Gorgon
Gorgon is an Inhuman and a member of the Inhuman Royal Family who bears large, powerful hooves. He has no siblings, but he is the cousin of several prominent Inhumans, including Black Bolt.
Biography
Exile from Attilan
In the early 1960s, Gorgon's cousin King Black Bolt ruled Attilan peacefully and justly while his mad brother Maximus was imprisoned. Maximus fomented a revolt among the Alpha Primitives, led by the empowered Trikon, in an attempt to wreak havoc and allow him to usurp the throne. During the battle, Medusa was violently stricken with amnesia, and Black Bolt and Lockjaw sent the Trikon through a portal to the Negative Zone. Medusa wandered out of Attilan, conscious of little beyond her own name. Maximus's insurrection proved successful, as he banished the rest of the royal family from Attilan while making their ousting look like a voluntary abdication and self-imposed exile. Gorgon tried to attack Maximus during the uprising, but the usurper revealed that he had Gorgon's parents, Korath and Milena, prisoner.
The royal family spent the next several months searching for Medusa, their powers attracting unwanted attention in Europe. The young Crystal in particular grew restless without children her age to play with. Gorgon surreptitiously visited Maximus and negotiated the family's return on the condition that they bring back Medusa as well, and that Gorgon's parents would remain prisoners. Gorgon wanted to see his parents, so Maximus's loyal lieutenant, the Seeker led him to the dungeon, where Milena told him that Korath had been killed in an attempted escape. Seeker shot Gorgon with a stun beam, placed a transmitter in his headband, and dropped him outside Attilan. Maximus told Gorgon through a video screen that if he returned again without Medusa, Milena would be killed as well. After the family had spent two years searching, Gorgon found Medusa outside Paris, France, but she fled from him due to an unconscious association with the Trikon.
Emergence
Medusa appeared in New York City as a member of the villainous team known as the Frightful Four, formed to combat the heroic Fantastic Four. The four proved a potent challenge to the famous heroes, but in the end, all but Medusa were captured and incarcerated.[1] Medusa became an infamous figure, and her publicity drew the family to New York, where they hid in an underground base in the Bowery while Gorgon pursued her. The family's private meetings were transmitted in full to the Seeker, who arrived in New York shortly after the Frightful Four were defeated.[2] Gorgon pursued Medusa, and she fled to the Baxter Building and abducted Human Torch, forcing him to drive her away from Gorgon using a "vacuum gun" that kept his flames at bay. Gorgon climbed to the top of the Baxter Building and stole the Fantastic Four's helicopter to give chase. Soon, the monstrous Dragon Man got involved, bearing a possessive desire for Medusa—and the Fantastic Four's Invisible Girl.
Medusa, Gorgon, Dragon Man, and the Fantastic Four eventually came to a confrontation on a rooftop near the Baxter Building, and Gorgon told the heroes that he and Medusa belonged to the same race. Dragon Man fled with Invisible Girl, and Gorgon grabbed Medusa and stomped again, causing the building beneath them all to begin to crumble.[3] Gorgon escaped with Medusa, returning her to the hideout. Medusa's memory was restored, though it's unclear how—it's possible that being around her entire family triggered the return of her memories.[2] The naïve Crystal soon granted the Human Torch access to the hideout, thinking he was a fellow Inhuman. Gorgon recognized him and attacked, but Torch quickly fled through the ceiling, burning through it and exposing the hideout. He signaled for his teammates, who soon arrived and confronted the Inhumans.[4]
Black Bolt returned from a brief excursion soon after, and the Inhumans and Fantastic Four fought. Mr. Fantastic fought Triton, ripping his robe and unwittingly forcing Triton to flee into the ocean. Almost immediately after diving in, Triton was found by the Seeker and abducted. Seeker and his men imprisoned Triton in a small aquarium in a secret base nearby. They also held the unconscious Dragon Man captive, having taken him from containment in the Baxter Building after assuming he was an Inhuman. Meanwhile, the other Inhumans discovered that Triton had been taken, and concluded that their hideout had been compromised. Afraid of the Seeker's pursuit, they fled to Attilan using Lockjaw's portal to confront Maximus directly. Crystal wanted to remain with Johnny, and Medusa supported giving her the chance to live as a human, but Karnak and Gorgon held her back, insisting that she remain to keep the family together. For his part, Black Bolt's electron energy had been expended, leaving him disabled. Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four arrived at Seeker's base as Dragon Man escaped,[5] though they soon subdued him. Seeker left for Attilan with Triton in tow, but Mr. Fantastic planted a tracking device on his ship allowing the heroes to follow.
Reclaiming Attilan
The family arrived in Attilan and Maximus glad-handed them, feigning peacefulness. He made his intentions known: namely, that he wished to make Medusa his queen. In an act of desperation, Black Bolt snatched the crown from Maximus's head and wore it himself, reclaiming his rightful title. They asked about Triton, and Maximus revealed a monitor showing him contained in water in another room. The Fantastic Four arrived outside, and Crystal ran out to them to greet Johnny. The other Inhumans came outside to separate them, escalating tensions between the two groups. Speaking on Black Bolt's behalf, Medusa told the Fantastic Four that the king would spare their lives if they left now and told no one of what they had seen. Mr. Fantastic tried to convince them to cease their isolationism and join Earth society at large. Meanwhile, Maximus retreated to an inner sanctum of the royal palace, revealing a huge, special weapon called the atmo-gun, which would vibrate the Earth's atmosphere in such a way as to kill all humans (but not Inhumans) on the planet. By using it, Maximus hoped to conquer the world upon reclaiming rule of Attilan.[6]
It soon became clear that, though the vibrations were strong enough to knock everyone in the world briefly off balance, Maximus had miscalculated his plan. He had believed that humans were farther away genetically from Inhumans, and thereby unwittingly fired the atmo-gun at a non-fatal frequency. Black Bolt slapped Maximus to the ground, and the Seeker shamelessly submitted to the rightful king's rule. Medusa told Maximus that she would only ever give her heart to Black Bolt—but that she would wait until he had fulfilled his destiny of helping the Inhumans rejoin humanity. Enraged at his failure, Maximus reversed the charge on the atmo-gun and used it to create a thick "negative zone"[note 1] around the city that forced the Fantastic Four to retreat, much to Johnny and Crystal's dismay.[7]
Gorgon chased down Maximus and Seeker, eager to mete out revenge for his father's death and their other crimes against their people. Seeker triggered a painful electric shock in Gorgon's headband transmitter, incapacitating him as the two fled. Black Bolt arrived and destroyed the device, and he and Gorgon reunited with Triton in his tank nearby. Triton and Gorgon deduced that Black Bolt's energetic abilities would allow him to track the signal operating the transmitter to locate the Seeker and Maximus. Black Bolt and Gorgon found the villains lying in wait in the dungeons, where Maximus used his mental powers to control the king's mind and attack Gorgon. A downed Gorgon taunted Seeker and demanded that he do the killing himself instead. The arrogant Seeker complied, firing his laser gun at Gorgon, who pulled Black Bolt in front of him. The blast hit Black Bolt's antenna, redirecting and focusing its energy toward Maximus, striking him unconscious. Seeker tried to escape, but Gorgon stomped and caused a cave-in, killing him and achieving vengeance for Korath. Maximus came to, but had suffered severe psychological damage. He was imprisoned once again, and Attilan returned to Black Bolt's peaceful rule.[2]
Notes
- ↑ Also known as a negative barrier, to differentiate it from the Negative Zone.
References
- ↑ Fantastic Four #43: "Lo, There Shall Be an Ending!" (October 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Colletta, Vince (i), Simek, Artie (let).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Inhumans: The Untold Saga #1: "Remembrances of Revolutions Past." (April 1990) Mougin, Lou (w), Howell, Richard (art), Colletta, Vince (i), Albers, Diana (let).
- ↑ Fantastic Four #44: "The Gentleman's Name Is Gorgon!" (November 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Sinnott, Joe (i), Rosen, Sam (let).
- ↑ Fantastic Four #45: "Among Us Hide...the Inhumans." (December 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Sinnott, Joe (i), Simek, Artie (let).
- ↑ Fantastic Four #46: "Those Who Would Destroy Us!" (January 1966) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Sinnott, Joe (i), Simek, Artie (let).
- ↑ Fantastic Four #47: "Beware the Hidden Land!" (February 1966) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Sinnott, Joe (i), Simek, Artie (let).
- ↑ Fantastic Four #48: "The Coming of Galactus!" (March 1966) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Sinnott, Joe (i), Simek, Artie (let).