Attuma

Attuma
File:X-factoran4.jpg From the cover for X-Factor Annual #4 (1989). Art by John Byrne
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Fantastic Four #33, (December 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Attuma
Species	Homo mermanus
Place of origin	Atlantis
Team affiliations	Atlantis Lethal Legion Deep Six The Worthy
Partnerships	Warlord Krang Ghaur Llyra Tiger Shark Tyrak Byrrah Red Ghost Dr. Dorcas
Notable aliases	Attuma the Barbarian, Lords of the Murky Depths, Nerkkod: Breaker of Oceans
Abilities	Expert hand-to-hand combatant Superhuman strength, agility, stamina, reflexes and endurance High level swimming speed Specially developed vision Self-propelled flight Underwater and land adaptation Access to highly advanced weaponry

Attuma is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an Atlantean nomadic warlord who is an enemy of Namor the Sub-Mariner, and is the father of the superhero Andromeda. He believes he is the prophesied conqueror of the Atlantean Empire.

Publication history

Attuma first appeared in Fantastic Four volume 1 #33 (1964), and was created by Stan Lee (writer) and Jack Kirby (artist).

Fictional character biography

Attuma was born as a member of a tribe of barbaric Atlanteans, who were banished from Atlantis ages ago. For unknown reasons Attuma was born with strength, endurance, and speed far superior to those of any normal Atlantean. Attuma quickly became leader of his tribe and declared that he would conquer the city of Atlantis as an ancient prophecy predicted. Attuma had an illegitimate daughter, Andromeda by a woman named Lady Gelva, but he did not know she gave birth to his only child until confronted by Andromeda. Attuma was disappointed to learn he had a child who wasn't a boy and was disgusted to find out Lady Gelva was the mother as he saw her as a "bullocked whale". Andromeda would later challenge her father as is the right of every first born male child, Attuma allowed the challenge to proceed because Andromeda had been raised as a warrior. Attuma won the challenge but Andomeda was kidnapped by Ghaur before Attuma could kill her.

Attuma gathered his troops and attacked Atlantis, only to be defeated by Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Prince of Atlantis and his allies the Fantastic Four. Attuma and his troops were banished from Atlantis once again. Over the years, Attuma has been at war with both Atlantis and the "surface world" (the Atlantean name for the human nations). He developed a super-weapon with which to invade the surface world, but was foiled by Iron Man. Attuma was among the villains assembled by Doctor Doom using a mind-control device in one of his attempts to destroy the Fantastic Four. As his troops left the docks they were knocked back in by a bomb in a HYDRA truck Daredevil had caused to go towards the docks. Mister Fantastic causes the Atlanteans and the other villains to forget this event. He created tidal waves in another attempted invasion of the surface world, and was this time defeated by the Avengers, after they were alerted by the kidnap of the Wasp, although Attuma nearly succeeded in drowning them. Attuma enslaved the nomadic Atlanteans after the destruction of Atlantis. After Atlantis was rebuilt, Attuma attempted another invasion during the wedding of Namor and Dorma. Attuma allied with the Red Ghost, and used mind-controlled sea creatures in another attempted conquest of the surface world, and was this time defeated by the Defenders. With Dr. Dorcas and Tiger Shark, Attuma invaded Hydro-Base, but was then defeated by a teaming of Namor and Doctor Doom. Attuma then enslaved the Avengers to use them against Namor, but unintentionally instigated a battled between the Avengers and Doctor Doom. Attuma was defeated by Namor, Doom, and the Avengers.

When the ruling Council of Atlantis asked Prince Namor to abdicate the throne, Namor obliged and left Atlantis. Attuma was hired with his men as mercenaries to end the Atlantean civil war. Several Atlantean nobles battled for the throne, but Attuma took the throne and became the new ruler of Atlantis. His rule was not a popular one though and Attuma kidnapped Marrina Smallwood, Namor's new wife to embarrass Namor in the eyes of the Atlantean people. Namor, with the help of various superheroes including Alpha Flight and the Avengers, freed Marrina and battled Attuma. Attuma ended the battle when he realized that Namor was happy with Marrina and did not want to return to Atlantis. He did swear vengeance against the superheroes who had allied against him and joined the Lethal Legion, a group of supervillains, shortly afterwards. The Legion was short-lived though and Attuma returned to Atlantis. During the events of The Evolutionary War, Attuma joined forces with the Lemurians and reserve Avengers against the High Evolutionary.

As depicted in the crossover Atlantis Attacks, Attuma allied himself with Ghaur and his Deviants and Llyra and her Lemurians against humanity. He battled Iron Man and Namor, and then learned that the superhero Andromeda was his estranged daughter. Attuma mobilized his troops for an assault against the United States. He abducted Marvel Girl as part of Ghaur's plan. Attuma then finally met his daughter Andromeda again, who now led a group of Atlantean rebels against him. Attuma fought his daughter and defeated her in personal combat, but Ghaur spirited her away. Attuma was angered, but continued with their plans. Ghaur and Llyra tricked him though and while Attuma attacked the surface world, battling Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Ghaur and Llyra attacked Atlantis and killed a large part of the population as a sacrifice to their god Set. When hearing about Atlantis' destruction, Attuma went into a stupor and the Atlanteans retreated. Attuma was put on trial, but made his way back to Atlantis.

Shortly afterwards, Attuma briefly lost control of Atlantis and Namor returned to the throne, but Attuma regained the throne of Atlantis, when Namor was cursed as one of the Defenders, a curse which would transport Namor away whenever the Defenders were needed and leave Atlantis undefended. Attuma formed the group Deep Six, to defend Atlantis from Namor and the Defenders. (Attuma's "Deep Six" was named after the first Deep Six, a group of heroes who aided Namor, including Andromeda.) Though outnumbered, the Defenders outsmarted Attuma and Namor retook Atlantis.

Attuma returned to his barbarian hordes and would make other attempts to conquer Atlantis and the surface world, but without any success. One such attempt would come after Attuma allied his Barbarian hordes with the forces of the futuristic conqueror Kang. His armies would pick Canada as their point of invasion; however they would be turned back by the superhero group, the Avengers.

Attuma attacked New York City with an undersea horde once again. He was confronted by the Sentry, but before Attuma could finish boasting of his plans, the Sentry beheaded him.

During the Dark Reign storyline, Attuma is restored to life by Victor Von Doom after he reattaches Attuma's head to his body, and Attuma is offered a new chance of power in the vow of destroying Namor once and for all.

Fear Itself

During the Fear Itself storyline, one of the seven Hammers of the Worthy lands near Attuma after it was launched to Earth by the Serpent. He is able to lift it and becomes Nerkodd: Breaker of Oceans. He fights Alpha Flight after he tried to attack Vancouver, but he was defeated. Then soon after that, he heads to Atlantis to overthrow Namor's rule and become the new king of Atlantis.

Marvel NOW!

Sometime later as part of the Marvel NOW! event, Attuma found and unlocked the secrets from the Lost City of Lemuria, using it to attack several places on land. S.H.I.E.L.D. then sent Hulk to deal with the threat.

In a flashback experienced by Nara, her parents were servants of Attuma that were posing as Namor's Royal Guards.

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event, Attuma was on Atlantis at the time when the Squadron Supreme attacked it in retaliation for Namor and the Cabal having destroyed the worlds of some of its members. Attuma was slain by Power Princess.

Powers and abilities

Attuma possesses various superhuman abilities common to the Atlanteans. However, his strength, stamina, resistance to physical injury, and swimming speed are much higher than the majority of his race. Like most Atlanteans, Attuma could not survive out of water for more than 10 minutes without the aid of mechanical devices or certain chemicals, for most of his life. His stamina, agility, and reflexes also were reduced when out of the water. Like all Atlanteans his specially developed vision allows him to see clearly in the murky depths of the ocean.

After certain genetic and surgical enhancements following his resurrection at the hands of Doctor Doom his strength has been fortified to be on par with the strength of Namor as well as granting him the ability of self-propelled flight and living on land unaided.

Attuma is a skilled Atlantean warrior, trained in the use of many different weapons. He is an expert hand-to-hand combatant, especially underwater, and has achieved mastery in the use of most Atlantean weapons. He usually prefers his three-pronged iron sword, but he has access to highly advanced weaponry.

Other versions

Marvel Adventures

In this child-friendly continuity, Attuma becomes involved after the Invisible Woman is accused of stealing a precious Atlantean artifact.

Marvel Zombies

A zombie Attuma makes an appearance in Dead Days on one panel fighting the Thing. A zombie Namor from a separate continuity fondly remembers finding Attuma and his forces in the Marinaras Trench and slaughtering them.

In other media

Television

• Attuma appeared in the Namor segment of The Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Paul Soles.

• Attuma appeared in the 1967 Fantastic Four episode "Danger in the Depths" voiced by Henry Corden.

• Attuma appears in The Avengers: United They Stand episode "To Rule Atlantis", voiced by Philip Akin. He was using a Dynamo machine to cause earthquakes at Atlantis and the surface world and has allied with Namor's subjects Pecos and Dara. This event causes Namor to work with the Avengers to thwart Attuma. Namor manages to defeat Attuma and destroy the Dynamo machine with the Avengers' help.

• Attuma appears in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Atlantis Attacks", voiced by Mark Acheson.

• Attuma appears in Avengers Assemble, voiced by Dwight Schultz. In the episode "The Avengers Protocol" Pt. 2, Attuma is among the supervillains who receive a holographic message from Red Skull to join his Cabal. According to S.H.I.E.L.D., he is the 4th most wanted in the world. In the episode "Depth Charge", Attuma leads his fellow Atlanteans into riding a tidal wave into Manhattan as part of his plot to conquer the surface world. Iron Man engages Attuma while the other Avengers fight his soldiers. Attuma then heads into the flooded subways as Iron Man changes into his underwater armor to follow Attuma. Captain America and Hawkeye discover strange devices as Iron Man detects a lot of them underground as they are set off in a plot to sink Manhattan by destabilizing the bedrocks of Manhattan. Attuma and his soldiers ends up fighting Captain America, Hawkeye, and Hulk while Iron Man, Falcon, and Thor hold back the tidal wave with an energy barrier. Hulk charges towards Attuma as Thor helps to fight Attuma's soldiers. Hulk then engages Attuma where they are evenly matched until Attuma punches Hulk through the energy barrier that Iron Man and Falcon created to hold back the tidal wave. Thor and Iron Man then attack Attuma where their attacks couldn't harm them. When Attuma and his soldiers retreat into the oceans to find out why Manhattan is rising, they alongside Iron Man find Hulk holding up the island. While Hulk is buying the Avengers some time, the other Avengers fight Attuma who then escapes into the ocean to prevent Hulk from succeeding. Attuma has the advantage in the water over Iron Man and Thor until Hulk gets angry enough to prevent Manhattan's sinking as well as throwing a large rock at Attuma. Attuma is thrown onto land as Hulk manages to defeat him. Following Attuma's defeat, Iron Man repairs the bedrocks beneath Manhattan. In the episode "Avengers: Impossible", Impossible Man shows a trailer at Avengers Tower which ends up summoning Attuma into Avengers Tower. Attuma then attacks the Avengers in order to prove himself to Red Skull. Impossible Man brought Attuma in so that Falcon can fight Attuma until Impossible Man scrubs the scene. In the episode "In Deep", Attuma and his Atlantean warriors bring the artifact called Neptune's Trident to Red Skull's submarine. During the fight between Iron Man and Captain America, Attuma clashed with Red Skull and MODOK in order to control Neptune's Trident. In "Bring On the Bad Guys", Attuma was shown to have disgusted Dracula with his table manners by not using a fork to eat his food which Red Skull agreed with Dracula on. Attuma took part in Red Skull's plan to make the Cabal more cooperative where Attuma attacked the White House until Thor and Hulk arrived. During Red Skull's siege of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Carrier, Attuma fought Hulk underwater until Red Skull issued a retreat. In the final scene, Attuma was with the Cabal when Red Skull freed Hyperion from his cell (which Red Skull managed to steal from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Tri-Carrier) in order to invite Hyperion into the Cabal. In the episode "The Ambassador", Attuma joins the Cabal into attacking Doctor Doom at the United Nations. Attuma floods the tunnels in order to attack Captain America and Doctor Doom only for him to end up fighting Falcon and Hawkeye. After Captain America gets Doctor Doom into Avengers Tower, Attuma and the rest of the Cabal retreats. In the episode "Exodus", Attuma accompanies Hyperion into raiding Red Skull's old base to steal some iridium. When Red Skull activates a device powered by the Tesseract to open a portal to different worlds, Attuma was assigned an ocean-themed world. In the episode "The Final Showdown", Attuma joins the Cabal into helping the Avengers fight Cosmic Skull. After Red Skull and the Tesseract disappear into a portal, Attuma and the rest of the Cabal get away. In the episode "Beneath the Surface", it was shown that Attuma's advisor Lady Zartra and the Atlanteans with her were getting tired of Attuma's tyranny and planned to use the Serpent Crown in order to use Giganto against him. After a misunderstanding between the Avengers and Lady Zartra's group, Attuma arrived with his soldiers and used an eel to snatch the Serpent Crown where he unleashed Giganto on both groups. With the help of Hawkeye using special sonic arrows to disrupt the control on Giganto, the Avengers reclaim the Serpent Crown, free Giganto, and defeat Attuma. As Lady Zartra and her group are now free from Attuma's tyranny, the Avengers contact S.H.I.E.L.D. to have Attuma extricated to the surface world to stand trial for his crimes against the surface. In the episode "Avengers Underground", Atlantean soldiers on Attuma's side arrive in Manhattan only to be defeated by Hyperion. One Atlantean soldier is thrown back into the ocean to tell Attuma what he just saw while the rest are annihilated.

• Attuma appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced again by Dwight Schultz. In the episode "The Avenging Spider-Man" Pt. 1, Spider-Man and the Avengers fight Attuma at the beach. Attuma is defeated when Spider-Man punches Attuma far out into the ocean. In the episode "Contest of Champions" Pt. 3, the Grandmaster pairs Attuma up with Annihilus and Terrax against Collector's team of Spider-Man, Iron Spider, Agent Venom, and Thor.

Video games

• Attuma is a boss in the 1997 PlayStation Fantastic Four video game.

• Attuma appears as a villain in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Gregg Berger. He is a member of Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil. He uses machines called Sonic Emitters (given to him by Doctor Doom) to take over the minds of the people of Atlantis (except for Namor and Namorita, due to their half-human physiology). The Atlanteans capture Namor, and Attuma (with the aid of Tiger Shark) ascends to the Atlantean throne and he has Warlord Krang and Byrrah guard some of the Sonic Emitters. Responding to a distress call by Namorita, the heroes defeat and question who gave them the sonic emitters to Attuma and Tiger Shark (who turns out to be Doctor Doom when Tiger Shark answers them upon being afraid of being assaulted by a mob of angry Atlanteans).

External links

• Attuma at Marvel.com
• Attuma at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe