List of Marvel Comics characters: Z

Zabu

Zadkiel

Zadkiel is a former archangel in the service of Heaven and an enemy of the Ghost Rider, named after the mythical angel of the same name. Created by Jason Aaron, the character debuted in Ghost Rider vol. 4 #27.

Zadkiel was in charge of overseeing the Spirits of Vengeance in God's army, and gradually developed a hatred of humanity as God favored the sinners over the angels . This led him to decide to overpower and dethrone God, something that he would need the power of Spirits of Vengeance to do. It was revealed that he had endowed Johnny Blaze with the powers of the Ghost Rider.

As a backup plan Zadkiel used Blaze's brother, Daniel Ketch.^[1] Danny was once the host for the Ghost Rider entity, and after he had exorcised the spirit he went into withdrawal. Falling off the wagon Danny soon found himself once again host to a new variation of the Ghost Rider. Zadkiel had tricked Danny into believing that by killing other Spirits of Vengeance he would be freeing the human hosts. What Danny did not realize was that by destroying the Spirits of Vengeance, he was fueling Zadkiel, making him all-powerful.

Danny blindly led Zadkiel's army, the Black Host, into war with Blaze and the last remaining Ghost Riders. Danny and Blaze soon came into conflict, and Danny and Zadkiel's army were able to overpower Blaze and his allies. When Danny ascends to Heaven to deliver the last of the spirits, Zadkiel turns on him, casting him back to Earth.^[2] With his enhanced abilities, Zadkiel was able to apparently usurp the throne from God and instill himself as the new ruler of Heaven.^[3]

His reign was short-lived, however, as Danny and Blaze had arrived in Heaven to challenge him. With the assistance of the deceased Ghost Riders of the past, the brothers were able to overthrow Zadkiel and return the Heaven to God; Zadkiel realized that though he might have been able to shift the power that fueled the Ghost Riders from its hosts, and even leech it from them, he could neither control nor destroy it, as only the one true God possessed that power, which he was not. Zadkiel is currently imprisoned in Hell, condemned by an enraged God for his treachery to be tortured for all eternity for his horrific crimes against Paradise and Creation.^[4]

Zaladane

Zaladane is a fictional character, a sorceress and the high priestess of the sun god Garokk, the Petrified Man. The character first appeared in Astonishing Tales #3 and was created by Gerry Conway and Barry Windsor-Smith. She is the alleged sister of Polaris, a claim made at a time when Polaris' own parentage had not yet been confirmed.

Zaladane was the war-like high priestess and queen of the Sun People, who live in the Savage Land. She attempted to lead the Sun People in a war to conquer the peoples of the Savage Land. Her army's weapons were destroyed by Garokk, so she attempted to force Garokk to do her bidding but was attacked by him. She was defeated by Ka-Zar and seemingly destroyed.^[10] Zaladane later reappeared, and magically transformed her captive Kirk Marston into Garokk, endowing him with the original Garokk's consciousness. She aided Garokk in attempting to unite the Savage Land tribes under his leadership. She captured the X-Men and Ka-Zar, but was thwarted by the X-Men.^[11]

Years later, Zaladane became the assistant of the High Evolutionary in his project to restore the Savage Land after its near destruction by the alien Terminus. Zaladane was allied with the Savage Land Mutates (Savage Land natives who had been given superhuman powers through artificially induced mutation by Magneto), and with them plotted to conquer the Savage Land.^[12]

In her quest for power she, with the help of the Mutate Worm, enslaved many of the land's natives and abducted Polaris to steal her magnetic powers with some machinery supplied by Brainchild. It was here she claimed to Lorna that she was actually her "sister". Zaladane then led an army in an attempt to conquer the Savage Land. She captured Ka-Zar, Shanna, and various X-Men, but was defeated by them.^[13] When Lorna arrived at Muir Island after losing her magnetic powers, she was examined by Moira MacTaggert due to the sudden appearance of a new power mutation. Moira confirmed during testing that the only way Zaladane could have taken Lorna's powers away was if she was a biological sibling.^[14]

With Polaris' magnetic powers, Zaladane took over the Savage Land. She led her army and the Savage Land mutates against Magneto, Ka-Zar, Rogue, Nick Fury, and S.H.I.E.L.D. forces in the Savage Land. She sought world domination, and captured Magneto, Shanna, and Nereel, and attempted to steal Magneto's powers as well. After a series of attacks using the various tribes in that region they managed to distract Zaladane, allowing Magneto to use the machine to regain his power. Shortly afterwards, Magneto executed Zaladane, who was impaled by an object propelled by magnetic forces projected by Magneto. At the time of her death, neither Zaladane nor Magneto were aware of their potential blood relation.^[15]

Some time after Zaladane's death and the Shadow King incident, Polaris' powers were returned to her.^[16]

Zaladane is a sorceress with an extensive knowledge of sorcery, and the ability to wield and manipulate the forces of magic for an undefined variety of effects. She primarily has used these powers for mind control and limited energy projection. For a time she wielded the ability to control magnetic forces in a manner similar to Magneto, but of a more limited nature.

She claimed to be a mutate (a mutagenically altered human rather than a born mutant). However, the nature of her artificially induced mutation was never revealed. She was able to steal the powers of Polaris and Magneto for a time with the assistance of a machine.

Zaladane was trained in the combat skills of the Sun People. She sometimes wore body armor of an unknown composition, and wielded spears, and torch-bombs (chemically-filled incendiary bombs). She had access to various scientifically advanced equipment, including skysleds (advanced air vehicles), and devices such as the transmutator, formerly belonging to the High Evolutionary and modified by Brainchild. Zaladane also rode dinosaurs, pterodactyls, and diatrymas (giant flightless birds) trained to carry riders.

Maximillian Zaran

Maximillian Zaran, a British character, was created by Mike Zeck and first appeared in Master of Kung Fu vol. 2 #77. Formerly an agent of the British Secret Service: MI-6, he becomes a mercenary and assassin, training himself thoroughly in martial arts and the use of various kinds of weapons. His first superhero battle is against Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung-Fu, who easily defeats him,^[17] although Zaran later defeats the hero in turn.^[18] Zaran then joins Batroc's Brigade, and is hired by Obadiah Stane to steal Captain America's shield.^[19]He later joins forces with Razorfist II and Shockwave and fights the West Coast Avengers.

During the Bloodstone Hunt, Zaran becomes good friends with fellow mercenary Batroc. The Brigade is employed by Baron Zemo to acquire the fragments of the Bloodstone, and Zaran fights Captain America and Diamondback but loses.^[20] They are later hired by Maelstrom to help him build a device capable of destroying the universe and battle the Great Lakes Avengers, during which he kills the newly initiated G.L.A. member Grasshopper.^[21]

Zaran is employed by the Shadow-Hand to steal a chemical elixir from A.I.M. for Shang-Chi's father, a super-villain sometimes known as Fu Manchu. He is then ordered to kill Shang-Chi himself.^[22]

At one point, Zaran trains a successor, who Shang-Chi defeats in battle.^[23]

Although he has no superhuman abilities, he is an extremely athletic man with knowledge of numerous forms of armed and unarmed combat and of such varied weapons as knives, bows, staffs, maces, spears, nunchakus, shuriken, and guns. He wears a leather outfitted with a variety of specialized clips, loops, and pockets for carrying weapons. He usually carries small sais (three pronged daggers) attached to his gauntlets, collar and codpiece, a bo staff/spear/blow gun, and a wide variety of weapons as needed.

Zarathos

Zarrko

Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man is a fictional supervillain, commonly associated with Thor. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #86 (November 1962).

Born in Old New York of the peaceful 23rd century of an alternate future, Zarrko was once a civil servant, but he sought to conquer his time and built a time machine to escape from his time and visit more primitive periods where nuclear weapons could be stolen easily. Traveling to the 1960s, Zarrko stole an experimental cobalt bomb to use in his own time, but was pursued by Thor, using his hammer and a piece of metal from the ship. Thor gained access to Zarrko's base after distracting the tyrant by getting someone to impersonate him, and defeated his robot servants even after they got his hammer. He recovered the bomb when Zarrko dropped it towards the Future City and caused Zarrko's ship to crash land using a storm he had summoned with his hammer.^[26]

Zarrko was left amnesiac for a time, but his memory was eventually restored by Loki using the Well of Centuries at a time when Thor had been de-powered; Zarrko returned to the 20th Century with a giant mining robot that he had adapted for his purposes and coerced Thor, whose lesser strength had caused him to be defeated by the robot, into helping him conquer the government of the 23rd Century, saying he would not attack Thor's century if this happened. They returned to the future, and Thor caused chaos, until he and Zarrko got to the ruling World council. A robot octopus was released to attack the two, but Thor defeated it. Thor left a note to the Council advising them to let him take care of Zarrko himself. The location of the machine was learnt from the Council and the two got there. Thor said he would help Zarrko enter the area if he would be released from his bargain, to which Zarrko agreed. Thor overcame a defense device's gravitational power. However, despite gaining access to the Master Machine which controlled the entire planet after getting the location from the Council, Thor, now released from his debt, then defeated him by turning the Master Machine's defense system back on. Zarrko was imprisoned and arrested by the guards soon after.^[27] Zarrko later clashed with Kang when he tried to conquer Zarrko's 23rd century. Zarrko enlisted the aid of Spider-Man and Iron Man, as Kang had captured the other Avengers, to get inside Kang's base. Zarrko then sent three devices to the Present to de-evolve that era to pre-industrial times, except for an area containing an American missile base, from which he planned to steal nuclear weapons and rule the 23rd Century, but this was stopped by Spider-Man and the Human Torch. Spider-Man then returned to the 23rd Century with the Inhumans and defeated the two villains.^[28]

Zarrko later conquered an Earth in the 50th Century, where he encountered the Time-Twisters. He used his Servitor robot to enlist the aid of Thor and the Warriors Three to defeat the Time-Twisters. He journeyed with them to the "end of time" to thwart the Time-Twisters's birth, but when he returned to the 50th Century he found he had been deposed.^[29]

Some time later, Zarrko traveled to 2591 and tricked Dargo, the Thor of that era, into accompanying him to the 20th Century to battle the second Thor and Beta Ray Bill. Zarrko sought to use the energy unleashed by their hammers in the clash to activate the radical Time Stabilizer device to use to collapse all the time lines into one. However, he was left adrift in the time-stream.^[30]

In one of the last story arcs of Thor vs Zarrko, Zarrko's plot was revealed to be a plan to save humanity. In his future, Thor had separated from his human self, Jake Olson, and lost his ability to understand humanity. Because of this, Thor became more and more oppressive and imposing, and believed that ruling humanity was the only just thing to do. Zarrko knew that in his future, Thor would become a tyrant, so he had to travel back in time and stop him before the Odin Force made him invincible and near-omnipotent.

Zarrko later returned disguised as Boris, a manservant to Kristoff Vernard, the heir of Doctor Doom, who had become a member of the Fantastic Four following the "death" of Mister Fantastic.^[31] He was soon exposed but used his time machine to cause chaos in the building by bringing in various heroes and villains from the past and the future to fight it out. He later escaped, deciding that all he wanted was a quiet place and plenty of food.^[32]

As part of the Marvel NOW! brand, Zarrko popped up as a prisoner in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody after he dropped out of nowhere and was caught trying to steal some nuclear materials that were in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession. When the space-time continuum was broken due to the effects of the Age of Ultron storyline, a new division of S.H.I.E.L.D. was formed called T.I.M.E. to combat timestream-related threats. Zarkko was enlisted by T.I.M.E. to help Hulk fight a group of time-travel opportunists called the Chronarchists before they can modify history.^[33]

Artur Zarrko is a genius with advanced scientific and technological skills, as a result of advanced studies in various applied sciences of his native time period. Zarrko has designed a number of devices, such as various weaponry including force field projectors and radiation guns; the Servitor, a giant robot with extraordinary strength capable of discharging concussive energy; time missiles containing "chronal radiation" which allegedly reverses the flow of time; the time-scope, a device able to peer through time; and the Time Cube, a time travel machine.

Zeitgeist

Helmut Zemo

Zephyr

Zero

Zero-G

Zeus

Ziggy Pig

Ziran the Tester

Arnim Zola

Zom

Zom is a fictional character, a gigantic semi-humanoid demon who has clashed with Doctor Strange. Created by Stan Lee and Marie Severin, he first appeared in Strange Tales #156.

Created long ago by unknown forces, Zom is a massively powerful mystic entity who exists only to destroy.^[38] Possessing enough evil energy to disrupt the balance of the multiverse, it takes the combined efforts of Dormammu and Eternity to successfully banish him; Zom was fitted with the "Crown of Blindness" and the "Manacles of Living Bondage" before being imprisoned within a small mystic amphora in what Eternity described as a "world beyond all worlds" and a "time beyond all time".^[39]

In Dormammu's absence, his sister Umar assumed the Flames of Regency and all the powers of the Dark Dimension, and as she was not bound by the pact that prevented Dormammu from entering the 616-Universe, she transported herself to Earth with the intention of destroying Dr. Strange along with the planet. Knowing he had little chance against Umar in a straight mystic battle (as she was wielding power equal to that of Dormammu), he makes the risky gambit of intentionally releasing Zom in the hopes that the two evil entities would battle one another. Zom furiously attacks Strange and pursues him to Earth, and Umar hastily retreats to the Dark Dimension upon seeing the demon. Dr. Strange attempts to battle the menace alone, but it is the Living Tribunal that banishes Zom, wishing to prevent his evil energy from leaking into other dimensions.^[40]

When faced with the unstoppable rage of the Hulk during the "World War Hulk" storyline, Doctor Strange resorts to invoking Zom's essence into himself by drinking the contents of the amphora.^[41] He successfully channels them, severely battering the Hulk, but begins to lose control. He pauses to restrain the demon, allowing the Hulk to recover and knock him unconscious.

After Doctor Strange's defeat, the infernal entity, severely depleted, resumes its mission to destroy the Earth dimension, and inhabits Iron Man's discarded Hulkbuster armor to activate the latter's anti-matter doomsday device. Wong attempts to recapture it, assisted by Hercules, Namora, Angel, and Amadeus Cho. Eventually, Cho tricks it into possessing his body so Angel can knock him out, allowing him to be successfully resealed.^[42]

During the assault of Amatsu-Mikaboshi on all of existence during the Chaos War storyline, Amatsu-Mikaboshi attacks Doctor Strange, awakening his inner Zom.^[43] Marlo Chandler eventually frees Doctor Strange using the power derived from her connection with Death.^[44]

Zom has displayed innate magical power and mystical knowledge sufficient to overpower both Doctor Strange and Umar, magic users of the highest order; additionally, the Living Tribunal was moved to intervene personally to dispatch him, something which typically does not happen unless the entire universe's existence is at stake. He also possesses incredible physical strength, being able to shatter manacles set on him by Eternity himself; and while channeling his power, Doctor Strange was strong enough to hold his own against the Hulk. If he is defeated and not every piece of him is recaptured, each one can potentially grow into a new, complete Zom, provided it has sufficient magical power to feed on. He can also possess both inanimate objects and individuals, seemingly dominating even very powerful and trained wills with ease.

Zombie

Carlo Zota

Zuras

Zuri

Zuri, a fictional Wakandan, was created by Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira and first appeared in Black Panther Vol. 3 #1 (November 1998). He is very large, and is one of King T'Challa (Black Panther's) many warriors. Despite his old age, he possesses great strength and is a master of armed and unarmed combat. He fought alongside T'Chaka, who as his final act asked Zuri to watch over his son.^[45] It is implied that Zuri trained T'Challa at a young age.^[46] He, Okoye, and Nakia accompany T'Challa to New York City, where he meets and befriends their intended handler on foreign soil, Everett K. Ross. ^[47]

Zuri notably has a slim grasp on contemporary culture. He often eats things raw, regardless of their origin, and his idea of "formal" clothing is, at least according to Ross, "Even BIGGER dead animal slung across shoulder". He disapproves of T'Challa's previous relationship with a woman named Nikki Adams simply because she is not Wakandan.^[48] He does respect non-Wakandans, such as Ross, who he views as a close friend.^[49] Zuri is killed by Morlun.^[50]

Zuri has super-strength, and is also an expert hunter, skilled tracker, and a master at armed and hand-to-hand combat.

Zzzax

References