IMMORTUS

'Immortus' ('Nathaniel Richards') is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. He is the future (and later, alternate) self of Kang the Conqueror, and first appeared in ''Avengers'' #10, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Contents

Fictional character biography

Other versions

Earth X

In other media

Television

External links

Fictional character biography

At some point in his personal timeline, Kang became weary of battle, due to frustration and the loss of his son Marcus and consort Ravonna in several timelines. He was approached by the alien Time-Keepers — time travelers from the end of the universe, the last living creatures in existence — to become their agent, preserving timelines rather than conquering them in exchange for immortality. He accepted and reinvented himself again, this time as Immortus.
He again came into conflict with the Avengers, but under different circumstances. He was partially responsible for the creation of the Vision, creating a temporal copy of the original Human Torch that the android Ultron used to create the Vision. He was also responsible for manipulating Iron Man to turn against the Avengers by driving him insane, which resulted in Iron Man's death until he was resurrected by Franklin Richards later.
Immortus also came into conflict with his younger self, who was unable to see the reasoning behind Immortus' actions. Kang's conflict with Immortus was dubbed the "Destiny War".
Immortus faked his death several times before ultimately turning on the Time-Keepers to assist the Avengers and, as punishment, was truly killed. However, he was resurrected minutes later as temporal energies from the Time-Keepers' attempts to turn Kang directly into Immortus and thus fulfill the time loop caused a backlash that created Kang and Immortus as separate beings, freeing Kang from what he saw as a destiny as a "doddering old scholar."

Other versions

Earth X

Immortus appears in Earth X, as Pope of the Church of Immortus. The Church of Immortus' goals are to destroy Reed Richards' Human Torches, allowing mankind to keep their mutations. Upon completing this goal, the Church of Immortus would then leave the Earth to colonize the stars. Immortus is advised in his role by a mysterious man known as Mr. Church, who is Mephisto attempting to lead mankind into its own demise.
Initially, Immortus was able to travel into and out of Limbo at his own will, through use of a time machine. Mephisto would eventually use this to get past his inability to travel into Limbo directly, and would lock Immortus out of Limbo. Eventually, Immortus would be mutated into Kang by the Terrigen Mists, and destroys his time machine in a rage after Mephisto refers to him as Kang, cursing Mephisto for making him Kang again. In his final appearance in the series, he has came to grips with his being Kang, and vows to help Reed Richards undo the damage his Church of Immortus has caused.

In other media

Television

Immortus makes a brief (and often overlooked) appearance in the ''X-Men'' Animated Series (1992) episode "Beyond Good and Evil part 4". At the conclusion of the story, the time-stream "custodian" Bender reveals (though only to the viewer) himself to be Immortus once Bishop leaves.

External links

★ ''The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe's profile on Immortus