List of fictional humanoid species in comics
Table:
Species

First Appearance

Publisher

Notes

Guardians of the Universe

Green Lantern Vol. 2 #1 (July 1960)

DC Comics

alternatively known as the Guardians or Oans are a fictional extraterrestrial race in the DC Comics universe. They were created by John Broome and Gil Kane.[1]

Kree

Fantastic Four #65 (August 1967)

Marvel Comics

also known as the Ruul, they are a scientifically and technologically advanced militaristic alien race in the fictional Marvel Universe. They are native to the planet Hala in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Their first on-panel appearance was in. They resemble humans almost exactly, with the exception of blue skin. Kree have a higher strength level than that of a human, and require more nitrogen to breathe comfortably. Kree bodies are adapted to environmental characteristics on Hala that are un-Earthlike: they have a higher gravity and a higher concentration of nitrogen in the atmosphere. Under Earth's lesser gravity their strength and speed increase. However, they cannot breathe in Earth's atmosphere without using a chemical, "breathing formula", or artificial life-support devices.

Kryptonians

Action Comics #1 June (1938)

DC Comics

a fictional Humanoid extraterrestrial race of the DC Comics universe who hail from the planet Krypton. The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero, Superman. The stories also use "Kryptonian" as an adjective to refer to anything created by or associated with the planet itself or the culture that existed on it.

Members of the dominant species of the planet Krypton are indistinguishable from Humans in terms of their physical appearance, mentality, and internal biology; though their genetics are much more complex.

Homo mermanus

Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 April (1939)

Marvel Comics

a fictional race of gilled aquatic humanoids that has appeared in numerous comic book series published by Marvel Comics. This race is best known as the people who live in the Atlantis of Marvel's shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe. The most notable member of the race is Namor the Sub-Mariner.

New Gods

New Gods #1 (February 1971)

DC Comics

a fictional race appearing in publications by DC Comics, as well as the title for four series of comic books about those characters. They were created and designed by Jack Kirby.

Olympians

(1965)

Marvel Comics

a fictional species in the Marvel Comics universe, based loosely on the Twelve Olympians and other deities of Greek mythology.

Shi'ar

X-Men vol. 1 #97 (February 1976)

Marvel Comics

The Shi'ar Empire (or Imperium) also called the Aerie, is a vast collection of alien species, cultures and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires, and alongside them, is one of the three main alien empires (and now the most powerful one as well as being the youngest empire out of the three) of the Marvel Universe. They were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum.

Skrull

Fantastic Four #2 (January 1962)

Marvel Comics

a fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters

Thanagarians

Flash Comics #1 (1940)

DC Comics

A highly advanced science-based species, Thanagar is the original home of the humanoid Thanagarian race, and are noted for the discovery of gravity-defying Nth metal. The planet is in orbit around the star Polaris, and was run by a single government called the Ruling Council. The Wingmen of Thanagar was the major law and order enforcement squad of Thanagar until the Elite Hawkmen Force was formed. The both wear helmets, military-style armour, metallic wings, carry energy blasters weapons and communication relay. Their helmets have differing vision capabilities for whatever the officer could come up against.

The Pillar Men

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency

Chapter 46: #12

Shonen Jump

A fictional Aztec race of highly advanced humanoid creatures that are the main antagonists in the second arc of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

Rock Humans

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure part 8: Jojolion Chapter 30 (April 2014)

Ultra Jump

A fictional species of Humanoids shown in the eighth arc of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure that are biologically similar to humans, but mainly composed of silicon, rather than carbon. Almost indistinguishable from regular humans, they follow a 1-3 month hibernation period, starting at different times on an individual basis. They are also rather unable to coexist peacefully with humans as there is a 97.5% chance a Human/Rock Human relationship will end quite poorly. Something of note is how 95% of all rock humans possess stands. Though it is implied there are more rock humans out in the world, they are shown to be the antagonists of Jojolion with groups such as the Rokakaka Smuggling organisation or the Rokakaka Research Organisation.

Watchers

Fantastic Four #13 (April

1963)

Marvel Comics

a fictional race of extraterrestrials that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the first Watcher - named Uatu

With reference to the following table as well as the relevant paragraphs provided at the end.

State the answer to the question: What species was eradicated with the exception of a certain Man of Steel , and first appeared in a series created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ? Provide just your answer in a JSON object {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}.

The Guardians of the Universe are a fictional race of extraterrestrial superhero characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics , commonly in association with Green Lantern . They first appeared in Green Lantern Vol . 2 , Issue 1 ( July 1960 ) , and were created by John Broome and Gil Kane . The Guardians of the Universe have been adapted to a number of films , television programs , and video games . The Guardians of the Universe are the founders and leaders of the interstellar law enforcement agency known as the Green Lantern Corps , which they administer from their homeworld Oa at the center of the Universe . The Guardians resemble short humans with blue skin and white hair . They are depicted as being immortal and are the oldest living beings created in the Universe , but not the first .
Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers , all of which come from imagination and/or emotions . [ citation needed ] The characters are typically depicted as members of the Green Lantern Corps , an interstellar law enforcement agency . The first Green Lantern character , Alan Scott , was created in 1940 by Martin Nodell during the Golden Age of Comic Books and usually fought common criminals in Capitol City ( and later , Gotham City ) with the aid of his magic ring . For the Silver Age of Comic Books , John Broome and Gil Kane reinvented the character as Hal Jordan in 1959 and shifted the focus of Green Lantern stories from fantasy to science fiction . Other notable Green Lanterns include Guy Gardner , John Stewart , and Kyle Rayner . The Green Lanterns are among DC Comics ' longer lasting sets of characters . They have been adapted to television , video games , and motion pictures .
DC Comics , Inc. is an American comic book publisher . It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment , a subsidiary of Warner Bros . Global Brands and Experiences . DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies . The majority of its publications take place within the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters , most notably Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman , among many others . The universe also features well-known supervillains such as Lex Luthor , the Joker , Catwoman , and the Penguin . The company has published non-DC Universe-related material , including Watchmen , V for Vendetta , Fables and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo . The initials DC came from the company 's popular series Detective Comics , which featured Batman 's debut and subsequently became part of the company 's name . Originally in Manhattan at 432 Fourth Avenue , the DC Comics offices have been located at 480 and later 575 Lexington Avenue ; 909 Third Avenue ; 75 Rockefeller Plaza ; 666 Fifth Avenue ; and 1325 Avenue of the Americas . DC had its headquarters at 1700 Broadway , Midtown Manhattan , New York City , however DC Entertainment relocated its headquarters from New York to Burbank , California in April 2015 . Random House distributes DC Comics ' books to the bookstore market , while Diamond Comic Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market . DC Comics and its longtime major competitor Marvel Comics ( acquired in 2009 by The Walt Disney Company , WarnerMedia 's main competitor ) together shared approximately 70% of the American comic book market in 2017 , though this number may give a distorted view since graphic novels are excluded .
Fiction generally is a narrative form , in any medium , consisting of people , events , or places that are imaginary - in other words , not based strictly on history or fact . It also commonly refers , more narrowly , to written narratives in prose and often specifically novels . In film , it generally corresponds to narrative film in opposition to documentary .
An extraterrestrial or alien is any extraterrestrial lifeform ; a lifeform that did not originate on Earth . The word extraterrestrial means outside Earth . The first published use of extraterrestrial as a noun occurred in 1956 , during the Golden Age of Science Fiction . Extraterrestrials are a common theme in modern science-fiction , and also appeared in much earlier works such as the second-century parody True History by Lucian of Samosata . Gary Westfahl writes :
John Broome ( May 4 , 1913 - March 14 , 1999 ) , who additionally used the pseudonyms John Osgood and Edgar Ray Meritt , was an American comic book writer for DC Comics .
Gil Kane ( /dʒɪl keɪn/ ; born Eli Katz /kæts/ ; April 6 , 1926 - January 31 , 2000 ) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character . Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics , and co-created Iron Fist with Roy Thomas for Marvel Comics . He was involved in such major storylines as that of The Amazing Spider-Man # 96-98 , which , at the behest of the U.S. Department of Health , Education , and Welfare , bucked the then-prevalent Comics Code Authority to depict drug abuse , and ultimately spurred an update of the Code . Kane additionally pioneered an early graphic novel prototype , His Name Is . Savage , in 1968 , and a seminal graphic novel , Blackmark , in 1971 . In 1997 , he was inducted into both the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame and the Harvey Award Jack Kirby Hall of Fame .
The Kree , briefly known as the Ruul , are a fictional scientifically and technologically advanced militaristic alien race appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . They are native to the planet Hala in the Large Magellanic Cloud . The Kree have appeared throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe , in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D . and the films Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel .
The Fantastic Four are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The group debuted in Fantastic Four # 1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961 ) , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium . The Fantastic Four was the first superhero team created by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and editor/co-plotter Stan Lee , who developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title that they would use from then on . The four individuals traditionally associated with the Fantastic Four , who gained superpowers after exposure to cosmic rays during a scientific mission to outer space , are Mister Fantastic ( Reed Richards ) , a scientific genius and the leader of the group , who can stretch his body into incredible lengths and shapes ; the Invisible Girl ( Susan Sue Storm ; later Invisible Woman ) , who eventually married Reed , who can render herself invisible and later project powerful invisible force fields ; the Human Torch ( Johnny Storm ) , Sue 's younger brother , who can generate flames , surround himself with them and fly ; and the monstrous Thing ( Ben Grimm ) , their grumpy but benevolent friend , a former college football star and Reed 's college roommate as well as a good pilot , who possesses tremendous superhuman strength , durability , and endurance due to the nature of his stone-like flesh . Since their original 1961 introduction , the Fantastic Four have been portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional , yet loving , family . Breaking convention with other comic book archetypes of the time , they would squabble and hold grudges both deep and petty and eschewed anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status . The team is also well known for its recurring encounters with characters such as the villainous monarch Doctor Doom , the planet-devouring Galactus , the Kree Empire 's ruthless and tyrannical enforcer Ronan the Accuser , Annihilus , ruler of the Negative Zone , the sea-dwelling prince Namor , the spacefaring Silver Surfer , and the Skrull warrior Kl'rt . The Fantastic Four have been adapted into other media , including four animated series and four live-action films .
Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc. , formerly Marvel Publishing , Inc. and Marvel Comics Group , a publisher of American comic books and related media . In 2009 , The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment , Marvel Worldwide 's parent company . Marvel was started in 1939 by Martin Goodman under a number of corporations and imprints but now known as Timely Comics , and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics . The Marvel era began in 1961 , the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee , Jack Kirby , Steve Ditko and many others . The Marvel brand , which had been used over the years , was solidified as the company 's primary brand . Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man , Ant-Man , Iron Man , Thor , the Hulk , Captain America , the Wasp , Wolverine , Black Panther , Captain Marvel , Doctor Strange , Ghost Rider , Blade , Daredevil and the Punisher . Superhero teams exist such as the Avengers , the X-Men , the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy as well as supervillains including Doctor Doom , Magneto , Thanos , Ultron , Green Goblin , Doctor Octopus , Red Skull , Loki , Venom , Dormammu , Galactus , and Kingpin . Most of Marvel 's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe , with most locations mirroring real-life places ; many major characters are based in New York City . Additionally , Marvel has published several licensed properties from other companies . This includes Star Wars comics twice from 1977 to 1986 and again since 2015 .
This list of fictional extraterrestrial species is subsidiary to the lists of fictional species and is a collection of various notable extraterrestrial species that appear in various works of fiction . It is limited to well-referenced examples from literature , film , television , comics , animation and video games . This list excludes cases in which only a single member of a species is shown , such as E.T . the Extra-Terrestrial .
The Marvel Universe is a fictional universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place . Super-teams such as the Avengers , the X-Men , the Fantastic Four , the Guardians of the Galaxy , the Defenders , the Inhumans , and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe , including characters such as Spider-Man , Iron Man , Captain America , Thor , Wolverine , the Hulk , the Human Torch , Black Panther , Doctor Strange , Scarlet Witch , Quicksilver , Captain Marvel , Ant-Man , the Wasp , the Punisher , Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , Iron Fist , Deadpool , Blade , Ghost Rider , Moon Knight , Storm , Silver Surfer , Adam Warlock , Shang-Chi , Nova and numerous others . The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a multiverse consisting of thousands of separate universes , all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are , in a sense , Marvel universes . In this context , Marvel Universe is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity , which is known as Earth-616 or currently as Earth Prime .
The Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way . At a distance of about 50 kiloparsecs ( ≈163,000 light-years ) , the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way , after the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal ( ~16 kpc ) and the possible dwarf irregular galaxy known as the Canis Major Overdensity . Based on readily visible stars and a mass of approximately 10 billion solar masses , the diameter of the LMC is about 14,000 light-years ( 4.3 kpc ) , making it roughly one one-hundredth as massive as the Milky Way . This makes the LMC the fourth-largest galaxy in the Local Group , after the Andromeda Galaxy ( M31 ) , the Milky Way , and the Triangulum Galaxy ( M33 ) . The LMC is classified as a Magellanic spiral . It contains a stellar bar that is geometrically off-center , suggesting that it was a barred dwarf spiral galaxy before its spiral arms were disrupted , likely by tidal interactions from the Small Magellanic Cloud ( SMC ) and the Milky Way 's gravity . With a declination of about −70° , the LMC is visible as a faint cloud only in the southern celestial hemisphere and from latitudes south of 20° N , straddling the border between the constellations of Dorado and Mensa , and appears longer than 20 times the Moon 's diameter ( about 10° across ) from dark sites away from light pollution . The Milky Way and the LMC are expected to collide in approximately 2.4 billion years .
Homo sapiens is the only extant human species . The name is Latin for 'wise man ' and was introduced in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus ( who is himself the lectotype for the species ) . Extinct species of the genus Homo include Homo erectus , extant from roughly 1.9 to 0.4 million years ago , and a number of other species ( by some authors considered subspecies of either H. sapiens or H. erectus ) . The divergence of the lineage leading to H. sapiens out of ancestral H. erectus ( or an intermediate species such as Homo antecessor ) is estimated to have occurred in Africa roughly 500,000 years ago . The earliest fossil evidence of early Homo sapiens appears in Africa around 300,000 years ago , with the earliest genetic splits among modern people , according to some evidence , dating to around the same time . [ note 1 ] Sustained archaic admixture is known to have taken place both in Africa and ( following the recent Out-Of-Africa expansion ) in Eurasia , between about 100,000 and 30,000 years ago . The term anatomically modern humans ( AMH ) is used to distinguish H. sapiens having an anatomy consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from varieties of extinct archaic humans . This is useful especially for times and regions where anatomically modern and archaic humans co-existed , for example , in Paleolithic Europe . Omo-Kibish I ( Omo I ) from southern Ethiopia is the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeleton currently known ( 196 ± 5 ka ) .
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7 . It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772 . Although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time , Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first . The name nitrogène was suggested by French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal in 1790 , when it was found that nitrogen was present in nitric acid and nitrates . Antoine Lavoisier suggested instead the name azote , from the Greek ἀζωτικός no life , as it is an asphyxiant gas ; this name is instead used in many languages , such as French , Russian , Romanian and Turkish , and appears in the English names of some nitrogen compounds such as hydrazine , azides and azo compounds . Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table , often called the pnictogens . The name comes from the Greek πνίγειν to choke , directly referencing nitrogen 's asphyxiating properties . It is a common element in the universe , estimated at about seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System . At standard temperature and pressure , two atoms of the element bind to form dinitrogen , a colourless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula N2 . Dinitrogen forms about 78% of Earth 's atmosphere , making it the most abundant uncombined element . Nitrogen occurs in all organisms , primarily in amino acids ( and thus proteins ) , in the nucleic acids ( DNA and RNA ) and in the energy transfer molecule adenosine triphosphate . The human body contains about 3% nitrogen by mass , the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen , carbon , and hydrogen .
Kryptonians are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids within the DC Comics universe that originated on the planet Krypton . The term originated from the stories of DC Comics superhero , Superman . The stories also use Kryptonian as an adjective to refer to anything created by or associated with the planet itself or the cultures that existed on it . Members of the dominant species of the planet Krypton are indistinguishable from humans in terms of their appearance ; their physiology and genetics ; however , they are vastly different . In some continuities Kryptonians are difficult to clone because their DNA is so complex that human science is not advanced enough to decipher it . The cellular structure of Kryptonians allows for solar energy to be absorbed at extremely high levels . On the planet Krypton , whose parent star has often been depicted as an ancient red supergiant with a relatively low energy output , their natural abilities were the same as humans . When exposed to a young yellow star like Earth 's Sun , which is much smaller than their own sun and with a vastly higher energy output , their bodies are able to absorb and process so much energy that it eventually manifests as vast superhuman powers ( such as superhuman strength , superhuman speed , invulnerability , flight , x-ray vision , heat vision and superhuman senses ) . Almost all Kryptonians were killed when the planet exploded shortly after the infant Kal-El was sent to Earth . In some continuities , he is the planet 's only survivor .
Action Comics # 1 ( cover dated June 1938 ) is the first issue of the original run of the comic book/magazine series Action Comics . It features the first appearance of several comic book heroes - most notably the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster creation , Superman - and sold for 10 cents ( equivalent to $ 2 in 2019 ) . It is widely considered to be both the beginning of the superhero genre and the most valuable comic book in the world . Action Comics would go on to run for 904 numbered issues ( plus additional out-of-sequence special issues ) before it restarted its numbering in the fall of 2011 . It returned to its original numbering with issue # 957 , published on June 8 , 2016 ( cover-dated August ) and reached its 1,000th issue in 2018 . On August 24 , 2014 , a copy graded 9.0 by CGC was sold on eBay for US $ 3,207,852 ; it is the only comic book to have sold for more than $ 3 million for a single original copy .
A humanoid ( /ˈhjuːmənɔɪd/ ; from English human and -oid resembling ) is something that has an appearance resembling a human without actually being one . The earliest recorded use of the term , in 1870 , referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans . By the 20th century , the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar , but not identical , to those of the human skeleton . Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century , it is now considered rare . More generally , the term can refer to anything with distinctly human characteristics or adaptations , such as possessing opposable anterior forelimb-appendages ( i.e . thumbs ) , visible spectrum-binocular vision ( i.e . having two eyes ) , or biomechanic plantigrade-bipedalism ( i.e . the ability to walk on heels and metatarsals in an upright position ) . Science fiction media frequently present sentient extraterrestrial lifeforms as humanoid as a byproduct of convergent evolution theory .
The DC Universe ( DCU ) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place . DC superheroes such as Superman , Batman , Wonder Woman , Martian Manhunter , The Flash , Green Lantern , Aquaman , and Green Arrow are from this universe , and it also contains well-known supervillains such as Lex Luthor , the Joker , Brainiac , Reverse-Flash , Sinestro , Deathstroke , Cheetah , and Darkseid . In context , the term DC Universe usually refers to the main DC continuity . The term DC Multiverse refers to the collection of all continuities within DC Comics publications . Within the Multiverse , the main DC Universe has gone by many names , but in recent years has been referred to by Prime Earth ( not to be confused with Earth Prime ) or Earth 0 . The main DC Universe , as well as the alternate realities related to it , began as the first shared universe in comic books and were quickly adapted to other media such as film serials or radio dramas . In subsequent decades , the continuity between all of these media became increasingly complex with certain storylines and events designed to simplify or streamline the more confusing aspects of characters ' histories .
Krypton is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . The planet is the native world of Superman and is named after the element Kryptonite . The planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , and was first referred to in Action Comics # 1 ( June 1938 ) . The planet made its first full appearance in Superman # 1 ( summer 1939 ) . Krypton is also the native world of Supergirl , Krypto the Superdog , and Power Girl ( in her case , an alternate-universe version designated Krypton-Two ) . It has been consistently described as having been destroyed shortly after Superman 's flight from the planet , although the exact details of its destruction vary by time period and writers . Kryptonians were the dominant species on Krypton .
Superman is a fictional superhero . The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster , and first appeared in Action Comics # 1 , a comic book published on April 18 , 1938 . The character regularly appears in comic books published by DC Comics , and has been adapted to a number of radio serials , movies , and television shows . Superman was born on the planet Krypton and was given the name Kal-El at birth . As a baby , his parents sent him to Earth in a small spaceship moments before Krypton was destroyed in a natural cataclysm . His ship landed in the American countryside , near the fictional town of Smallville . He was found and adopted by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent , who named him Clark Kent . Clark developed various superhuman abilities , such as incredible strength and impervious skin . His foster parents advised him to use his abilities for the benefit of humanity , and he decided to fight crime as a vigilante . To protect his privacy , he changes into a colorful costume and uses the alias Superman when fighting crime . Clark Kent resides in the fictional American city of Metropolis , where he works as a journalist for the Daily Planet . Superman 's supporting characters include his love interest and fellow journalist Lois Lane , Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen and editor-in-chief Perry White .
Humans ( Homo sapiens ) are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina . Together with chimpanzees , gorillas , and orangutans , they are part of the family Hominidae ( the great apes , or hominids ) . Terrestrial animals , humans are characterized by their erect posture and bipedal locomotion ; high manual dexterity and heavy tool use compared to other animals ; open-ended and complex language use compared to other animal communications ; larger , more complex brains than other animals ; and highly advanced and organized societies . Early hominins - particularly the australopithecines , whose brains and anatomy are in many ways more similar to ancestral non-human apes - are less often referred to as human than hominins of the genus Homo . Several of these hominins used fire , occupied much of Eurasia , and the lineage that gave rise to Homo sapiens is thought to have diverged in Africa around 500,000 years ago , with the earliest fossil evidence of evidence of early Homo sapiens appearing ( also in Africa ) around 300,000 years ago . The oldest early H. sapiens fossils were found in Jebel Irhoud , Morocco dating to about 315,000 years ago . Discovered in 1967 , Omo-Kibish I ( Omo I ) from southern Ethiopia is , as of 2017 [ update ] , the oldest anatomically modern Homo sapiens skeleton currently known ( 196 ± 5 ka ) . Humans began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity at least by about 100,000-70,000 years ago and ( according to recent evidence ) as far back as around 300,000 years ago , in the Middle Stone Age , with some features of behavioral modernity possibly beginning earlier , and possibly in parallel with evolutionary brain globularization in H. sapiens . In several waves of migration , H. sapiens ventured out of Africa and populated most of the world . The spread of the large and increasing population of humans has profoundly affected much of the biosphere and millions of species worldwide . Advantages that explain this evolutionary success include a larger brain with a well-developed neocortex , prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes , which enable advanced abstract reasoning , language , problem solving , sociality , and culture through social learning . Humans use tools more frequently and effectively than any other animal : they are the only extant species to build fires , cook food , clothe themselves , and create and use numerous other technologies and arts .
Homo mermanus is a fictional race of gilled aquatic humanoids appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . This race is best known as the people who live in the Atlantis of the Marvel Universe . Namor the Sub-Mariner is the most notable character representative of the race . Bill Everett often called them sub mariners and Prince Namor , the Sub-Mariner , but Stan Lee began to call everyone Atlanteans and the undersea kingdom Atlantis . An offshoot of the Homo sapiens species with an as yet undisclosed origin , Homo mermanus are a mammalian species , but with some fish-like characteristics . Each one possesses two twin gills located on their necks near the clavicle bone , which allow them to breathe underwater . Their skin pigmentation can be either blue ( most Atlanteans ) or green ( most Lemurians and nomads ) Their physiology is also much stronger and more durable than that of the Homo sapiens , necessitated by their exposure to the vast pressure of the deep sea . As a consequence they are physically much stronger than regular humans and can swim up to 30 miles ( 48 km ) per hour . The typical lifespan for a Homo mermanus is 150 years . However they can not survive outside of water for longer than five minutes without aid . The total population of Homo mermanus has been estimated at over 1,000,000 globally . [ citation needed ]
A gill ( /ɡɪl/ ( listen ) ) is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water and excretes carbon dioxide . The gills of some species , such as hermit crabs , have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist . The microscopic structure of a gill presents a large surface area to the external environment . Branchia ( pl . branchiae ) is the zoologists ' name for gills ( from Ancient Greek ) . With the exception of some aquatic insects , the filaments and lamellae ( folds ) contain blood or coelomic fluid , from which gases are exchanged through the thin walls . The blood carries oxygen to other parts of the body . Carbon dioxide passes from the blood through the thin gill tissue into the water . Gills or gill-like organs , located in different parts of the body , are found in various groups of aquatic animals , including mollusks , crustaceans , insects , fish , and amphibians . Semiterrestrial marine animals such as crabs and mudskippers have gill chambers in which they store water , enabling them to use the dissolved oxygen when they are on land .
A comic book or comicbook , also called comic magazine or simply comic , is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes . Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative , usually , dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form . Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan , comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s . The first modern comic book , Famous Funnies , was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips , which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics . The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone ; however , this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres , usually not humorous in tone . The largest comic book market is Japan . By 1995 , the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion ( $ 6-7 billion ) , with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books/magazines in Japan ( equivalent to 15 issues per person ) . The comic book market in the United States and Canada was valued at $ 1.09 billion in 2016 . As of 2017 [ update ] , the largest comic book publisher in the United States is manga distributor Viz Media , followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics . Another major comic book market is France , where Franco-Belgian comics and Japanese manga each represent 40% of the market , followed by American comics at 10% market share .
The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several noteworthy concepts besides its fictional characters , such as unique places and artifacts . There follows a list of those features .
A shared universe or shared world is a set of creative works where more than one writer ( or other artist ) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline , characters , or world of the overall project . It is common in genres like science fiction . It differs from collaborative writing in which multiple artists are working together on the same work and from crossovers where the works and characters are independent except for a single meeting . The term shared universe is also used within comics to reflect the overall milieu created by the comic book publisher in which characters , events , and premises from one product line appear in other product lines in a media franchise . A specific kind of shared universe that is published across a variety of media ( e.g . novels , films , role-playing games , etc . ) , each of them contributing to the growth , history , and status of the setting is called an imaginary entertainment environment . The term has also been used in a wider , non-literary sense to convey interdisciplinary or social commonality , often in the context of a shared universe of discourse .
Namor the Sub-Mariner ( /ˈneɪmɔːr/ ) ( Namor McKenzie ) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Debuting in early 1939 , the character was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for comic book packager Funnies Inc . Initially created for the unreleased comic Motion Picture Funnies Weekly , the character first appeared publicly in Marvel Comics # 1 ( cover-dated Oct. 1939 ) , which was the first comic book from Timely Comics , the 1930s-1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics . During that period , known to historians and fans as the Golden Age of Comic Books , the Sub-Mariner was one of Timely 's top three characters , along with Captain America and the original Human Torch . The mutant son of a human sea captain and a princess of the mythical undersea kingdom of Atlantis , Namor possesses the super-strength and aquatic abilities of the Homo mermanus race , as well as the mutant ability of flight , along with other superhuman powers . Through the years , he has been portrayed as an antihero alternately from a good-natured but short-fused superhero or a hostile invader seeking vengeance for perceived wrongs that misguided surface-dwellers committed against his kingdom . The first known comic book antihero , the Sub-Mariner has remained a historically important and relatively popular Marvel character . He has served directly with the Avengers , the Fantastic Four , the Invaders , the Defenders , the X-Men and the Illuminati as well as serving as a foil to them on occasion .
New Gods are a fictional race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics , as well as selected other DC titles . Created and designed by Jack Kirby , they first appeared in February 1971 in New Gods # 1 .
Jack Kirby ( born Jacob Kurtzberg ; /ˈkɜːrtsbɜːrɡ/ ; August 28 , 1917 - February 6 , 1994 ) was an American comic book artist , writer and editor , widely regarded as one of the medium 's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators . He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons . He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s , drawing various comics features under different pen names , including Jack Curtiss , before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby . In 1940 , he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics , predecessor of Marvel Comics . During the 1940s , Kirby regularly teamed with Simon , creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications , later to become DC Comics . After serving in the European Theater in World War II , Kirby produced work for DC Comics , Harvey Comics , Hillman Periodicals and other publishers . At Crestwood Publications , he and Simon created the genre of romance comics and later founded their own short-lived comic company , Mainline Publications . Kirby was involved in Timely 's 1950s iteration , Atlas Comics , which in the next decade became Marvel . There , in the 1960s under writer-editor Stan Lee , Kirby created many of the company 's major characters , including the Fantastic Four , the X-Men and the Hulk . The Lee-Kirby titles garnered high sales and critical acclaim , but in 1970 , feeling he had been treated unfairly , largely in the realm of authorship credit and creators ' rights , Kirby left the company for rival DC . At DC , Kirby created his Fourth World saga which spanned several comics titles . While these series proved commercially unsuccessful and were canceled , the Fourth World 's New Gods have continued as a significant part of the DC Universe .
The Olympians are a fictional species appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . These characters are based loosely on the Twelve Olympians/Dii Consentes and other deities of Greek and Roman mythology . During the beginning of the 1960s , the exploits of the Asgardians Thor and his evil brother Loki demonstrated that an updating of ancient myths could again win readers . In 1965 , Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the Olympians in Journey into Mystery Annual # 1 .
In ancient Greek religion and mythology , the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon , commonly considered to be Zeus , Hera , Poseidon , Demeter , Athena , Apollo , Artemis , Ares , Hephaestus , Aphrodite , Hermes , and either Hestia or Dionysus . They were called Olympians because , according to tradition , they resided on Mount Olympus . Although Hades was a major ancient Greek god , and was the brother of the first generation of Olympians ( Zeus , Poseidon , Hera , Demeter , and Hestia ) , his realm was the underworld , far from Olympus , and thus was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians . Besides the twelve Olympians , there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods .
A deity ( /ˈdiːɪti/ ( listen ) , /ˈdeɪ-/ ( listen ) ) or god is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred . The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as a god or goddess ( in a polytheistic religion ) , or anything revered as divine . C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans , but who interacts with humans , positively or negatively , in ways that carry humans to new levels of consciousness , beyond the grounded preoccupations of ordinary life . In the English language , a male deity is referred to as a god , while a female deity is referred to as a goddess . Religions can be categorized by how many deities they worship . Monotheistic religions accept only one deity ( predominantly referred to as God ) , polytheistic religions accept multiple deities . Henotheistic religions accept one supreme deity without denying other deities , considering them as aspects of the same divine principle ; and nontheistic religions deny any supreme eternal creator deity but accept a pantheon of deities which live , die and may be reborn like any other being . :35-37:357-58 Although most monotheistic religions traditionally envision their God as omnipotent , omnipresent , omniscient , omnibenevolent , and eternal , none of these qualities are essential to the definition of a deity and various cultures conceptualized their deities differently . Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms , :96 while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways - masculine , feminine , androgynous and without gender . Historically , many ancient cultures - including the ancient Mesopotamians , Egyptians , Greeks , Romans , and Norsemen- personified natural phenomena , variously as either deliberate causes or effects . Some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts . In Indian religions , deities were envisioned as manifesting within the temple of every living being 's body , as sensory organs and mind .
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore . These stories concern the origin and the nature of the world , the lives and activities of deities , heroes , and mythological creatures , and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks ' own cult and ritual practices . Modern scholars study the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization , and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself . The Greek myths were initially propagated in an oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan and Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century BC ; eventually the myths of the heroes of the Trojan War and its aftermath became part of the oral tradition of Homer 's epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey . Two poems by Homer 's near contemporary Hesiod , the Theogony and the Works and Days , contain accounts of the genesis of the world , the succession of divine rulers , the succession of human ages , the origin of human woes , and the origin of sacrificial practices . Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns , in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle , in lyric poems , in the works of the tragedians and comedians of the fifth century BC , in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age , and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias . Aside from this narrative deposit in ancient Greek literature , pictorial representations of gods , heroes , and mythic episodes featured prominently in ancient vase paintings and the decoration of votive gifts and many other artifacts . Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles . In the succeeding Archaic , Classical , and Hellenistic periods , Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear , supplementing the existing literary evidence . Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture , arts , and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language . Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes .
The Shi'ar ( /ʃiːˈɑːr/ Shee-ar ) are a fictional species of aliens appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The Shi'ar Empire ( or Imperium ) , is a vast collection of alien species , cultures , and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires . The Shi'ar are one of the three main extraterrestrial empires depicted in the Marvel Universe , alongside the Kree and Skrull empires .
Uncanny X-Men , originally published as The X-Men , is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963 , and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise . It features a team of superheroes called the X-Men , a group of mutants with superhuman abilities led and taught by Professor X . The title was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby , met with a lukewarm reception , and was eventually cancelled in 1970 . Interest was rekindled with 1975 's Giant-Size X-Men and the debut of a new , international team . Under the guidance of David Cockrum and Chris Claremont , whose 16-year stint began with August 1975 's Uncanny X-Men # 94 , the series grew in popularity worldwide , eventually spawning a franchise with numerous spin-off X-books , including New Mutants , X-Factor , Excalibur , X-Force , Generation X , other flagship titles like the simply titled X-Men ( later New X-Men & X-Men Legacy ) , Astonishing X-Men , All-New X-Men , Amazing X-Men , Extraordinary X-Men and X-Men Gold .
In ancient Rome , Imperium was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity . It is distinct from auctoritas and potestas , different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic and Empire . One 's imperium could be over a specific military unit , or it could be over a province or territory . Individuals given such power were referred to as curule magistrates or promagistrates . These included the curule aedile , the praetor , the consul , the magister equitum , and the dictator . In a general sense , imperium was the scope of someone 's power , and could include anything , such as public office , commerce , political influence , or wealth .
The Skrulls are a fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The Skrulls first appeared in Fantastic Four # 2 and were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby . They originated from the planet Skrullos and their empire is located in the Andromeda Galaxy . The Skrulls appeared in the 2019 films Captain Marvel and Spider-Man : Far From Home with their leader Talos portrayed by Ben Mendelsohn and his wife Soren by Sharon Blynn .
Christopher S. Claremont ( /ˈklɛərmɒnt/ ; born November 25 , 1950 ) is a British-born American comic book writer and novelist , known for his 1975-1991 stint on Uncanny X-Men , far longer than that of any other writer , during which he is credited with developing strong female characters as well as introducing complex literary themes into superhero narratives , turning the once underachieving comic into one of Marvel 's most popular series . During his tenure at Marvel , Claremont co-created numerous X-Men characters , such as Rogue , Psylocke , Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat , Phoenix , The Brood , Lockheed , Shi'ar , Shi'ar Imperial Guard , Mystique , Destiny , Selene , Reverend William Stryker , Lady Mastermind , Emma Frost , Tessa , Siryn , Jubilee , Rachel Summers , Madelyne Pryor , Moira MacTaggert , Lilandra , Shadow King , Cannonball , Warpath , Mirage , Wolfsbane , Karma , Cypher , Sabretooth , Empath , Sebastian Shaw , Donald Pierce , Avalanche , Pyro , Legion , Nimrod , Gateway , Strong Guy , Proteus , Mister Sinister , Marauders , Purifiers , Captain Britain , Sunspot , Forge and Gambit . Claremont scripted many classic stories , including The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past , on which he collaborated with John Byrne . He developed the character of Wolverine into a fan favorite . X-Men # 1 , the 1991 spinoff series premiere that Claremont co-wrote with Jim Lee , remains the best-selling comic book of all time , according to Guinness World Records . In 2015 , Claremont and his X-Men collaborator John Byrne were entered into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame .
David Emmett Cockrum ( /ˈkɒkrəm/ ; November 11 , 1943 - November 26 , 2006 ) was an American comics artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler , Storm , and Colossus . Cockrum was a prolific and inventive costume designer who updated the uniforms of the Legion of Super-Heroes . He did the same for the new X-Men and many of their antagonists in the 1970s and early 1980s .
Fiction generally is a narrative form , in any medium , consisting of people , events , or places that are imaginary - in other words , not based strictly on history or fact . It also commonly refers , more narrowly , to written narratives in prose and often specifically novels . In film , it generally corresponds to narrative film in opposition to documentary .
An extraterrestrial or alien is any extraterrestrial lifeform ; a lifeform that did not originate on Earth . The word extraterrestrial means outside Earth . The first published use of extraterrestrial as a noun occurred in 1956 , during the Golden Age of Science Fiction . Extraterrestrials are a common theme in modern science-fiction , and also appeared in much earlier works such as the second-century parody True History by Lucian of Samosata . Gary Westfahl writes :
Thanagar ( /ˈθænəɡɑːr/ ) is a fictional planet in the DC Comics Universe . Thanagar is the original home of the humanoid Thanagarian race , noted for the discovery of gravity-defying Nth metal . The planet is in orbit around the star Polaris ( although is sometimes quoted as being in the Polaris Galaxy ) .
Flash Comics is a comics anthology published by All-American Publications and later by National Periodical Publications ( DC Comics ) . The title had 104 issues published from January 1940 to February 1949 . Despite the title , the anthology featured the adventures of multiple superheroes in addition to Jay Garrick , the original Flash . Characters introduced in the series include the Flash , Hawkman ( Carter Hall ) , Hawkgirl and Black Canary .
Polaris ( /poʊˈlɛərɪs/ ) , designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to Alpha Ursae Minoris , abbreviated Alpha UMi , α UMi ) , commonly the North Star or Pole Star , is the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor . It is very close to the north celestial pole , making it the current northern pole star . The revised Hipparcos parallax gives a distance to Polaris of about 433 light-years ( 133 parsecs ) , while calculations by other methods derive distances around 30% closer . Polaris is a triple star system , composed of the primary star , Polaris Aa ( a yellow supergiant ) , in orbit with a smaller companion ( Polaris Ab ) ; the pair in orbit with Polaris B ( discovered in August 1779 by William Herschel ) . There were once thought to be two more distant components - Polaris C and Polaris D - but these have been shown not to be physically associated with the Polaris system .
The Wingmen ( originally known as the Hawk-Police ) are a fictional police force of the planet Thanagar with roles of judge , jury and executioner in DC Comics publications .
Battle Tendency ( Japanese : 戦闘潮流 , Hepburn : Sentō Chōryū ) is the second story arc of the manga series JoJo 's Bizarre Adventure written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki . Serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1987 to 1989 for 69 chapters , which were later collected into seven tankōbon volumes . The arc was preceded by Phantom Blood ( 1987 ) and followed by Stardust Crusaders ( 1989-1992 ) . In 2012 , Battle Tendency was digitally colored and released as digital downloads for smartphones and tablet computers . A four-volume re-release under the title JoJonium was published between February 4 and May 2 , 2014 . This version was licensed and released in North America by Viz Media ; beginning digitally in March 2015 and in print in November 2015 . In its original publication , it was referred to as JoJo 's Bizarre Adventure Part 2 Joseph Joestar : His Proud Lineage . [ a ] Battle Tendency was adapted in the anime television series by David Production between December 7 , 2012 and April 5 , 2013 .
Weekly Shōnen Jump ( Japanese : 週刊少年ジャンプ , Hepburn : Shūkan Shōnen Janpu , stylized in English as WEEKLY JUMP ) is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines . It is the best-selling manga magazine , as well as one of the longest-running ; the first issue was released with a cover date of August 1 , 1968 . The manga series within the magazine target young male readers and tend to consist of a large number of action scenes and a fair amount of comedy . The chapters of series that run in Weekly Shōnen Jump are collected and published in tankōbon volumes under the Jump Comics imprint every two to three months . The mid-1980s to the mid-1990s represents the era when the magazine 's circulation was at its highest , 6.53 million copies per week . As of early 2017 , it had a weekly circulation of 1.9 million copies . The magazine sold over 7.5 billion copies since 1968 , making it the best-selling comic/manga magazine . Many of the best-selling manga originate from Weekly Shōnen Jump . Shōnen Jump spawned the Jump magazine line as well as the Jump Comics imprint label for publishing tankōbon . Weekly Shōnen Jump has two sister magazines called Jump SQ , created after the fall of Monthly Shōnen Jump , and Saikyō Jump . The magazine has also had several international counterparts , including the current North American Weekly Shonen Jump . It also spawned a crossover media franchise including anime and video games ( since Famicom Jump ) which bring together various Shōnen Jump characters .
The Aztecs ( /ˈæztɛks/ ) were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521 . The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico , particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries . Aztec culture was organized into city-states ( altepetl ) , some of which joined to form alliances , political confederations , or empires . The Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427 : Tenochtitlan , city-state of the Mexica or Tenochca ; Texcoco ; and Tlacopan , previously part of the Tepanec empire , whose dominant power was Azcapotzalco . Although the term Aztecs is often narrowly restricted to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan , it is also broadly used to refer to Nahua polities or peoples of central Mexico in the prehispanic era , as well as the Spanish colonial era ( 1521-1821 ) . The definitions of Aztec and Aztecs have long been the topic of scholarly discussion ever since German scientist Alexander von Humboldt established its common usage in the early nineteenth century . Most ethnic groups of central Mexico in the post-classic period shared basic cultural traits of Mesoamerica , and so many of the traits that characterize Aztec culture can not be said to be exclusive to the Aztecs . For the same reason , the notion of Aztec civilization is best understood as a particular horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization . The culture of central Mexico includes maize cultivation , the social division between nobility ( pipiltin ) and commoners ( macehualtin ) , a pantheon ( featuring Tezcatlipoca , Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl ) , and the calendric system of a xiuhpohualli of 365 days intercalated with a tonalpohualli of 260 days . Particular to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan was the patron God Huitzilopochtli , twin pyramids , and the ceramic ware known as Aztec I to IV . From the 13th century , the Valley of Mexico was the heart of dense population and the rise of city-states . The Mexica were late-comers to the Valley of Mexico , and founded the city-state of Tenochtitlan on unpromising islets in Lake Texcoco , later becoming the dominant power of the Aztec Triple Alliance or Aztec Empire .
JoJo 's Bizarre Adventure ( Japanese : ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 , Hepburn : JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki . Originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1987 to 2004 , it moved to the monthly seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump in 2005 . The series is currently divided into eight parts , each following the adventures of a new protagonist bearing the JoJo nickname ; the eighth part , JoJolion , began serialization in May 2011 . The first six parts form a saga detailing the supernatural conflicts between members of the Joestar family and various villains , while the latter two parts follow a continuity reboot , taking place in an alternate universe with plot parallels to the original . The manga is Shueisha 's second largest series by volume count , with its chapters collected in 126 tankōbon volumes and counting . A six-episode original video animation adaptation covering the latter half of the series ' third part , Stardust Crusaders , was produced by A.P.P.P . and released from 1993 to 1994 . A later seven-episode series covering the first half of the part was released from 2000 to 2002 . An anime film produced by A.P.P.P adapting the first part in the series , Phantom Blood , was released in Japanese theaters in 2007 . In October 2012 , David Production began an anime television adaptation that is broadcast on Tokyo MX . They have adapted up to the series ' fifth part , Golden Wind , which ended broadcast in July 2019 . A live-action film based on the fourth part , Diamond is Unbreakable , and directed by Takashi Miike entered theaters in 2017 .
JoJolion ( Japanese : ジョジョリオン , Hepburn : Jojorion ) is a seinen manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki , and is the eighth part of the larger JoJo 's Bizarre Adventure series . It has been serialized by Shueisha in the magazine Ultra Jump since May 19 , 2011 , and has been collected in 22 volumes totaling 90 chapters , with 4 additional chapters not yet volumized .
Ultra Jump ( Japanese : ウルトラジャンプ , Hepburn : Urutora Janpu ) is a Japanese monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines . Originally , the magazine was a special issue of Weekly Young Jump which was first issued in 1995 . On October 19 , 1999 , the special issue became the new monthly publication Ultra Jump . The manga titles serialized in the magazine are also published in tankōbon volumes under the Young Jump Comics Ultra label .
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14 . It is a hard and brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre ; and it is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor . It is a member of group 14 in the periodic table : carbon is above it ; and germanium , tin , and lead are below it . It is relatively unreactive . Because of its high chemical affinity for oxygen , it was not until 1823 that Jöns Jakob Berzelius was first able to prepare it and characterize it in pure form . Its melting and boiling points of 1414 °C and 3265 °C respectively are the second-highest among all the metalloids and nonmetals , being only surpassed by boron . Silicon is the eighth most common element in the universe by mass , but very rarely occurs as the pure element in the Earth 's crust . It is most widely distributed in dusts , sands , planetoids , and planets as various forms of silicon dioxide ( silica ) or silicates . More than 90% of the Earth 's crust is composed of silicate minerals , making silicon the second most abundant element in the Earth 's crust ( about 28% by mass ) after oxygen . Most silicon is used commercially without being separated , and often with little processing of the natural minerals . Such use includes industrial construction with clays , silica sand , and stone . Silicates are used in Portland cement for mortar and stucco , and mixed with silica sand and gravel to make concrete for walkways , foundations , and roads .
Carbon ( from Latin : carbo coal ) is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6 . It is nonmetallic and tetravalent - making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds . It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table . Three isotopes occur naturally , 12C and 13C being stable , while 14C is a radionuclide , decaying with a half-life of about 5,730 years . Carbon is one of the few elements known since antiquity . Carbon is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth 's crust , and the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen , helium , and oxygen . Carbon 's abundance , its unique diversity of organic compounds , and its unusual ability to form polymers at the temperatures commonly encountered on Earth enables this element to serve as a common element of all known life . It is the second most abundant element in the human body by mass ( about 18.5% ) after oxygen . The atoms of carbon can bond together in diverse ways , resulting in various allotropes of carbon . The best known allotropes are graphite , diamond , and buckminsterfullerene . The physical properties of carbon vary widely with the allotropic form . For example , graphite is opaque and black while diamond is highly transparent .
Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in endotherms . Hibernation refers to a season of heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature , slow breathing and heart-rate , and low metabolic rate . It most commonly occurs during winter months . Although traditionally reserved for deep hibernators such as rodents , the term has been redefined to include animals such as bears and is now applied based on active metabolic suppression rather than any absolute decline in body temperature . Many experts believe that the processes of daily torpor and hibernation form a continuum and utilize similar mechanisms . The equivalent during the summer months is aestivation . Hibernation functions to conserve energy when sufficient food is unavailable . To achieve this energy saving , an endothermic animal decreases its metabolic rate and thereby its body temperature . Hibernation may last days , weeks , or months - depending on the species , ambient temperature , time of year , and the individual 's body-condition . Before entering hibernation , animals need to store enough energy to last through the duration of their dormant period , possibly as long as an entire winter . Larger species become hyperphagic , eating a large amount of food and storing the energy in fat deposits . In many small species , food caching replaces eating and becoming fat .
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist .
The Watchers are a race of fictional extraterrestrials appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics whose purpose is to watch over the multiverses of the series . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby , the first Watcher to appear in the comics - named Uatu - appears in Fantastic Four # 13 ( April 1963 ) . The Watchers appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2 ( 2017 ) . One of the watchers , Uatu , will be voiced by Jeffrey Wright in the Marvel Cinematic Universe animated series What If. ? on Disney+ , which will debut in mid 2021
Extraterrestrial life [ n 1 ] is hypothetical life which may occur outside of Earth and which did not originate on Earth . Such life might range from simple prokaryotes ( or comparable life forms ) to beings with civilizations far more advanced than humanity . The Drake equation speculates about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe . The science of extraterrestrial life in all its forms is known as astrobiology . Since the mid-20th century , active ongoing research has taken place to look for signs of extraterrestrial life . This encompasses a search for current and historic extraterrestrial life , and a narrower search for extraterrestrial intelligent life . Depending on the category of search , methods range from the analysis of telescope and specimen data to radios used to detect and send communication signals . The concept of extraterrestrial life , and particularly extraterrestrial intelligence , has had a major cultural impact , chiefly in works of science fiction . Over the years , science fiction has introduced a number of theoretical ideas , each having a wide range of possibilities . Many have piqued public interest in the possibilities of extraterrestrial life . One particular concern is the wisdom of attempting communication with extraterrestrial intelligence . Some encourage aggressive methods to make contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life .
A comic book or comicbook , also called comic magazine or simply comic , is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes . Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative , usually , dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form . Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan , comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s . The first modern comic book , Famous Funnies , was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips , which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics . The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone ; however , this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres , usually not humorous in tone . The largest comic book market is Japan . By 1995 , the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion ( $ 6-7 billion ) , with annual sales of 1.9 billion manga books/magazines in Japan ( equivalent to 15 issues per person ) . The comic book market in the United States and Canada was valued at $ 1.09 billion in 2016 . As of 2017 [ update ] , the largest comic book publisher in the United States is manga distributor Viz Media , followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics . Another major comic book market is France , where Franco-Belgian comics and Japanese manga each represent 40% of the market , followed by American comics at 10% market share .
Stan Lee ( born Stanley Martin Lieber /ˈliːbər/ ; December 28 , 1922 - November 12 , 2018 ) was an American comic book writer , editor , publisher , and producer . He rose through the ranks of a family-run business to become Marvel Comics ' primary creative leader for two decades , leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics industry . In collaboration with others at Marvel - particularly co-writer/artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko - he co-created numerous popular fictional characters , including superheroes Spider-Man , the X-Men , Iron Man , Thor , the Hulk , Black Widow , the Fantastic Four , Black Panther , Daredevil , Doctor Strange , Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man . In doing so , he pioneered a more naturalistic approach to writing superhero comics in the 1960s , and in the 1970s he challenged the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority , indirectly leading to changes in its policies . In the 1980s he pursued the development of Marvel properties in other media , with mixed results . Following his retirement from Marvel in the 1990s , he remained a public figurehead for the company , and frequently made cameo appearances in films and television shows based on Marvel characters , on which he received an executive producer credit . Meanwhile , he continued independent creative ventures into his 90s , until his death in 2018 . Lee was inducted into the comic book industry 's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995 . He received the NEA 's National Medal of Arts in 2008 .
Uatu ( /ˈwɑːtuː/ ) , often simply known as The Watcher , is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Credited to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby , he first appeared in The Fantastic Four # 13 ( April 1963 ) . He is a member of the Watchers , an extraterrestrial species who in the distant past stationed themselves across space to monitor the activities of other species . Uatu is the Watcher assigned to observe Earth and its solar system . The character has been adapted into other media , such as video games , toys , and television . Jeffrey Wright will voice Uatu in the Marvel Cinematic Universe animated series What If. ? on Disney+ , which will debut in mid-2021 .