MAN-THING

 

MAN-THING

Real Name: Theodore Sallis

First Appearance: Savage Tales (Vol. 1) #1, May 1971

Powers: Dr. Ted Sallis was a scientist searching for a way to re-create the Super-Soldier serum administered to Captain America during World War II. After he was betrayed into the hands of the subversive Advanced Idea Mechanics by his wife, Ellen, Sallis injected himself with the only existing sample of his modified Super Soldier serum, and fled into the nearby swamp. Sallis should have died, but over the course of several hours, mystical forces combined with chemical science to transform him into the monstrous, misshapen creature who would be dubbed the Man-Thing. The substance of Sallis's body was eaten away and replaced by vegetable matter. Though he mimics the form of humanity to a large extent, he can no longer be considered human. Though he retains Ted Sallis's soul, and rudimentary vestiges of Sallis's intellect, he cannot be said to be intelligent in any meaningful sense.

The Man-Thing is a living, semi-sentient creature patterned after the form of a human being, and mimicking many of the functions of the human body, but composed of vegetable, not animal matter. He has two large, red, lidless eyes, but no mouth or nose. He has no ears, but has some sort of rudimentary hearing apparatus located in what passes for his "forehead." His body is composed of pockets of algae, moss, and fibrous weeds held together by a network of animated tough and starchy roots which follow the basic structural pattern of human bone and muscle. Extremities of this root hang from the front of his head to form the characteristic features of his "face." His hands and feet are claw-like. He walks slowly and awkwardly. The bacterial colonies which are imbedded within his body, and which provide him with his nutrient-processing system, give off a strong, rotting smell.

The Man-Thing is superhumanly strong and almost invulnerable to harm. Because his body is not entirely solid, but made of porous muck, fists or bullets will either pass entirely through him or lodge harmlessly in his body. Even were a significant portion of his mass to be stripped away or pulverized, his body would reorganize itself and, draw new material as needed form the substance of the surrounding swamp. Due to the nature of the Man-Thing's body, he is capable of oozing through or around openings or barriers that would otherwise seem too small for him to pass. He has gone through wire mesh and past steel bars. The smaller the actual physical opening, however, the longer it takes him to re-organize his mass on the opposite side.

The Man-Thing is sensitive to emotion. Psychic forces react in some unknown manner with the "brain" cells that are located throughout the Man-Thing's body. Mild emotions arouse "curiosity," and lead the Man-Thing to "observe" events from a distance. Violent emotions, such as fear, anger, and hatred, cause him extreme discomfort, and may provoke him to attack. When the Man-Thing is provoked to violence, he excretes fuming sulfuric acid, while in the absence of violent emotion he produces a soapy mucus that will neutralize the acid. During the first few months of his existence, the Man-Thing depended totally on the swamp environment to sustain himself, drawing nutrients directly from immersion in the swamp water. Later, after undergoing a tremendous chemical shock in the Citrusville sewage treatment plant, his body adapted into more of a self-contained biological system. Although he still weakens, and would eventually lapse into dormancy if removed from his swamp for an extended period of time, he now weakens only slowly, and will recover quickly if exposed to moisture.

The Man-Thing also seems to "remember" emotional patterns, which leads him to "recognize" people he's met before. But there is evidently a limit to the number of emotional patterns he remembers, and he will periodically lapse into a state of total immobility until his "brain cells" purge themselves of their excess of remembered data.

The Man-Thing's swamp is located in the Nexus of All Realities, an apparently natural phenomena which leaves the barriers between realities extraordinarily weak in the area of the Everglades that the Man-Thing calls home. Dimensional travelers and beings out of time occasionally wander through from their places of origin into the swamp. The Man-Thing was unwittingly selected by destiny to serve as the Guardian of the Nexus. After being captured by the Dark Avengers, the Man-Thing was specifically modified by Hank Pym to channel the power of the Nexus through an implant integrated into his flesh. Using the Man-Thing as a conduit, the Thunderbolts could access the Nexus to teleport around the globe in an instant, and then return to the Raft when their missions were complete.

Later, the Man-Thing underwent an evolution that Satana referred to as the "Vagornus Koth". The excess of fear around the world triggered by the Serpent caused Man-Thing to grow and burn, destroying his old body and leaving behind a seed that regenerated into a new life cycle. The Man-Thing became completely sentient, speaking in a universal language that is heard differently by everyone. His conscious connection to the Nexus allowed the Man-Thing to personally control the teleportation aspect of his abilities as well.

Ted Sallis earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and was a noted biochemist prior to his transformation.