History
Early life[]
The Collector
Taneleer Tivan is one of the oldest living beings in the Universe. His species at Cygnus X-1 was one of the first to evolve after the Big Bang. Death took Tivan as the last surviving representative of the species and gave him total immortality. Tivan, as well as one representative of each of the first species of the Universe, cannot die. These people have associated among themselves to create the Elders of the Universe. As they are relatively few, they call each other "brother" or "sister". Tivan spent the first millennia of his existence with his wife, Matani, and daughter, Carina, on a planet he chose as his headquarters. Carina eventually reached maturity and left them. After this, Matani died due to mysterious causes. Tivan could not explain Matani's death as he thought that she too was immortal. He eventually understood that a factor in an Elder's immortality was the will to live and that Matani had lost hers. Tivan then decided he would not suffer the same fate, and looked for a goal to which he could dedicate his life.[6][4]
Tivan then had a vision seeing powerful things that would rise, determined to destroy the universe. He decided to prevent this from happening and that he would dedicate his life to collecting artifacts and living beings throughout the universe to place them out of danger. Then, after the destruction of the universe, he could re-populate it and bequeath the knowledge and cultures from past. He built a great spaceship and began his work, stopping on every world to collect a sample of its greatest achievements, as well as living representatives of each of their lifeforms.[4]
In a matter of years, the ship was full and he had to stop in order to collect expanded facilities for his "permanent collection". Using robo-mechanics bought on the planet Cron, the Collector transferred his collection. Every time his ship's hold became full, the Collector would return to his museum-worlds to place the new samples. He has currently filled up ten museum-worlds with artifacts from one hundred thousand planets. With the passing of eons, his monomania became more obsessive, until he forgot the original reason for his collection.[4] In recent years, the first of the powerful beings in his prophecies, Thanos of Titan, was born and eventually defeated without the Collector's intervention.
Earth and The Avengers[]
The Collector came to Earth many times, collecting artifacts throughout the centuries. He built in a museum in a subterranean complex in Canada, where he held a number of giant monsters, including Fin Fang Foom, Tragg, Groot, Taboo, Grottu, Droom, Vandoom, Gargantus, Rommbu, and Grogg. Mole Man came to the facility and released the creatures, who went on a rampage, although most were subsequently captured and taken to the Monster Isle.[7]
The Collector next worked with the Beetle, and he captured the Wasp of the Avengers for his collection. Hank Pym came to her rescue at the Collector's lair but also got captured. Pym escaped and freed the other Avengers. They rescued the Wasp and forced the Collector to escape with the Beetle using a time machine.[8]
He kidnapped the Avengers again with the help of Thor after he made him drink a potion of obedience. The Collector tried to make Pym regain his huge size for his collection by having Thor create a thunderstorm, but Goliath's condition did change. To further his collection he looked at Captain America with the Cosmic Viewer, but he was on a mission, far away. He considered the Hulk, but he was in Asgard. He then spotted Iron Man and a battle ensued, where Iron Man almost died. However, the rest of the Avengers are rescued by the Wasp, who has managed to grow again. The Collector pulled out a huge robot, which throws Hawkeye at its control panel, causing it to attack anything that moves. It grabbed the Collector, who disappeared, then the robot started destroying the whole ship. Goliath manages to grow and defeat the robot. Thor's mind clears right before the hit that would have killed Iron Man. Thor went back and rescued the other Avengers from the rapidly falling Collector's Ship and they escape before it explodes.[9]
The Collector couldn't kidnap the Freak so he kidnapped Pepper Potts. The Collector offered to swap the Hogans for the Solar Sword and transported Stark to the Dark Dimension. Attacked by Shadow Demons, Iron Man was rescued by Val-Larr, the Sword's wielder, who explained that it was Luminia's only hope against the spreading darkness. Iron Man attacked and took the Solar Sword, even though Shar-Khan was attacking Luminia. He gives the sword to the Collector, who reneges on the deal and traps Iron Man too. However the abundance of solar particles in the ship overloaded the sword; before it could go nova, the Collector and Iron Man return it to Val-Larr, who uses it to defeat Shar-Khan. The Collector brings the three back to Earth.[10]
The Collector tried to kidnap the Avengers again. He tricked them while on their downtime to travel to Rutland, Vermont during Halloween due to Mantis vision. At a party, they met Tom Fagan and agreed to be in the parade to stake out the area. Fagan was the Collector in disguise who captured Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the Black Panther for his collection. Mantis and the Swordsman find the real Tom Fagan, who is tied up, and learn of the Collector and his plans. Tom distracted the Collector with an army of party goers, the Avengers managed to free their comrades in the confusion. But the Collector was able to escape again.[2]
The Hulk[]
The Collector hired Captain Horatio Cutlass and his pirate band to capture the Hulk. But when they fail he uses the captured Man-Thing to attack the Hulk. As the Hulk battled the Man-Thing, the Collector to blasted a strange man with the Philosopher's stone, reverting him into his true form: The Glob. With the Glob now under his control, the Collector ordered him to attack the Hulk as well. The Hulk is easily overpowered by the two much monsters, who manage to defeat him by shoving his face into the Man-Thing's mire-made body until he passes out from lack of oxygen. With the Hulk defeated, he orders the pirates to carry the Hulk back to his base in order to be added to his collection.[11] Taken to the Collector's ship, the Hulk is placed inside one of his habitats and is shackled with a device that prevents him from escaping. He is put on display in a swamp-like environment with both the Glob and Man-Thing. In "payment" for helping the Collector capture the Hulk, Captain Cutlass and his pirates are returned to the miniature ship in a bottle they have been prisoners in for hundreds of years since the Collector first captured them. The Collector had captured and enslaved many beings from Earth and other worlds from various points in history and has made them all his slaves for his own personal museum. He showed Banner around his ship and offered to cure him of being the Hulk. Deciding that he has nothing to hold him on Earth, Banner accepts. When the Man-Thing and Glob manage to escape from their cells it set off an alarm. Hearing the Collector refer to the people he has captured as merely "exhibits", Banner changes his mind and when the Glob and Man-Thing arrive on the scene, sends an army of various creatures. They all free the ship as the Collector fled to repair his ship and prevent his captives from escaping. The Glob follows after him and seemingly kills him, stopping his efforts to stop them. As the captors escape outside, the many years of captivity catch up with them as they begin to rapidly age once outside of the ship.[12]
Korvac Saga[]
The second of the threats was Korvac of Earth. Tivan, then known as the Collector, contacted his daughter Carina and sent her to spy on Korvac.[13] The intelligence led to the Collector attempting to report to the heroes of Earth.[14] However, Korvac found the Collector before he could do so, and destroyed him.[4] Korvac was eventually destroyed, dying alongside Carina.[15]
Contest of Champions[]
Another of the Elders of the Universe, the Grandmaster, was close to the Collector and searched for a way to resurrect him. The Grandmaster contacted Death and played a Contest of Champions to obtain the power to resurrect the Collector.[16] The Grandmaster won, but the use of that power had a price he had ignored until the victory: The Grandmaster had to sacrifice his own life, or the life of all of the Earth's heroes, to resurrect his brother.[17] To obtain the victory, the Grandmaster had sworn not to use any of the Earth's heroes as a pawn again, so he forfeited that choice. Death suggested him not to use the power, but the Grandmaster wanted to, and thus destroyed himself to resurrect the Collector - who was not happy to see his "brother" dead.[5]
Resurrected, the Collector returned to his previous task and he also predicted the attempt of Surtur to destroy Asgard. However, Surtur was also stopped without the Collector's intervention.[18]
The Collector eventually resurrected the Grandmaster in a complex scheme including the Avengers fighting the West Coast Avengers, each team following one of the Elders and believing the other one was a villain.[19][20]
Spider-Man[]
The Collector kidnapped Marrina Smallwood of Alpha Flight for his Plodex collection. The Collector scanned the world for other unique specimens and found Spider-Man and took him as well using a Genie. He also used a giant snake called Snake-Eyes using its hypnotic powers. He controlled him using a Kymellian flute. The two heroes however escaped but in the process, they released Snake-Eyes who was now loose on the planet.[21]
Killing Galactus[]
The Collector then joined the other Elders in the Grandmaster's scheme to kill Galactus. Thus, the existing universe would collapse.[22] The Elders would survive the big crunch and the subsequent big bang of a new universe, becoming Galactus-like beings in the new universe.[23] The scheme failed, but the Collector had become one of the threats to the universe he had once predicted and against whom he had schemed.[24][25]
Brethren[]
The Brethren were captured by the Collector and imprisoned on his ship. A race created by the Celestials in order to purge worlds deemed unworthy. Evolved from single-celled organisms, they still maintain the ability to revert to a giant amoeboid form. They feed on waste and garbage. Capable of forming a Uni-Mind, similar to the Eternals.They eventually escaped and crashed the ship in the Blue Area of the Moon. Coming into conflict with the Inhumans, they learned of Earth and set out to conquer it as they had conquered every civilization on-board the Collector's ship.[26]
Thanos Quest[]
Following the Grandmaster's schemes, the Collector took possession of the Reality Gem. He held it for a time until Thanos of Titan came to bargain for it. Thanos had defeated the Collector's fellow Elder, the Runner, and accelerate the Runner's age to 1,000,000 years old using the Time Gem. Relieving the now venerable Runner of the Space Gem, Thanos then reduced the Runner to infancy, and offered the infant Runner to the Collector in exchange for the Reality Gem, but neglected to mention the infancy spell was only temporary. Realizing that the Collector intended to place the him into his collection, the now-restored Runner attacked the Collector.[27]
Galen-Kor[]
He later supplied a Nega Bomb to one of the Kree; Admiral Galen Kor. He sought revenge on the Avengers for the destruction of the Kree Empire. He ended the relationship with him when the Kree plans failed.[28]
Fantastic Four[]
He came into conflict with the Fantastic Four after hearing of an egg containing a Skrulls/Human hybrid. The child was rumored to be the offspring of the Human Torch and the Skrull Lyja. He came to Earth to add it to his collection. He teleported into the Baxter Building and used a Drakion Destructoid to keep the heroes distracted while he examined the egg. But the rumors proved false and as suddenly he arrived he left.[29]
Wolverine[]
One of the Collector's planets was considered a prison by all of his collected individuals. They were brought there after Galactus destroyed their worlds. The planet was protected by force shields which kept it hidden. One of the residents managed to escape to look for help. He found the mutant Wolverine.[30] Together they manage to turn the power off, unaware of Galactus’s presence. Galactus was drawn to the planet, and an evacuation was required, again reducing the Collector’s collection, much to his annoyance.[31]
Unum[]
The Collector learned that one of the Seven Friendless, Enmity, had created a being named Unum from the collective hatred of fallen minions from various villains and that Unum desired to kill all heroes starting with heroines. The Collector attempted to protect the universe's heroines by adding them to his collection and fighting Unum. Unum was eventually defeated with the aid of She-Hulk and the other heroines.[32]
Defenders vs. Offenders[]
The Collector made a bet with the Grandmaster; both creating a team to battle each other. The Grandmaster had the Defenders and the Collector had the Offenders. The Defenders won and the Collector complied with the terms of the bet and gave them Jarella's body.[33]
Thor[]
Collector's True Form!
The Collector took control of Ego the Living Planet, but as they traveled he went close to Earth causing great destruction to the planet. Thor went to investigate and confronted the Collector and after the battle, he stops Ego from causing any more destruction.[34] Thor stood down and the Collector gave him a tour of his museum. Showing him one of his favorites exhibit Alter Ego. Thor did not agree with the Collector keeping Alter Ego a prisoner. The Collector used Zephyr to trap the Asgardian in a pocket dimension.[35] But unbeknownst to the Collector Zephyr had a past with the Thunder God. Thor escaped from the pocket dimension with the help of Zephyr along with Alter Ego. During the battle with Thor, the Collector revealed his true form.[34] Upon Zephyr's betrayal, the Collector sends her into a black hole.[35]
The Cosmic Cube[]
Accessing the power of a stolen Cosmic Cube, Thanos summoned a gathering of the astral versions of some cosmic heavyweights, including the Stranger, the In-Betweener and members of the Elders of the Universe. While Thanos briefly taunted them with the powerful item, the Collector coveted it, seeking to broker a trade. Tiring of the general exchange, Thanos turned the Cube on the other entities, seemingly wiping them from existence.[36] They had actually been teleported to the Cancerverse, as the artificial Cosmic Cube wasn't powerful enough to kill them. The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy joined them soon after the Mad Titan tried to kill them as well.
The Elders made a deal with the heroes, using a weapon from the Collector's vault, the Avengers weakened Thanos after returning to Earth. The united forces of Earth's heroes proceeded to defeat Thanos, and as part of the deal, the Elders got to decide what to do with him.[37]
X-23[]
He later kidnapped X-23 and Hellion along with Valeria Richards and Franklin Richards, who they was babysitting. But he separated the teenagers from the kids. He placed the kids in his museum. X-23 confronted the Collector. During the fight, they accidentally teleported the kids outside the ship and into space.[38] He gave X-23 a space suit to rescue the children. However, the suit disappeared, leaving her in the vacuum of space. She, however, used her claws to rip a hole in the ship sending the Collector into space as well. Hellion used his powers to bring everyone back inside the ship. X-23 threatened the Collector until he returned them all home.[39]
Vs. X-23
Howard the Duck[]
The Collector tried to kidnap Howard the Duck for his collection.[40] With the help of Rocket Raccoon, who had also been captured, Howard made his way through the Collector's collection and ultimately escaped with the help of the Guardians of the Galaxy.[41]
The New Contest of Champions[]
Following the temporary death of the Multiverse,[42] the Elders of the Universe discovered the reality where the Multiversal renewal began, a broken dimension where the remains of a planet named Battleworld floated as the broken shell of what once was everything that remained of the Multiverse, formerly controlled by Doctor Doom.
Due to being the epicenter of a new creation, this dimension became rich in a powerful substance known as Iso-8. The Elders of the Universe resolved to fight for its concentrated and most powerful form, the ISO-Sphere, and decided to use the remains of this universe as an arena for the new Contest of Champions, the Battlerealm. Each Elder abducted a contestant from across the Multiverse to fight to death on their behalf.
When the Contest of Champions drew to a close, only the Collector's and the Grandmaster's competitors remained, Maestro and the Punisher, respectively, and the other Elders had returned back to Earth-616 with their hands empty.
Before the final battle, Maestro suggested the two Elders a new game mode to keep them both entertained. Maestro and Punisher were to become their master's summoners and would choose teams of new players from across the Multiverse to fight in there on the Elder's behalf. This plan hadn't been devised only for survival, as Maestro and the Punisher began working together to take down the Collector and the Grandmaster, and the new contest was part of their plan. With each battle waged between the two teams, the winner Elder would acquire a percentage of the other's portion of the ISO-Sphere.[43]
As contestants entered and left the game, the Collector remained with most of the ISO-Sphere, while the Grandmaster was left with a sliver, that made him barely powerful. During a final all-or-nothing match for the ISO-Sphere, Maestro and Punisher betrayed the people they had summoned and took them down.[44] Maestro subsequently teleported to Grandmaster's HQ, and managed to defeat him due to the Grandmaster barely possessing any of the ISO-Sphere's power. The two portions of the ISO-Sphere desired to be with each other, prevented only by their owner's will. In a battle of minds, Maestro overtrumped the Collector's desire to possess the ISO-Sphere and acquired its entirety.
With entire control over the ISO-Sphere, Maestro cast out the Collector and the Grandmaster from the Battlerealm.[43]
A Deal with Deadpool[]
After hearing that someone had the Ultimate Nullifier, he sent Monark Starstalker to get it. Monark fought with Deadpool, who claimed that his name was "Santa" (later he said it was actually "Satan"). Although the Nullifier turned out to be fake, Monark was impressed by Deadpool's immortality and called the Collector. The Collector was curious at first, but then lost interest when he saw Deadpool's face. Just as he turned to leave, Deadpool told him about Madcap. The Collector was fascinated when he observed a footage of Madcap and ordered "Santa" to get him for his collection.[45]
Eventually, Deadpool was able to accomplish his mission to capture Madcap and deliver him to the Collector, but to Deadpool's shock, Madcap was actually happy about going to a zoo in space. He told Deadpool that he had actually gone bored of their fight and thanked him for this opportunity, commenting about how all his attempts to harm Deadpool were senseless because he couldn't possibly ruin Deadpool's life more than he himself has done already. Hearing this, Deadpool had second thoughts about the deal, but the Collector didn't listen and took Madcap with him.[46]Attributes
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Powers
Unlike other Elders such as the Champion or the Contemplator, who used their lives to improve the powers of body or mind, the Collector has not openly cultivated the Power Primordial. Thus, the full range of his abilities is largely unknown.
- Virtual Immortality:[47] Due to his status as Elder of the Universe, the Collector's body is immune to cell deterioration and cannot be damaged through piercing, illness or anything similar. His will to live is strong enough than he can regenerate any lost part of his body. It has been proven that the destruction of most of his molecules can stop regeneration and kill him.[4] A special arrangement between Grandmaster and Death itself was necessary to return him to life.[5]
- Precognition: The Collector is prone to have precognitive flashes of the future, but he must meditate for long periods of time to get the details (including place, timeline and participants). Notably, some of his visions take place in alternate timelines (as the one including Thanos destroying the universe).[4]
The Collector's true form
- Secondary Form: The Collector typically appears as an average elderly humanoid. In times past, however, he has unleashed his second "true" form, a physically imposing powerhouse demonstrating feats of superhuman strength, invulnerability, and cosmic energy manipulation for defense, offensive discharges, matter manipulation, and so on.[48]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Collector's Museum: The Collector has access to the finest technology of one hundred thousand worlds, which provides him with a virtually unlimited arsenal. He is only limited to what he can access in a certain situation, but he always has access to at least one incredibly powerful device.
- Armor: The Collector usually wears an armor made of Etherion which also allows him to fly, faster than most beings. It also provided him with a shield visor to cover his eyes from vision-based attack and with camouflaged transmissions so that his other traps, i.e. the Boxers, would not track the Collector himself.[21]
- Reality Gem (Formerly) – Alters all of reality; similar to the effects of a Cosmic Cube, but much, much higher.
Transportation
- Collector's Ship: The Collector keeps this ship in hyperspace while orbiting, to avoid it being detected while he is looking for specimens. He can access the ship through a small, invisible cabin-like gateway.
- Temporal Assimilator: This device allows the Collector to travel through time, but is only effective for short distances (meaning short times). A bigger-scale device similar to this allows him to "fish" artifacts from other periods of history and even alternate realities.
Notes
- A few words of the Collector were once heard, yet untranslated: "Vor", "Viana", "Daga", "Dieno Niotto".[49]
See Also
- 110 appearance(s) of Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 17 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 23 minor appearance(s) of Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 30 mention(s) of Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 10 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 79 image(s) of Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 14 quotation(s) by or about Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
- 20 item(s) used/owned by Taneleer Tivan (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Taneleer Tivan on Marvel.com
- Taneleer Tivan on Wikipedia.org
- Gamer's Handbook of the Marvel Universe
References
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #3
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Avengers #119
- ↑ Hulk (Vol. 2) #12
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Avengers #174
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #3
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #3
- ↑ Marvel Monsters: Monsters on the Prowl #1
- ↑ Avengers #28
- ↑ Avengers #51
- ↑ Iron Man #26
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #197
- ↑ Incredible Hulk #198
- ↑ Avengers #171–172
- ↑ Avengers #173
- ↑ Avengers #177
- ↑ Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1
- ↑ Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #2
- ↑ Thor #350–353
- ↑ Avengers Annual #16
- ↑ West Coast Avengers Annual #2
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Marvel Team-Up Annual #7
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #4–10
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #17–19
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #58–61
- ↑ Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) #64
- ↑ Avengers #334–339
- ↑ Thanos Quest #2
- ↑ Avengers #366
- ↑ Fantastic Four #389
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #135
- ↑ Wolverine (Vol. 2) #136
- ↑ She-Hulk: Cosmic Collision #1
- ↑ Hulk (Vol. 2) #10–12
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 Astonishing Thor #2
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Astonishing Thor #3
- ↑ Avengers Assemble (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Avengers Assemble (Vol. 2) #8
- ↑ X-23 (Vol. 3) #18
- ↑ X-23 (Vol. 3) #19
- ↑ Howard the Duck (Vol. 5) #1
- ↑ Howard the Duck (Vol. 5) #2
- ↑ Secret Wars #1–9
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Contest of Champions #6
- ↑ Contest of Champions #5
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 6) #30
- ↑ Despicable Deadpool #294
- ↑ Marvel Encyclopedia #1 ; Elders of the Universe's entry
- ↑ Avengers #338–339
- ↑ Avengers #335
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #2
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 2