Real Name: Tyros
Occupation: Former dictator, former herald of Galactus
Identity: Unknown to the general public of Earth
Legal Status: Citizen of Lanlak
Other Aliases: Terrax the Tamer
Place of Birth: City of Lanlak, planet Birj
Place of Death: Queens, New York
Marital Status: Unrevealed
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: Herald of Galactus
Base of Operations: Lanlak, later mobile within the known universe
First Appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #211
Final Appearance: FANTASTIC FOUR #260
History:
Tyros was originally the dictator of the small city-state Lanlak on the world
of Birj (sometimes translated as Terran), a moon of the gas giant Marman
in a solar system eighty thousand light years from earth. Tyros ruled through
the use of his limited power over earth and rock. This power, which apparently
was a mutation unique to Tyros, enabled him to animate constructs of stone,
which would patrol his kingdom maintaining his firm control. Tyros loved
power and conquest, and led a life of debauchery and violence. Somehow, he
came to the attention of
Gatactus,
the world devourer. Galactus had been seeking a new herald to guide him to
fertile planets, which he needed for sustenance. The space being surmised
that the common fault in most of his former herald was that their moral values
prevented them from fulfilling their duties. For a new herald, Galactus sought
an individual who would have no compunction in finding worlds for Galactus
to render lifeless.
When the
Fantastic
Four came to Galactus to ask him for aid in their battle against the
Sphinx,
Galacius agreed, but only with the condition that the Fantastic Four would
journey to Birj and subdue Tyros for him. The Fantastic Four reluctantly
did this, and in doing so, they freed the city of Lanlak from Tyros' rule.
Brought before Galactus, Tyros was exposed to Galactus' cosmic power, and
was transformed into Terrax the Tamer. His minor control over stone was augmented
to an incalculable degree. Now, he could affect all matter of rock and stone
on nearly a planetary scale. His body was changed so that it would withstand
the vacuum of space. Finally, Galactus gave Terrax a weapon called the cosmic
axe capable of generating waves of cosmic force.
As Galactus's
new herald, Terras found more worlds for his master than any of the previous
heralds. Terrax likened the discovery of new planets to the feeling of conquest.
On several occasions, Terrax annihilated large segments of the population
himself using his cosmic powers. As Galactus had hoped, Terrax's lack of
morality made him a successful herald. But whereas Galactus' other heralds
had a sense of loyalty to their master, Terrax had none. Indeed, he served
Galactus out of fear for his master's power, but even conquered that fear
on several occasions to defy Galactus' wishes. Shortly after being transformed
into Galactus' herald, Terrax fled from his master and overthrew the ruling
body of a small-unnamed planet. He enslaved the entire population and set
himself up as the planet's deity.
Huge segments
of that world's people died erecting temples and cities to glorify Terrax.
Terrax planned to use the survivors of his reign as the first wave of a planned
universe conquering army. But before Terrax could proceed any further, Galactus
summoned his herald. Fearful of his master's wrath, Terrax hid in a black
hole. Utilizing the powers of the Earth mutant Dazzler, Galactus freed Terrax
and made him obedient to his will again.
But Terrax's
rebellious nature could not be totally stifled, and after a while, Terrax
again fled his master. This time, he went to Earth. Utilizing his power,
Terrax levitated the entire island of Manhattan into earth orbit and used
the lives of its millions of inhabitants to bargain with the Fantastic Four.
To spare Manhattan, Terrax demanded that they destroy Galactus by attacking
his ship. Galactus had by now realized that his herald had become a liability
to him, Returning Manhattan to Earth, Galactus stripped Terrax of his cosmic
power and the transformed alien was sent hurtling from the top of the World
Trade Center down to the street below. Although seriously injured, Terrax's
alien physique enabled him to survive the fall. An unidentified passerby
took Terrax's broken form unknown to both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers,
who were present at the site, to a nearby hospital. He remained there for
several months in a semi comatose state.
Victor
von Doom, looking for a pawn to use in a plot against the Fantastic Four,
discovered the fact of Terrax's survival. Terrax was kidnapped from the hospital
and brought back to Doom's kingdom of Latveria by a squad of robots dispatched
by Doom. There, after six weeks of Doom's advanced treatments, Terrax recovered.
But, having been stripped of cosmic power, Terrax had no memories of having
been the herald of Galactus, and thus called himself Tyros once more. Doom
had recently perfected a device that was capable of endowing an individual
with limited cosmic power. Tyros readily agreed to be exposed to the device's
energies, as he wished revenge against the Fantastic Four. Garbed in a special
suit that would channel and regulate the cosmic energies in his body, Tyros
set off for New York. Unknown to him, the power Doom gave him would consume
Tyros's body within a matter of hours. Thus, Doom would not be faced with
an adversary whose power was vaster than his own, once Tyros had served his
purpose.
Tyros defeated
the Fantastic Four and, detesting the fact he was in the service of any master,
he turned on Doom and immobilized the Latverian monarch in his armor. At
Tyros's moment of seeming triumph, the
Silver
Surfer, the first of Galactus's heralds, arrived to save the lives of
his friends, the Fantastic Four. Tyros believed that his power level was
equal to that of the Surfer's but Tyros was no match for someone who had
received cosmic power from Galactus himself. Because of this, Tyros was forced
to use his powers to the limit in order to combat the Surfer. This only served
to hasten his inevitable deterioration. As the two former heralds of Galactus
engaged in battle, Tyros was totally consumed by the "power cosmic." Though
many thought he was dead, Terrax had merely been stripped of the power Doom
had given him. Terrax remained in hiding for many years afterwards to avoid
punishment for his crimes.
Height:
6 ft. 6 in.
Weight: 2,750 lbs.
Eyes: Grey
Hair: None
Strength
Level: Terrax's strength had been augmented by Galactus to enable him
to lift (press) 75 tons without supplementing it in any way by additional
cosmic energy. Terrax's previous level of strength is unknown.
Known Superhuman
Powers: Terrax possessed vast cosmic power granted him by Galactus. Terrax's
body was coated with a flexible rock-like shell that was impervious to extremes
of heat and cold, from 50 degrees above absolute zero to the interior of
a small sun, pressure up to 100 Earth atmospheres, and concussive force up
to a fall at terminal velocity from the limit of Earth's exosphere. His body
had been sustained by cosmic energy, making it unnecessary for him to eat
or breathe.
Terrax's mutant
ability to psionically manipulate the molecules of rock and earth was augmented
by Gaiactus's transformation at least a hundredfold. Terrax could move planetary
masses up to 100 miles in diameter. He could move asteroids of 10 miles in
diameter at speeds of up to thousands of miles per hour. He could control
the direction of a swarm of meteors within 100 miles of his person. With
concentration, he could affect a small piece of matter 1000 miles away from
him. The farther the distance, however, the less mass he was able to affect.
Standing on a planetary surface, he could affect tectonic plates sufficiently
to cause earthquakes and create chasms in the surface thousands of feet deep
or wide. Deploying his powers to the maximum extent, he could separate a
landmass the size of Manhattan Island and levitate it miles off the Earth's
surface. On worlds with lesser gravities, he could lift even greater
masses.
Terrax, like
all of Galactus's heralds, was able to enter warp-space and negotiate through
it in order to cover great spatial distances. Traversing through the normal
universe, he was able to attain .75 the speed of light.
Weapons:
Terrax wielded a cosmic axe which had several powers of its own. It was capable
of emanating waves of destructive force sufficiently powerful to rent a tear
in Galactus's own ship. It could also project highly impervious force shields.
Since it operated independently of rock and earth, the axe augmented the
scope of Terrax's power.