Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the
Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters
Speaker 2: in time. I'm kicking off a multi part series this
Speaker 2: week concerning various monsters from Marvel Comics. Because while it's
Speaker 2: easy to focus on its various superheroes and more traditional villains,
Speaker 2: the Marvel universe is also exceedingly rich with monsters unleashed
Speaker 2: from the imaginations of numerous talented artists, writers, and dreamers.
Speaker 2: While I'll get to some really well known entries, I'd
Speaker 2: like to begin in more obscure territory with a pair
Speaker 2: of rather different mummies. First up is Nikantu, the Living Mummy,
Speaker 2: created by Steve Gerber and Rich Buckler for supernatural thrillers
Speaker 2: back in nineteen seventy three. The story goes that Nikantu
Speaker 2: was a North African tribesman who, after capture by the Egyptians,
Speaker 2: led her a vault, but was ultimately embalmed, alive and
Speaker 2: sealed in a tomb by an evil priest. Three thousand
Speaker 2: years later, he awakens in modern times, first as a
Speaker 2: rampaging monster and ultimately as a monstrous hero who fights
Speaker 2: alongside the likes of Morbius, the Living Vampire, Werewolf by
Speaker 2: Night Man, Than and others as part of the Legion
Speaker 2: of Monsters. In addition to his mystic senses, the Living
Speaker 2: Mummy also boasts incredible strength, which isn't surprising given that
Speaker 2: Marvel dot Com lists him at a height of seven
Speaker 2: foot six or about two hundred and thirty two centimeters.
Speaker 2: That's two inches taller than Andre the Giant's build height.
Speaker 2: You might guess then that Nikantu's The Living Mummy is
Speaker 2: the tallest mummy in the Marvel universe, and you would
Speaker 2: be dead wrong. Allow me to introduce you to Gomdola, who,
Speaker 2: like Nikantu, looks like your standard bandage rapped on dead
Speaker 2: horror movie mummy, only he's roughly the size of King Kong. Yes,
Speaker 2: Gomdola is a true giant mummy. He first rampaged in
Speaker 2: the pages of Journey into Mystery back in nineteen sixty
Speaker 2: and is credited by Marvel dot Com to the legendary
Speaker 2: Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. One of the books I
Speaker 2: source for this series is Monsters creatures of the Marvel
Speaker 2: Universe explored by Kelly Knox. Knox lists Gomdola at a
Speaker 2: height of up to sixty feet or eighteen meters, and
Speaker 2: describes his awakening in a modern Egyptian museum, his subsequent rampage,
Speaker 2: his pursuit by interpol is worshiped by cultists, and eventually
Speaker 2: his battles with the Fantastic Four. The secret to his
Speaker 2: great size, however, is that he's not a mummified human,
Speaker 2: but an evil robot from another planet that terrorized ancient
Speaker 2: Egypt before being deactivated and stuck away in a tomb.
Speaker 2: Like a lot of classic curvy monsters, Gomdola isn't only
Speaker 2: big and physically powerful, he also has other crazy powers
Speaker 2: like levitation and telekinesis. So at this point you might
Speaker 2: be wondering, fine, given all of this, exactly how tall
Speaker 2: is the tallest mummy actually unearthed in real life? The
Speaker 2: answer would seem to be Third Dynasty Pharaoh Sonicate during
Speaker 2: the third millennium BCE. By today's height standards, and certainly
Speaker 2: by Marvel Comics standards, he wasn't too terribly tall, only
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty seven centimeters or about six foot
Speaker 2: one and a half, but for the time period, based
Speaker 2: on what we know from skeletal evidence, he was considerably
Speaker 2: taller than average. As discussed in the twenty seventeen paper
Speaker 2: Oldest Case of Gigantism Assessment of the alleged Remains of Sonicate,
Speaker 2: King of Ancient Egypt, published in The Lancet, he is
Speaker 2: still the oldest known paleo pathological case of gigantism. The
Speaker 2: authors Galassi at All indicate that skull measurements, photos, bone data,
Speaker 2: and other measurements suggests gigantism and possibly acromagally in the
Speaker 2: facial features, though regressed through age. In analysis of his
Speaker 2: physical and royal stature, the authors write the following quote.
Speaker 2: The fact that he was buried with honors in an
Speaker 2: elite Mastaba tomb after reaching adulthood suggests that gigantism at
Speaker 2: the time was probably not associated with social margination. While
Speaker 2: short people were much preferred in ancient Egypt, especially in
Speaker 2: the early Dynastic period, we have no records that very
Speaker 2: tall people had any special ste social preference or disadvantage.
Speaker 2: Sonica was originally unearthed in nineteen oh one, so it
Speaker 2: seems possible that his discovery and subsequent writings about his
Speaker 2: discovery or treatments of this general theme and other works
Speaker 2: might have influenced the creation of these two Marvel mummies,
Speaker 2: but I couldn't find any definitive mention of it. And
Speaker 2: we also have to consider the influence of things like
Speaker 2: the widespread hoax of the Cardiff Giant mixed with just
Speaker 2: a little good old fashioned mummy mania. Now, to come
Speaker 2: back to Nakantu, the Living Mummy and Gombdola, I have
Speaker 2: to point out that, as far as I can tell,
Speaker 2: these two never faced off against each other. Comic fans,
Speaker 2: if I'm wrong, please write in and let me know. Also,
Speaker 2: to date, neither Mummy has crossed over into the MCU
Speaker 2: or other Marvel movies, but we can only imagine that
Speaker 2: they are both out there waiting, sweeping, anticipating their release.
Speaker 2: Tune in for additional episodisodes of The Monster Fact each week,
Speaker 2: and there will be more Marvel Monsters in the weeks
Speaker 2: to follow. As always, you can email us at contact
Speaker 2: at Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.
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