features that disrupted its uniformity being the two large windows at the bow, the large square door on the right side, and the two small wing-like protrusions that extended downward at about a 45° angle from where they were located on the rear half of the hull. Although they looked like wings, they had too little surface area to produce much lift when moving through atmospheres so something else (like an anti-gravity field) must have been used to enable the transport to fly. The craft did not appear to have any landing gear (but the "wings" may have helped keep it upright when on a solid surface).
The transport's interior was divided into three sections, all located on a single level. The forward section filled the rounded nose and took up about one-quarter of the craft's length. This was the cockpit from where the pilot(s) controlled the transport's flight. The two seats on this flight deck were located side-by-side, with the pilot seated in the right-hand seat. The largest features of this section were the two large, curved windows that comprised most of the upper half of the hull and which provided the pilot(s) with good outside situational awareness during flight.
The transport's middle section was its passenger/cargo compartment and took up about one-half of the craft's total length. The main feature of this section was the large square door that was part of the right side of the hull. The only way into and out of the transport, this door was hinged at the bottom and opened by swinging downward to serve as a ramp. The only other external features of this section were those two "wings" that protruded from the hull immediately to the rear of the doorway. Within this section, the floor was level and about a foot above the bottom of the hull. There were at least five seats in this section, with four situated against the left side of the inner hull and one seat against the right side, just behind the door. All of the seats (referred to as "stations") were equipped with over-the-shoulder restraints in the form of solid U-shaped bars that swung down to hold their occupants in place, and were considered secured once the harnesses were locked in position. Any cargo being carried was positioned in the center, between the seats, and fastened in place by several restraints.
The transport's rear section took up the final one-quarter of the craft's length and was where the thrusters were located. Arranged in a square configuration (i.e., two rows of two), the four thrusters appeared to be rocket engines that provided forward thrust for the transport. This section of the transport's interior seemed to be filled with equipment and may have (probably) included the power source and/or fuel supply for the spacecraft.
As a spacecraft meant to carry living beings, the transport possessed life support systems that maintained a habitable (for Kree) environment within the vessel. These systems regulated the air temperature and pressure, and provided sufficient oxygen while removing carbon dioxide produced by its crew and passengers. Although there was no evidence of a galley or a sickbay onboard, the transport was presumably equipped with emergency rations and water supplies as well as emergency medical supplies. As to where these systems were located, who knows?
This evac transport was first seen on the surface of the planet Tarsis, not too far from the city or base where the Intelligence Matrix was located. The pilot was waiting in the open doorway when Captain Mar-Vell and his team approached and greeted them by saying, "About time you showed up, Captain! Thought I'd breathe my last, waiting for you!" The team quickly boarded the transport and got the Intelligence Matrix locked down. Once Lieutenant Ran-Deff reported that the Matrix had been stowed, Mar-Vell ordered all stations to be secured and to prepare for departure. However, a planet-quake struck before the transport could take off so Mar-Vell ordered an emergency take-off and the transport blasted off from the surface with the hatch not yet fully closed. Mar-Vell then noticed that Ran-Deff's station was not secured (because his harness was jammed) and before the lieutenant could unjam it the transport was struck a glancing blow by a crashing fighter. The force of the impact caused the Intelligence Matrix to break free from its restraints, and both it and Ran-Daff were thrown out through the still-open hatch. Captain Mar-Vell immediately freed himself from his harness and used his air-jet belt to dive out of the transport, to the vocal alarm of his team. Mar-Vell then flew down to grab the falling soldier, allowing the Matrix to fall to its destruction in the burning landscape below. Mar-Vell then flew himself and Ran-Deff back to the transport and, as the craft passed over the feeding Galactus, he ordered the pilot to get them up beyond the ionosphere before the whole place blew!
--The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1
Note: To me, the design of this evac transport looks incredibly NON-aerodynamic and that bothered me (when I thought about it, not constantly) for years. It was only as I was finally completing this profile that I realized that the shuttlecraft from the Star Trek universe are equally non-aerodynamic and I've never spent any time wondering how they flew, so why should I waste my time trying to figure out how this transport could possibly fly and how its pilot(s) could direct its flight? So, now that I've had that revelation, I'm not even going to try.
Small fixed-wing military aircraft that were fast and maneuverable, these Kree fighters were designed for air-to-air combat in planetary atmospheres and (probably) in space but could also attack targets on planetary surfaces.
These fighters were small, probably less than 20 feet in length, and that fuselage was divided into three sections: the nose cone, the wings and the engines. The cockpit was part of the nose cone and its clear canopy gave the pilot good situational awareness. The wings were not that large, seemed to be triangular and were fixed high on the craft above the fuselage, with a vertical stabilizer mounted on top of the rear fuselage. The rear of the fighter was where the rocket engines that provided forward thrust were located.
These fighters were presumably single-pilot craft. They had no visible landing gear (at least while in flight). The surface area of their wings was too small to produce enough lift to keep the fighters aloft so there must have been some other mechanism (like an anti-gravity generator) that enabled them to fly.
These fighters were definitely armed, presumably with directed-energy weapons instead of projectile weapons, but no details about their exact armaments have been revealed. They were equipped with computerized (fire-control) systems designed to assist the pilots in targeting, tracking and hitting their targets. However, certain enemies could move too fast for the computers to get a systems lock on them.
After Galactus arrived on Tarsis, a large number of these fighters were sent to attack him and his Elemental Converter. It has not been revealed if these fighters were already stationed on the planet or if they were sent to Tarsis specifically to try to deal with his threat. In any event, all of their attacks failed to inflict any damage on either Galactus or his devices. It's not clear if this was because they were both too durable or if they were protected by powerful force fields.
Although Galactus was the primary target, his herald was designated Target Two. However, the Kree fighters were equally ineffective against the Silver Surfer because he flew too fast for them to get a system lock on him. Unlike his master, who simply ignored all attacks directed at him, the Silver Surfer actively battled the Kree fighters and easily destroyed them, either by flying through them (like a projectile) at high speeds or by blasting them with bursts of energy from his hands. One of the fighters that were shot down by the Silver Surfer struck a glancing blow to a certain evac transport as it was attempting to leave the planet, thus creating a situation that led to the failure of Captain Mar-Vell's mission.
None of the names of the ill-fated Kree pilots flying these fighters have been revealed. When communicating with each other via radio, they used call signs like "Wing Seven" and "Wing Four."
--The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1
A Kree data storage device, the Intelligence Matrix was located on Tarsis where it recorded all measurements made by a wide variety of automatic instruments around the planet. The Matrix itself was about seven feet long by five feet high and one foot wide, and its overall shape resembled a fat P with patterns that looked somewhat like circuitry all over its surface. The Matrix was apparently equipped with its own anti-gravity generator that kept it suspended about a foot above the ground when being moved.
Once Galactus had arrived on Tarsis, the Kree military headquarters realized that the Intelligence Matrix could now contain valuable telemetry that might lead to the development of a defense against Galactus, and Captain Mar-Vell was chosen to lead the mission to extract it from Tarsis before the planet was consumed by Galactus.
Mar-Vell and his team successfully recovered the Intelligence Matrix and transported it to their evac transport where it was stowed and locked down. However, a sudden planet-quake forced an emergency take-off before the transport's hatch could fully close. Only seconds after the launch, the transport was struck a glancing blow by a crashing fighter with enough force to tear the Intelligence Matrix loose from its restraints. The Matrix and the also-unsecured Lieutenant Ran-Deff were then both hurled out through the still-open hatch. Captain Mar-Vell immediately used his air-belt jets to dive out of the transport after them but he chose to grab and save the falling soldier, allowing the Intelligence Matrix to plunge to its destruction in the burning landscape below.
After Mar-Vell returned to Regional Command on the planet Kree-Lar, he was berated for making that choice by Colonel Hez-Tarr who reminded Mar-Vell that the subordinate he had saved instead of the Matrix was a Kree soldier whose duty required him to lay down his life for the empire, should necessity warrant it.
--The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1
Note: Although the Intelligence Matrix apparently contained its own anti-gravity generator, it seems that it was not powerful enough to keep it suspended in mid-air after being thrown out of the evac transport. And even if it had been powerful enough to have prevented the Matrix from impacting on the ground below, it wouldn't have been protected from the inferno that had been triggered by Galactus nor from the planet's explosive destruction.
images: (without ads)
The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1, pages 2-3 (main image)
page 8, panel 2 (Tarsis being destroyed by the Cascade Effect)
page 8, panel 3 (Mar-Vell looking back at the exploding planet)
page 5, panel 1 (evac transport on the surface)
page 8, panel 1 (evac transport fleeing the planet)
page 4, panel 1 (fighter Wing Four being blasted by the Silver Surfer)
page 6, panel 3 (crashing fighter striking the evac transport)
page 4, panel 2 (Intelligence Matrix being moved by Mar-Vell's team)
page 5, panel 3 (Intelligence Matrix stowed aboard the evac transport)
page 7, panel 2 (Intelligence Matrix and Lieutenant Ran-Deff falling
towards the flaming surface)
Only Appearance:
The Untold Legend of Captain Marvel#1 (April, 1997) - Tom Brevoort with Mike Kanterovich (story), Scott Kolins
(pencils), John Lowe (inks), Mark Bernardo (editor)
First Posted: 06/11/2022
Last updated: 06/11/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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