# Blastaar

Blastaar (UK: /ˈblɑːstɑːr/, US: /ˈblæstɑːr/) (also known as the Living Bomb-Burst and Blasstaar) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #62 (May 1967). Blastaar is an opponent of the Fantastic Four and lives in the Negative Zone. He is also an enemy of Annihilus, another Fantastic Four villain.

## Publication history

Blastaar debuted in Fantastic Four #62 (May 1967), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
He appeared in the 2016 Spider-Man/Deadpool series.

## Fictional character biography

Blastaar is a member of an alien race known as the Baluurians, of the planet Baluur in the Negative Zone (in Sector 56-D, as charted by Reed Richards). He ruled the Baluurians as their monarch ruthlessly until his subjects rebelled and rose against him. Blastaar was deposed as monarch, and became a Negative Zone outlaw. Blastaar was locked up in a special containment suit and set adrift in outer space in the Negative Zone. When he broke loose he sighted Reed Richards, who had been trapped in the Negative Zone as well and followed him and Triton back to Earth. He fought with the Sandman and Richards' group of superheroes, the Fantastic Four, but was driven back to the Negative Zone by Mister Fantastic.
Over the following years, Blastaar would repeatedly return to Earth to attempt to conquer it and fight the Fantastic Four many times, as well as the Avengers, Thor and other superheroes.
Blastaar went into a coma at one point, but was revived by Professor Paxton Pentecost and became an unwilling servant of Pentecost. Blastaar was forced to battle the Human Torch and the Hulk. He was defeated and imprisoned in adamantium and sunk into the Atlantic Ocean. Blastaar was later freed from his adamantium prison, and battled the Inhumans.
Blastaar later made his first alliance with Annihilus, another conqueror living in the Negative Zone. Blastaar utilized the Super-Adaptoid in an attempt to regain the throne of Baluur. He was opposed by his wife Nyglar, who summoned the Thing and the Avengers to thwart Blastaar and his allies. Blastaar later did regain the throne of Baluur and started to conquer Negative Zone, only opposed by Annihilus. Blastaar led a fleet of warships to conquer Earth, and captured Reed Richards. Blastaar freed Annihilus in an attempt to prevent the Fantastic Four from thwarting his conquest of Earth. Blastaar and Annihilus battled, however. Blastaar was betrayed by his subordinate, Tanjaar, and paralyzed.
Blastaar was later discovered in the Negative Zone by the Eternals. He overthrew the Eternals, but was then defeated by the Avengers and imprisoned by the Eternals.
Annihilus and Blastaar have teamed up at times, but usually they are fierce enemies. Blastaar's son, Burstaar, has helped his father, but has his own ambitions and allied himself with the Kree.

### Annihilation

In Annihilation: Conquest, Blastaar is kidnapped and tortured by the Phalanx, who believe that they killed him. In reality, he entered a death-like state of hibernation that he used to fool them.

### War of Kings

Prior to his appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy #7, Blastaar became king of the Negative Zone. He and his forces seize control of Negative Zone Prison Alpha and recruit a number of the imprisoned Earth superhumans there into his army. Later he is approached by the Raptors Talon and Razor, who offer Blastaar the Cosmic Control Rod they took from Catastrophus, in exchange for his assistance in influencing the outcome of the War between the Shi'ar and the Inhumans. The prison is taken away from Blastaar by super-powered forces of the US Government. The convict Hardball assists in this setback for Blastaar.
Following the climax of the war, Blastaar had an encounter with Nova and his fellow Centurions who were in the process of battling renegade Kree and Shi'ar soldiers. Blastaar wished to capture the soldiers for himself to further assert his own position as ruler over Kree territories. Avoiding a fight, Nova appealed to Blastaar's desire to be seen as a legitimate king and ruler and convinced him to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Nova Corps.

### Thanos Imperative

Blastaar and his forces allied with the consortium of galactic rulers who fought off infection from the Cancerverse. Although he regularly antagonized his more heroic and altruistic allies such as Medusa, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. Eventually, he opted to retreat his forces in an act of self-preservation and no longer aid the heroes.

### Annihilators

Blastaar made a bid to become King of the Kree, Shi'ar and Inhumans by staging a coup against Medusa shortly after the depletion and exhaustion of her armies following Thanos Imperative. He beat Medusa, but was defeated by the Annihilators and returned to the Negative Zone.

### Bane of Blastaar

In the one-shot Guardians of the Galaxy: Bane of Blastaar, Blastaar plans to conquer the Milky Way using anti-matter and comes into conflict with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

## Powers and abilities

Blastaar has superhuman strength and endurance, being unaffected by conventional weaponry and extreme variations in temperature and pressure. He can live without nourishment for several weeks and survive in the vacuum of space by entering a state of hibernation.
Blastaar can project blasts of concussive kinetic force from his hands, enabling him to fly via self-propulsion.
He is also highly trained in the arts of warfare of and by his race and has access to advanced technology from his home world such as starships and plasma-based weapons. Most often, however, he only uses his powers without augmentation.

## Reception

In 2022, Comic Basic ranked Blastaar sixth in their "Top 10 Most Feared Nova Villains of All Time" list.

## In other media
### Television

* Blastaar appears in Fantastic Four (1967), voiced by Frank Gerstle.
* Blastaar appears in The New Fantastic Four, voiced by Ted Cassidy.
* Blastaar makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "Attack of the Arachnoid".
* Blastaar appears in Fantastic Four (1994), voiced by Ron Friedman.
* Blastaar appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Contest of Champions", voiced by James Arnold Taylor.
* Blastaar appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., voiced again by James Arnold Taylor. This version wields Negative Zone snakes with petrifying venom. In his most notable appearance in the episode "Monsters No More", he joins the Leader's Agents of C.R.A.S.H. to discredit the eponymous Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

### Video games

Blastaar appears in Fantastic Four (2005), voiced by Bob Joles.

## Collected editions

The following trade collections contain appearances by Blastaar.
| Title | Material Collected | Appearance Summary | Date Released | ISBN |
| Avengers: The Initiative, Dreams and Nightmares | Avengers: The Initiative #26-30 | The Initiative attempts to retake Negative Zone Prison Alpha from Blastaar. | October 6, 2010 | ISBN 978-0785139058 |
| X-Men/Steve Rogers: Escape from the Negative Zone | Uncanny X-Men Annual (2006) #3, Steve Rogers: Super Soldier Annual #1, and Namor: The First Mutant Annual #1 | Former Captain America, Steve Rogers and the X-Men encounter Blastaar in the Negative Zone. | August 3, 2011 (Hardcover) | ISBN 978-0785155607 (Hardcover) |