Pilai (Earth-616)

Pilai
Name	Pilai
Aliases	Creature from Kosmos, the loathsome thing
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	W.H.I.S.P.E.R. Kosmosians
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	No Hair At All
Skin	Green
Unusual Features	Gigantic size, fluid and malleable form, tentacles
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Kosmosian
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Kosmos
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	Kosmos
Occupation	Criminal, would-be conqueror and slaver
Base of Operations	Formerly Kosmos
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Stan Lee, H.E. Huntley, Jack Kirby
First	Tales to Astonish #44 (March, 1963)
First	Tales to Astonish #44 (March, 1963)

 I am a criminal... the greatest Kosmos has ever seen ... Alone, I almost succeeded in smashing Kosmosian society, making slaves of them all! But I failed! Now I am safe here! Here I can do what I failed to do on Kosmos! 

—Pilai

History

Pilai was a Kosmosian criminal, supposedly the greatest criminal in the history of his dimension. He had once tried to destroy the Kosmosian society and to enslave everyone else in Kosmos. Pilai nearly managed to do this while working alone, but he failed and was incarcerated in a prison dimension.

When Dr. Vernon Van Dyne opened a portal to this dimension, Pilai escaped to Earth. He teleported directly to Dr. Van Dyne's lab, terrifying Vernon. He talked to Vernon about his identity and origins but then decided to take care of loose ends. He destroyed Vernon's gamma-radiation to ensure that nobody could track him down to Earth. Then he killed Vernon himself, to prevent him from informing anyone of his presence.

Pilai was apparently destroyed by Ant-Man and Van Dyne's daughter Janet, who realized he secreted formic acid and fired anti-formic acid which seemingly dissipated him.

Pilai was actually teleported away by the Stranger to his laboratory with other creatures and escaped during the Over-Mind's assault.

Seeking new leadership, agents of W.H.I.S.P.E.R. collected traces of Pilai and restored him to full strength. Then they bonded him to their retired founder, Janos Trovaya. Seeking revenge against Janet, he used Whirlwind to lure her and her daughter Nadia into a trap. His false reality failed to break theirs and Jarvis's wills, and when he released them for a more direct attack, the Wasps blasted him with cosmic radiation, banishing him to Kosmos and possibly killing him.

Attributes

Powers

• Pilai's physical form is fluid and malleable, allowing to change his shape at will. He can form finger-like appendages and tentacles. The limits to this ability are unknown.
• Pilai emanates hostility, which can be sensed by those in proximity with him. Whether he is consciously projecting his emotions or not is unclear.
• He can communicate with humans through telepathy. He can also influence the behavior of others, such as mentally ordering Vernon Van Dyne to turn his head and look directly into his eyes. Vernon's efforts to resist this command failed. Whether this extends to full mind control is unclear, and it is unknown whether he could extract information from the minds of others. Pilai knew he was on Earth, without Vernon having to inform him.
• He can cause the death of a human through some sort of fear-based attack, but he seemingly needs to establish eye-contact first.
• Pilai could cause earthquake-like tremors, sufficient to demolish buildings.
• Pilai secreted formic acid, similar to the acid secreted by Earth's ants. Ant-Man's ants perceived Pilai as their kin but greatly feared him. Whether the size difference between them factored in their fear was not stated.
• Pilai was invulnerable to artillery shells and bullets.
• Possession: Pilai possessed Janos Trovaya, using him as a mouthpiece.
• Pilai could send those who look at him into false worlds meant to break their will. These worlds may be within the Below-Place, and maintaining more than two at a time was difficult. Once the prisoners realize the truth of their situation, his hold over them breaks.

Abilities

• Pilai can swim.

Weaknesses

• While Pilai is sentient, he reportedly lacks a conscience. He has no sense of right and wrong.
• He is vulnerable to known "antidotes" for formic acid, which are known in Earth.
• His association with Gamma Radiation means that its opposite, Cosmic Radiation, can severely harm him.

Notes

• Pilai's voice is described as "slithering." However, he communicates with humans through telepathy (described in-text as "a touching of the human brain with waves of meaning"), so he might only appear to speak.

Trivia

• Kosmos/Cosmos are English transliterations of "κόσμος", the ancient Greek term for "universe". It is the root term for the modern concept of cosmology.

See Also

• 8 appearance(s) of Pilai (Earth-616)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Pilai (Earth-616)
• 6 minor appearance(s) of Pilai (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) of Pilai (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Pilai (Earth-616)
• 13 image(s) of Pilai (Earth-616)
• 1 quotation(s) by or about Pilai (Earth-616)
• 1 victim(s) killed by Pilai (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Pilai at the Marvel Appendix