Kro (sometimes referred to as the Warlord Kro) is a fictional
supervillain
A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero.
Supervillains are oft ...
appearing in
American comic book
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...
s published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, 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 Co ...
.
Kro appeared in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
film ''
Eternals'' (2021), voiced by
Bill Skarsgård
Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård (; born 9 August 1990) is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films '' It'' (2017) and ''It C ...
.
Publication history
Created by
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...
, Kro first appeared in ''
The Eternals'' #1 (July 1976).
Fictional character biography
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 ...
, Kro is a military leader and sometimes acts as the leader of the
Deviant race, an
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
ary offshoot of the
human race
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
created by the
Celestials
The Celestials are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Depicted as cosmic beings, the characters debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have reappeared on numerous occasions.
The Celestials ...
. He is one of the first Earth Deviants created. Besides being a
shapeshifter
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...
, he is immortal. He hides this from his fellow Deviants by pretending to be a long line of fathers/sons. Also hidden from the Deviants is his long-standing (100,000 years) on-off relationship with
Thena
Thena (born Azura) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Martin A. Burnstein and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared as Minerva in ''Red Raven Comics'' #1 (August 1940), but was later reint ...
, leader of the Eternals and mother of their twin children,
Donald & Deborah Ritter. This relationship unravels during the course of the story.
In the past, Kro has disguised himself as the Devil in order to try to influence or frighten humans. His control over his own molecules renders him immune to the genetic manipulations of
Ghaur
Ghaur () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. In the Marvel Universe, he is the head of the Deviant race's priesthood.
Publication history
Created by Peter B. Gillis and Sal Buscema, he first ...
.
In the advent of the Heroic age, Kro attacked New York, trying to incite fear in the human population of the incoming Celestial judgement. He battled the Eternals and agreed a truce with his old lover Thena, showing themselves to the modern world. He tried to reconcile with Thena, bringing her to the City of Toads of Lemuria. She was treated as royalty, but she became horrified with many of the Deviants practices, like the purge of the very monstrous deviants, and the Gladiator's fights to the death. She took the Deviant gladiators Ramsak and
Karkas, and fled Lemuria, leaving Kro angry. He battled the Asgardian God
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
, when he went to the Deviant city under New York, to rescue some of the Eternals. Kro was left behind by Brother Tode, who escaped in a flying pod. Kro also took part in the ill-advised assault in Olympia. The Deviant's aristocracy, led by Brother Tode, kidnapped the Eternals and intended to disintegrate them. Kro tried to save Thena, but she rejected him again. The hero Iron Man (
James Rhodes) rescued the Eternals and helped them defeat the deviant invasion. Then the Eternals transformed the deviant's aristocracy into a synthetic cube, killing them. Thena saved Kro, and he was the only survivor of the failed attack.
After the death of Brother Tode, Kro returned to Lemuria and became a figurehead monarch for the Deviants. He had a power struggle with Priestlord
Ghaur
Ghaur () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. In the Marvel Universe, he is the head of the Deviant race's priesthood.
Publication history
Created by Peter B. Gillis and Sal Buscema, he first ...
, who now decided to take the power ''de facto''. Kro attacked the Eternals once more with his giant armada. However,
Ikaris
Ikaris is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''The Eternals'' #1 (July 1976) and was created by Jack Kirby. The character is depicted as a member of a race known as the Eter ...
and
Makkari defeated the Deviants. Kro was betrayed by some agents of Ghaur and escaped. He joined Thena and both were running away from the Deviants and the Eternals. Finally, Ikaris found them and replaced Thena as Prime Eternal after a ceremony. Ghaur tried to take the power of the
Dreaming Celestial
Dagger
Dagoth
Dagoth is a demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange.
Daken
Dakimh the Enchanter
Damballah
Daniel Whitehall
Daniel Whitehall is a British intelligence agent also known as the Kraken.
An elite assassin and member of the ...
, and was stopped by the Avengers and Eternals. After the disintegration of Ghaur, Kro remained as the unique leader of the Deviants. He had another dispute with Thena, when he revealed that he was influencing her with a new type of brain mine. Kro also agreed to a truce with Ikaris. He was acting as monarch when Quasar came to Lemuria, and he was organizing gladiator matches. Some time later, Kro became depressed by the loss of Thena, and abdicated the throne to search for her again. He located her and their twin children, Donald & Deborah Ritter, conceived long before his attack in New York. Together, they ended the tyranny of Brother Visara in Lemuria, and joined as a family. Kro was also the founder of the Deviant team Delta Network, including some heroic Deviants like Ramsak, Karkas and his own children. He led them in an attempt to rescue the Avengers from a resurrected Ghaur. Kro and Thena searched for their children when they were captured by the villain
Maelstrom
Maelstrom may refer to:
* Maelstrom (whirlpool), a powerful whirlpool
** originally the Moskstraumen in English
Amusement rides
* Maelstrom (ride), a former log flume dark ride attraction in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort ...
. When the mad priest Ghaur tried to form an ''Anti-Mind'', in his plan to battle the Celestials, and captured the Ritters and Thena, Kro led his deviant faction to rescue his children and his lover. However, he was outmatched by Ghaur's power, and kept up the fight against Ghaur as his family escaped.
Kro and Ghaur formed bickering factions and kept the struggle for power in Deviant Lemuria. The external world did not know who was in charge. Kro was still recognized as the formal monarch in the UN and opposed the attack of the
Black Panther
A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...
and
Wakanda
Wakanda () is a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Wakanda has been depicted as being in East Africa. It is located in sub-Saharan Africa, and is home to the superhero Black Panther (comics), Black Pa ...
against his nation. When the Avengers defeated some Deviants tribesman, they transferred them to Kro's control, as he was the Deviant King at the time.
Much later, a plague devastated Lemuria, the Deviants males were rendered sterile and a power struggle between
Ereshkigal
In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal ( sux, , lit. "Queen of the Great Earth") was the goddess of Kur, the land of the dead or underworld in Sumerian religion, Sumerian mythology. In later myths, she was said to rule Irkalla alongside her husb ...
and Ghaur happened. Ghaur won when he promised the deviants the return of the fertility with the help of the kidnapped eternal
Phastos
Phastos is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Peter B. Gillis and Sal Buscema, the character first appeared in '' The Eternals'' (vol. 2) #1 (October 1985). He is a member of the Ete ...
. Kro was acting in the sidelines as general and he was who attacked the unprotected Olympia, bringing the Eternal resurrecting machine and Phastos to Lemuria. Thor rescued Phastos and battled Ghaur. Kro kept the intrigue against Ghaur, and approached Ereshkigal. He activated the Asgardian Unbiding stone that she had stolen, but it got out of control, threatening all reality. When Thor destroyed the stone, Ghaur and Ereshkigal disappeared and Kro was left leading the Deviants. He regretted the incident and said to Thor that he had abandoned his ambitions.
Powers and abilities
Despite his Deviant heritage, Kro possesses a number of superhuman traits that are characteristic of an Eternal. Kro maintains a virtually unbreakable mental control over the processes and structure of his body, even when he is asleep or unconscious. As a result, Kro has a lifespan that has already lasted over 100,000 years and is immune to disease and aging. His mental control over his body enables him to maintain a youthful, vigorous physical condition. However, Kro is not so nearly indestructible as the Eternals. (For example, Ikaris nearly killed Kro once by strangulation.) But while sufficient force can kill Kro, he can use his mental control over his body to heal himself after being injured.
Kro also possesses the power of physical malleability, which is atypical for a Deviant. At will, he can cause most of the tissue of his body to become pliant, enabling him to shape it mentally like putty into different configurations. Once the tissue is set in an altered form, Kro has only to stop concentrating and his body will retain that shape until such time as he concentrates upon changing it again. This ability enables him to disguise himself and take the appearance of others (with cosmetic help for skin color, body hair, and so forth). One of Kro's favorite ploys is to pass himself off among ordinary humanity as a demon by fashioning horns on his head.
Kro's shape-changing powers are limited. He cannot alter the shape of his skeleton in more than minor ways. Moreover, he cannot eliminate any of his mass while transforming; he can only redistribute his of weight. Hence, he usually only uses his shape-changing power to alter his facial features. He can mentally mold the shape of his skull somewhat.
Kro has about three times the physical endurance of an ordinary human athlete. His heart is not located in the same place as an ordinary human being's; its true location is unrevealed.
In other media
Film
* Kro serves as the secondary antagonist in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
film ''
Eternals'' (2021), voiced by
Bill Skarsgård
Bill Istvan Günther Skarsgård (; born 9 August 1990) is a Swedish actor, producer, director, writer, voice actor, and model. He is best known for portraying Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the supernatural horror films '' It'' (2017) and ''It C ...
.
He is a Deviant general and an enemy of the Eternals. By assassinating
Ajak
Ajak is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, Ajak first appeared in ''The Eternals'' #2 (August 1976), he was created by Jack Kirby. The character is usually depicted as a mem ...
and absorbing her powers, Kro and the Deviants begin to evolve. After demonstrating his healing abilities, he steals the power of
Gilgamesh
sux, , label=none
, image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...
and kills him while gaining a humanoid form. Now able to vocalize, he says that the Deviants were only fighting for the survival of their species, and that he will not forgive the Eternals for what they’ve done. While the Eternals battle
Ikaris
Ikaris is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''The Eternals'' #1 (July 1976) and was created by Jack Kirby. The character is depicted as a member of a race known as the Eter ...
, Kro tries to steal Thena's power by luring her with the voice of Gilgamesh, but is killed by her, avenging the fallen Eternals.
References
Further reading
* The Eternal #4 - #6 (2004)
External links
"K" in the Encyclopaedia OlympiannaThe Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics' Creators*
{{Jack Kirby
Comics characters introduced in 1976
Characters created by Jack Kirby
Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
Marvel Comics Deviants
Marvel Comics supervillains
Marvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters
Fictional characters with immortality
Marvel Comics characters with accelerated healing