Terrax
Real Name: Tyros
AKA: He's called himself "the Terrible", "the Tamer" and "the Untamed." Ben Grimm refers to him as "Stone Dome" for obvious reasons.
First Appearance: Fantastic Four 211
Died In: Fantastic Four 260
Got Better In: New Warriors 1, as a hunk of dirt that blew up when flown upwards. He got much better in New Warriors 15, when his remains fused with Harmon Furmitz, a "biochemical genius" who once taught Reed Richards and later felt he needed superpowers. Go figure.
What's His Problem? Tyros the Terrible was a tyrant on the distant moon Birj when he caught the notice of Galactus, who sent the Fantastic Four to retrieve Tyros in exchange for his help against the would-be-god the Sphinx. Soon Tyros was hit with some funky eye-beams and became Terrax, arguably the most ambitious and troublesome (read: power-hungry and rebellious) of the planet-eater's heralds.
Abilities: At first, Tyros did have some simple control over stone with which he animated his War-Men, mobile statues that acted as his soldiers. After Galactus was done with him, Terrax himself was covered in (if not made of) stone, possessed immense strength and durability, and could travel outer space unharmed. His control over earth was greatly magnified, enabling him to open chasms, ride meteors or tidal waves of rock, project lots of dirt against others, shield himself with debris... you get the idea. He can also manipulate cosmic energy, but merging with a human has dampened his powers considerably.
Weapons: Galactus gave Terrax a "cosmic axe," through which he created force fields or projected energy waves that could disintegrate, say, the top two floors of the Baxter Building. That was as imaginative as he got. He recreated that axe in his recent rebirths, but it was destroyed in battle with Galactus' latest and meanest herald, Morg. So he killed Morg with his battle-axe and uses it to help him travel space again. As you might expect, Morg was peeved about this once he returned to life...
Favorite Quote: "Tyros remembers! Remembers the cosmic glory, the boundless power to crush and shatter and smash worlds. Tyros remembers the unspeakable joys, and the dark and evil pleasures" (Fantastic Four 258. The Being-Then-Formerly-Known-As-Terrax waxes nostalgic after regaining his memory and substantial powers, all thanks to a cosmic recharge in Latveria.)
Heroes He Keeps Running Into: While he took time to hassle Dazzler and get his butte, er, butt kicked by the Spaceknights of Galador, Terrax never forgave the Fantastic Four for his unwanted new career as cosmic waiter. His third tussle with them led to a one-on-one with the Silver Surfer, resulting in Terrax en flambe. After a stint against the Avengers in the Grandmaster's Legion of the Unliving, he clashed with all five again after two resurrections spent fighting the New Warriors. Exiled to a nearly lifeless, waterlogged planet, the Surfer released him for helping against Morg, though the two have had it out on occasion. Terrax even went to a Different Cosmos and nearly trashed some green-horn with a "power ring", though if anyone involved remembers what happened then is certainly up for debate.
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: Galactus tolerated him before eventually reclaiming his cosmic enhancements. Doctor Doom and Thanos used him as they darn well pleased, so he fused one's armor and stole the other's ship. Morg might have had respect for him until that whole axe-business got out of hand. Some lady he met on a desert planet seemed to take a shine to him, but she was just setting him up for a very ill-advised robbery. Is it really that hard for a rock-hard ex-herald-of-Galactus to make friends?
Most Despicable Act: While Terrax certainly likes swinging sharp objects, he really enjoyed himself when he encased Manhattan in a gigantic force field and flew it into space. As car and subway tunnels on the mainland flooded, he ordered the Fantastic Four to destroy Galactus lest he smash the powerless million-or-so inhabitants onto the Big G's ship. What was that I said about making friends? Geez...
by Ray Schaff
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