DC vs. Marvel: Big Monsters

DC vs.
Marvel: Big Monsters

https://foxhugh.com/2012/03/19/dc-vs-marvel-big-monsters/
What is a monster? According to the online version of Merriam-Webster:
1 a: an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure b: one who deviates from normal or
acceptable behavior or character.
Using definition (b), then just about every super villain would be a monster. If you add (a) then you
still have super villains like Doctor Doom who are deformed. IGN already wrote an excellent article
about DC versus Marvel super villains and I do not want to go over ground already covered. This
article instead will focus on big monsters. The ultimate archetype of the big monster would be
Godzilla. There is even a particular word in Japanese for this sort of monster: daikaij. Monsters
generally are big but how big does a monster have to be a daijuku? I think over 20 feet and if the
monster can wrap his/her hand around your waist with one hand like King Kong picking up a damsel
in distress then thats the clincher.
DC
The Silver age was all about big monsters and although Kirbys Silver age monsters over at Marvel
get all the attention, you can actually find a ton of big monsters at DC if you know where to look.
Major Heroes
DC vs. Marvel: Big Monsters
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Aquaman faced three major giant sea monsters during the Silver age. The following Aquaman,
volume 1, issues have a giant monster: #7- The Creatures from Atlantis, #20 - Two-Headed Beast,
and #56 The Creature that Devoured Detroit. All the monsters are one-shots and not
memorable. Aquaman is often fighting a whale, giant jellyfish or giant shark or whatever but these
are little two panel exercises not even worth mentioning. The author looked at 61 issues. The ratio
of issues to monsters is 61 / 3 = 20.3
Batman has faced at least 20 giant monsters. In Batman volume 1, Batman fought: #75 Gorilla
Boss, #104 the Creature from 20,000 Fathoms, #134 - Rainbow Creature, #138 Sea Beast, #142-
Tezcatlipoca, #143 Bat-Hound and the Creature, and #162 The Batman Creature.
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In Detective Comics, Batman fought giant monsters in #252-Creature from the Green Lagoon, #255
Robot Dinosaurs, #270 Creature from Planet X, #272 Menace of the Crystal Creature, #277
Jigsaw Creature from Space, #278 Giant, # 279 Creatures that Stalked Batman, #282 Cave Eel,
#288 the Multiple Creature, # 291 Creature of the Bat Cave, # 295 Secret of the Beast Painting,
# 297 Beast of Koba Bay, and #303 Murder in Skyland. The author looked at 667 Batman issues
and 800 Detective Comics issues for a total of 1,467. The ratio of issues to monsters is 1467 / 20 =
73.35
Green Lantern faced four monsters in the Silver age in Green Lantern, volume 1, in issues: #6
Giant monster on Xudar, #8 Giant Gila Monster from the Future, #30 Dinosaurs, #34 Giant
Iguana, #53 Giant Alien. All the monsters are one-shots and not memorable. The author looked at
201 issues to find these four giants monsters. The ratio of issues to giant monsters is 201 / 4 = 50.25
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The Legion of Super-Heroes deals with several alien and interstellar monsters in volume 1. The
Monster Master even created the Legion of Super Monsters which includes: the earthquake beast
that can cause earthquakes, the eye monster can shoot lightning, heat-vision, x-rays, and blinding
light, the mirror monster can reflect any energy force off its shiny armor-plated hide, the drill beast
can drill through anything. Finally, the omnibeast can travel in space, air, land, or sea. Computo is
yet another giant robot conqueror created by Braniac 5 who kills one of the bodies of Triplicate Girl
in the Silver age and death in the Silver age is rare and special plot wise. The Sun-Eater is probably
the biggest, baddest, giant monster in the DC universe. Galactus is the devourer of worlds but the
Sun-Eater is a devourer of suns! The Sun-Eater is a weapon created by the Controllers, a super race
in the DC universe and is generally mindless. Lighting Lad loses his arm to the Super-Moby Dick of
Space in Action Comics #332. Any sort of permanent injury was almost unheard of in the Silver age
so the giant monster is an integral part of an important story.
Superboy faced Validus when he was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Validus is actually
stronger than Superboy and it took the combined might of Superboy, Mon-El and Ultraboy to defeat
Validus. The Silver age Superman and Superboy are much much stronger than the Modern Age
Superman. Validus is probably the second most powerful giant monster in the DC universe after the
Sun-Eater which did defeat Validus (Adventure Comics #353). Three important, powerful, giant
monsters come out of the Legion of Super-Heroes including Computo, the Sun-Eater and
Validus. The Legion of Super-Heroes breaks the pattern of many one-shot monsters that are not
memorable in order to create monsters of great power that are memorable and an important part of
the DC Universe history.
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Superboy faced a few giant monsters as well. In Adventure Comics #30 there is a creature quite
similar to Jimmy Olsens transformation into a Giant Turtle Man in Jimmy Olsen #53. Superboy
fought a giant Thought Monster of Krypton as a baby and a boy in Superboy #87 and #102
respectively. In Adventure Comics #185, Superboy fought a Griffin. In Adventure Comics #196,
Superboy fought Kingorilla, a giant ape.
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Supermans most famous giant monster is Titano the Super-Ape who was like King Kong with Green
Kryptonite vision. In Adventure #295, the world is introduced to Bizzaro Titano that has Blue
Kryptonite vision which is deadly to Bizzaros. Superman has also faced 17 other giant monsters in
the pages of Superman including: #78- The Beast from Krypton, #86 The Dragon from King
Arthurs Court, #110 Giant Ant, the Flame Dragon of Krypton, #127 Titano, #138-Titano, # 151-
Child of the Beast from Krypton from issue #78, #246 Danger Monster at Work, #324 Titano
Returns, #348 Storm God, #357- Cosmic Monster, #379 Chemo.
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In Action Comics, Superman faced monsters in #326 Legion of Super-Creatures, #343 Eterno,
#502 Galactic Golem, #516 Army of Dinosaurs, #519 Cosmic Creature, #664 Tyrannosaurus
Rex, # 671 Sea Serpent, and #758 Rock Lobster. The author looked at 666 Superman issues and
873 Action Comics for a total of 1539 to find the 18 monsters mentioned. The ratio of issues to
monsters is 1539 / 18 = 85.5.
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Wonder Woman faces 36 giant monsters in Wonder Woman volume 1 during the Silver age
including #64 The 3-D Terror, #66, #87 Island of Giants, #91 The Eagle Who Caged People,
#97 Dinosaur, #100 The Forest of Giants, #105 The Eagle of Space, #106 Giants Olympic
Contest, #109 Wonder Girl in Giant Land, #112 Chest of Monsters, #113 Invasion of the Sphinx
Creatures, #114 The Monster Express, #116 Cave of Secret Creatures, #119 Sea Serpent, #120
Secret of the Volcano Mt., #121 The Island-Eater, #123 Giant Cobra, #128 Living Seaweed,
#135 The Attack of the Human Iceberg, #138 Stone Giant, #143 Fire Breathing Dragon, #145
Phantom Sea-Beast, #146 War of the Underwater Giants, #147 Griffin & Giant Centipede, #148
Dinosaur in a Department Store, #149 Giant Flame Creature, #150 The Phantom Fisher-Bird,
#151 Gooey Monster, #152 Ice Bird, #154 Boiling Man, #171 Trap of the Demon Fish-Man,
#233 Jaws of the Leviathan, #239 Animated Statue of Liberty, #257 Dinosaur, #265
Dinosaurs, and #284 A Dragon Stalks the Streets. The author looked at 327 issues. The ratio of
issues to monsters is 327 / 36 = 9.083. Wonder woman has the highest number of monsters among
major heroes!
The Justice League of America had two memorable giant monsters including Starro and the Shaggy
Man. Starro first appeared in Brave and Bold #28 and was the very first super villain that the
Justice League of America faced! Starro has reappeared many times since then. The Shaggy Man
first appeared in JLA #45 and is another giant monster that reappears several times albeit different
persons assume the identity of the Shaggy Man. The Justice League had plenty of one shot monsters
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as well. The Justice League fought several Dungeons and Dragons type of giant monsters in JLA
#2. In JLA #15 the Justice League fights an Easter Island sort of monster. Superman fights a giant
purple roman robot in JLA #34. There are also one shot monsters that dont even rate a proper
name in JLA #36, #40, and #52. If you dont count reappearances of Starro or the Shaggy Man then
the Justice League fought eight monsters in 261 issues looked at (261/8 = 32.6).
The Second Tier Heroes
Jack Kirbys contribution to monsters in the Marvel universe will be discussed in that section of the
article but Jack Kirby also created a large number of monsters for the silver age Challengers of the
Unknown. The tone was set in one of their earliest adventures in Showcase #7 when they fought a
giant robot called Ultivac. In Challengers of the Unknown volume 1 there are giant robots 13 in the
following issues: #16 -the Incredible Metal Monster, #18 - Invincible Beast of Tomorrow, #19 Beasts
of Tomorrow, #20 Cosmic Powered Creatures, #22 the Creature Challenger Mountain, #26 Aqua
Beast, #27-Volcano Man, # 32 Volcano Man returns, #35 Moon-Beast, #41 Quadruple Man, #47
Sponge Man, #51-Sponge Man returns, and #59-The Petrified Giant. The author looked at 91
issues to find the 13 giant monsters. The ratio of monsters to issues is 91 /13 = 7.
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The Silver age Doom Patrol had one giant monster they fought more than once and that was the
Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. Doom Patrol ,volume 1, had the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man in
#89, #93 Giant Robot, #95 Return of the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, #96 Giant Jukebox,
#97 Elasti-Girl Transforms to Crystal Giant Menace, #100 Dinosaur, #103 Meteor Man, #105
Mr. 103, #106 Mr. 103 returns looking like the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, #109 Mandred
the Executioner, #111-Zarox 13 King of the Criminal Cosmos, #113 Arsenal, #114 Kor the
Conqueror, #115 The Mutant Master, and #116 The Galactic Gladiator. The Doom Patrol fought
14 monsters in 39 issues. The ratio of issues to monsters is 39 / 14 = 2.7.
The Metal Men battled several giant robots that fit the giant monster definition but one of the more
famous giant monsters of DC is not a robot: Chemo. Chemo is a collection of chemicals that comes to
life. Chemo is vaguely malevolent but mostly mindless. Unlike the giant robots that the Metal Men
fought, Chemo survived past the Silver age and made it to the Modern Age. Chemo was a major
character in the Infinite Crisis series (2005). Some of the giant robots the Metal Men fought include
the Skyscraper Robot, Torgola, the Rebel Robot, Robot Juggernauts, and Volcano Man, who is not a
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robot. The Doom Patrol and Challengers of the Unknown also fight a Volcano Man but I dont think
this is the same one. The author looked at 56 issues. The Metal Men battled 6 big monsters. The
ratio of issues to monster is 56 / 6 = 9.3.
Rip Hunter Time Master in the Silver age is another B title that has more than its share of big
monsters. Ripe Hunter is a time traveler that seems to find big monsters in every age not just the
prehistoric ones. Rip Hunter and his time traveling team fought ten giant monsters. Big monsters
are in #1 1,000 Year Old Curse, the volcano Creature, #2 The Alien Beasts from 500 BC, #3
Giant Octopus sort of creature, #5 Alien Beast, #7 Dinosaurs in the past, #8 Giant Genie, #9
Alien Flying Creature, #18 Dinosaur but in the future, 2550 AD, #28 Rip is turned into a giant
monster, and #29 Giant insects in the present. The author looked at 30 issues. The ratio of issues
to monsters is 30 / 10 = 3.
The Silver age Teen Titans were a second tier super hero team. In the Modern age the Teen Titans
became a first tier super hero team and giant monsters disappeared from their pages. In volume 1,
the Silver age, Teen Titans giant monsters appeared in the following issues: #1 The Beast-God of
Xochatan, #2 The Million Year Old Teenager (Giant Caveman), #8 A Killer Called Honey Bun
(Giant Robot), and #32 A World Gone Mad (Sea Monster). There were four monsters. The author
looked at 53 issues of volume 1 of the Teen Titans. The ratio of issues to monsters is 53 / 4 = 13.
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Tomahawk is an especially odd Silver age second tier hero in an era of odd heroes. Tomahawk is an
American Revolution hero who fights British redcoats and their Native American allies except they
are definitely called American Indians in these pre-PC comic books. Tomahawk has the distinction
of fighting lots of giant American Indians during the Silver age. Tomahawk fights giant monsters in
the following Issues: #46 The Valley of Giant Warriors (Giant Indians), #58 The Frontier
Dinosaur, #64 Mystery of the Giant Warrior (Giant Indian), #67 The Beast from the Deep, #70
Secret of the Iron Chief (Giant Indian Robot), #73 - Secret of the Indian Sorceress (Giant Sea
Serpent), #74 The Beast from the Labyrinth (Pink Stegosaurus), #75 Master of the Legendary
Warrior (Giant Indian with fangs), #78 Legend of the Sea Beast (Sea Serpent), #82 Lost Land of
the Pale-Face Tribe (Dinosaur), #86 Tomahawk vs. King Colosso (Giant Ape), #89 The Terrible
Tree Man (Giant Tree Man), #90 The Ranger vs. the Prisoner in the Pit (Giant Reptile), #91 The
Indian Tribe Below the Earth (Giant Salamander), #92 The Petrified Sentry of Peaceful Valley
(Giant Petrified Indian), The Return of King Colosso (Giant Ape returns), #94 Rip Van Ranger
(Giant Bird), #95 Tribe Beneath the Sea (Giant Fish), #99 King Cobweb and his Giant Insects
(Giant Insects controlled by Indian), #100 The Weird Water-Tomahawk (Giant Water Creature),
#102 The Dragon Killers (Dragon), #103 The Frontier Frankenstein (Giant Frankenstein), #104
The Fearful Freaks of Dunhams Dungeon, #105 Attack of the Gator God (Giant Reptile), #107
Double-Cross of the Gorilla-Ranger (Giant Ape), #109 The Caveman Ranger (Dinosaurs), and #115
The Deadly Flaming Ranger (Giant Flame Creature). The author looked at a 129 issues of
Tomahawk. Tomahawk fights giant monsters in 27 issues. The ratio of issues to monsters is 129 / 27
= 4.7. Tomahawk also has the honor of having fought four giant Indians! I think this has to be some
sort of hero record.
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Blackhawk had several one-shot monsters including Blackhawk #120 (Metal Cyclops), #140
(Tyrannosaurus Rex), #146 (Giant Mechanical Scorpion), #148 (Flying Serpent), #150 (Giant Eagle),
#152 (Octi-Ape, Ape with eight limbs), #154 (Beast that Time Forgot), #164 (Twin Creatures of
Blackhawk Island), #193 (Valley of the Angry Giants, Giant Mesoamerican Indians), #198 (Giant
Nazi Robot), and #226 (Secret Monster of Blackhawk Island). The author looked at 96 issues and
found monsters in 11 of them. The ratio of monsters to issues is 8.7.
Speculative Fiction Anthologies
In the Silver age both DC and Marvel had speculative fiction anthologies and these were the true
homes of monsters and big monsters in general. The vast majority of monsters in both the DC and
Marvel universes were created in these speculative fiction anthologies.
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House of Mystery, volume 1, has big monsters in the following issues: #41 Brontosaurus, #53
Forbidden Statues, #70 The Creatures from Nowhere, #71 Moon Goddess, #74 Dragon of Time
Square, #79 Creature of Inner Space, #80 Earths Super Prisoner, #85 Easter Island Monsters
and similar to Marvels the Things on Easter Island, #86 The Beast that Slept 1,000 Years, #87
The Menacing Pet from Pluto, #89 Secret of the Cave Light, #90 The Runaway Bronc from
Venus, #91 The Forbidden Face of Fa-San, #96 Pirate Brain, #99 The Beast with Three Lives,
#101 The Magnificent Monster, #102 Cellmate to a Monster, #104 The Seeing Eye Man, #107
Captives of the Alien Fishermen, #109 Secret of the Hybrid Creatures, #110 The Beast that
Stalked Through Time, #111 Operation Beast-Slayer, #112 The Menace of Cravens Creatures,
#113 Prisoners of Beast Asteroid, #114 The Movies from Nowhere, #118 Secret of the Super-
Gorillas, #119 The Deadly Gift from the Stars, #120 The Cat-Man of Kanga Peak, #123 Lure of
the Decoy Creature, #125 The Fantastic Camera Creature, #130 Alien Creature Hunt, #131
Vengeance of the Geyser God, #132 Beware the Invisible Master, #133 The Captive Queen of
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Beast Island, #134 The Secret Prisoner of Darkmoor Dungeon, #138 The Creature Must Die,
#140 Giant Alien, #141 The Alien Gladiator, #143 Martian Manhunters sidekick Zook becomes a
giant monster, #149 Giant Insects, #152 Martian Manhunter fights a giant alien named the
Creature King, #153 Martian Manhunter fights the Giants who slept 1,000 years, and #154
Prisoner of the Purple Demon. House of Mystery had 46 giant monsters. The author looked at 300
issues. The ratio of issues to monsters is 300 / 46 = 6.5.
House of Secrets, volume 1, had monsters in the following issues: #1 House of Doom, #11 The
Man Who Couldnt Stop Growing, #19 Lair of the Dragonfly, #24 Beast from the Box, #25
Secret of the Sea Monsters, #26 Menace of the Alien Ape, #27 Secret of the Fossil Egg, #28
Horse like Monster, #29 Queen of the Beasts, #30 Creature City, #31 Hybrid Monster, #34
Puzzle of the Plundering Creatures, #37 Secret of the Captive Creature, #38 The Fantastic Flower
Creatures, #39 Alien Bird of Prey, #40 Master of the Space Beasts, #41 Dinosaur in Times
Square, #44 Valley of Doomed Creatures, #45 Destiny of Dooms, #47 Creatures of Camouflage
Forest, #48 Beware the Guardian Beast, #51 Mystery of the Stolen Creatures, #53 Mark
Merlins Giant Double, #55 Battle of the Titans, #63 Cave filled with various giant monsters, #69
Kill the Giant Cats, #71 Giant Who Once Ruled Earth, #72 Revolt of the Morloo, and #73
Eclipso Battles the Sea Titan. House of Secrets had 29 big monsters. The author looked at 153
issues. The ratio of issues to monsters is 153 / 29 = 5.2.
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Strange Adventures did spawn one memorable giant amphibian and that is the giant frogs. The
frogs appeared in issues #130 and # 155. The giant frogs are pictured below:
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Also the Faceless Hunter from Saturn first appeared in issues #124, #142, and #153. The Faceless
Hunter from Saturn has made several appearances in the Modern age and even was in a cartoon
episode of Batman: Brave and Bold (Siege of Starro! Part Two, Season 2, Episode 15). Also yellow
giants with ears shaped like butterflies who collected humans like humans collect butterflies
appeared in issues #119 and #159. Giant monsters that appeared in volume one of Strange
Adventures include: #7 Giant Ants, #11 Serpent, #21 The Monster that Fished Men, #28
Indestructible Giant, #30 The Great Ant Circus, #41 Dinosaurs, #44 Giant Plant, #50 World
Wrecker Robot, #52 Prisoner of the Parakeets, #72 The Skyscraper came to Life, #76 The
Tallest Man on Earth, #82 Giants of the Cosmic Ray, #91 Giant from Jupiter, #97 Secret of the
Space Giant, #101 Giant from Stalk, #104 World of Doomed Spacemen, #112 Menace of the
Size-Changing Spaceman, #113 Deluge from Space, #118 The Turtle Men from Space, #119
Raiders from the Giant World, #120 Attack of the Oil Demons, #122 David and the Space
Goliath, #123 Secret of the Rocket-Destroyer, #124 The Face-Hunter from Saturn, #125 The
Flying Gorilla Menace, #127 Menace from the Earth Globe, #129 The Giant Who Stole
Mountains, #130 War with Giant Frogs, #133 Invisible Dinosaurs, #139 The Space Roots of
Evil, #142 Return of the Faceless Creature, #151 Invasion via Radio-Telescope, #153 Threat of
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the Faceless Creature, # 155 - Return of the Giants Frogs, #157 -Plight of the Human Cocoons, #159
The Maze of Time, #165 Secret of the Insect Men, #167 Gorko the Night Creature, #168 The
Hand that Erased Earth, #170 The Creature from Strange Adventures (Infinity Cover), #193
Zomzu the Living Colossus, and #194 The Bracelet of Deadly Charms. Some of the monsters
already identified were reprinted in later issues of Strange Adventures. Strange Adventures yields
42 giant monsters! The author looked at 232 issues for this article. The ratio of issues to big
monster is 232 / 42 = 5.5.
Tales of the Unexpected had big monsters in issues #17 Moon Beast, #20 You Stole Our Planet,
#36 Prisoners of the Lighthouse Creatures, #40 Battle of the Colossal Creatures, #48 The
Beast from the Invisible World, #50 Sun-Creature, #51 Mercurian Quill Thrower, #52-Guardian
Beasts of the Life Stone, #53 Creature in the Glass Ball, # 54 Dinosaurs of Space, #55 Ghost
Creatures of Phobos, #57 The Jungle Beasts of Jupiter, #59-Org, #60-The Beasts from Space
Seeds, #61 Guardians of the Moon Emperors Treasure, #63 Secret of the Space Circus, #65
The Alien Brat from Planet Byra, #67 The Beast that Space Ranger Protected, #68 Prisoner of
the Giant Robot, and #70 Xorog, #201 Giant Rabbit! Tales of the Unexpected has 21 big
monsters. The author looked at 208 issues. The ratio of issues to monsters is 208 / 21 = 9.9.
Conclusion
Overall, the secret to finding big monsters in the DC universe is to focus on the Silver age. Also do
not to look in the mainstream hero comics like Aquaman, Batman, Green Lantern and
Superman. The range of ratios for first tier heroes is 20.3-90.5.
However, every other issue in the second tier comics hero comics like the Doom Patrol, Metal Men,
Rip Hunter Time Master, Teen Titans, Tomahawk, Challengers of the Unknown, and the Sea Devils
has big monsters. The range of ratios was 2.7-9.3. So a big monster is more or less ten times more
likely to show up in a second tier hero adventure than a first tier hero adventure.
My theory is that the editors felt that if the hero could not sell the magazine then maybe a giant
monster plastered on the cover could. Also, one of the defining flaws of the second tier heroes is a
lack of a roster of strong recurring super villains. Big monsters were used as a substitute for strong
villains and this strategy in hindsight was not very successful.
The speculative fiction anthologies: House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected,
and Strange Adventures are the place to find the vast majority of DC monsters. The speculative
fiction anthologies are generally called science fiction comic books but I think this is a
misclassification. These Silver Age anthologies spanned the spectrum of horror to fantasy to science
fiction and actually quite a bit of supernatural fiction. They were the comic book equivalent of the
Twilight Zone, definitely speculative fiction rather than the Outer Limits, a more narrowly science
fiction show. The monsters in these anthologies span the gamut of supernatural to horror to science
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fiction monsters. The Vertigo Modern Age reboots of the House of Mystery and Strange Adventures
stay far away from giant monsters that are still popular but considered cheesy and not up to the
artistic standards of the Vertigo press. The range of ratios for the speculative fiction anthologies was
from 5.2-9.9. This range of ratios is similar to the range of second tier heroes. However the range is
greater for second tier heroes.
Wonder Woman (9.083 ratio) is an exception to the first tier hero rule. In particular, the Silver age,
Wonder Woman was fighting giant men in a large number of issues. More detailed analysis shows
that these giants often treat Wonder Woman like a plaything or even jewelry of the giants. All the
giants in Wonder Woman probably reflect some weird psychosexual dynamic at work as is often the
case with the Wonder Woman title from the Golden age all the way the way to the present. Could
some sort of role reversal be at work? Young boys who are sick of being pushed around by their giant
mothers derive vicarious pleasure from seeing Wonder Woman being played with by giant men? Or
did Wonder Woman just attract the weirdos of the comic book industry?
MARVEL
First of all I want to give special thanks to the Monster Blog! This website is the ultimate online
resource for anyone who is interested in the vast number of monsters that Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
created. These monsters are often referred to as Kirby monsters. The blog lists 210 monsters and
almost all of them fit the big monster definition. If you remove all human monsters, monsters that
are too small, and imaginary monsters, then are still left with the following list of big monsters:
Back From the Dead, Bombu, Bruttu, Colossus, Cyclops, Diablo, Don Russell, Dragoom, Elektro, Fin
Fang Foom, Gargantus, Goliath, Gomdulla, Googam, Goom, Gorgilla, Gorgolla, Gor-Kill, Grogg,
Groot, Grottu, Gruto, Gxenu and MARK VIII, I Dream of Doom, It Crawls By Night, Jason Wilkes,
Klagg, Korilla, Kraggoom, Kraa, Krang, Kurrgo, Lo-Karr, Magneto, Manoo, Mechano, Metallo, Mister
Morgans Monster, Mongu, Monsteroso, Monstro, Monstrollo, Monstrom, Moomba, OOG, Orrgo,
Paul Marshall, Pildorr, Robot X, ROE, Rommbu, Rorgg, Shagg, Shangri-La, Sporr, Spragg, Sserpo,
Taboo, Temujai, the Abominable Snowman, the Alien Gladiator, the Alien Observer, the Aliens from
Dead Storage, the Aliens from the Wax Museum, the Blip, the Brute That Walks, the Chamber of
Fear, the Changeling, the Crawling Creature, the Creature From Krangro, the Creature From
Krogarr, the Creature From Planet X, the Dragon, the Flying Saucer, the Forbidden World, the
Genie, the Genie With the Light Brown Hair, the Glob, the Gorilla Man, the Green Thing, the
Hypnomonster, the Impossible Tunnel, the Insect Man, the Invaders, the Leader, the Living Totem,
the Living Trees,the Lizard Men, the Luna Lizards, the Martian, the Martian Plant Creature, the
Martian Who Stole a City, the Martians, the Midnight Monster, the Miracle Mans Monster, the Mole
Mans Monster, the Molten Man-Thing, the Monster At the Window, the Monster Escapes, the
Monster In the Iron Mask, the Mummy, the Ninth Wonder of the World, the Other Cyclops, the
Robot Colossus, the Roc, the Sandman, the Scarecrow, the Scarlet Beetle, the Scorpion, the
Screemies, the Seeds of Doom, the Space Beasts, the Space Dragon, the Spider, the Statue Gods, the
Statue Maker, the Stone Men From Saturn, the Swamp Aliens, the Thing, the Thing Called It, the
Thing From the Hidden Swamp, the Thing Hunts For Me, the Thing in the Black Box, the Things on
Easter Island, the Tree Alien, the Twilight World, the Two-Headed Thing, the Warriors from Igneous
Rex, the Weed, the World Below, Thorr, Titan, Titano, Torr, Trull, Vandooms Creature, Wilbur
Fiske, Xemnu the Titan, X, X-13, Zemu and Zetora the Martian
However, as much fun as all those monster were for me growing up, they are all one-hit wonders
with the exception of the Fin Fang Four that includes Googam, Elektro, Gorgilla and of course Fin
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Fang Foom. Xemnu cloned five Kirby monsters including Groot, Goom, Taboo, Diablo, and The Blip
in order to fight the incredible Hulk. The Hulk is kind of a Kirby monster magnet. The Hulk also
fights It the Living Colossus. The Hulk along with the Beast, Giant Man and the Thing fought Tragg ,
Groot , Taboo, Grottu , Droom , Vandoom , Gargantus , Rommbu , Grogg , Moloids , Fin Fang Foom ,
Mole Man and the Collector in the 2005 one-shot Monsters on the Prowl. The Hulk has fought a
couple of modern age big monsters including the Bi-Beast and Umbu the Unliving (Hulk
#110). Some other modern age big monsters include the Devil Dinosaur, Dragon Man, Giganto ,
Midgard Serpent, the Moles Mans monsters and Wendigo. Marvel has a universe style guide of
their monsters: Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters.
I have not included Godzilla in the list of giant monsters at Marvel! Godzilla is a Toho Studios
monster and his foray into the Marvel universe was poor fit. Marvel no longer has the licensing
rights to Godzilla and hopefully this sorry episode in the Marvel Universe is dead, dead, dead,
forever. Godzilla could lift 20,000 tons with ease. Thor and the Hulk are 100 ton lifters! So this
interloper is about 200 times stronger than the heavyweights of the Marvel Universe! How can
Marvel superheroes fight this guy at all? Yet they do rather than being squashed like
ants! Suspension of belief is a delicate thing that Godzilla in the Marvel Universe practically
destroyed. Just a poor fit on every level. Keep in mind I am the author of Hello Kitty vs. Godzilla so
when I find a story to be over the top then thats saying a lot.
There is a misconception that Marvel has more monsters, especially giant monsters, than DC. DC
actually created more monsters during the Silver age than Marvel but they were much less
memorable and spread across many titles as one-shots and many of the monsters did not even have
names. Ironically, Kirby did have a monster comic book at DC, Challengers of the Unknown, but the
fact that this comic book was filled with monsters has been totally ignored until now.
Fing Fang Foom is easily the premiere giant monster at Marvel. Fing Fang Foom has appeared in
over 20 issues across the spectrum of Marvel titles. Fing Fang Foom appears in toy form in Iron Man
2008. Fing Fang Foom in the only Kirby monster to be made into a HeroClix giant figure! Fing Fang
Foom is arguably one of the more interesting Kirby monsters visually as you can see from the
HeroClix figure picture below:
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Validus faces off against Fing Fang Foom. Fing Fang Foom can sense that Validus has a the mind of
a child and tries to communicate with Validus but Validus is immune to telepathy. Validus rips off
one of Fing Fang Fooms arms with ease. Fing Fang Foom is a genius level strategist and decides it.s
time to run for the hills. Fing Fang Foom starts to fly away. Validus does not have the power of
flight. Validus zaps Fing Fang Foom from the sky with his unique mental lightning which can even
knock out the Silver Age Superboy. Fing Fang Foom decides to die ironically, and as Validus cradles
the dying Fing Fang Foom, Fing Fang Foom says, Rosebud with his dying breath. Validus doesnt
get the joke and looks for something else to smash.

DC vs. Marvel: Big Monsters

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DC vs. Marvel: Big Monsters

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DC vs.

Marvel: Big Monsters

What is a monster? According to the online version of Merriam-Webster:

The Second Tier Heroes

Speculative Fiction Anthologies

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