Korvac

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Korvac

Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Giant-Size Defenders #3 (January 1975)
Created by	Steve Gerber, Jim Starlin

Characteristics
Alter ego	Michael Korvac
Affiliations	Brotherhood of Badoon
Notable aliases	The Machine Man, The Enemy
Abilities	Controls a portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic

Michael Korvac, more often simply called Korvac, is a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics. He has also been called The Enemy, The Machine God and The Clockwork Lord. He was a cyborg from the 31st century of Earth-691 in the fictional Marvel Universe.

1 Fictional character history
2 Powers and Abilities
3 Trivia
4 Appearances
5 References

[edit] Fictional character history

[edit] Origin

Michael was born to Jordan and Myra Korvac on Luna in 2977. Due to events surrounding his birth, Michael's father was killed and he was raised by his mother to have a hateful and vengeful attitude. When the Sol System and its colonies were conquered by the Brotherhood of Badoon, Korvac became a collaborator and traitor to the human race.

The aliens grafted his body to a machine as a cruel prank, making him a cyborg and leaving him despondent and reinforcing his hatred towards the universe. Planning to conquer the universe for himself, Korvac launched a campaign against the free peoples of the cosmos. During this time, he was plucked from the future and made to compete in a game of combat by the Grandmaster. After his return to his native time, he was defeated in battle by the Guardians of the Galaxy and quickly escaped to the twentieth century.

[edit] Korvac Saga

Cover to a reprint of The Korvac Saga, depicting the large number of superhumans that united against the threat of Korvac.

Upon his arrival, Korvac discovered the space station of Galactus. Attempting to download the knowledge of Galactus from the station onto his own system, Korvac somehow became imbued with the Power Cosmic and became a god-like being. He then travelled straight to Earth, hoping to make it into his own personal utopia.

The Elder of the Universe known as the Collector had foreseen the coming of two beings that would be capable of challenging the Elders (Korvac and Thanos), so he remade his own daughter Carina into a being of incredible power to use as a weapon against them. Sending her to Korvac in New York to be his wife, the Collector's plans fell apart when he was defeated by the Avengers.

Tracking down Korvac in Forest Hills Gardens with the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Avengers arrived at the house and started talking with what appeared to them to be an unassuming couple. Unfortunately for Korvac, the decision to alter Starhawk so that he could not perceive Korvac in any way backfired. When the Avengers were about to leave, Starhawk informed the others that he was completely unable to perceive Korvac and he reacted in anger that no one was there. The Avengers and the other Guardians then knew, as did others. Michael had been slowly realigning the universe for good keeping his moves a secret, but now realized that his existence had just become evident to the other cosmic entities of the universe including Odin and the Watcher, who were turning their gaze in his direction. Korvac was saddened that his plans were ruined, and he and the superheroes fought. He easily killed all of them except for the most powerful such as Thor who were unconscious but would live, but willingly gave up his own life and his dream when he saw doubts in his wife. Michael and Carina both died as a result.

Only Moondragon sympathized with Michael. Korvac never wanted anyone to die; he only wished to build a better world for the human race and revealed that with his last ounce of power, he had returned life to the beaten Avengers. Manipulating the memories of all those present, Moondragon left Thor's alter ego, Dr. Don Blake, to heal his fallen comrades before disappearing herself for a time, haunted by the memory of what the Avengers had done. The Avengers buried the Korvacs in a private cemetery in Queens, New York and paid their respects in a funeral for their fallen enemies.

[edit] Korvac Quest

Though Carina's lack of confidence in her husband was extremely disheartening, Michael actually allowed his physical body to die because he sensed that Galactus had unleashed the Ultimate Nullifier on him in response to his trespassing. He transferred his consciousness and cosmic power to a form that would travel to the future and inhabit his ancestors. Eventually, it would reinhabit his original body and he would regain them.

The Guardians of the Galaxy pursued this Korvac force to 20th century Australia, the 26th century home of Dargo Ktor, a distant future protectorate planet of the Silver Surfer, and finally 2977 Luna, shortly before Michael's birth. The power inhabited Michael's father, Jordan, who was then killed in battle with the Guardians. The team contained the Power Cosmic and returned it to Galactus, briefly considering killing the infant Michael to prevent his future crimes.

[edit] Man Out of Time

Somehow, an incarnation of Korvac manifested in 1999 of Earth-616 and stole a cosmic cube. With tremendous power at his disposal, he traveled back to the 31st century and remade it as he saw fit. Captain America followed him to this future, and fought him through countless reboots of the timeline. Eventually the Captain defeated the Machine God when his servant betrayed him.

[edit] Powers and Abilities

Korvac possessed a large degree of the Power Cosmic after his download from Galactus' ship, and his powers became god-like in nature. He displayed vast superhuman physical attributes, the ability to alter reality, energy manipulation on a galactic scale, the ability to create matter from nothing, teleportation over galactic distances, and advanced psionic abilities. He also appeared capable of controlling time. During his battle with the Avengers, Korvac seemed to have slowed down time in his own reference frame to the point that everyone else involved in the battle appeared to be almost standing still.

[edit] Trivia

When the story was first collected into a trade paperback, Avengers: The Korvac Saga in 1991, a new epilogue was added, showing the Avengers at Korvac's grave declaring that even if Korvac's intentions had been good, the resulting universal order under his control would have been tyrannical. This epilogue, drawn by Sal Buscema, was written by Mark Gruenwald to make the saga's ending less ambiguous. When the trade paperback was reprinted in 2003 (as Avengers Legends Volume 2: The Korvac Saga), editor Tom Brevoort felt that the epilogue was both unncessary and invalidated the preceding storyline, and so removed it from the reprinting.

What If? (volume 1) #32 featured the story "What If the Avengers Had Become the Pawns of Korvac", in which Michael was successful in his conquest of the 20th century, only to destroy the universe using the Ultimate Nullifier. Issue #41 featured a back-up story following the events of #32.

What If? (volume 2) #36 had Korvac arriving in another timeline during his fateful trip to the past to discover the power of Galactus. In a utopian 2130, Korvac battled the Cosmic Avengers with the aid of enslaved Guardians of the Galaxy.

Korvac first appeared in a story by Steve Gerber in which he is a pawn of the Grandmaster. According to Gerber, "The character really was a throwaway, created for one story. And I never intended to bring him back, because, among other things, I hated the name! I still think it sounds more like a vacuum cleaner than a villain."^[1]