The Monstrefact Omnibus: Even More Marvel Monsters

be audio. So these are going to be four more entries from the Marvel universe. I can't quite get enough of the Marvel universe in terms of its weirdness, characters I've never heard of, as well as characters that are quite beloved by myself and other comic book fans, video game fans, film fans, and so forth. So moving forward, if you would like to hear Monster Fact entries on additional Marvel characters, creatures, and so forth, write in give

me your suggestions. Likewise, for other comics, DC comics, I've done some of those in the past. Outside of Marvel and DC. I'm also happy to dive into those worlds as well. Alright, without further ado, let's jump into an episode that I recorded, I believe last summer. This is going to be a discussion of the cosmic villain Galactus.

If you've seen the new MCU film The Fantastic Four First Steps, then you've finally experienced a proper cinematic treatment of Galactus, the iconic devour of worlds for Marvel Comics, created in nineteen sixty six by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This titanic space god predates the Big Bang. He survived the great collapse of the previous universe and entered into our own, hatching from the cosmic egg. His god like abilities come via the power cosmic, which he sustains through

the consumption of entire worlds. And yet Galactus is a lot more complex than your typical Earth destroying elder god. While definitely an existential threat and a perpetrator of untold megadeaths, Galactus does not consume worlds with malice, as the latest MCU film accurately depicts. He himself is a slave to his own insatiable hunger, but is lawful and honorable, standing by the letter of pacts made for the survival of

various planets and such. While he's certainly a villain and a monster by many measurements, he is also beyond good and evil, a natural force that dwarfs everything he encounters. Sometimes he even acts in ways that might cast him as an antiher. In the Fantastic Four First Steps, Galactus is as close to his Silver Age glory as we could hope for. A giant humanoid being in purple armor and a great hat that might best be described as a papal miter with cosmic horns. English character actor Ralph

Ineson provides his voice and likeness. The presentation is delightfully over the top, as it should be. But the entire Galactus scenario, in which a ravenous cosmic power sends its harbingers out in search of worlds and civilizations to dine on, actually isn't entirely the domain of comic book science fiction. Humans have wrestled with the Fermi paradox for seventy five

years now. If other intelligent life forms exist in the universe, perhaps even in some abundance, then why haven't we encountered them, heard of them, seen any signs of them? Why is the universe so silent. Hypothesized solutions vary from the possibility that Earth really is a rare commodity in the cosmos to the idea that we exist in a sort of space zoo or nature reserve. But while the latter concept entails benign alien beings that intentionally leave us alone, the

dark Forest hypothesis paints a bleaker picture. Name for the two thousand and eight Lucisian novel of the same name, the dark Forest hypothesis states that the rest of the universe is quiet because its various intelligent, technologically advanced civilizations are understandably afraid. They remain unheard and unseen because they know to raise their voices or in any way broadcast their presence could attract the unwonted attention of dangerous, even

more powerful forces. This could be threats known to exist, or merely threats likely to exist and therefore worth remaining silent for. And this is where we get to the possibility of if not an actual galactus, then something close enough to terrify us, something that hungers and sends its seekers and heralds far across the sprawl of stars in search of civilized worlds to harvest. First, let's think about

that hunger galactus must consume worlds. This we know the idea is far from ridiculous when we consider it the Kardashev scale, which sorts potential civilizations by how much power they can harvest. Type one the energy of an entire planet, Type two the energy of an entire star, Type three

the energy of an entire galaxy. Certainly, by type three we are contemplating galactus level power, and it certainly puts forms of planet and star harvesting or even consumption into consideration, both in terms of what we can imagine, such as the use of a Dyson sphere to enclose a star and collect the sum total of its energy output, and means that we can't even fathom yet. After all, we're not even a type one civilization on the Kardashev scale.

Some of the aims and abilities of a type three civilization or even a Type two may simply exist outside of our context, and this leads us to another Fermi paradox solution hypothesis, the Berserker hypothesis, also known as the Deadly Probe scenario, name, by the way, stems from the

nineteen sixty seven Fred Saberhagen novel. The concept here is that the cosmos seems silent because thus far all other sufficiently advanced intelligent forms of life have been destroyed by deadly seekert probes, self replicating destroyers that are even now on their way to decimate Earth as well. In teasing this hypothesis apart, some have argued that humanity would have surely been discovered and eradicated already if this were the

status quo in the galaxy. However, if we've not yet met the criteria for extermination, or if there's some hope of passing a civilizational test that ensures our survival yish, then perhaps the sword of Damocles merely hangs above all of our heads, entirely dependent on how we conduct ourselves or how solid the latest season of Single Female Lawyer

happens to be. Obviously, there are numerous ways to dissect this hypothesis, ranging from just considering the toll such self replicating machines might take on the galaxies available mass over time. This would potentially spell a kind of gray goo apocalypse on a cosmic scale, as well as issues of detection

or lack of detection here in our local neighborhood. Naturally, the idea has been explored in various Sci Fi treatments, often as a means to explore our collective values as a species, our hopes and our fears that something else out there shares those values in either its dark or light extremes. And we see this with Galactus as well, that a herald is sent to judge us, save or condemn us based on our merits or the merits of those who stand as shining examples of what we aspire

to be. And in this we're reminded that Galactus is a comic book take on the divine, a god who sits in judgment, echoing a very long standing note in human myth making, such as in the Bible, and God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth filled with violence through them, And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. In the Bagava Ghita, I am time grown old, to destroy the world, embarked on the course of world annihilation. Except

for yourself. None of these will survive. Of these warriors arrayed in opposite armies. And in Marvel comics, your planet is now marked for death. Your world will be consumed by the devour. There is nothing you can do to stop him, for he is a universal force, as essential as the stars. Hold your loved ones close, and speak the words you've been afraid to speak. All right, For our next entry, we are going to discuss Lady death Strike, Wolverine enemy. Lady death Strike has long been one of

my favorite characters in X Men comics. While I was never much of a comic book reader as a kid, I of course encountered her on X Men, the animated series and in the nineteen ninety four video game Wolverine Adamantium Rage. A decade later, Kelly Hugh played a modified version of Lady death Strike in the film X two.

The character's physical appearance is that of a Japanese woman with long, reddish hair, a form fitting samurai inspired costume, and long, razor sharp adamantium talons that extend from hands that are themselves sometimes depicted as relatively human, other times oversized, elongated, and truly monstrous. Her biography makes things even more complicated, however, born Uriko Oyama, Lady death Strike's father, is said to

have originated the adamantium skeletal bonding process. That so famously enhanced wolverine Death Strike, however, obtained her own adamantium claws and bones after her father's death. In the Mojo verse, this is where the character Spiral not only gave her the full adamantium treatment, but also transformed her into a full blown cyborg. As such, depictions of Lady death Strike often include circuit like glyphs on her skin and other

cybernetic flourishous So coming back to her monstrous hands. Part of this is the fact that she can extend her forearms via her cybernetic enhancements. But we also might conjecture that additional musculature in the hands and forearms is simply necessary to house the additional retractable adamantium talons, and, perhaps more to the point, the muscles or some sort of

cybernetic mechanisms to retract and deploy them. Now, perhaps unwittingly, her monstrous hands make Lady death Strike comparable to various traditions in folklore and legend in which a demon takes on the form of a beautiful woman but is betrayed by monstrous hands or feet. This clues in central characters or heroes to the demonic nature of the individual. More directly, however,

she certainly fits the fem fatale profile. There what aspects of her appearance in history that would almost allow her to take her place alongside certain feminine yokai and yuri in Japanese traditions, so various ghosts and vengeful ghosts. This

sometimes have a combination of the monstrous and the feminine. However, it is unavoidable that while Asian comic book artists and writers have subsequently depicted and developed the character, Lady death Strike originates as a Western take on the Asian fem fetale trope. Connections have been drawn between her signature nails

and decorative Chinese nail guards worn during the Ming Dynasty. Also, I was reminded of Lady death Strike during a recent viewing of the nineteen eighty three Hong Kong horror film The Boxer's Omen, which features a resurrected sorceress who wears decorative nail covers and also appears with elongated forearms that turn out to be animate skeleton hands. Her profile in

one scene, in particular, feels very Lady death Strike. Though the Marvel character of Yuriko Oyama introduced the same year, wouldn't take on the full mantle of Lady death Strike and the various characteristics that we associate with her until nineteen eighty six in Uncanny X Men number two five. Might her creators have found some level of influence in the Boxer z omen or merely in related imagery and ideas. I've found nothing concrete on this matter, so maybe I'm

drawing a connection here where there isn't one. Lady death Strike continues to slice up the pages of Marvel comics as both villain and anti hero, and she recently showed back up in twenty twenty four's Deadpool and Wolverine as a minor, almost easter egg character, but it was still fun to see once more. She was not fully cyborg, but she certainly embodied some of the features that have made her such a popular character over the years. All Right, it's time to discuss I think one of the more

whimsical superheroes in the Marvel universe. Let's talk about squirrel Girl. Longtime listeners to Stuff to Blow your mind know that we have an enduring fascination with squirrels, particularly the Eastern gray squirrel, because these are the creatures I observe every day, and I constantly find myself either just taking them for granted or just suddenly recognizing how weird and fierce they are. They're such survivors, and the same could be said for

Marvel's Squirrel Girl. At first glance, you might think this particular superhero is just here for acute pose and a few laughs, and yeah, she's totally down for all of that. But since her creation in the early nineties by Will Murray and Steve did Go, Squirrel Girl has scored victories against such iconic villains as Ultron, Galactus, Doctor Doom, and Thanos. Okay, so what are her powers, you might be wondering if

you're not familiar with the character already. Well, first of all, it's important to note that Squirrel Girl is not technically a mutant, but rather a typical Canadian girl who just gradually began to exhibit an amazing ability to communicate with squirrels and developed various squirrel like physical abilities, as pointed out by Mark Sumrec and Daniel Wallace in the excellent

book marvel Anatomy. She boasts large incisors and rugged climbing claws, both attributes of the real world furry grappling hooks that we call squirrels. She also boasts a full fluffy squirrel tail, which I assume offers a number of benefits enjoyed by her namesake, balance, shade communication, and locomotion assistance while leaping, falling, landing, or swimming. Sumeric and Wallace put her vertical jumping ability at thirty feet or more than nine meters, which feels

like a decent scaling up of squirrel leaping ability. How high could we leap if we had the leaping ability of a squirrel? I think that's a accurate The one head scratcher, however, is that squirrel girl also boasts extendable bone knuckle spikes. They extend wolverine style through the back of her palms, jutting out just above her knuckles, enabling her to punch and carve through wood as well as

through ultron drones. Obviously, rule of cool applies here, and the bone knuckle spikes are indeed cool, no doubt about it, but they do seem kind of unnecessary if we're comparing her to squirrels. Actual squirrels don't have them because they can handle all their woodworking and robot thrashing with teeth and claws alone for natural world analogs to squirrel Girl's knuckle spikes or Wolverine's famous claws for that matter, we have to leave the mammal world behind and head into

the amphibian world. First, we can look to the hairy frog or Tricobatracos robustus, which can break its own toe bones and extend them through the flesh as makeshift defensive claws, which may later retract, allowing flesh to heal back over again. Male autumn frogs or Babina subaspera also boast a different form of retractable spike that extends from under the thumb. Both of these species are commonly compared to the fictional Wolverine, though his namesake animal also makes do with just teeth

and finger claws alone, no extendable or retractable clause required. Now, I know there are frog based superheroes and super villains in the Marvel world, but do any of them have extendable horror clause? I don't think that they do, at least not yet, so I do put the question out there for any of you comic book fans, and especially in of you hardcore Marvel geeks, if you have an answer to this question right in, I would love to

hear from you. All right, let's go ahead and end this episode out with the most recent Marvel Monster fact entry that I did. This is also one of the weirder ones. It is the Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism or quasi Moto. Let's dive right in today I want to cover one of the weirder Marvel Comics characters to jump out of the pages the Official Handbook of the Marvel

Universe Master Edition. I have a used copy of this book from the nineteen nineties, and it contains all of your more popular X Men and Avengers, along with some real weirdos, like today's selection. The Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism,

also known as Quasimoto. Yes, this supervillain, who first appeared in the pages of the Fantastic Four back in nineteen sixty six, is essentially a super science take on Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame from the eighteen thirty one Victor Hugo novel, though the character's appearance seems mostly based to my eye, on the version played by Charles Lawton in the nineteen thirties film adaptation. In Hugo's tale, Quasimoto is a cathedral bell ringer suffering from severe gyphosis an

excessive convex curvature of the spine. The Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism's nature, however, is a bit more convoluted. As Marvel dot Com tells it, he was originally a sentient computer developed by the supervillain the Mad Thinker. This sentient computer desire to human form, but its creator cruelly refused it. Eventually, the Silver Surfer steps in, takes pity on the suffering computer,

and uses his power cosmic to grant the computer's wishes. However, the Quasi Motivational Destruct Organism would prove the twisted vulcan to the Silver Surfer's physical perfection. He looks like a stereotypical hunchback of Notre Dame, but with a metallic skin or a metal suit. You know, sort of the Silver Surfer body, except it is the hunchback of Notre Dame's body.

We're told he is a pseudo organic an android possessed of immense physical smashing power, but due to his computer origin, his brain is also able to process information and make calculations with vastly improved speed and accuracy. Yet despite this, he's not your standard super strong, super smart, gimme god cosmic bad guy. We get a lot of those in comic book stories from this era. No, we're told his actual intelligence is more that of a baseline human intelligence,

and that his biggest weakness is his lack of creativity. Now, I don't think stan Lee and Jack Kirby were necessarily trying to be all that prophetic with this particular supervillain. What you see is kind of what you get with the quasi motivational destruct organism. Yet at the same time, beyond the space quasimotive gimmick, there is a reasonable amount of Miltonian depth here to the plight between the created

and the creator. And then there's this interesting detail about computer enhancementulations are lightning fast, but his intelligence is actually more again human baseline, and there is something lacking in his ability to think with true creativity. It's interesting to

ponder this. Given our current state of AI and computer enhancement, we can observe that computer form we're building around ourselves, thinking for us, writing for us, expressing ourselves, and representing our souls to each other through the artifice of large language models and so forth, silver fleshed on the outside, but perhaps somewhat compressed on the inside, bent under the

weight of the machine and undergoing atrification. And what's more, there's this fear that I've seen express that our actual ability to express ourselves, and indeed our actual self isn't good enough without the trappings of the machine, a kind of self fulfilling prophecy, as the interface between human and AI has largely fallen short of the creative partnership we were promised. Way to go, Matt Thinkers. All right, there

you have it. Now I'm going to have to move on to some all new Marvel creatures, Marvel characters and so forth to discuss here in the Monster Fact Again. If you have recommendations, write in thanks as always to the excellent JJ Possway for producing the Monster Fact as

well as the Artifact and Animelius to Pendium. You can find these episodes generally every Wednesday in the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast feed and wherever you get that feed and be it audio or if you get it in video form, just make sure that you throw some stars some thumbs up our way. Subscribe or whatever the case may be. All that engagement helps the show out and helps ensure that we get to keep pumping this

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