How surprising that in all this time we've seen so little of the Monstroid, an alien robot so named by the Puppet Master when he had the good fortune of finding and taking control of it after its ship had crashed outside of his cabin. An experimental construct created by the Skrulls to use as a scout during the Kree-Skrull War, Ballox (his Skrull designation) appeared in a 1972 Marvel Team-Up story and was subsequently rendered inactive when its link to the Puppet Master was severed by the Vision; but its debut proved that it could be useful in any number of stories where a villain needed a bruiser to do their bidding. (Off the top of my head, seeing the Wizard draft it as part of a new Frightful Four lineup was a story waiting to happen.)
Yet the Monstroid's final active appearance in a Marvel comic (to my knowledge) occurred nearly three years after the Team-Up story--only this time it didn't face Spider-Man in battle, but the living weapon of K'un Lun. (Who, if he could, would probably be down with having Luke Cage as his wingman right about now.)
It turns out that, upon its earlier capture, the dormant Monstroid was crated up and deposited in a S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, virtually waiting to be snatched up by a villain who could use its services. (See how that works?) In this case, our villain is Master Khan, who wants to use the robot/android (we never find out which) to assassinate an Arabic princess visiting New York City under police protection. It's a little disturbing to see the number of SHIELD depots that have proven vulnerable to raids over the years, but apparently the one holding the Monstroid--along with its hapless contingent of agents--is one of them. Er, make that was.
As for the Princess, she's practically the perfect target for an assassination--attending a softball game at Central Park's Sheep Meadow, where the police hitters are facing off against (you guessed it) the team from Marvel Comics. For what it's worth, Princess Azir was having a good time in attendance--until her mechanical, armored assassin swooped in for the kill. Fortunately, there are those who stand ready to do their utmost to defend her--but where the Monstroid is concerned, they'll have their hands full.
In these early Iron Fist stories, the tale is usually primed for what in the business world would be called "the closer"--someone prepped to be brought in during the final stages of a deal to conclude the transaction successfully. For our hero, his "iron fist" is the closer (no big surprise there--heck, it's also the character's name, and the masthead of his book)--kept under wraps but finally unleashed in the final pages of the story as its coup de grâce. A fitting term, as it happens, for what would be the Monstroid's last stand.
Granted, the Monstroid looks pretty demolished, so it's little wonder we haven't seen it again (outside of a brief profile page in a Web of Spider-Man annual). At least it lasted one appearance longer than the Eliminator, a creature that also arguably merited return status. I sense team potential here...
I've been a fan of Iron Fist since the days of this issue, so don't get me wrong when I say the Monstroid wouldn't be much of an addition to the Frightful Four. If Danny is able to wreck it, then the F.F. wouldn't be too troubled.
ReplyDeleteIt's always got up my nose how, if charted on a graph, SHIELD's success rate is abysmal. I know the Hero has to save the day, but all it would take is for the thieves (in this issue) to make some remark "Jeez, this SHIELD security is totally badass! That was a squeaker!" Just some nod to show the bad guys worked up more of a sweat than a punk knocking over a convenience store.
The suffix "oid" is pretty creepy. "Humanoid or "Adaptoid", for example.
ReplyDeleteI wonder where that came from and how many "oids" the have been in Marvel comics.
I seem to remember a "Blastoid".
Oh wait, that's some kinda prehistoric starfish. Not, as one might assume, something that came outta the Negative Zone.
M.P.
M.P., perhaps the Puppet Master, not knowing much of Ballox at the time, nevertheless wanted to give his new servitor a menacing aspect, thus the moniker "Monstroid"--not quite a monster, but a name to get the Puppet Master's message across. I suppose you could think of it in terms of, say, an opioid, a compound providing the effects of opium but not quite the real thing.
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