Kro (Earth-616)

Kro
Name	Kro (possibly not his original name)
Aliases	Warlord Kro; Brother Kro; Agent 6; Rudolph Hendler; "Pluto"; "Satan"; "the Devil"; Prince of Darkness; Paul Sayden; Mr. S. Devile ; Adolf Hitler
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Ruling elite of the Deviants; Delta Force, Prussland
Relatives	Deborah Ritter (daughter); Donald Ritter (son)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′5″ (1.96 m)
Weight	320 lbs (145.15 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Red
Hair	Bald
Unusual Features	Pointed ears
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Deviant
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Deviant Lemuria
Personal Information
Identity	Public
Citizenship	Deviant Lemuria Pre-Cataclysmic Lemuria
Occupation	Former warlord and general of Deviant armies, later monarch of the Deviants
Base of Operations	formerly Lemuria
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Martin A. Burnstein, Jack Kirby
First	Red Raven Comics #1 (May, 1940) (as Rudolph Hendler) Eternals #1 (April, 1976) (as Kro)
First	Red Raven Comics #1 (May, 1940) (as Rudolph Hendler) Eternals #1 (April, 1976) (as Kro)

Kro is a warlord and general of the Deviants, an an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created Human life on Earth instigated by the Celestials. They was created to wage war against their counterparts, the Eternals. He is 20,000 and secretly an immortal shapeshifter closer to the Eternals then his own kind, forcing him to hide his powers from his people. Over the centuries he has been mistaken to be the Olympian; Pluto"; "the Devil" and many other mythological figures. He is the secret love of the Eternal; Thena and because of this Kro sometimes became a reluctant ally of the Eternals.

History

Early History

Kro was born to the race of Deviants, an evolutionary offshoot of humanity, cursed with an unstable genetic code causing random physical characteristics to crop up in each newborn child in the race. Kro was born with a number of traits which appeared to be unique among the Deviant race and which were beneficial in nature. Chief among these mutations were those granting Kro his longevity and near-indestructibility, both similar to those of another evolutionary offshoot of humanity, the Eternals. Kro was alive around 20,000 years ago at the time that the Second Host of the extraterrestrial Celestials destroyed the Deviant Empire in the Great Cataclysm. Kro carefully guarded the secret of his longevity by assuming a series of different identities among the Deviants over the course of his extraordinarily long life, using his powers to alter his facial features to complete his disguises. Kro feared that if he allowed the other Deviants to know that he was virtually immortal, they would subject him to genetic experimentation in order to learn how to duplicate the mutations that gave him his near-immortality in themselves. Kro studied the arts of warfare throughout his life and often led Deviant armies in his various guises. In recent times, Kro used the same name and facial features that he did thousands of years ago. He claimed to be a descendant of this "original" Kro.

At this earlier time that he was known as Kro, Kro fell in love with Thena, daughter of Zuras, ruler of the Eternals of Earth. Thena returned Kro's love, but their relationship, perhaps the only such liaison between the two divergent races of humanity, which had long been enemies, ended badly. Kro and Thena parted, although they retained strong feelings for each other. Thena assumed that Kro eventually died, and was surprised when she encountered him again in recent years. Kro attempted to renew their relationship, but failed.

As Pluto in 1940's

1940's

Kro had many interactions with normal humans, usually sowing chaos wherever he went. Adopting a devilish appearance, he was believed to be Pluto, Satan, and other underworld rulers - Kro did not dissuade these cases of mistaken identities. He was constantly thwarted by the Eternal known as Makkari, first mistaken as the god Mercury then in his assumed identity as Hurricane.

The first such clash, Kro assumed the guise of Prussland dictator Rudolph Hendler, sparking war across Europe. However, Makkari (as Mercury) thwarted this plan by preventing the warring armies from continuing their conflict, eventually lulling them into peace, and forcing Kro to flee. Fleeing to America, and continuing to use his Pluto guise, Kro attempted to destabilize whatever human society whenever possible.

Assuming the alias Paul Sayden, Kro set up operations in Coast City, facilitating the criminal activities of Piggy Perroni. This operation was foiled by Makkari (operating in his Hurricane identity), and Pluto ultimately fled after losing a battle against Hurricane at a costumed party. Relocating to the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, Kro unleashed the deadly "Green Plague" in the region. He then allied himself with Jivaro headhunters, convincing them to kill anyone who attempted to cure the disease. This plot was also foiled by Hurricane, although Kro was long gone by the time a cure for the disease was discovered.

In his last recorded appearance while operating as Pluto, Kro returned to America, setting up in Groton City under the alias "Mr. S Devile". There he hired mobster Scarface Rispoli and had him place "Death Boxes" in subways to cause fatal accidents that would slaughter all passengers aboard. This plot was once again foiled by Hurricane who captured Rispoli and prevented Kro from planting yet another Death Box. Overpowering Kro in battle, Hurricane sent him fleeing into the sky.

Shortly after this, Kro abandoned his Pluto identity.

1950's

In the 1950's, he oversaw the unleashing of Deviant mutates such as Tricephalous, Giganto, Gigantus, and others from Monster Island, near Japan.

Modern Age

When the fourth Host of the Celestials was approaching Earth, Kro was ordered by Brother Tode, the monarch of the Deviants, to find and disable the Celestials' cosmic beacon. After he failed, he was tortured by Tode. To save himself, Kro proposed taking the form of the humans' devil and attacking New York City in order to trick the humans into attacking the Celestials. He managed to capture Ikaris who was defending the city and entombed him in a capsule at the bottom of the ocean as well as Sersi and Margo Damian. Convinced that humanity would be driven to aggression against the Celestials, he agreed on a truce with Thena and allowed the existence of the two races to be revealed to Professor Samuel Holden and his students.

After the demise of Zuras, Brother Tode led an assault on Olympia, the principal city of the Eternals, where the Deviants captured and imprisoned all the Eternals. Almost the entire Deviant ruling elite, including Warlord Kro, accompanied Tode and Deviant troops on this venture. Thanks to the intervention of James Rhodes as Iron Man, the Eternals regained their freedom and captured the Deviants that were on Olympia. The Eternals decided to transform all of the captured Deviants into a large block of atoms and send the block into outer space. Before the Eternals carried out this plan, Thena secretly released Kro from his cell, and Kro escaped. Shortly thereafter, most of Earth's Eternals left for outer space. Thena became the ruler of the Eternals left on Earth.

Kro made his way back to the Deviants' city in undersea Lemuria, intent on making himself their monarch now that virtually the entire Deviant ruling class was no more. To his astonishment Kro discovered that the Deviant priesthood, headed by the priest lord Ghaur, was manoeuvring to become the true ruling power in Deviant Lemuria. Since one of the priesthood's roles was to designate the new monarch, Kro confronted Ghaur and made his wish to become king clear. Ghaur allowed Kro to become monarch, but continued to pursue his plans. He had Kro lead an expedition to the Pyramid of the Winds, an Eternal structure in the Arctic, to retrieve a mysterious vial. Ghaur apparently hoped that Kro would be killed by the Eternals in the course of this venture. Once Kro found the vial, a Deviant priest and his guards demanded he give it to them, but Kro, determined to maintain his authority as ruler, refused. A party of Eternals led by Ikaris arrived, and Ikaris fought Kro for the vial. Thena, still in love with Kro, prevented Ikaris from killing him, and, on Kro's request, teleported Kro away. The Deviant priest's guards had managed to get hold of the vial for their masters. Kro and Thena traveled together as renegades, each hunted by his or her own race. They were finally found by Ikaris, who let them go after he replaced Thena as Prime Eternal. However, Ghaur still sought to capture Kro.

At this time the current whereabouts of Kro is unknown.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Despite his Deviant heritage, Kro possesses a number of superhuman traits characteristic of an Eternal:

• Regenerative Durability/Immortality/Toxic Immunity: Kro maintains a virtually unbreakable mental control over the processes and structure of his body even when he is asleep or unconscious. As a result, Kro has a lifespan that has already lasted over 20,000 years and is immune to disease and aging. His mental control over his body enables him to maintain a youthful, vigorous physical condition. Kro is not as nearly indestructible as the Eternals. (For example, Ikaris nearly killed Kro once by strangulation.) But while sufficient force can kill Kro, he can use his mental control over his body to heal himself after being injured.

• Malleability: Kro also possesses the power of physical malleability, which is atypical for a Deviant. At will he can cause most of the tissue of his body to become pliant, enabling him to shape it mentally like putty into different configurations. Once the tissue is set in an altered form, Kro has only to stop concentrating and his body will retain that shape until such time as he concentrates upon changing it again. This ability enables him to disguise himself and take the appearance of others (with cosmetic help for skin color, body hair, and so forth). One of Kro's favorite ploys is to pass himself off among ordinary humanity as a demon by fashioning horns on his head.

However, Kro's shape-changing powers are limited. He cannot alter the shape of his skeleton in more than minor ways. Moreover, he cannot eliminate any of his mass while transforming; he can only redistribute his 320 pounds of weight. Hence, he usually only uses his shape-changing power to alter his facial features. He can mentally mold the shape of his skull somewhat.

Kro has about three times the physical endurance of an ordinary human athlete. His heart is not located in the same place as an ordinary human being's; its true location is unrevealed.

Abilities

Kro is a master military strategist, a superb military commander, a good hand-to-hand combatant, and an expert in the use of Deviant weaponry.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Kro frequently wears special glasses designed to extend his vision into the infrared and ultraviolet ranges. Hence, if Kro is wearing these glasses in a room where there is no visible light, he can still detect objects by perceiving the heat (infrared radiation) they give off.

Weapons

Kro has employed a number of weapons developed by Deviant technology. Among his favourites are flame-guns, vibro-whips, and shroud-guns. Once while battling Ikaris, Kro wore gloves from whose fingertips he could project vastly powerful force blasts which could not injure his virtually invulnerable Eternal foe but instead caused Ikaris intense pain.

See Also

• 67 appearance(s) of Kro (Earth-616)
• 9 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Kro (Earth-616)
• 4 minor appearance(s) of Kro (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) of Kro (Earth-616)
• 9 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Kro (Earth-616)
• 27 image(s) of Kro (Earth-616)
• 2 item(s) used/owned by Kro (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Kro on Wikipedia.org
• http://www.marveldirectory.com/xoops/modules/wordbook/entry.php?entryID=383
• Marvel Universe Vol 1, No. 4–7 September-December 1998; Featuring: The Monster Hunters, Harvey Elder (pre Mole Man)