Taneleer Tivan

## The Collector

**Taneleer Tivan** or **The Collector** is a character from *Marvel Comics*, having first appeared in *The Avengers* #28, the May of 1966. He was adapted to live-action film in *Guardians of the Galaxy* (2014) and is the main-antagonist of *Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!* which replaced the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in *Disney California Adventure*. As a character, Tivan has connections to the story of Tower of Terror.

## History

### Biography

#### Background

Taneleer Tivan was an, "Elder of the Universe", who appeared near the beginning of the universe's history. The Collector's, "Brother" elder was *En Dwi Gast* AKA, The Grandmaster. Tivan would spend his life running a massive collection of artifacts taken from across the universe and established an organization known as *The Tivan Group* to do so.

The alien organization's base was in the teleporting fortress The Tivan Collection and was largely staffed by female slaves of the planet Krylor. By the 2010s/2020s, the Collector would purchase technology for the collection from the evil alien mega-corporation *X-S Tech* where he was apparently acquainted with company chairman, L.C. Clench. By around this time, the Collector teleported his fortress across the galaxy to show off his collection as an attraction while also obtaining new acquisitions.

#### Mission: BREAKOUT!

Around the late 2010s, Tivan had bounty-hunter Jeutar Mörat follow an unidentified, "Stranger" to Earth (known to aliens as Terra). Intrigued, the Collector took his fortress to Earth and set up shop in the city of Orange, California within a militarized colony known as, "Avengers Campus". The campus was run by billionaire industrialist and US military ally Tony Stark who allowed the known super-villain to move his lair to the base without incident. Here, the Collector used spam texts and advertisements to bring humans to the fortress though his lair was briefly attacked by rogue robots from the nearby *Wordwide Engineering Brigade* but quickly defeated and subdued.

While in the Campus, the Collector lured intergalactic outlaws/anti-heroes, "The Guardians of the Galaxy" into his acquisition by promising team-member Peter "Star-Lord" Quill a free tour. After making the guardians his new main attraction, the guardian *Rocket Raccoon* escaped and made an S.O.S. tour for help. A group disguised as tourists came to the fortress and assisted Rocket in destroying the fortress' main power source, causing all of the creatures within to break free and wreak havoc as the guardians escaped. The Collector's later fate is unknown but he was last seen being terrorized by his imprisoned creatures.

## Tower of Terror connections

### The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

In his office, the Collector has the hat of a bellhop from the Hollywood Tower Hotel along with multiple book-marks that have the hotel's logo on them. Recycled props which decorated the hotel also appear in Tivan's collection such as multiple books and a portrait of Napoleon III. In the Collector's office is a book titled, "*A Far Cry From the Top Floor*" with the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror's font, referencing the attraction.

#### Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: A New Dimension of Chills

At Walt Disney Studios Park, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was given projections to look like the Tivan Collection for the 2023/2024 New Years.

### Other connections

#### Behind the Attraction

This Disney+ series included the creation of G*uardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!* as one of the incarnations of Tower of Terror in its episode, "*The Twilight Zone* Tower of Terror".

## Trivia

* Tivan, the Invaders, and the Kanamits authors of *To Serve Man* are all aliens connected to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
* In his office is a book titled, "Migration Patterns of Earth's Avifauna" by Rohde, tributing Tower of Terror imagineer Joe Rohde who developed Mission: BREAKOUT!.
* The Collector is a similar character to Harrison Hightower III as they are both evil, white-haired collectors who ran towers in which they were defeated by their own escaped acquisitions. Incidentally, Hightower's actor Joe Rohde was also an imagineer behind Mission: BREAKOUT!.
	+ Also incidentally in the Skipper Canteen, there is a book by Star-Lord along with books by Harrison Hightower III.
* In his office, Clench has an invoice from X-S Tech signed by chairman L.C. Clench, both characters from the defunct horror attraction *ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter*.
* Various acquisitions in Tivan's fortress connect to other Disney Parks attractions:
	+ One of the tanks suspended from the ceiling contains an imprisoned Figment from *Journey Into Imagination*.
	+ The lifeless bodies of the Matterhorn Yeti from *Matterhorn Bobsleds* and Dolores the Octopus from *Country Bear Vacation Hoedown*.
	+ In the fortress is the severed robotic head of Tomorrowland's mayor Prof. Tom Morrow from *Rocket to the Moon* and *Innoventions*. Many of the Collector's Asgardian artifacts are recycled props from Innoventions as well.
	+ As previously stated, the Collector has various artifacts related to the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
* Behind the scenes, the Collector's fortress also reused the basic architecture of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.superherohype.com/news/398047-guardians-of-the-galaxy-mission-breakout#/slide/1
2. ↑ https://mouseinfo.com/2017/06/watch-easter-eggs-and-other-surprises-inside-guardians-of-the-galaxy-mission-breakout-summerofheroes/
3. ↑ https://wdwnt.com/2023/12/tower-of-terror-guardians-of-the-galaxy-dlp-nye/