ZZZAX

 

ZZZAX

Real Name: Zzzax

First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #166, August 1973

Powers: Zzzax is an "electromagnetic intelligence". It was the product of an accident that occurred at a Consolidated Edison nuclear power plant when a group of heavily armed terrorists attempted to shut down the power for New York City. The explosion that their stray gunfire caused started a chain reaction in the atomic reactor, creating a psionically-charged electromagnetic field of humanoid form. As the electromagnetic form grew, it incinerated those people who stood in its way, absorbing the electro-psionic fields generated by their brains, and thus acquired a human intelligence. As it began to think and become aware of its surroundings, it developed rudimentary speech and named itself "Zzzax" in imitation of the electrostatic "crackle" it made when it moved. As it killed more human beings, it grew more intelligent; consequently it began a campaign of murder and destruction in order to increase its intelligence further.

It is capable of crude human level intelligence (variable up to normal) and superhuman strength (at Class 100 maximum). Zzzax generally appears as a gargantuan mass of electrical "sparks" in humanoid form. It is highly luminescent, whitish-yellow in color, and gives off the scent of ozone. Zzzax can hover or fly in the air.

Zzzax can fire extraordinarily powerful blasts of electricity. Zzzax's tremendously high voltage enables it to incinerate matter which lies in its path. Zzzax's superhuman strength has enabled him to battle the Hulk nearly to a standstill. Zzzax has incinerated whole city blocks in minutes. Zzzax has burned the Hulk's skin to a slight degree. At its most powerful, Zzzax is 40 feet tall and carries a voltage of several hundred thousand volts that can be almost totally expended over a 20-minute period.

Zzzax subsists by drawing all available electromagnetic fields into its own. Those electromagnetic fields housed by human brains, when absorbed, add to Zzzax's level of stored psionic energy, making it more intelligent. For an unknown reason, Zzzax finds this absorption of electrical/psionic energy from human brains pleasurable, and therefore undertakes the murder of human beings for their psionic energy whenever possible, In absorbing this psionic energy from a human victim, Zzzax will incinerate the victim's body, Zzzax is seemingly unable to absorb psionic energy from its recurring adversary, the Hulk. However, Zzzax can take control of the electrical/psionic impulses in the Hulk's nervous system, and thereby control the activities of the Hulk's muscles.

Zzzax's own thoughts and behavior can be influenced by strong desires on the part of the human beings whose psionic energy it has consumed. However, only in the case of General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross has another being's consciousness supplanted Zzzax's own as the dominant one controlling Zzzax's physical form.