History
The Betans are humanoid race with light purple skin whose homeworld, Beta, is the third planet from the sun in the Mirpet star system of the Milky Way Galaxy.[1]
Centuries ago, war broke out between the Betans and the Megans who inhabited their rival planet, Mega. The war was initially fought with conventional weapons but eventually, after both planets became depleted of precious materials, both sides began to capture gargantuan monsters from alien worlds to use as living weapons. By exhausting the supplies of such war-monsters, the two races have allegedly eliminated the potential for further life on a dozen different planets. The war-monsters used by the Betans were known as the Beta-Beasts.[2]
In the last known battle between the two enemies, the Betans and their war-monsters were all but destroyed, and they would have fallen if the Megans had launched one more all-out attack on them. However, the Betans managed to hide their weakness, deceiving the Megans into believing that the balance of power between the two races was still maintained. The Betans subsequently learned that their deception had fooled the Warlords of Mega who had decided to conquer and plunder Earth in order to obtain the raw materials for the armaments that they believed would be needed if they were to conquer the Betans. Realizing that the Megans would send their three most powerful Mega-Monsters to prepare Earth for the Megan conquest, the Betans secretly built a base on Earth's Moon from which they could study the planet and search for any native creatures that would be powerful enough to defend it.[2]
Betans operating out of the moonbase discovered two possibilities when they covertly observed a battle between Godzilla and Yetrigar in the Grand Canyon but were forced to leave the area to avoid being detected by the approaching Red Ronin. Soon afterwards, the Betans in the moonbase used their technology to transport the survivor (Godzilla) to the Moon and provide him with an oxygen-sheath to keep him alive. Then, to test if he might be strong enough to defeat the Mega-Monsters, the Betans released their strongest surviving war-monster, the Beta-Beast, to attack him. Once Godzilla had proved his strength by killing the Beta-Beast, the Betans caused their small domed city to rise up from within its crater to that they could address Godzilla but when he attacked they were forced to use their Id-ray to paralyze Godzilla so that he would be forced to listen to them. As the Betan commander was finishing his explanation, he was informed that the Mega-Monsters had arrived sooner than anticipated. Realizing that the presence of Godzilla on the Moon would cause the Megan war-monsters to attack the next most powerful entity on Earth, the commander had Godzilla transported back to Earth at the same location that was being targeted by the Mega-Monsters. As a result, Godzilla reappeared on Earth just seconds after Red Ronin had been downed while in flight by Triax, the first of the Mega-Monsters to land.[2]
The Betans on the Moon continued to monitor Godzilla as he and Red Ronin battled Triax well enough that the other two Mega-Monsters, Rhiahn and Krollar, were sent down to Salt Lake City aid Triax. When they detected a Megan spacecraft, Megan-Booster One, approaching Earth and learned that it was going to fire an Energex-Ray that would greatly increase the strength and ferocity of the Mega-Monsters, the Betan commander took the base's only spacecraft in an attempt to stop them. The Betan craft managed to inflict critical damage on the Megan craft but return fire crippled it and locked its auto-pilot on a collision course with their own base. That collision breached the base's dome, enabling the atmosphere within the base to begin to seep out onto the lunar surface. Sadly, the effort by the Betan commander proved to be wasted because the crew of Megan-Booster One managed to get close enough to Earth to fire the Energex-Ray before their craft imploded.[3]
In the doomed Betan base, all Betans who were outside the inner airlocks quickly suffocated and died as the atmosphere was lost. Those few Betans who remained monitored the life-signs of the four monsters (Godzilla and the three Mega-Monsters). In an effort to preserve enough of the atmosphere so that they could survive long enough to learn if Godzilla would succeed, the (new) commander had the base lowered back down into the crater but by then there were only two Betans left alive. Within minutes, the last surviving Betan observed as the life-signs of the last Mega-Monster blinked off while the monitor showed that Godzilla was still alive. Realizing that this meant that the Megan attempt to obtain Earth's resources had been thwarted and that the Megans would thus not be able to launch a final strike on Beta, this last Betan prepared to die in peace knowing that his homeworld was safe.[4]Powers and Abilities
Powers
Habitat
Gravity
Population
Miscellaneous
Level of Technology
Notes
- Although the Betans described Mega only as their "rival planet" in Godzilla #12, the claim that Beta and Mega existed within the same star system first appeared in the entry on the Megans in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6 and was seemingly later substantiated by the entry on the Betans in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #15. However, while it's possible that Beta and Mega were "sister" or "neighboring" planets, the idea that they could both be the third planet from their sun would suggest that they were sharing an orbit, a situation that could not be stable for any significant length of time. This implies that, at a minimum, the two planets were not both the third from their sun and might actually not even have been located within the same star system. Of course, since this information about where Beta and Mega were located has so far only appeared in Official Handbooks, it's possible that future stories may change/correct this situation.
See Also
- 4 appearance(s) of Betans (Earth-616)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Betans (Earth-616)
- 2 image(s) of Betans (Earth-616)
Links and References
http://www.marveldirectory.com/alienraces/betans.htm
References
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #15 ; Betans entry
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Godzilla #12
- ↑ Godzilla #13
- ↑ Godzilla #14