Elders of the Universe
The Elders of the Universe are the last survivors of otherwise extinct races. Each discovered that they had potentially infinite lifespans, dependent on maintaining the will to continue living. They are thus known for their personal obsessions (such as collecting, contests of strategy or strength, and various fields of study), each of which is pursued fanatically. While the characters are not truly cosmic entities, all have achieved some cosmic level of power and knowledge related to their particular pursuit.
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In General
In General
- Human Aliens: Some of them look like humans, only bigger and with blank eyes.
- Idiosyncrazy: They all have at least one major obsession that they use to spend their very long lives.
- Last of Their Kind: They're all the last members of their respective species, and can't either repopulate their race or die.
- The Older Immortal: There are many immortal beings in the Marvel Universe, and the Elders are usually older than them.
- Time Abyss: They're billions of years old, the Runner is stated to be a relatively young member at 5 billion years old.
Members
Astronomer
Astronomer
Alter Ego: Seginn Gallio
First Appearance: Silver Surfer Vol 3 #4 (October, 1987)
The Astronomer is one of the Elders of the Universe. He dedicated himself to observe the slow evolution of the cosmos.
- Pointy Ears: One of the few indicators that he's not human.
Caregiver
Caregiver
Alter Ego: Rubanna Lagenris Quormo
First Appearance: Quasar #37 (August, 1992)
The Caregiver is one of the Elders of The Universe. She has devoted herself to nurturing and/or healing those who she deems as cosmologically important.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Has pale yellow skin and her hair is dark green.
- Big Beautiful Woman: The woman is quite heavyset, but certainly attractive by human standards.
- Human Aliens: Other than being quite taller than the average human, she looks pretty similar to the human species.
- Multiboobage: She has at least three breasts.
- Statuesque Stunner: She stands at 8'2"/249cm tall and not bad looking.
Carina
Lady Carina Korvac
Alter Ego: Carina Tivan-Korvac
Notable Aliases: Carina Walters, Wasp, Janet Van Dyne
First Appearance: Avengers #167 (January, 1978)
Collector's daughter and the wife of Michael Korvac.- Becoming the Mask: The Collector originally conspired to have her pretend to be in love with Korvac and then turn on him in a moment of weakness. However, as she got to know him, she truly fell in love with him.
- Human Aliens: Other than her glowing eyes, she looks just like a human.
- Missing Mom: Her mother Matani died thousands of years ago.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: She's more attractive than her father.
Champion
Champion of the Universe
Alter Ego: Tryco Slatterus
Notable Aliases: Fallen One, Championpool, Blue Buccaneer
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One Annual #7 (October, 1982)
An Elder of The Universe, Tryco Slatterus was born over 5 billion years ago. His fighting supremacy has earned him the title of Champion...Champion of The Universe.
- The Ace: As Champion of the Universe, he's considered the best fighter in the universe.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Has blue skin.
- Fiery Redhead: Has red hair and loves the thrill of battle.
- Honorary True Companion: He was a member of the Deadpool Corps and even had the alias of Championpool.
Challenger
The Challenger
Alter Ego: Unknown
Notable Aliases: Grandmaster, Grandmaster Prime
First Appearance: Avengers #676 (January, 2018)
The Challenger was an Elder of the Universe whose main interest was playing games, much like the Grandmaster. In fact, the Challenger and the Grandmaster were friends before they had chosen their respective names, but when the Grandmaster chose "Grandmaster" as his name, the Challenger was insulted as he wanted to be the Grandmaster. Together, they played a game in which the loser would be exiled outside of reality itself...and the Challenger lost.
After the destruction and recreation of all reality in Secret Wars (2015), however, the Challenger reappeared, ready to play another game and gain his revenge against the Grandmaster. The Challenger chose the Black Order as his team, while the Grandmaster chose the Lethal Legion, with the Avengers as a wild card. Eventually defeated by the Avengers themselves, the Challenger was taken to the edge of the Far Shore by Voyager, the Grandmaster's daughter, and shown the Avenger's adventures. In the aftermath of Avengers: No Road Home, however, the Challenger appears to have escaped.
- Challenge Seeker: Much like the Grandmaster, he had an obsession with games. Since no two Elders can have the same obsession, however, he challenged the Grandmaster to a game in which the loser would be exiled outside of reality. Too bad he lost.
Collector
The Collector
Alter Ego: Taneleer Tivan
Notable Aliases: Tom Fagan, Nighthawk
First Appearance: The Avengers #28 (May 1966)
The Collector is an Elder of the Universe. He is obsessed with the collection and preservation of living beings and artifacts from across the universe.
- Alliterative Name: Tanaleer Tivan.
- The Collector: It's his obsession with collecting that gave him his moniker.
- High Collar of Doom: His blue high-collar, which he only changed thanks to the Ret-Canon.
- Last of His Kind: Like the other Elders, he outlived the rest of his race long ago. Except his daughter Carina.
- Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes were completely white, until the Ret-Canon that made him similar to his MCU self, that he gained pupils.
- Time Abyss: He is over five billion years old.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Collector often disguises his supposed true form, masking it in the gentler humanoid form usually seen, thus he has limited physical morphing abilities.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Has white hair thanks to his age, and he's amoral at best.
Ego the Living Planet
Ego the Living Planet
Alter Ego: Egros
Known Aliases:
First Appearance: Thor #132 (September, 1966)
Ego is an intelligent, living planet that is millions of years old and devours anything in its path.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: While corrupted by All-Black, Ego's remaining eye is shown with a black sclera and pupilless red iris.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: While Loki spent almost a century whispering words of madness into Ego's ear, Ego almost tore himself apart trying to kill him. Ego finally gave up All-Black, whereupon Loki promptly used it to rip Ego to shreds.
- Eye Scream: Black Galactus smashed a planetoid into Ego's right eye, which the All-Black symbiote didn't bother healing.
- Eating the Enemy: He ate Black Galactus, the Kree'ar Empire, the Celestials, and the last of the Acanti space-whales.
- Genius Loci: The aptly-named Ego the Living Planet, who tangled with such persons as The Mighty Thor and Galactus.
Explorer
Explorer
Alter Ego: Zamanathan Rambunazeth
First Appearance: Quasar #47 (June, 1993)
Zamanathan Rambunazeth is an immortal who has dedicated his existence on exploring the entire cosmos.- Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is blue.
- Bold Explorer: He has dedicated his existence to explore the universe.
Gardener
Gardener
Alter Ego: Ord Zyonz
First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #55 (March, 1977)
Gardener is an Elder of the Universe whose obsession is cultivating beauty.- Caring Gardener: He's the Gardener and he loves cultivating things he considers beautiful. And not just plants but species as well.
- Human Aliens: Other than being taller than the average human (he's 7'1"/216cm tall) he looks very similar to humans.
- Manly Facial Hair: Has a full beard, and as an Elder of the Universe, very powerful even when he's not really a fighter.
Grandmaster
Grandmaster
Alter Ego: En Dwi Gast
Notable Aliases: Chadmaster, The Master of Games, Grandy, Blue-Face
First Appearance: The Avengers #69 (October 1969)
A ancient and very powerful alien who occupies himself in his immortal years with gambling and games, typically using less powerful beings as his pawns. He is one of a group of such immortals called the Elders of the Universe, each named for the hobby they spend their time on (the Collector, the Gardener, the Contemplator, etc.).
- Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is blue.
- Challenge Seeker: Given games are his thing, he can never pass an opportunity for a game. More than once he's been done in or suckered by this.
- The Chessmaster: His go-to strategy, Thanos recognizes his genius and respects it to an extent. Practically all his schemes usually work to his favor in one way or another. His first scheme led him to learn about the Avengers, their capabilities, personalities and with little trade-off in his part.
- Cosmic Chess Game: He's obsessed with them. They're the only thing that can fill his eternal life. In practice these mostly equate to making Earth's heroes fight his own champions.
- Cosmic Entity: Sort of. He holds the "Power Primordial", the energy leftover from the Big Bang, but is otherwise inferior to the likes of Galactus.
- Death Is Cheap:
- Is attacked by Krona in JLA/Avengers, and dies the next issue. However when Krona is defeated in the final issue the Grandmaster is restored to life.
- During the events of Civil War, Zemo shot him through the head, at a point when Grandmaster was temporarily depowered. He got better.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His role in No Surrender saw him being ultimately tricked into surrendering in a game of poker with Lightning because his opponent had raised the stakes so that the loser of their current hand would be condemned to have all memory of their successes erased. Grandmaster was unable to endure the idea of becoming known to the wider universe as a loser who never accomplished anything, but Lightning mused that being an Avenger was about doing the right thing even if you wouldn't be remembered for it.
- Evil Versus Evil: Very often finds himself in these during his games, notably against Kang. The problem is that superhero teams tend to be pitted against another team the Grandmaster selects of seemingly equal might regardless of their morality, and the fate of the Earth is up for grabs.
- High Collar of Doom: His outfits often include a collar that goes above his head.
- I Gave My Word: He once vowed to leave Earth alone. For the most part, he's either forgotten or just generally ignored this.
- Immortality: The Grandmaster and the other Elders are immortals. Death itself has banned the Elders from its realm. As a result, the Grandmaster cannot be killed by any means. Although he can sustain physical injury, no injury can threaten his continued existence. The Grandmaster is also completely immune to all diseases and the aging process.
- Jackass Genie: Promises Kang "power over life and death" if he wins their game. When Kang wins due to outside factors, Grandmaster revises that to either life or death. Then Kang chooses death but makes the mistake of specifying "Death to the Avengers", which Grandmaster happily grants... by giving Kang powers that are totally useless against non-Avengers.
- Last of His Kind: Like the other Elders, he outlived the rest of his race long ago. Except his daughter.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: On the very, very rare occasions he fights directly, he's not half bad. Case in point, during Contest of Champions (2015), he managed to go up against the Maestro, an evil, souped-up future version of the freaking Hulk, and not only managed to last eight minutes, and live, he managed to inflict some injuries on the Maestro, injuries bad enough for him to complain afterwards.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Well, he's not really a hero but his actions were hardly villainous. In JLA/Avengers he brings the Marvel and DC Universes together to imprison Krona. However this starts destroying the universes, and Krona accelerates the process.
- Older Than They Look: He looks like he's in sixties, but he's older than the universe.
- Sizeshifter: Can go from thousands of feet tall to normal size in a moment.
- Super-Speed: Not as quick as Runner, but he can sneak up and surprise people when he wants to.
- Time Abyss: He is several billion years old.
Judicator
Judicator
Alter Ego:
First Appearance: Quasar #47 (June, 1993)
The Judicator seeks out new, unique disputes and crimes to adjudicate, including among fellow Elders.- Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes are completely blank.
Obliterator
Obliterator
Alter Ego: Maht Pacle
First Appearance: Silver Surfer Vol 3 #4 (October, 1987)
Obliterator is one of the few Elders of the Universe. He like all Elders is over 5 billion years old. Obliterator is immortal, superhumanly strong, and virtually invulnerable.- Human Aliens: Looks almost exactly like a human.
Possessor
Possessor
Alter Ego: Kamo Tharnn
Notable Aliases: Master Scholar
First Appearance: Thor #235 (May, 1975)
One of the Elders of the Universe whose obsession is knowledge.
- Blindfolded Vision: His eyes are covered by a blindfold but he can see nonetheless.
Profiteer
Profiteer
Alter Ego:
Notable Aliases: War Profiteer, Karen
First Appearance: Empyre: Fantastic Four #0 (September, 2020)
The Profiteer is the Elder of the Universe whose sole ambition is the acquisition of wealth.
- Arms Dealer: One of her main ways of profit is selling weapons, and she had provided them to the Kree and Skrull for a very long time.
- Greed: Since her obsession is profit, she has a never ending greed.
- Human Aliens: Has pale purple skin but otherwise looks pretty human.
- Insult Backfire: When Rocket Raccoon calls her the worst person he has ever met, she takes no offense.
- Pragmatic Villainy: She only teleports the Chitauri emissary that was about to blow up when she finds out a new conflict that threatens all life is about to begin, so she teleports him away since she couldn't profit if they were dead too. And that wasn't a bluff, there really is a threat to all life: Knull.
- Unusual Eyebrows: Her eyebrows point upwards.
- Villain in a White Suit: Dresses in white and she's a callous bitch and weapons' dealer.
- War for Fun and Profit: Since she was annoyed at seeing a loss in profits thanks to the ending of the Kree-Skrull War, she tried to ruin the Galactic Summit to provoke a new conflict she can sell weapons at.
Promoter
Promoter
Alter Ego: Xirena Awhina
Notable Aliases: Mistress of Marketing
First Appearance: Thor vs. Hulk: Champions of the Universe #1 (November, 2017)
The Promoter was a member of the Elders of the Universe and like her fellow Elders the last of her race. Promoter's specialty was promoting entertainment events of all kind.
- Blessed with Suck: Her people were gifted with the ability to grant nearly any wish, so long as it was granted on behalf of another. This eventually led to them being exploited, enslaved and eventually eradicated. There's a loophole if someone wants to help her get what she wants, however.
- Human Aliens: Looks like a dark-skinned woman with white hair, but is millions of years old.
- Mystical White Hair: Has white hair and is one of the Elders of the Universe.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her introductory arc was about her covertly manipulating the collection of powerful artifacts, that when combined would make her invincible, so she could seek revenge on a callous universe for exploiting her race into extinction.
Stranger
Stranger
Alter Ego: Unknown
Notable Aliases: Beyonder
First Appearance: X-Men #11 (May, 1965)
Well suited to his name, the only time the Stranger's agenda was clear was when he joined forces against Thanos during the interstellar struggle for the Infinity Gauntlet.
Trader
Trader
Alter Ego: Cort Zo Tinnus
First Appearance: Silver Surfer Vol 3 #4 (October, 1987)
An Elder of the Universe with a devotion to commerce.- Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is purple. It used to be illustrated as dark purple or blue.
- Little People: He's the shortest of the Elders of the Universe, being barely 4'5"/135cm tall.
- Proud Merchant Race: He is very proud of his devotion to trading and commerce.
