Merlin
Merlin was a legendary wizard who lived in medieval England, believed to be one of the greatest sorcerers in human history. He was the mentor to the young King Arthur.
Appropriately, Merlin's exact nature is highly mysterious, to the point that there may have even been multiple Merlins throughout history. One such Merlin, who awoke in the 20th century, in fact possessed the abilities of telepathy, telekinesis, and limited teleportation intrinsically rather than through magic. This Merlin erroneously believed the cause of these powers to be a mutation.
Biography
Medieval times
Around the 10th century, Merlin was a valued advisor to King Arthur, using his abilities to wow the king and his subjects and lead him to victory.[1] He also possessed a horde of treasure that granted its owner the power of invincibility, which eventually found its way into the possession of pirates.[2] Merlin was also a contemporary of Tyrannus, and banished him to the center of the earth for unknown reasons.[3] Merlin was briefly defeated and imprisoned by the time traveler Kang, who sought to overthrow Arthur and thereby alter the timeline and wipe his foes from the future from existence. The Human Torch and the Thing were sent back in time by Uatu the Watcher, and freed Merlin and helped him force Kang to flee through time.[4]
Around this time, Merlin—or possibly someone claiming to be him—faked his death and put himself into suspended animation, to be revived when his coffin was opened.
20th century
Merlin's coffin was opened in 1963 as part of a much-publicized archaeological discovery. The archaeologists supposed Merlin to be dead but perfectly preserved through magic, and left Merlin alone in a room. Merlin awoke and sought out to reenact his role in the middle ages, that of a close advisor to the king who in fact held much of the king's power. Grabbing a newspaper, he learned that the "king" of the day was President John F. Kennedy. In an attempt to garner attention and demonstrate his power, Merlin went to a nearby launch site and sent a launched satellite there out of its projected path. News of this event reached the hero Thor, who soon arrived onsite and pushed the satellite back on track. Merlin decided to take his efforts to the source, traveling to Washington D.C. to find President Kennedy and make his presence felt. Thor tracked him down and the two did battle, with Merlin using the various monuments across Washington to his advantage. Thor used his ability to transform to Don Blake to trick Merlin into thinking that he was a powerful sorcerer himself, able to shift into any number of forms. Merlin was terrified of Thor's power, and Thor convinced him to return to his crypt and sleep for another thousand years.[1] It is likely that this Merlin was in fact not the same as Arthur's mentor.
See also
- Merlin on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Journey into Mystery #96a: "Defying the Magic of Mad Merlin!" (September 1963) Lee, Stan and Robert Bernstein (w), Sinnott, Joe (art), Simek, Artie (let).
- ↑ The Fantastic Four #5: "Prisoners of Doctor Doom!" (July 1962) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Sinnott, Joe (i), Goldberg, Stan (col), Simek, Artie (let).
- ↑ The Incredible Hulk #5a: "Beauty and the Beast!" (January 1963) Lee, Stan (w), Kirby, Jack (p), Ayers, Dick (i), Simek, Artie (let), Lee, Stan (ed).
- ↑ Strange Tales #134a: "The Challenge of...the Watcher!" (July 1965) Lee, Stan (w), Powell, Bob (p), Wood, Wallace (i), Simek, Artie (let).