History
Khup was a warrior of the Aerians, a genetically-engineered race of winged humanoids (bird-people) who lived in Pangea, a region of Antarctica that was adjacent to the Savage Land. Like most (or all) of his people, Khup resided in their single city, Aerie Shalan.[1]
By the time that the Aerians first met and became allies with Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil and Zabu, Khup was a trained warrior who was serving the Aerie's leader, Lord M'Dom Typ, as his First Lieutenant. However, although Lord Typ trusted Khup, that trust was misplaced because Khup was secretly a member of a faction of the Aerian population who wanted to overthrow the kingdom and assassinate Typ.[2]
Shortly after the Aerians had, with the help of their new allies, won a decisive victory over their long-time enemies, the Pterons, the conspirators decided to make their move. Knowing that a kelta tournament would be part of the celebration and that Lord Typ would be expected to lead one of the two teams to victory, they plotted to fix the games by making sure that the opposing team was made up of their members. Since Typ's team wore blue arm bands, the opposing team wore red arm bands. At some point, the wooden swords of the Red team were all secretly dipped in a mild drug that would non-fatally incapacitate anyone cut by them, presumably to prevent those Aerians loyal to Typ from resisting. However, one sword was dipped in snake venom so that it could be used to kill Typ. All the members of the Red team knew of this but none of them were told whose sword was the murder weapon.
As the kelta continued past sundown, now lit by torchlight, Lord Typ noticed that members of his team who fell weren't getting up again. At that point, Khup signaled to Typ and informed him that one of Typ's physicians had discovered a drug in the blood of the fallen Blue warriors, something that Typ had strictly forbidden. Khup also informed Typ that one of the captured Red bands, Chan, had something he had to hear. At the field hospital, Khup stood by while Chan told Typ that he had been injured by his own team who were plotting to overthrow the kingdom and that Typ was to be killed by a poisoned sword but that the identity of the would-be assassin had been kept secret. After hearing this, Typ sent Khup to summon Lord Ka-Zar and Shanna and those Aerians who had been with him the longest, and Khup left to do so.
Khup found Ka-Zar just as Dephine, who wished to become Ka-Zar's lover, revealed to him that she had sent Shanna far away to a private island by putting her on a hoxing skite. Khup interrupted them and told Ka-Zar that he had brought that skite from the island of Nahgen, that hoxing skites would return to their birthplace no matter what, and that the island of Nahgen had sunk six days earlier so the skite would circle the area until it fell into the sea, potentially drowning both it and its rider, Shanna. At that moment, both Lord Typ and his wife Wena arrived and Typ told Ka-Zar about the plot to kill him by an assassin wielding a poisoned blade. When Buth, Dephine's jealous boyfriend who had been very publicly beaten by Ka-Zar in an arena match earlier in the day, arrived with his wooden sword and attacked Ka-Zar, Typ, Ka-Zar, Dephine and Wena all assumed that he was the assassin. However, after being defeated by Ka-Zar, Buth was clearly puzzled when Ka-Zar accused him of plotting to kill his own ruler.
At that moment, Khup made his move, stabbing Typ with the poisoned sword, but his victory was short-lived because Ka-Zar then used his sling to dispose of the traitor, hurling a stone into the back of his head as he attempted to flee. Lord Typ survived long enough to use his last moments to ask Buth to promise to help Ka-Zar restore the kingdom, and then said good-bye to Ka-Zar.[2]Attributes
Powers
Winged Flight: Khup's possessed the superhuman ability to fly by means of his natural wings, which spanned sixteen feet from wingtip to wingtip.
Aerial Adaptation: Khup's entire anatomy was naturally adapted to flying. His bones were hollow like birds, making them weigh far less than usual than for humans. His body was virtually devoid of fat and possessed greater proportionate muscle mass than an ordinary human does. His eyes were specially adapted to withstand high-speed winds which would hurt the average human eye. The Aerians possess a special membrane in their respiratory system enabling them to extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes.Abilities
Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Notes
- Aside from the fact that they wanted to overthrow the kingdom and kill Typ, nothing has ever been revealed about the conspiracy of which Khup was a member, including their name for their group and the motivations for their actions.
- The fact that Chan was able to tell Lord Typ about the plot while Khup was standing right there suggests that none of the "Red bands" knew that Khup was a member of the conspiracy.
- Although Khup was not shown to be dead after Ka-Zar's stone struck him in the back of his head, the fact that the writer described the weapon Ka-Zar used as his "lethal sling" is a strong indication that Khup's injury was fatal.
- Similarly, although Lord Typ was not shown to have actually died after speaking his last words to Ka-Zar, in the next issue Ka-Zar does speak of how Khup had killed the Aerian ruler.
- Like many (but not all) Aerians, Khup's feathers were the same color as his skin and his hair.
See Also
- 1 appearance(s) of Khup (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Khup (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Khup (Earth-616)
- 1 image(s) of Khup (Earth-616)