Drax the Destroyer
| Drax the Destroyer | |
|---|---|
| File:Drax.PNG Drax on the cover of Annihilation: Prologue. Art by Gabriele Dell’otto. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Iron Man v1 #55 (February 1973) |
| Created by | Mike Friedrich (co-writer) Jim Starlin (co-writer and artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Arthur Douglas |
| Team affiliations | Microns Infinity Watch Legion of the Unliving Secret Defenders |
| Notable aliases | Drax, Drax the Destroyer |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength; enhanced stamina and speed; highly skilled in combat, especially with knives; ability to sense Thanos' location; limited psychic detection of others |
Drax the Destroyer is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe.
Character history
Real estate agent and sometime musician Arthur Douglas, his wife Yvette, and their daughter Heather, are driving across the Mojave Desert from Las Vegas to Los Angeles when a spaceship carrying the mad Titan Thanos passes overhead on a surveillance mission to Earth. Wishing to keep his existence a secret, Thanos destroys the automobile in case its passengers observed his ship. Thanos lands to make certain they are dead and, satisfied, he leaves. Unknown to the Titan, his father, Mentor, had been monitoring his activities on Earth. Mentor discovers that Heather Douglas is still alive and takes her back to Titan. She later returns to Earth as Moondragon.
Mentor determines that the threat of his son Thanos can no longer be ignored and decides to create a being of sufficient power to defeat Thanos. Enlisting the aid of his father Chronos, who millennia before had become a discorporate wraith, Mentor has Chronos seize the astral form (living consciousness) of Arthur Douglas before it can completely flee the mortal plane. Chronos and Mentor then fashion a humanoid body from the earth's soil, grant it superhuman powers, and empower it with Douglas' spirit. Thus, the being who becomes known as Drax the Destroyer is created.
Mentor blocks all of Drax's memories of his old life, instilling in him a monomaniacal hate for Thanos. For years, Drax serves as Thanos's nemesis, thwarting certain of the Titan's plans, but never finally crushing Thanos himself. Thanos hired legions of alien mercenaries just to keep Drax away from him. Finally, in Thanos's campaign to possess the Cosmic Cube, Drax, in the company of the Avengers, Captain Marvel and Moondragon, sees Thanos destroyed. Suddenly lacking a reason for existence, Drax wanders space in grim contemplation. By the time he learns that Thanos had managed to rematerialize himself, Thanos has once again been killed. Drax, purposeless again, battles Captain Marvel to vent his frustrations.
Art by Carlos Pacheco.
Sometime later, Drax is contacted by his daughter Moondragon and invited to join her in her journey through space in search of knowledge. Drax accepts the offer, and the two travel aboard Moondragon's personal starship, Sensia. Eventually, they come upon the planet Ba Banis, a world of humanoid aliens caught in a vast civil war. Moondragon uses her mental powers to quell the conflict and then decides to set herself up as the world's goddess. Drax recognizes that her ambitions are ignoble and so sends their ship to Earth with a holographic distress message. The Avengers respond and discover Moondragon's world of mentally enforced tranquility. Freed by the Avengers from his daughter's mental domination, Drax advances toward her, seeking to end her menace. In order to stop him, Moondragon mentally forces Drax's life essence to vacate his artificial body. Later, after subduing Moondragon and returning to Earth, the Avengers place Drax's body inside the Sensia and send it into space programmed to self destruct. Without Drax's spirit inside it, Drax's body is destroyed when the Sensia exploded.
Several years later, when Thanos is resurrected by Mistress Death, Chronos reanimates the Destroyer to again combat his mad grandson, and grants him with even greater physical power. However, Chonos does not consider the effects of Drax's death, and the Destroyer's mind retains the damage done by Moondragon. Despite this setback and following Thanos' defeat and the subsequent breakup of the Infinity Gauntlet, Drax is chosen by Adam Warlock to safeguard the Power Gem as part of the Infinity Watch. Eventually, due to internal strife, the Watch fragments and go their separate ways. Afterward, Drax returns to Titan with Moondragon, who successfully petitions Chronos to restore Drax's mind to its former acuity at the cost of some physical power. Thus, Drax is restored to his original condition.
A short time later, Drax is accused of the murder of Elysius and several others. However, he is cleared when Warlock, Gamora, Pip the Troll, and Genis-Vell discover that the creature Syphon is manipulating Drax.
Later, Drax's condition begin to change. His mass and strength climb back to previous levels, and his mind becomes clouded. Finally, he seeks out Moondragon, which leads to an altercation with Genis-Vell, the son of Mar-Vell. In the course of this struggle, Drax is transported to the Microverse with Genis, where, for a time, he finds acceptance and happiness on the planet K'ai.
Years later, Drax is recruited by Adam Warlock to battle the Champion of the Universe in boxing matches for the freedom of an enslaved planet.
Art by Mitch Breitweiser.
Drax is later seen on a ship with Paibok, Lunatik, and the Blood Brothers. They are to have been transported to an intergalactic prison, but the ship crashes on Earth under mysterious circumstances. Drax attacks the others to keep them from harming innocent lives. His intelligence comes back to him at random intervals during his fight with the other prisoner. (As stated by writer Peter David, Drax's intelligence/power levels have been in a state of flux since at least 1996, his strength diminishing whenever his intelligence grew, and vice versa.) Although seemingly killed by the Skrull Paibox, a new body emerges from the remains and takes the role of protector of a young Alaskan girl named Cammi. This "new" Drax defeats Lunatik and one of the Blood Brothers. The mini-series ends with Drax and Cammi back on a prison ship.
Drax plays an important role in the 2006 Annihilation crossover, written by Keith Giffen.
Powers and abilities
Drax's powers at one point included super strength, energy blasts, near invulnerability, flight, and the ability to survive and travel at high speeds in outer space and hyperspace. His skin was bright green, and he almost always wore a purple skullcap.
As of the 2005 mini-series, Drax has again "died" and undergone a "rebirth," appearing to have lost some of his strength and resilience, as well as his ability to fly and shoot energy blasts. However, his intellect has returned to its original level, and he has taken a liking to using knives in battle. He has also appeared for the first time without his usual purple uniform and skullcap, and gained scarlet tattoos instead. In addition, he has gained a sidekick of sorts, a young earth girl named Cammi whom he seems determined to protect at all costs. As a result of the Annihilation wave, he has also become a mentor to Nova, the sole remaining member of the the Nova Corps.
Other media
Drax appeared in an episode of the Silver Surfer animated series as an android and a companion of Mentor, brother of Thanos. Though Eros is a brother of Thanos, Mentor became the brother due to a typographical error in the script.