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Quote1 Farewell, earthling! I salute you for your valor! Quote2
Torgo

Appearing in "At the Mercy of Torgo!"

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Synopsis for "At the Mercy of Torgo!"

Torgo (Earth-616) and Benjamin Grimm (Earth-616) from Fantastic Four Vol 1 93 0001

Torgo punches Thing

Within the Skrull Galaxy, Reed, Crystal, and Johnny search for and find the trail of the Skrull saucer that abducted Ben Grimm from Earth. Meanwhile, on the Skrull planet of Kral, after witnessing the Cat-Man defeat the Primitoid, the Thing enters the arena to battle Torgo. After exchanging blows, Ben tries to convince Torgo to rebel with him but the Skrulls put a stop to that with a demonstration of the very real threat posed by their Sonic Disrupter, using it to cause asteroids orbiting their planet to fall into the sun. The battle continues with weapons but some questionable moves soon cause the battle to be stopped and declared to be voided.

In space, the trio from Earth finally catch up to the Skrull saucer being piloted by the Slave-Master who abducted Ben. They quickly subdue him and prepare to question him to learn where he took Ben. They soon arrive at Kral where they leave their saucer at the edge of the spaceport, disguise themselves with local clothing and commandeer a flying car.

In the Arena, the fight is restarted with new weapons. Ben manages to get the advantage over Torgo and could have killed hum but is unable to do so. This give Torgo the opportunity to break free and Ben is soon lying helpless at his feet. Elsewhere in the city, Reed Richards arrives at Boss Barker's apartment, captures a henchmen and forces him out to the curb where Johnny and Crystal are waiting in the car with the captive Slave-Master. Now having a guide, they fly through the city towards the Arena.

Meanwhile, at the Arena, Torgo has won the match, and the spectators are demanding that he kill the Thing. Finding no honor in murdering such a worthy opponent, Torgo refuses. Angered by his defiance, the Skrull operating the Sonic Disrupter prepares to use it to destroy the worlds of both combatants but is prevented from doing so when shock waves hurled by the just-arrived Crystal destroy the device. As the Earthlings are reunited, Torgo seizes a weapon and begins blasting open the slave doors, freeing the other slaves. With the weapon that the Skrulls had used to threaten their homeworlds destroyed, the slaves revolt and attack their masters. The FF take the chance to escape in the ensuing chaos. After returning to their saucer, they soon are on course for Earth, with Ben remembering Torgo as a true friend.

Solicit Synopsis

The Great Games begin at last — and whether he wins or loses — the Thing must die!

Notes

Continuity Notes[]

  • After this story, Torgo helped liberate Kral IV (at least for a short time) and then returned to his home world of Mekka, as he told Ben Grimm when they next met in Fantastic Four #173.
  • Although caught in a slave uprising at the end of this story, the Skrulls manage to re-establish control and resume operations by the time that world is visited again in Black Panther (Vol. 4) #3134.
    • Some of the liberated gladiators wanted to wipe the Kralian Skrulls out altogether for their crimes but they wanted to go home to their loved ones even more so they settled for killing the leaders of the old society before leaving. The surviving Skrulls were left in ruins and suffering from a profound identity crisis. While some wanted to immediately rebuild their world as it had been, others felt guilty about what they had done and wanted to change. Since their Skrull identities seemed boring and foreign to them, these Skrulls looked to Earth for inspiration and found it in the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. These Skrulls co-opted African-American culture and identities, causing Kralian society to split into two rival cultures. This resulted in new unrest, this time between Uptown and Downtown.[1]
  • A number of Skrulls escaped the revolt of their slaves. Boss Barker survived by feigning death and sneaking off planet. He attempted to get revenge against Torgo and the Thing in Marvel Two-In-One #45. Another notable Skrull from Kral IV known as Floyd Donahue led a crew of Skrulls into space aboard his ship Big Casino as seen in Avengers Annual #14.
  • Although the Cat-Man is not actually shown killing the defeated Primitoid, the fact that the Skrulls forced their enslaved alien gladiators to fight to the death pretty much guarantees that the loser must have been killed in the arena.

Continuity Errors[]

  • This comic is the second (of six) in which the disc-shaped starship in the possession of the Fantastic Four is identified as being the saucer that they had once captured from the Skrulls. This time it is Reed Richards who mentions that it was lucky that the FF kept the ship which they had captured from the Skrulls during their first encounter with the aliens because it gave him the chance to study it and learn how it operates.
  • Adding to the confusion is the fact that, after detecting a ship following him, the Skrull Slave-Master recognizes the saucer being flown by the FF as a Skrull ship. This is the first (of two) stories in which aliens will identify the FF's saucer as being a Skrull spacecraft.

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