Mega Morphs was a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

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 ...

in 2005. ''Mega Morphs'' is based on a series of

action figure An action figure is a poseable character (arts), character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are ...

s made by

Toy Biz Toy Biz (also stylized as ToyBiz), was a toy company which later became a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment and was renamed to Marvel Toys. It was best known for producing action figures and toys and holding the Marvel Comics license from 1990 t ...

. The comics feature

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple antiheroes and superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

and

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

. The comic was drawn by Lou Kang and written by

Sean McKeever Sean Kelley McKeever (born 1972) is an American comic book writer. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin he grew up in Eagle River. Career Since the end of his creator-owned teen drama series ''The Waiting Place'', which was published from 1997 to 2002, ...

. Within the Marvel Multiverse, the Mega Morphs universe is designated as Earth-50810.

Plot

Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Captain America, the Hulk, and Wolverine have been selected by

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 ...

to command large robotic suits of armor to fight evil when a threat for a single superhero becomes too large.

Doctor Octopus Doctor Octopus (Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius), also known as Doc Ock for short, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in ''Th ...

stole Iron Man's designs and made his own Mega Morph, and was out to create a device that would sap the world's superhumans of all their powers, and would allow Octavius and

Doctor Doom Doctor Victor Von Doom is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in ''The Fantastic Four'' #5 in July 1962. The monarch of the fi ...

to take over the Earth until the original Mega Morphs stopped him.

Publication history

The first issue premiered on August 10, 2005. The Mega Morph

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

s came with short

minicomics A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 (105& ...

that served as

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

s to the Marvel four-issue series.

Functions

The Mega Morphs are powered by the super-powers of the

superhuman The term superhuman refers to humans or human-like beings with enhanced qualities and abilities that exceed those naturally found in humans. These qualities may be acquired through natural ability, self-actualization or technological aids. Th ...

piloting them, allowing the robot to use the abilities of their pilot, as shown in the beginnings of the mini-comics and the Wolverine mini-comic. In it, Octavius' Mega Morph breaks open Wolverine's robot in space, making it so that Wolverine would be unable to breathe, but Logan fought back, saying that due to his healing factor, the robot would repair itself. The statement was true, as the metal that had been shattered instantly started regenerating. Spider-Man's robot can also produce webbing thanks to Spider-Man's ability to create organic webbing. Also, if the superhuman inside has somehow been de-powered (like the Hulk is able to be) or is not currently using the Mega Morph, the robot will be useless and will not be able to do anything unless the superhuman comes back or their powers return.

Transformations

*Spider-Man's robot turns into the Arachno-Fighter, a vehicle resembling a

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

. *Captain America's robot turns into the Warbird, a vehicle resembling a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, but with legs (the "Warbird" name is unrelated to the alias that

Carol Danvers Carol Susan Jane Danvers is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan, Danvers first appeared as an officer in the United States Air Force and a colleague of the ...

used once). *Doctor Octopus's robot turns into the Octo-copter a vehicle resembling a cargo helicopter. *The Hulk's robot turns into the Rage Tank, a vehicle resembling a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

. *Wolverine's robot turns into the Aero-Slasher, a vehicle resembling a strangely shaped

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

. *Ghost Rider's robot turns into the Street Blazer, a vehicle resembling a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

which is actually scaled correctly for a humanoid-formed Mega Morph to ride. *

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

's robot turns into the Clobberin' Time Tank, a vehicle resembling an armored Humvee truck. *

's robot turns into the Sky-Fighter, a vehicle resembling a stealth jet aircraft. *

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

's robot turns into the Spider-Smasher, a vehicle that looks extremely similar to Spider-Man's Arachno-Fighter. (The toy is the same, with new colors.)

Continuity

Marvel did not originally reveal if ''Mega Morphs'' took place on

Earth-616 In the fictional Marvel Comics multiverse, Earth-616 is the primary continuity in which most Marvel Comics titles take place. History of the term The term was first used in "Rough Justice", a story credited to both Alan Moore and Alan Davis p ...

(mainstream Marvel) or another Earth. However, in the ''Daily Bugle:

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Special'', there was an article about Tony Stark denying any involvement in creating gigantic fighting machines, which seemed to indicate that it did take place in regular continuity. The comic also featured references to past events in mainstream continuity, including Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, the Hulk and Wolverine's brief tenure as the "

New Fantastic Four ''The New Fantastic Four'' (on-screen title: ''The Fantastic Four'') is an animated series produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Comics Animation in 1978. It is the second animated series based on Marvel's comic book series ''Fanta ...

", and an appearance of the

Red Ronin Red Ronin is a fictional gigantic humanoid robotic construct (mecha) appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, and went on to be a menace to other Marvel characters such as the Avengers and Wolverine. Publication history Origi ...

, a giant robot of the Marvel universe. However the series was confirmed as taking place on an alternate Earth (Earth-50810) in the 2015 ongoing series ''Web Warriors'', which had the Mega Morphs versions of Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus appearing among the myriad of characters who were displaced from their home dimensions by the Web of Life and Destiny.

Future developments

After the third series of toys was released, it became unclear if the toy line would be continued with a fourth.

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

acquired the rights to produce Marvel action figures and they subsequently made a similar collection, ''Transformers Crossovers'', which includes giant transforming robots modelled after Marvel superheroes.

References

External links

* * * {{Superhero toy lines Marvel Comics superhero teams Marvel Comics action figure lines Comics based on toys Marvel Entertainment franchises Marvel Comics limited series 2005 comics debuts