Mentor (A'lars) is a fictional character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. The character first appeared in ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' #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, an ...

. 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. Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 (cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Devia ...

and Starfox, the adoptive father of Moondragon, 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. Created by Martin A. Bursten and Jack Kirby, the charact ...

, 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 fictional story telling whereby facts and events established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work ...

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. Superhero teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardia ...

created by

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

, 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

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 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

's moon

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

, 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, the sole survivor of the civil war that destroyed the Eternals of Titan previously. Sui-San bore two children for Mentor,

and Eros (later known as Starfox). 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 Sampson Douglas) is a 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 or ...

. 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 a ...

of Thanos's history.

Quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

and Drax attempt to consult Mentor, who apparently kills them. Thanos escapes captivity and reclaims his Black Order forces from Corvus Glaive. 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 ''

'' episode "Learning Curve", voiced by Cedric Smith. He is said to be Thanos' brother instead of Starfox due to a

typographical error A typographical error (often shortened to typo), also called a misprint, is a mistake (such as a spelling or transposition error) made in the typing of printed or electronic material. Historically, this referred to mistakes in manual typesettin ...

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 extraterrestrial characters from the Solar System Marvel Comics characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength Marvel Comics telepaths