Quex-Ul is a

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 of ...

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

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

. He is depicted as an enemy of

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

. Quex-Ul appeared in the television series ''

Krypton Krypton (from grc, κρυπτός, translit=kryptos 'the hidden one') is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas that occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere and is of ...

'', portrayed by Gordon Alexander.

Publication history

Quex-Ul first appeared in ''Superman'' #157 (1962) and was created by

Curt Swan Douglas Curtis Swan (February 17, 1920 – June 17, 1996) was an American comics artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans call the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 195 ...

and

Edmond Hamilton Edmond Moore Hamilton (October 21, 1904 – February 1, 1977) was an American writer of science fiction during the mid-twentieth century. Early life Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. So ...

Fictional character biography

Pre-''Crisis''

First appearing in ''Superman'' #157 (Nov. 1962), Quex-Ul was a Kryptonian exiled to the

Phantom Zone The Phantom Zone is a prison-like parallel dimension appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is mainly associated with stories featuring Superman. It first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #283 (April 1961), and was created ...

when he was convicted of killing Rondors, an endangered species, to use their healing horns for the purpose of profit. He confessed and spent his time in the Zone, but was released by Superman when his time was up. Not a grateful sort, he attempted to lure Superman into a

gold kryptonite Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton (comics), Krypton that emits a u ...

trap, until Superman discovered that Quex-Ul had actually been controlled by another Kryptonian, Rog-Ar, the true rondor killer. Learning this, Quex-Ul threw himself into the trap to save the hero, losing his powers and memory. In the 1982 ''The Phantom Zone'' mini-series, he later works at the ''

Daily Planet The ''Daily Planet'' is a fictional newspaper appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The newspaper was first mentioned in ''Action Comics'' #23 (April 1940). The ''Daily Planet'' build ...

'', believing himself to be an Earthman named "Charlie Kweskill". Susceptible to unconscious influence by Phantom Zoners, he unwittingly frees them and is himself trapped in the Zone along with Superman. Together they seek a way out of the Zone, ultimately facing a malevolent entity called Aethyr, whose mind creates the Phantom Zone. On arrival, Superman and Quex-Ul find themselves wearing each other's clothes, and "Charlie" wonders if he now has super powers. It is unclear whether his powers or memory have actually been restored, the costume swap having been effected as some sort of amusement by Aethyr. To save the Man of Steel, Quex-Ul flies towards Aethyr and dies in a shower of fiery breath, sacrificing his life in a final act of redemption.

Post-''Crisis''

In the

Pocket Universe A pocket universe or bubble universe, also colloquially called pocket dimension is a concept in inflationary theory, proposed by Alan Guth. Description It defines a realm like the one that contains the observable universe as only one of many inf ...

(an alternate version of the pre-Crisis Earth-One), Quex-Ul was freed with

General Zod General Zod is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly known as an adversary of the superhero Superman. The character, who first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #283 (April 1961), was created by Rob ...

and Zaora from the Phantom Zone by a naive

Lex Luthor Alexander Joseph "Lex" Luthor () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Lex Luthor originally appeared in ''Action Comics'' #23 (cover dated: April ...

, whereupon they turned Pocket Earth into a dead world. Quex-Ul and the others were executed by Superman using Kryptonite, a controversial move that haunted him for some time.

''Adventure Comics''

In ''

Adventure Comics ''Adventure Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from ''New Adventure Comics''), ...

'' #512 (late May 2010), Quex-Ul makes an appearance under the cover name of Edward Robertson. He was later killed by Squad K of Project 7734. He is also shown in the Phantom Zone with

and the rest of the Phantom Zone criminals, including

Jax-Ur Jax-Ur is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, usually as an adversary of Superman. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp, the character first appeared in ''Adventure Comics'' #289 (October 1961). He has b ...

, Non, Ursa, Car-Vex, Az-Rel and Nadira. His was a plan developed by Car-Vex aka Officer Romundi and General Sam Lane.

Powers and abilities

As a Kryptonian, Quex-Ul has superpowers derived from under the light of Earth's yellow sun in that

solar system The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. His basic abilities are sufficient for him to bend steel, overpower a locomotive, leap over a tall building in one bound, and outrun a speeding bullet, as well as virtual invulnerability, accelerated recovery, laser eyebeams, vortex breath, and flight. He possesses extraordinary senses of hearing and sight, including x-ray, telescopic, and microscopic vision. Like all Kryptonians, he is vulnerable to Kryptonite, red sunlight, and magic.

In other media

Television

* Quex-Ul appears in the ''

Justice League Action ''Justice League Action'' is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero team Justice League. The series is produced by Jim Krieg, Butch Lukic, and Alan Burnett. The show debuted on Cartoon Network UK on Nov ...

'' episode "Field Trip", voiced by Jason J. Lewis. He was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, but escaped into the Fortress of Solitude alongside General Zod and Faora.

Blue Beetle Blue Beetle is the name of three fictional superheroes who appear in a number of American comic books published by a variety of companies since 1939. The most recent of the companies to own rights to Blue Beetle is DC Comics, which bought the ri ...

Firestorm A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...

, and Stargirl, who were visiting the Fortress, battle against the trio, and Firestorm uses

Martin Stein Martin Stein is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is commonly associated with, and sometimes is, the superhero Firestorm. Stein has made several appearances in DC-related media, such as the Arrowve ...

's guidance to learn how to transmute anything to Kryptonite. This enables him to weaken and successfully defeat the villains. * Quex-Ul appears in ''

'', portrayed by Gordon Alexander. He is a member of the Military Guild/Kandor's Sagitari and the commander of Lyta-Zod's squadron. In "House of El", Lyta discovers that the Military Guild plans to purge the slums to draw out Black Zero terrorists and challenges Quex-Ul to a duel to the death for command of the squadron. Lyta then manages to defeat him in combat and mercilessly kills him, despite his pleas for mercy, allowing Lyta to take over as commander of the squadron.

Novels

In several '

Choose Your Own Adventure ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's acti ...

'-type novels, Quex-Ul was one of the three prominent Phantom Zone criminals, notable for the fact that he was already very strong before he was exposed to a yellow sun. However, he was not exceptionally intelligent, and relied on General Zod to tell him what to do. This portrayal was more like Non, the movie villain who served as the basis for Quex-Ul's Post-Crisis incarnation.

References

External links