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Javaman

(63,154 posts)
Fri Jan 19, 2024, 08:11 AM Jan 2024

The origin of Super Villians: Terra-Man

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra-Man

Publication history
Terra-Man first appeared in Superman #249 (March 1972) and was created by Cary Bates, Curt Swan, and Dick Dillin. Bates says that the character was inspired by Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name, who appeared in a trio of Spaghetti Western films from 1964 to 1966.[1]

Fictional character biography
Pre-Crisis

The original Pre-Crisis Terra-Man riding his flying horse Nova; art by Neal Adams.
The Pre-Crisis Terra-Man was noted for using futuristic weapons modeled after those used in the Old West as well as riding an Arguvian space steed (a type of alien pegasus) named Nova.[2]

As revealed in Superman #249, Tobias "Toby" Manning was born during the Old West era.[3] An alien known as the Currency-Criminal accidentally killed Toby's father Jess and took young Toby as his ward, raising him from childhood and teaching him the use of alien weapons, which were created to resemble the 19th century weapons with which Toby was familiar. After Manning had grown to adulthood and learned what he could, he killed the alien and began a career as an interstellar outlaw called "Terra-Man", a name chosen to refer to Manning's Earthly origins. For transportation, he tamed the Arguvian space steed named Nova. Eventually his travels took him to Earth, where he became an enemy of Superman. Throughout his Pre-Crisis career, Terra-Man periodically returned to Earth in attempts to outfight or outwit Superman; otherwise, he remained at large in outer space, committing crimes to carry the legend of the Wild West outlaw across the stars. Terra-Man spoke in an exaggerated "cowboy" drawl with liberal use of Old West slang and colloquialisms, lending a humorous air to his deadly activities.

Following a fight with Superman, Terra-Man enlisted his counterpart from Earth-377, a world where the inhabitants can perform magic, to help him fight Superman.[4]

This version of Terra-Man is revealed to be dead by the time of Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow. Lois Lane mentioned that Terra-Man and the Parasite (a frequent partner in crime) had ended up killing each other at some point before the start of the story.[5]

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