COLLECTOR

 

COLLECTOR

Real Name: Taneleer Tivan

First Appearance: Avengers (Vol. 1) #28, May 1966

Powers: Taneleer Tivan is a member of the Elders of the Universe, a motley collection of individuals numbering among the oldest mortal-born beings in the universe. Each Elder is the last surviving member of his or her respective race, those races being the earliest civilizations to emerge in the cosmos after the Big Bang. The Elders have outlived not only their species, but also their planets and, according to some reports, even the entire galaxies they originate from have long since died out, making way for newer galaxies such as the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. The Elders each tap into something called the Power Primordial as the source of their immortality and superhuman abilities. The Power Primordial is a form of vast cosmic power, either one of the earliest such forces to emerge after the Big Bang or a residual force from before the birth of the universe, such as the Infinity Gems. It has never been explained how any of the Elders learned of the Power Primordial, or even how to tap into it in general. The immortality bestowed on the Elders by the Power Primordial is inherently derived from their will to live. An Elder must want to keep on living in order to do so. In order to retain their immortality, the Elders have each mono-maniacally devoted themselves to a single pursuit or goal, so that they always have something to live for.

Taneleer Tivan, the Collector, began his pursuits for the noblest of reasons. He foresaw the coming of universal threats such as Thanos and Korvac, and acted as a cosmic "Noah", gathering examples of life and culture from throughout the universe to be preserved beyond the prophesied destruction. By the time these threats actually manifested, billions of years after he began, the Collector's mania had overcome him as a true obsession, and now he sought to maintain his collection for its own sake. The Collector's collection is so vast that it fills more than 10 museum-worlds and several private starcraft. His starcraft are dimensions unto themselves, existing separately from the dimensional laws of the world outside the crafts. This means they are substantially larger on the inside than out, and are capable of passing between space and dimensions on command. He employs his collection in battle if need be, utilizing relatively simple items like an Earthen catapult or cape made from an Arabian flying carpet, to alien battledroids and personal force fields. He frequently used a temporal assimilator to transport him safely away from conflict by shifting into a different temporal zone.

The Collector's personal powers are largely undisclosed. He is prone to prophetic visions, mental images of the future which alert him to events occurring months, years, even billions of years in the future. Beyond this, however, he typically has hidden behind a humbling outward visage as an old man, relying on his collection for protection and assault. In fact, the Collector possesses considerable amounts of active cosmic power. In his true form, he is nearly twice his normal size and possesses a far more physically imposing appearance. He can increase his size, strength and durability even further with a thought, and is capable of discharging concussive energy from his palms. He can alter molecular structures at will, animating and reshaping inert materials into new forms, or reducing living beings down to their elemental components. He possessed the Reality Gem for a period of time, but never managed to unlock its potential.