Mentor (A'lars) is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, Play (theatre), play, Radio series, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or b ...
appearing in
American comic books published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...
. The character first appeared in ''
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
'' #55 (February 1973), and was created by
Jim Starlin
James P. Starlin (born October 9, 1949) is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, a ...
.
Mentor is the leader of the
Titanian colony where he is the father of
Thanos
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant w ...
and
Starfox
is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagon ...
, the son of
Kronos, the brother of
Zuras
Zuras is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Eternals who is the uncle of Thanos and Starfox.
Publication history
Zuras first appeared in '' The Etern ...
, and the nephew of
Uranos. His back-story was based on Greek mythology. Some years later, he was
retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...
ned to be a member of the
Eternals, a race in the
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...
created by
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential c ...
, separately based on Greek mythology.
Fictional character biography
A'lars was the second son of
Kronos and Daina, two of the first generation of
The Eternals, and was born eons ago in the city of Titanos. A'lars and his brother
Zuras
Zuras is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a member of the Eternals who is the uncle of Thanos and Starfox.
Publication history
Zuras first appeared in '' The Etern ...
were raised in the aftermath of the great civil war which divided the first colony of Eternals. Their father Kronos, who was on the winning side of the civil war, toiled away in his laboratory attempting to discover the secrets of the self-regenerating cosmic life force that he felt his race was capable of attaining. A force field cylinder containing cosmic energy exploded, disintegrating Kronos' body and imparted immortality to all nearby Eternals. A'lars then became a scientist like his father.
A'lars and Zuras, both adults at the time of Kronos's death, held a general assembly to determine who would succeed him. The assembly chose Zuras, so A'lars chose to leave the colony to avoid the sort of fraternal rivalry that led Kronos and his brother
Uranos to the first civil war. He settled on
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...
's moon
Titan, taking over as leader of the underground colony that his uncle Uranos had built centuries earlier.
Upon arriving on Titan, A'lars discovered the
Uranian Eternal
Sui-San
Sabra
Sabreclaw
Sabreclaw is a character in the MC2 universe who first appeared in '' J2'' #8 (May 1999). He is the half-brother of Wild Thing and the son of Wolverine.
The character has claws (similar to Sabretooth), a healing factor, enh ...
, the sole survivor of the civil war that destroyed the Eternals of Titan previously. Sui-San bore two children for Mentor,
Thanos
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant w ...
and Eros (later known as
Starfox
is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagon ...
). Sui-San died in Thanos' first major attack against Titan.
Mentor implored his father Kronos to aid Titan against Thanos, causing Kronos to create
Drax the Destroyer
Drax the Destroyer (Arthur Douglas) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 (February 1973).
The character's ...
.
Mentor later met
Rick Jones and
Captain Mar-Vell. With his son Eros, he informed Jones and Mar-Vell of Thanos's degradation of Titan. Mentor enlisted Mar-Vell's aid against Thanos. Mentor was imprisoned by Thanos, but freed by Captain Mar-Vell. Mentor joined in the battle against Thanos. Later, Mentor joined in the attempt to cure Captain Mar-Vell of cancer, and attended Mar-Vell's last hours.
Mentor later informed the
Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first ...
of Thanos's history.
Quasar
A quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a mass rangin ...
and
Drax attempt to consult Mentor, who apparently kills them.
Thanos escapes captivity and reclaims his
Black Order forces from
Corvus Glaive
Corvus Glaive is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a prominent member of the Black Order, a team of aliens who work for Thanos.
The character has made several appearances in media, su ...
. After retaking command of his Black Quadrant outpost, Thanos discovers that he is dying. Thanos tries to force Mentor to find a cure for his malady, but kills him when he is unable to.
Powers and abilities
As a member of the
Eternals, Mentor has superhuman stamina and durability, and a gifted intellect. He possesses various superhuman powers, including the ability to project cosmic energy as waves of concussive force and the ability to manipulate matter on the molecular level. Mentor has displayed telepathic abilities, the limits of which are as yet unknown.
Mentor has knowledge of science and technology far in advance of present-day Earth. As ruler of Titan, Mentor has access to and full use of a wide range of advanced technology located on that artificial moon.
In other media
Mentor appears in the ''
Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first ...
'' episode "Learning Curve", voiced by
Cedric Smith. He is Thanos' brother instead of
Starfox
is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagon ...
due to a
typographical error
A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling mistake) made in the typing of printed (or electronic) material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual type-setting (typography). ...
in the script.
References
External links
Mentor (Alars the Eternal)at the Marvel Directory
{{Thanos
Characters created by Jim Starlin
Comics characters introduced in 1973
Eternals (comics)
Fictional characters from the Solar System
Fictional characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics telepaths