Gladiator (Marvel)

Gladiator appeared in 1977 Marvel Comics called X-Men.

Kallark's history before he joined the Imperial Guard is largely unknown.

He was born centuries ago, though the time period remains unspecified. He is said to descend from a proud bloodline, though the names of his ancestors remain unknown. He was raised by the Strontian council of elders. They were as much family to him as his blood relatives.

Kallark was a cadet on his native planet Strontia, training with other young Strontian men and women, competing for the title of Gladiator. Kallark proved himself an honorable person as well as an efficient soldier then.

Later, Kallark along with the only nine other cadets to have completed the training mission were informed by the council of elders of the purpose of their trials: The new Imperial Guard of the Shi'ar Empire would include the finest warrior of each race of the Empire as its representative. The ten Strontians underwent an enhancement process to become Gladiator, granting them even further powers than those of their kind.

The choice for the cadet to join the Guard was to be made by Majestor T'Korr. First disappointed by the youth of the cadets, T'Korr then began doubting their loyalty after Chancellor Vitana informed him that even an ordinary Strontian had the power to decimate an army.

To test their loyalty, T'Korr had a Shi'ar starcracker orbiting Strontia's sun, able to make it go nova in case of rebellion, and informed the council of his plans: He addressed the cadets, informing that he would make his selection among them after they slayed the Council of Elders. While most of the cadets died rebelling or trying to accomplish the mission, Kallark managed to take down the Council, despite his friend Harrald's opposition, then retreated, somehow knowing of the Shi'ar starcracker and dismantling.

Kallark then returned to T'Korr, told him that his fellows had all fallen in battle, and was named Gladiator, Praetor of the Imperial Guard.

Powers and Abilities

• Strontian Physiology: Kallark is a Strontian who went through the Gladiator enhancement process. In addition to his natural abilities, this made him able to survive in the vacuum of space and increased his power levels. He was deemed to be an Alpha Plus by the Galadorian Spaceknight Ikon. His psionic abilities allow him to keep objects from crumbling from under their own weight.
• Superhuman Strength: Gladiator possesses tremendous physical strength, the exact limits of which are unknown. His strength level is dependent on his confidence; as such the more confident he is, the stronger he gets. He has demonstrated several astounding feats of strength, such as uprooting the entire Baxter Building while fighting the Fantastic Four, shattering entire planets with the force of his blows, defeating Colossus with relative ease, knocking out the Thing in two blows, blunting the punches of Hyperion with his open palm and by severe effort knocking him unconscious by breaking his back, and even carving one of Vulcan's eyes out and beating the Omega-level mutant unconscious. Kallark was also described as powerful enough to shift planets from their orbit and collapse stars, was compared to the Hulk in physical might, and his son Kubark even remarked that he once saw Gladiator tearing apart black holes. He was even able to contain an explosion powerful enough to wipe out half the solar system. Since Gladiator contained the explosion, instead of merely withstanding the blast, it indicates that he exerted his strength to perform the feat. Moreover, Kallark was established to rival Beta Ray Bill in power, and Bill is comparable to Thor, a being regarded by Eternity as a threat to a vast part of the whole that constitutes the cosmic being.
  • An example of Gladiator's psionic power is his picking up the Baxter Building without its own weight destroying it. Reed Richards deduced that Gladiator must be mentally holding the building together.
• Superhuman Speed: Gladiator is capable of running and moving at speeds vastly greater than even the finest human athlete. He is able to move at supersonic speeds, meaning several times swifter than the speed of sound, which is roughly 760 miles per hour. He has performed feats such as hitting some Starjammers and Guardians of the Galaxy in super-speed before they could react, and hitting the Human Torch before he could even notice his attack.
  • Superhuman Agility: Gladiator's natural balance, agility, and body coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
  • Superhuman Reflexes: Gladiator's reflexes are similarly heightened and are superior to those of the finest human athlete. Kallark has been able to catch a bullet fired by a highly powerful gun right before it could hit the mutant Vulcan, react in a matter of nanoseconds to block a punch from Hyperion, and even dodge a point blank photonic blast from Galactus himself. Also, Gladiator's perception and processing speed is so developed that he was able to count about ten billion micro-sentinels inside a body in mere seconds. In fact, Gladiator's combat speed is so impressive that he was able to cross entire galaxies and land a blow on Heimdall before he could even notice.
• Superhuman Stamina: Gladiator possesses extraordinary physical stamina. His muscles generate considerably less fatigue toxins then the musculature of human beings or most other known beings for that matter. Gladiator is able to exert himself at peak capacity for at least several days before the buildup of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him. During his battle with Hyperion, when the opponents knocked each other out with their respective eye beams, it was Gladiator who got up on his feet faster than Hyperion, who was just rising up.
• Invulnerability: Gladiator possesses extraordinary physical durability and is virtually impervious to all physical damage. He can withstand high caliber bullets, powerful concussive blasts, falls from tremendous heights and blows from powerful super-humans such as Hulk and Hyperion. Gladiator can also survive in the vacuum of space unaided and withstand exposure to extreme temperatures, particularly intense heat. He has shown himself to be capable of flying through stars completely unharmed, and has actually withstood the explosive power of a supernova-like event. Gladiator's invulnerability also makes him immune to all diseases, infections, contaminations, corrosives and radiation (with the exception of a rare radiation that drains his powers and vitality). However the level of his durability depends on his confidence, so if he is not feeling confident his invulnerability will weaken.
• Flight: By harnessing and manipulating gravitons, Gladiator is able to defy gravity which enables him to fly. Gladiator's flight speed rivals those of the fastest known starships and can achieve faster than light speeds in hyperspace. Reed Richards once measured his speed as a hundred times the speed of light.
• Heat Beams: Gladiator is capable of projecting highly concentrated beams of energy from his eyes. These beams are capable of reaching extremely high temperatures. The maximum temperature his beams can reach is unknown, but they can reach temperatures hotter than that of stars as they were shown able to burn through Hulk's skin. These beams were also able to cancel out Hyperion's atomic vision, creating a huge explosion which temporarily incapacitated both opponents. The temperature level of his heat beams depends on his confidence.
• Microscopic Vision: Gladiator possesses the ability to see extremely small objects and images beyond subatomic level.
• Super Breath: Thanks to his incredible lung capacity, Gladiator is also able to draw in large amounts of air and then expel it all to create gale and hurricane force winds. He can also chill his breath to freeze targets.
• Psionic Resistance: Gladiator is capable of causing a counter-force against telepathic assaults and probes. However, telepaths of sufficient power are capable of penetrating his psionic defenses to an extent.
• Accelerated Healing Factor: If injured Gladiator's accelerated healing factor can heal him to a certain degree. His healing factor enables him to repair cells, body tissues and bones that have been damaged regardless of severity with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. His healing factor can even regenerate cells and body tissues that have been destroyed but is limited in the sense that it cannot regenerate missing organs or limbs. When Champion defeated him using the Power Gem, he had to spend some time recuperating from his injuries.
  • Advanced Longevity: Gladiator's healing factor also keeps him in optimal health and decreases the rate of his aging by a high degree granting him a life span that is several millennia long. He has survived for centuries with little sign of aging.

• Experienced Fighter': Gladiator is highly skilled in the combat arts of the Shi'ar, personally trained by Deathbird.
• Military Strategy: Gladiator is highly trained in military strategy.

Weaknesses

• Radiation: Gladiator is vulnerable to a certain specific wavelength of radiation.
• Loss of Confidence: A significant portion of Gladiator's powers, especially his strength, stamina, and resistance to physical injury, are affected by his level of confidence. If his confidence in himself wavers, he has been known to weaken substantially. Also, should he lose confidence in his abilities, he becomes vulnerable to much weaker opponents (Such as his defeat at the hands of the X-Man Cannonball).
• Magic: Strontians are vulnerable to magic.
• Energy Manipulators: Due to the fact that are powered by their own confidence Strontians have an enlarged prefrontal cortex buzzing with electrical impulses, powerful energy manipulator like Vulcan can manipulate and reroute those impulses, draining a Strontian of their powers.