10 Best & Most Powerful Dragons, Dinosaurs, & Lizards In Marvel Comics

Monday, February 24, 2020

Millions of years before mammals first walked the Earth, the dinosaur was the dominant species. From the ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex to the cunning and small Velociraptor to the sky-scraping Brontosaurus, the dinosaur has excited the imaginations of creatives and academics alike.

Today’s snakes and lizards are a far more manageable evolutionary cousin to the dinosaur, but are still a vehicle for the imaginations of writers and artists. So let's look at Marvel Comics' best representations of dinosaurs and lizards (and dragons) to date.

10 - LIZARD

The Lizard was Dr. Curt Connors, a doctor, and scientist who lost his arm as a surgeon embedded with the US military. Connors became obsessed with restoring his missing arm and created a serum using reptile DNA. Connors tested the serum on himself. His arm began to regrow but the reptilian DNA overwrote his human DNA, suppressed his intellect and turned him into the vicious Lizard.

Connors, often with the aid of Spider-Man, has cured himself on several occasions but it has never lasted long. Connor’s genius has saved the life of May Parker, cured Spider-Man of having six arms and cured John Jameson, Harry Osborn, and the young Avengers Academy student Batwing.

9 - OLD LACE

Old Lace was the pet Deinonychus of Runaways members Gertrude Yorkes and Chase Stein. Old Lace was genetically engineered in the 87th Century by Gertrude’s villainous time-traveling parents to protect her through a psychic link.

Finding Old Lace was a mistake. When she and her friends saw their parents kill a young girl, they all went on the run and discovered Old Lace’s hiding place while looking for evidence. The psychic bond activated immediately and Old Lace received her name when Gertrude choose “Arsenic” for herself based on the 1944 Frank Capra film.

8 - LOCKHEED

Lockheed was a highly intelligent alien from a race called the Flock. Lockheed encountered X-Men member Kitty Pryde and saved her from the Brood on “Sleezeworld” after the X-Men had been kidnapped. Lockheed followed the team back to Earth and destroyed a Sidrian hunter hatchling nest in the X-Mansion. He revealed himself to Kitty and they became constant companions.

SWORD director Abigail Brand outed Lockheed as not only quite capable of speech and omni-lingual. This revelation came just as Kitty seemingly gave her life to phase a giant bullet through the planet. This led Lockheed to begin drinking heavily. They have since been reunited.

7 - DEVIL DINOSAUR

Devil is from the alternate primitive reality of Earth-78411 euphemistically called “Dinosaur World”. He is a mutant among his species after a burning attack turned his hide bright red. He is very intelligent, more than his humanoid companion, Moon Boy.

One of Devil and Moon Boy’s encounters with the 616 reality was to become members of the Fallen Angels. Sorceress Jennifer Kale inadvertently teleported the pair into her New York apartment. They returned to their own reality where Moon Boy was killed by the Killer Folk. Devil and a small band of Killer Folk were brought to modern-day Brooklyn and encountered brilliant young Lunella Lafayette. Devil avenged Moon Boy’s murder and Lunella subjected herself to the Terrigen Cloud to become Moon Girl.

6 - SHOU-LAO THE UNDYING

Shou-Lao was the source of power for the mystical land of K’un-Lun. During a performance, Shou-Lao went berserk and attacked the city’s leader. The dragon was killed by Quan-St’Ar. The leader or Yu-Ti resurrected the dragon by melting his heart and placing both the molten heart and the dragon in a sacred cave. The dragon has been resurrected 66 times.

Daniel Rand had to face the dragon and in the course of the battle, a dragon-shaped tattoo was burned into his skin. Rand plunged his hand in the brazier that held the molten heart of the dragon and it bestowed the power of the Iron Fist to him.

5 - MR. LAO

Mr. Lao is a centuries-old Lung Dragon who had defeated a Genie 700 years ago and gained his powers but also his imprisonment. After being trapped for 600 years, he was freed by Master Plan Tzu aka the Yellow Claw but was still bound to serve as an advisor to Master Plan and the Atlas Foundation. Lao now serves Master Pan’s successor, Jimmy Woo and his Agents of Atlas.

Lao could breathe fire and take on the knowledge of anyone he devoured. And Lao would anyone who wandered into his cavern in the Atlas Sanctuary unannounced. Using the genie’s magic, he could take on the form of a man.

4 - GODZILLA

Atomic testing in the Pacific created or merely awakened Godzilla who rampaged through Tokyo in 1956. After that, he became caught under the ice off the coast of Alaska and only broke free in modern times. SHIELD veterans Dum Dum Dugan and Jimmy Woo put together a team to deal with Godzilla.

Godzilla rampages along the Pacific Coast, battling the Champions in San Francisco and SHIELD’s Godzilla Squad before he made landfall and began a trek through America. Godzilla fought the giant Red Ronin armor to a draw on several occasions and the pair had to team up against the Betan race, who were planning an invasion. The armor was destroyed and Godzilla had to fight their giant monsters alone. All were returned to Earth where Godzilla made his way to New York City. Godzilla nearly defeated the Fantastic Four and Avengers before the impassioned cries of young Godzilla Squad member Robert Takiguchi stopped the monster and he disappeared into the cold Atlantic Ocean.

3 - FIN FANG FOOM

Fin Fang Foom is a Makluan alien that landed in China on Earth centuries ago. His race are shape-shifters. The rest of the crew assumed the form of men to go out and see the world before they conquered it. Foom stayed behind as “back-up” and slept due to an herb that was native to the area, only awakening a few times in centuries.

In modern times, the Mandarin ransacked the Makluan ship and found the ten powerful rings that became his signature weapons. He also awoke the dragon and turned him on the Chinese Government. Iron Man was unable to defeat the pair but the Mandarin found himself in trouble when the 12 other Makluans returned to begin their conquest. The Mandarin and Iron Man teamed up and destroyed all 13 Makluans in a controlled nuclear blast. Fin Fang Foom returned many times.

2 - MIDGARD SERPENT

Jormungand is the son of Loki and the brother to the Fenris Wolf. Odin, sensing that Jormungand would be a danger to the Gods of Asgard banished him to the oceans of Midgard or Earth. But, as with Fenris, Jormungand thrived in exile and grew so large that he encircled the entire planet, becoming the Midgard Serpent. Upon Ragnarok, the death of the Asgardian Gods, Thor was prophesied to kill the Midgard Serpent but would die himself.

On one occasion, Loki and the War God Tyr had stolen the Golden Apples of Idunn, the source of Asgardian immortality and hid them in the gullet of the Serpent. The Serpent constricted its body causing massive atmospheric and tectonic upheaval to befall the planet. Thor battled the Serpent, who called the fight a stalemate and surrendered the Apples.

1 - SET

Set was one of the Elder Gods created at the beginning of life on Earth. Set and his brother Chthon embraced the dark forces of the world and became corrupt. Gaea’s son Atum became the Demogorge, the God Eater to kill the corrupt members of their species. Set and his children retreated to a pocket dimension.

Set attempted to prevent the ascension of mammals. Atum and Set’s avatars battled for an eon which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Prior to the Great Cataclysm, Set’s followers created the Serpent Crown but it was lost. In the rise of Egypt, Seth stole Set’s worshipers by posing as him. The Serpent Crown was rediscovered 600 years later by Atlantean wanderers but was lost again until it was found in the 1920s by Paul Destine.

Source: www.cbr.com/