The Thing has rarely been (as far as I can recall) depicted as bleeding even when he fought incredible powerful or vicious combatants such as Tryco Slatterus

(Former Champion of the Universe) Thundra or the Hulk .

To be fair, it seems a bit odd, the Thing also rarely fights opponents who have the ability to cut him, so that might explain why we've rarely seen him bleeding.

If Ben Grimm's body retains the ability to bleed, (and the Marvel Handbook does not indicate it would not)

it is rarely shown no matter who he is fighting.

The assumption is, he is too difficult to cut deep enough to reach anything resembling a vital organ.

It is also safe to assume, his rocky form, if it still uses blood keeps that part of him deeply embedded within his rocky exterior.

While the Marvel Universe's handbook indicates the Thing still has blood under all of his keratin-like armor, his body's physical structure has been enhanced and become far more durable than it would otherwise.

So even if you could penetrate his external armor, his internal structures are also tougher than they would be normally.

The Thing possesses superhuman strength, endurance and durability.

The mutagentic, specific-frequence cosmic ray bombardment caused his musculature, bone structure, internal organ composition, soft tissue structures and skin to greatly increase in toughness and density.

Despite his bulk, his reflexes have retained their above average human levels.

The Thing's lungs are of greater volume and efficiency than a normal man's enabling him to hold his breath underwater for nine minutes.

He can withstand extremes of temperature from -75 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit for up to an hour before heat prostration occurs.

He can withstand the effects of armor-piercing bazooka shells (15 pounds of high explosives) with no injuries.

REF: Handbook of the Marvel Universe :

Ben Grimm - Thing

I would suspect this is another case of the character's ill defined powers being poorly depicted and almost never explained, thus we are left to wonder how their physiology does what it does.

I equate this along the same lines as Colossus' osmium-transplanted flesh where his body "somehow" (insert handwavium here) trades places with a biological equivalent of osmium (heaviest metal known) and he is able to continue to exist without a problem.

HOWEVER:

In a battle against Wolverine (Fantastic Four vol.

#374 (Mar. 1993)), his face was cut open by Wolverine's Adamantium claws and bled.

The claws left scarring that Ben would later wear a helmet to hide the scars.

He was later healed by Hyperstorm .

Yes

In Fear Itself, while possessed by an Asgardian demon hammer, Thor punched a hole in his chest and while you don't necessarily see blood coming from the wound, Thor's hammer is covered in it.

So that seems to show that he can and does bleed if anyone is actually able to penetrate his skin that far.

Yes, he bleeds.

Here is is bleeding while fighting The Champion.

Notice the trail of blood he leaves as well as the blood coming from his mouth.

The Thing is still "normal" underneath his rocky skin.

He's got blood, organs, everything.

His skin is ~2 inches thick (OHOTMU) and very durable.

That's why it is rare that he bleeds.

No.

In this savage fight against the Hulk, Hulk literally breaks part of his face but he doesn't bleed.

In last week's Future Imperfect 2 Hulk fought another version of the Thing, which less pronounced rocky skin and again broke off chunks of it but Thing didn't bleed.

In Marvel Two-

In-One #54 (part 2 of six-part Project Pegasus saga), the Thing bled after being shot at point blank range by Deathlok using an amped-up laser:

Question: I'm not sure exactly to what extent his body is composed of  rock .  In order to be alive I'm assuming he has organs and blood and such. His tongue and eyes look human enough and they require blood flow.  But has  Thing 's exterior shell ever been damaged to the point he actually bled?  For the purpose of this question, we're pretending the terrible movies have never existed.

Has Thing ever bled?

The Thing does bleed. The Marvel Universe's handbook indicates that the Thing has normal blood and organs under all of his keratin-like, rocky armor. For example, Thor punched a hole in his chest and while you don't see blood coming from the wound, Thor's hammer is covered in it.

The Thing is made up of blood and organs but his opponents rarely have the ability to make him bleed because of his profound durability. However, Thor succeeded in doing so with a hammer.

The opponents the Thing fights rarely have the ability to make him bleed. It is hard to make the Thing bleed. One opponent who did cause him to bleed was Thor whose hammer was covered in the Thing’s blood.

The Thing is made up of blood and organs but, despite being "normal" underneath, his physical structure is exceptionally durable.


Characters meeting alternate versions of themselves is a common trope in Marvel comics.

There are too many instances of this to list, but here are a few: The Hulk most famously fought a future version of himself ( Maestro ) in the The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect series.

The Maestro character would later appear several other times as well, always posing a dangerous threat to the younger Hulk.

If you count the psychic plane, the various incarnations of The Hulk had to face a new incarnation - Guilt Hulk -

within Bruce Banner's mind in Incredible Hulk #377 .

The Guilt Hulk, an evil persona based on Bruce's abusive father, would show up again later as well.

The original five X-Men were brought forward into the future in the All-New X-Men series, resulting in all but Jean Grey meeting themselves.

This proved particularly traumatic for Scott Summers , who ended up fighting his older self on several occasions.

An offshoot of the Exiles, the Wolverine Squad is a team made up entirely of Wolverines from different universes.

The team was created specifically to kill a gestalt being - Brother Mutant - which included yet ANOTHER version of Wolverine in its makeup.

The current " Secret Wars " arc witnessed multiple characters meeting alternate versions of themselves

In the new reality ruled over by Doom, his will is enforced by The Thor Corps - a police force comprised entirely of Thors from different universes.

The X-Termination event saw X-Men from three different continuities interact.

These are just a few - there are numerous examples available.

And if you count cases where the doppelganger is an android, clone, shape-shifter, or something else assuming the form of a character, the list becomes even larger.

The Ultimate Fantastic Four had the unfortunate luck to meet their Zombie-Universe counterparts in Ultimate Fantastic Four Vol. 1, issue 21.

This was the beginning of the Marvel Zombies storylines.

I'm certain there are other instances of Marvel characters meeting other-universe counterparts, but this one sticks out in my mind.

Here are three panels from Alan Moore's run on Captain Britain in which the hero meets numerous alternative versions of himself.

There was later an entire superhero team formed of alternative versions of Captain Britain, the Captain Britain Corps .

Not if you include Beta Ray Bill/

Beta Ray Thor as an alternate version of Thor:

Thor has also met this alternate version of himself:

And he once turned into a Hulked-Out version of himself:

And as cde pointed out, in Thor Corps, Thor teamed up with Beta Ray Bill, Thunderstrike, and Thor 2099.

scifi.stackexchange.com/users/44025/Wad Cheber stands with Monica

Xmen travel through alternative time lines like squirrels cross branches of a tree.

Cable has met Nate Grey the X Man, and Strife.

Beast was kidnapped and tortured by Dark Beast.

Gambit fought Sun, a physical god version of himself.

Storm and Wolverine have met their days of future past punk counterparts.

Wolverine has met I think, his gay and in love with Hercules alternative self.

SheHulk has met and interrogated her "Slept with Juggernaut" copy.

The X-man met the X-babies, alternate versions of themselves created by Mojo.

Jean Grey and Madeline Pryor. Magneto and Joseph

Question: As I understand it, Spider-Man has met alternative versions of himself on several different instances, such as the Noir, 2099, & Ultimate alternates, at one point teaming up with them and other alternates as Web- Warriors. Deadpool also has encountered several alternate versions of himself, going so far as to create an entire team of alternate Deadpools known as the Deadpool Corps. I was just curious: have any of the other Marvel characters experienced similar encounters, or has it only been Spidey and the lovable Merc with the Mouth?

Are Spider-Man & Deadpool the only characters who have met alternate versions of themselves?

Characters meeting alternate versions of themselves is a common trope in Marvel comics. These include the Hulk, Thir, most of the X-Men,the Fantastic Four, Beast, Storm, and Wolverine.

With the Hulk at the helm, the list of Marvel characters who meet alternate versions of themselves also includes Thor, Cable, Beast, Gambit, Storm and Wolverine, SheHulk, the X-Men, Jean Grey and Magneto. Moreover, Marvel characters are known to meet alternate versions of themselves in All-New X-Men, Secret Wars, X-Termination and the Ultimate Fantastic Four.

It is commonplace for Marvel characters to meet alternate versions of themselves, the Hulk being the most famous. Marvel characters are known to meet alternate versions of themselves in All-New X-Men, Secret Wars, X-Termination and the Ultimate Fantastic Four. Marvel characters who meet alternate versions of themselves include the Hulk, Thor, Cable, Beast, Gambit, Storm and Wolverine, SheHulk, the X-Men, Jean Grey and Magneto.


This could be the book Crossing The Line .

The main character in the series is Shan Frankland.

She is infected with an alien parasite/symbiote called the C'naatat that confers immortality.

In chapter 22 of the book she voluntarily exits the airlock rather than face capture.

Perhaps Hyperion by Dan Simmons?

It's been a few decades since I read it, and I don't remember any airlocks, but there is a (cross-shaped) parasite called a cruciform which makes the host immortal.

After many weeks, Duré steals into their sacred cavern and discovers a finely wrought cross-shaped artwork that predates human spaceflight by millennia.

He deduces that they are survivors from a seedship crash centuries earlier who have been infected with cross-shaped organisms called cruciforms that integrate themselves into their host.

After death, the cruciform rebuilds the physical body and resurrects them.

The price of immortality is that resurrection information is lost, and over time they become unintelligent and androgynous, losing all distinguishing features.

When he is seen topless while bathing the Bikura discover he has no cruciform on him.

Debating killing him they instead lead him into Hyperion's labyrinth system where he encounters the Shrike and is unknowingly infected with a cruciform.

Or indeed, could it be Neal Asher's story "The Engineer" about seriously deep bioengineering in the 1998 anthology

The Engineer (reissued in 2006 as

The Engineer ReConditioned )?

In it Asher's Polity-universe protagonists (a "partial cat-adapt" and her human male sidekick) discover the sporulated form of an extinct race of ancient bioengineers and attempt to revive it.

This slow process leads to it biologically assimilating them and amplifying their abilities.

Immortality?

Well, they manage to survive the blast from a nearby nuke strike.

Hal Clement's "Needle" has an alien symbiont fuse with an Earthling to find an alien criminal, and the alien gives powers to the host.

The 1987 movie

The Hidden and Star Trek 's Trill race repeat the concept.

The original Star Trek episodes "Metamorphosis" and "Is there in truth no beauty" repeat the concept.

Sounds kinda like The Million Year Hunt , by Kenneth Bulmer.

In it, the protagonist is inhabited by an alien symbiont and sets out to find the symbiont's mate/partner.

Towards the end, both the protagonist and his girlfriend are thrown into space, and they only survive due to the symbionts' protection.

This list of summaries mentions the symbiont.

A friendly alien parasite occupies a human's body, giving him extraordinary powers in order to enlist his aid in tracking down a dangerous enemy.

Question: All I can really remember about this novel is that at one point a woman gets blown out an airlock and survives, and that the characters in it are not on Earth. There is also a parasite/symbiote that causes immortality.

Novel about a parasite/symbiote that causes immortality

This could be Crossing The Line; Hyperion  by Dan Simmons; Needle by Hal Clement; or The Million Year Hunt by Kenneth Bulmer.

The title of the book referenced may be one of "Crossing the Line", "Hyperion", "Needle" or "The Million Year Hunt".

The title of the book could potentially be "Crossing the Line". Dan Simmon’s "Hyperion" is a possible option. Hal Clement’s "Needle" has a plot similar to the one described in the question. Kenneth Bulmer’s "The Million Year Hunt" is a possible option.


In my opinion, It is independent of Sauron.

When asked what the watcher is, Gandalf says [tFotR, A Journey in the Dark , p.403 of 50th anniversary edition] There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.

And later, when describing his battle with the Balrog in the deeps he says [tTT, The White Rider , p.654]

The world is gnawed by nameless things.

Even Sauron knows them not.

They are older than he.

Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day.

There is no indication that Sauron controls or even has knowledge of the watcher.

It could be a similar situation to Shelob, and he knows it's there and leaves it as it is useful.

There is no suggestion in the book that it is controlled by anyone.

All Gandalf says about it is: Something has crept, or has been driven out of dark waters under the mountains.

There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.

(Source: The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, chapter 4

"A Journey in the Dark")

Well, we just don't know.

However, what always made me curious is how the quote goes on: ‘Something has crept, or has been driven out of dark waters under the mountains.

There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.’

He did not speak aloud his thought that whatever it was that dwelt in the lake, it had seized on Frodo first among all the Company.

This indicates quite strongly that the Watcher was specifically picking the ringbearer.

But I somehow don't think that those “old nameless things” would by themselves sense and fancy the ring as much as men, elves, orcs do.

Saruman is the only Maia who succumbs to it, but he is IMO a special case (Maia of Aulë like Sauron, and so on).

The other examples of ancient beings don't care much about the Ring: Bombadil.

Completely indifferent, though he knows quite well of the Ring's powers.

Durin's Bane.

Not sure here, perhaps the Balrog was just too busy with Gandalf to focus on Frodo+Ring. Treebeard.

Well... he never gets near the Ring, but like old Tom he doesn't really seem bothered much by the whole Ring war business at all.

Smaug.

Not sure here either.

It is said that dragons devoured some of the Seven, but apparently that destroyed those rings.

So much for Precious.

Perhaps most relevant:

Shelob.

Paralyses Frodo, but does she in any way go for the ring?

No.

Sure, Sam attacks before she has much time.

But at least Gollum assumes that Shelob would ignore the Ring (and leave it for him to pick later)

when eating Frodo.

(Gollum may of course be mistaken here.)

I think that, if the Watcher is such an ancient creature, the only reason it would immediately grab Frodo with Ring is on Sauron's account (if not the Balrog's or – unlikely – Saruman's).

Perhaps we can't say Sauron controls it, but I believe that he has at least some influence on it.

There are a few hints in Tolkien's books that the watcher in the water was under Sauron's control.

Firstly, the following lines from The Silmarillion , "Of the Rings of Power": "Now Sauron's lust and pride increased and he determined to make himself master of all things in Middle Earth, and he gathered again under his government all the evil things of the days of Morgoth that remained on earth or beneath it".

Call me crazy

but im pretty sure that the watcher in the water would be classed as an evil thing.

I also believe it was alive or perhaps the spawn of a creature that existed when Morgoth had dominion of Middle Earth.

Gandalf himself says the creature is old.

Secondly we have Gandalf, who suspects the creatures motives, Gandalf is the wisest of all the Maia who's instincts and suspicions usually turn out to be correct.

An excellent example of this is when his instincts warned him for no apparent reason to keep the ring's whereabouts hidden from Saruman.

The final hint that Sauron may have controlled the watcher in the water can be found in Appendix B LOTR

"The Return of the king" - "2480 Orcs make strongholds in the Misty Mountains, Sauron begins to people Moria with his creatures".

No, there is no suggestion that anyone controls the Watcher.

By all (known to me) accounts, it is an independant creature, perhaps possessing enough intelligence to feel the addictive power of the One Ring.

One speculation I can think of is that the Watcher was one of the monsters "created" by the first Dark Lord Morgoth in the First Age (along with trolls and dragons), and that the Watcher follows his instinct or deeply-buried purpose to guard the realm inhabited by orcs and the Balrog.

Question: In the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, there is a kraken-like creature found in lake front of the gates of Moria, both mentioned in the book and shown in the movies.  What I want to know is, who controls it? Is it an independent creature, or is it controlled by Sauron, or maybe by the Balrog of Moria?

Who controls the Watcher in the Water?

There is no suggestion that it is controlled by anyone. However, the Watcher is such an ancient creature that the only reason it would immediately grab Frodo with Ring is on Sauron's account (if not the Balrog's or even Saruman's account). We can't say Sauron  controls  it, but I he may at least have some  influence  on it.

It is uncertain, for the most part, whether the watcher is being controlled by anyone. However, assuming he is being controlled by someone, either partially or fully, the probable candidates are Balrog, Saruman (though unlikely), Treebeard and Sauron.

The watcher may have been controlled by Sauron but there is little information on whether the watcher was controlled by anyone. It can be assumed that if the watcher is being controlled, then Balrog, Treebeard and Saruman (though unlikely) Sauron are possible candidates. It is possible one of the aforementioned is partially controlling the watcher or that he is entirely independent.


Yes, Kirk must know about Archer, and it is NOT implied in

The Original Series that Kirk is the first to explore deep space with warp technology.

It is never suggested in The Original Series

that Kirk's Enterprise (or that the generation of explorers that includes Kirk and his crew) are the "first ones" to explore deep space.

It is also never suggested that warp technology is a "new technology".

In other words, nothing in TOS contradicts the existence of previous generations of explorers who have access to warp technology.

Indeed, the episode "Balance of Terror" reveals that United Earth had once fought a protracted war with the Romulan Star Empire decades before the time of TOS , leading to the establishment of a Neutral Zone between their respective domains.

The fact that humans could efficiently reach the location that became this Neutral Zone implies that warp technology was available well in advance of TOS .

Moreover, in the TOS episode "Metamorphosis" we learn that Zefram Cochrane had invented the warp drive for humanity, and that he had disappeared in the early 22nd Century.

He was discovered alive and well by the Enterprise in the mid-23rd Century.

This further cements the timeline: the creation of the warp drive predates TOS by over a century.

In other words, the timelines regarding deep-space missions and warp drive were not retconned by Star Trek: Enterprise .

While Star Trek as a whole does have some continuity errors, the timeline is remarkably consistent between The Original Series and Enterprise .

Finally, whether people like it or not, Enterprise is canon .

In that television series, we discover that Captain Jonathan Archer was directly involved in the establishment of the Federation itself .

Archer went on to be the Chief of Staff of Starfleet and, by 2184, the President of the United Federation of Planets.

Therefore, it is virtually impossible for James T. Kirk to not have known a great deal about Jonathan Archer.

In your question there are a few errors

so I'd like to correct them first.

Firstly, Star Trek: The Original Series which featured Kirk and Spock, was sent on a five year mission, not a three year mission.

In 2265, the Enterprise was assigned to a five-year mission of deep-space exploration, and command passed to James T. Kirk.

The ship's primary goal during this mission was to seek out and contact alien life.

Captain Kirk's standing orders also included the investigation of all quasars and quasar-like phenomena.

( Source )

Secondly, this was not the first five-year mission for the Enterprise , let alone The Federation.

Prior to Kirk, the Enterprise had also been commanded by Captain Robert April and Captain Christopher Pike.

Thirdly, the Enterprise did not have what was considered to be 'new' warp technology; the Warp Drive was invented back in the 21st century with it's first warp flight on April 5 2063 .

Now, to your actual question about Kirk knowing of Archer.

It seems in the original timeline (i.e. The Original Series ) there is no reference on either the Memory Beta or Alpha pages about Kirk and Archer being in contact with one another.

Presumably, seeing as though Enterprise is set following TOS , Kirk was aware of Archer, but this is not confirmed.

However, in the alternate reality (2009 reboot) we know he does .

Consider the following quote from Memory Alpha :

He [Kirk] quickly learned that Scott was wiser than he lead on, after first impressions belied the fact that he had begun to postulate the theory of transwarp beaming while still on active duty ( misplacing Admiral Archer's beagle Porthos in the process , earning his isolation to Delta Vega).

As for the prime reality though (the one from TOS ) consider the following quote about Archer: Considered by historian John Gill, as the "greatest explorer of the 22nd century," Archer is widely credited with saving Earth from the Xindi and paving the way for the founding of the United Federation of Planets.

He went on to become one of the Federation's earliest presidents.

(ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")

Unless Kirk is completely ignorant of Federation, let alone Earth, history, he would know of Archer.

TNG implies that Archer is to the Federation what George Washington is to the United States, or Charles de Gaulle is to the French.

For instance, Troi says this the ENT finale

These are the Voyages... TROI:

Oh, [Archer will] be fine.

I had to memorise this speech in grammar school.

You wish you could tell them all that this alliance will give birth to the Federation.

Granted, Kirk was only 100 years removed, while Riker and Troi were about 200 years out, but it still stands to reason that Archer had already passed into legend by the time TOS started.

If they're having school children memorize Archer's speech in the 23rd century, it's safe to say he's a big deal.

In the promotion before the pilot of Enterprise, Broken Bow, it was said it was to be commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer, who James Tiberius Kirk idolized in his youth.

When a scientist named Ketteract who's been experimenting with the Omega Molecule goes silent and the same Vulcan T'urell from Archer's era is sighted orbiting the Ketteract research station by Admiral Kirk in the 2290s, he states himself in Shatner's voice that "Turell's past is questionable to say the least, according to Captain Archer's logs".

I don't believe this is canon

but it's in the storyline of Star Trek Legacy.

In the J.J. reboot Kirk met Archer and knows, likes his dog.

The reason Scotty is marooned on Delta Vega is because he used "Admiral Archer's" prize beagle in a transporter experiment.

Whoops!

Question: I recall that Jim Kirk and Spock and the original Star Trek crew were sent on a three year mission to explore new worlds using the new warp technology, as if they were the first ones.   But the Jonathan Archer crew also used warp drive to explore far into space earlier in time. I know that crewman Daniels messed with Archer's timeline so many times that it is not clear that there is any unmolested timeline.  But were Kirk and the original Star Trek crew later in the same timeline that Archer was in?

Does James T Kirk know about Jonathan Archer?

In the original timeline (i.e.  The Original Series ) there is no reference on either the  Memory Beta  or  Alpha  pages about Kirk and Archer being in contact with one another. However, in the J.J. reboot, Kirk met Archer and knows and likes his dog.

In the original series, it does not appear that Kirk and Archer meet. However, in the J.J reboot, Kirk and Archer meet and Kirk is fond of Archer’s dog.

In the original series, there is no reference to Kirk and Archer’s paths crossing. In the J.J. Reboot, Archer and Kirk meet and Kirk is fond of Archer’s dog.


George Lucas apparently admitted that the inspiration behind the "look" of R2-D2 was the trio of Huey, Louie, and Dewey from Doug Trumbull's film Silent Running , which was released five years before A New Hope .

Los Angeles Times , 5 Dec 1977 ...

The drones, by the way, proved to be director George Lucas' inspiration for his own stubby robot, R2-D2, a fact that he admitted to [Doug] Trumbull when he approached him about contributing to Star Wars.

Trumbull, however, turned down the assignment because he did not want to repeat himself by returning to another space opera... Also this interesting tidbit:

According to a August 14, 1981 Hollywood Reporter article, Universal sued Twentieth Century-Fox, claiming that the droid "R2-D2" in Star Wars was an infringement upon the design of drones Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Judge Irving Hill of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles dismissed the case before trial, however, stating that "no one has a monopoly on the use of robots in art," and that the robots in question were not similar.

Universal appealed the decision, but the Court of Appeals also dismissed the case.

( Source for Excerpts )

Not to discredit any of these answers but to augment them, we must recall that though George Lucas came up with the character and guidelines for the design, it was Ralph McQuarrie who designed R2-D2.

We must consider his inspiration as much, if not more, than Lucas contributions to the look of the character.

Star Wars Insider once asked McQuarrie about the design of the droids in Star Wars .

SW Insider :

Did the script describe the droids or was their look something you came up with?

McQuarrie : I think Artoo was just described as a small robot.

I thought of him as running on a giant ball bearing — just a sphere, a circle, wheel-like.

He had gyros so he could go in any direction on this ball.

( Source )

Subsequently, some of the earliest variations of R2-D2 looked like a droid setting on top of a sphere just as McQuarrie mentioned in the interview.

However, due to technical limitations of the time this concept of Artoo had to be reworked into something slightly different and similar to the droid we all know and recognize today.

Also worth noting, much of Ralph's early work that wasn't utilized for the trilogy was used during the design of The Force Awakens and this sketch eventually became the inspiration for BB-8.

As you can see this concept is quite different than the Huey, Louie, and Dewey droids in Silent Running that was referenced by Praxis provided answer and is somewhat similar to the D2 Rainbow vacuum cleaner referenced by Charles Coffey .

So is the vacuum an inspiration to Artoo?

We don't know!

Possibly, possibly not.

It's also worth mentioning that before moving to Hollywood, Ralph worked for Boeing as a technical illustrator.

He was likely inspired by the streamlined look of many of the air and space craft that he helped illustrate while at Boeing.

So what was the inspiration of Artoo?

Very likely pseudo-robotic looking devices of the 70s, concepts from other works and various other career inspirations from McQuarrie's past.

Character design is often a collaborative work and before the final result of R2-D2 was settled upon, there was certainly many rounds of conversations with Lucas and McQuarrie, followed by the prop and costume department working with Lucas input and McQuarrie's final sketches of R2-D2 to come up with a final result.

Each contributor likely left their mark from their own inspirations.

Who knows, George could have off-the-cuff thrown out to Ralph that he wanted a "simple robot, it needs to have an arm, or arms, similar to the little droids in Silent Running ..." to which McQuarrie could have then sat at his sketchpad, started to think, looked over at his vacuum cleaner, decided to take the thoughts from George and then shape those influences into a pseudo-aeronautical shaped robot, slightly inspired from McQuarries very own past.

It's impossible to know the original thought process but this isn't entirely implausible.

Unfortunately, the retelling of these details isn't always perfect and is sometimes contradictory because none of us ever remember all of the small details of our work from 10-30 years earlier.

Our minds tend to fill in the "gaps" of our recollection so one thing that George says might not align with Ralph and,

even still, there will always be little details that will be left out with time because people just don't remember.

The best answer that we can likely discern is to observe the history of the those involved in the development of Artoo and apply it to the details we have from interviews they've given over the years and settle for something, somewhere likely in the middle.

I have always suspected a Rainbow D2 vacuum cleaner was the inspiration for the design as well as for the name.

The D2 was a 1960's version of the Rainbow vacuum.

He appears to be based off a common park trash bin.

It's spot-on.

I actually once heard that the inspiration was a Danish brand of Hoover/Vacuum Cleaner from the company Nilsen & Fisker called Nilfisk.

You can see the resemblance with the 3 wheels and the shape quite clearly when you look at the original Nilfisk.

It is still sold today with very few modifications to it's design, and is considered a Danish design classic.

I am a Rainbow Sales Rep and in the list of famous people who owns Rainbows, George Lucas is one of them and he owned one (not sure if he still does) back in the 1970's when he was writing Star Wars and designing the characters.

So... we like to think he designed it after the D2 Series (Chrome Dome) Rainbow, but I'm sure he will deny it.

Question: Looking at R2-D2, I can't think of any robots I've seen in science fiction that vaguely resemble R2D2's design.   What was the inspiration for the design of R2-D2?

What was the inspiration for the design of R2-D2?

It's difficult to know for sure how R2-D2 was developed, however, George Lucas apparently admitted that inspiration was taken from Huey, Dewey and Louie from the film "Silent Running". That being said, there are numerous theories, such as taking inspiration from the Rainbow D2 vacuum cleaner or a park rubbish bin. In any case, character design is often a collaborative effort and, since the character in question was developed such a long time ago, it will be difficult to ascertain the true facts.

There are a number of theories about the inspiration behind R2D2, including characters from the Silent Running and various vacuum cleaners or possibly the trash can

Our minds tend to fill in the "gaps" of our recollection so one thing that George says might not align with Ralph and,

even still, there will always be little details that will be left out with time because people just don't remember.

R2D2 was inspired by a trio of characters called Huey, Louie and Dewey from the film Silent Running.

R2D2 was dreamed up by designer Ralph McQuarrie and went through various design modifications, possibly influenced by the D2 vacuum cleaner produced by the Rainbow company.

R2D2 is said to be based on a Nilfisk vacuum cleaner.


Arguably, the most famous decapitated robot (technically, android) head in science fiction is that of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation : In the original question, you wrote, "

The girl did say it was quite famous and well-known...

" and in the in the comments you wrote, "...the picture (from memory) was very detailed, I recall there were wires and bits of metal coming out of its neck...

Data fits that bill on both counts.

As seen in the episode "Time's Arrow" :

Egyptian robot head from a famous StF work?

It has to be Stargate .

Check out the guard helmets:

Heavy metal band, Iron Maiden's legendary, Eddie the Head .

Eddie's head is often disembodied and a lot of their cover art has Egyptian stuff on them.

In custom artwork such as a tattoo, I'd expect all sorts of wires and bits of metal coming out of his neck , as is the norm for depictions of him in fan art.

Eddie assumes a different guise relating to the themes of individual albums and their corresponding world tours, and has appeared as a cyborg, an Egyptian mummy and a lobotomised mental patient amongst others.

Wiki

Cybermen from Doctor

Who

A well-known robot that has often been seen with a severed head could be the Cybermen from Doctor Who .

Below are some examples: A Classic Doctor Who Cyberman-head from "Death in Heaven": A Classic Doctor Who Cyberman-head from "Dalek": Handles, the Cyber-head from "The Time of The Doctor": The Cyberman-head from "The Pandorica Opens":

Battle Droids from Star Wars I-III

The Battle Droids, first seen in The Phantom Menace , look Egyptian with their long necks, thin heads, and markings.

The back of the head resembles a pharaoh's turban.

Battle droid heads are often severed during combat, especially when facing the Jedi.

Compare a Battle droid with Anubis: Severed Battle Droid head with wires sticking out: Battle Droid head close up

(the eyes especially look Egyptian to me):

Well, there's IMHO nothing that looks Egyptian here, but Ash's head in Alien definitely has those wires you're mentioning, and that's for sure, a decapitated robot's head.

Question: Sometime ago I met a girl who had the most stunning tattoo of a decapitated robot's head on her arm.  It may have been an Egyptian robot's head, but it was simply stunning.  I recall there were wires and bits of metal coming out of its neck.  The girl did say it was quite a famous and well-known sci-fi art picture but I am unable to find a copy of it anywhere.  Does this ring any bells with anyone at all?

Picture of a decapitated Egyptian robot's head with wires coming out of its neck

There are many possible answers to this question. The head in question could be taken from Stargate, Iron Maiden's Eddie the Head, the Cybermen from Dr Who or the Battle Droids from Star Wars.

A number of sources are suggested including, Stargate, Iron Maiden, Doctor Who, Star Wars and Alien.

It is the singer Eddie the Head from Iron Maiden.

It could be a battle droid from Star Wars.


This is from Star Wars Episode IV:

A New Hope .

In the video of this scene (0:14), we can clearly see this particular stormtrooper (circled in red) aim down the sight and fire at Han :

Since you've asked for any medium, the most unambiguous way to confirm that stormtroopers used their sights is using a video game.

Here's a gif (taken from 2:14 of this Youtube video ) of a cold weather assault stormtrooper (snowtrooper) using the sight on his E-11 to get headshots on Rebel soldiers at the Battle of Hoth (from Star Wars:

Battlefront II ):

And here's a similar gif (taken from 32:40 of this Youtube video ) from DICE 's new Star Wars: Battlefront (which is largely canon ): Notice that this snowtrooper's HUD is displaying a note that he's already killed fifteen Rebels while he kills his sixteenth.

These snowtroopers prove that Imperial troops can be quite effective and deadly, contrary to certain naysayers!

We know these are snowtroopers because (a) snowtroopers formed the Imperial infantry at the Battle of Hoth and (b) a few seconds after the indicated time in the second clip

we see the snowtrooper with

his E-11:

As a bonus, both gifs show that the sight is a scope since there is some magnification when aiming down it.

During the Battle of Endor: And of course, this guy shot Artoo.

I originally did not include this shot that hit Leia, because I feel it is ambiguous whether the scope is in use or not.

No.

There is no canon explanation why helmeted soldiers with limited vision would be able to make use of a scope on a rifle they mostly hip fire anyway.

There is one example of a stormtrooper raising their rifle to fire, but in this example it cannot be made out whether the stormtrooper is using their scope or merely raising their rifle to brace for recoil (maybe this explains why they are usually so inaccurate when firing from their hip?).

An out of universe answer would be the reason they added the scopes to the E-11 Blaster Rifle was to make it better replicate existing earth weapons, even though the Blaster rifles in the star wars universe are rarely used for long distance pitched assaults, but more frequently for corridor shootouts.

The analysis I have made upon the aforementioned scene where a stormtrooper appears to raise their weapon is as follows: You can clearly see from the diagram below the orientation of the gun and the stormtroopers visor do not line up The stormtroopers helmet eye-holes do not line up to the scope

A better explained theory as to what the stormtrooper is doing is as follows:

The stormtrooper, seeing Han has raised his weapon in order to improve accuracy by reducing the recoil on his blaster.

Out of universe, and not an answer, but interesting and too much for a comment...

The E-11 blaster prop is a modified Sterling sub-machine gun .

The scope is not a rifle scope, but a 1.44x scope from a Sherman tank !

An inappropriate scope, plus the helmet, probably made it very difficult for the actors to see through.

M40 scope M38 scope .

Question: This is an E-11 blaster rifle:   It was standard issue for stormtroopers and makes many, many appearances in various  Star Wars  works.   Recently, I noticed this:   These guns have sights. I can't recall ever seeing these sights used in any medium. Does anyone know if they ever had been used? It would seem that it would really help with the stormtroopers' aiming issues.

Do Stormtroopers ever use the sights of their E-11 blaster rifles?

There does not seem to much any evidence that storm troopers ever used the scopes on their weapons, although it would also be fair to say that it would be difficult to use since the storm troopers wore helmets. One scene does seem to show a storm trooper using their scope.

There are various opinions: that the scope is used in Star Wars IV, that it is used in video games, that it is used in the Battle of Endor, that it is not used and that it is copied from the real-world Sherman tank.

The scope is used in the Battle of Endor.

The scope is not used - it is only added to make the blaster look more like earth weapons.

The blaster is a modified Sterling sub-machine gun and the scope is taken from a Sherman tank.


This is discussed at some length in the semi-canon sourcebook; The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force.

Notably there's no mention of the blade's crystal being " attuned " to the user in any way.

There do appear to be sensible reasons though:

There is a symbolic element to building one's own lightsaber.

It marks you out as a Jedi that has come of age.

This has strong echoes of Vader's vicarious pride at Luke's achievement in ROTJ.

It offers the opportunity to construct a saber that is uniquely theirs and matches their fighting style.

Most will settle for a standard saber, but this is your opportunity to build something unusual.

The manual mentions out-sized weapons, curved handles, double-blades, etc.

Jedi periodically lose or damage their sabers.

Knowing how to build one means that you gain an insight into their design, repair and long-term maintenance .

As far as I know, the canon source that concerns this topic the most is the Young Jedi arc of The Clone Wars .

No specifics are mentioned, such as lightsabers being "attuned to your own life signature", but in the episode A Test of Strength the weight of determining the style for a Jedi's individual lightsaber is emphasized to some degree.

Certainly, the style of lightsabers vary a great deal depending on the Jedi.

For example, Ezra Bridger's lightsaber can be said to fit him well, and it can be assumed that he therefore performs better with it.

From a weaponry standpoint, it allows you to build the weapon to the exact dimensions of your hand and fingers.

Button placement, dial pressure, everything designed exactly the way you want it to instinctually work.

My understanding is that ancient swords like katanas were forged to the owners measurements- something like the length being a multiple of the length of the forearm which meant that they would have the precise control over the weapon desired.

This is the case with anything bespoke though, from clothing to technology.

If you ever want to see an example, ask a friend who built their own mechanical keyboard about the process and sit back for an hour or two.

You can get into mysticism

is you like, but really there is much to be said for creating something such that it both fits you exactly and you know intuitively what its strengths and weaknesses are.

Mental clarity in combat Lightsabers contain kyber crystals, which have unique properties related to their connection with the Force.

According to the Databank, the kyber crystal in a lightsaber helps provide clarity in combat.

This is explicitly attributed to the Jedi having built the lightsaber with a crystal that they found themselves: At the heart of every Jedi lightsaber is a kyber crystal found on several planets, most notably the icebound caves of Ilum.

This crystal is attuned to the Force, and connected to a Jedi Knight on a deeply personal level.

In this way, a lightsaber is an extension of a Jedi’s Force awareness.

Because Jedi let the Force guide their selection of the crystal, the vibration that the crystal creates in the lightsaber blade helps Jedi center themselves and find balance in the Force.

In this way, a Jedi can center his or her attention beyond the distractions of combat.

While that is the main benefit, obviously there are others.

For example, building one’s own lightsaber ensures that the weight, material, and shape match one’s own physical characteristics and preferences.

Yoda, for instance, wielded a shorter lightsaber than average, which would be easier for him to wield than a standard lightsaber:

Yoda’s lightsaber was smaller than a standard Jedi lightsaber, befitting his shorter stature.

According to this posting , there is a ceremony called The Gathering in which, Palawan's "find a kyber crystal attuned to their Force presence on the Crystal Caves of Ilum".

So there may be two issues involved: 1) building it yourself, and 2) building it with a crystal attuned to your Force presence.

Question: When you use a lightsaber of your own construction, the lightsaber is supposedly most attuned to your own life signature in the Force as compared to other lightsabers. How does this work, and what benefits are there to such an attunement? How significant are the differences between using the lightsabers of others as compared to your own?

What are the benefits of using the lightsaber you constructed yourself?

Firstly, there is a symbolic element to building your own lightsaber as it demonstrates that you have come of age as a Jedi. Secondly, it provides you with the opportunity to build something that matches your fighting style and which matches the dimensions of your hand. Additionally, it allows you to gain extra knowledge about lightsaber maintenance and repair.

Various reasons and advantages are suggested, including marking out the user as a mature Jedi, matching the user's weight and hand dimensions, and boosting the user's mental powers through the action of the kyber crystal.

So there may be two issues involved: 1) building it yourself, and 2) building it with a crystal attuned to your Force presence.

According to this posting , there is a ceremony called The Gathering in which, Palawan's "find a kyber crystal attuned to their Force presence on the Crystal Caves of Ilum".

The reasons are sensible rather than mystical - it marks you out as a mature Jedi, and allows you to have a sabre that matches your style and which you will be able to maintain yourself.

The sabre is designed according to the user's weight and will therefore be best suited to one individual user.

The sabre can be exactly matched to the user's dimensions in terms of hand and finger size.

The kyber crystals in the sabres give the user greater mental clarity, along with the benefits of a close physical match.


Quite a vague description.

One possibility is the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

First answer is correct, definitely Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

First book is "Darkover Landfall" Spaceship crash lands on a distant planet after going off course.

Local plant pollen and spores have drug like effects and bring out latent psychic powers in certain families who become royalty over generations.

The series covers the culture that evolves and the effect when human contact is reestablished centuries later.

I remember reading the entire series in the late 70's/early 80's http://darkover.wikia.com/wiki/Darkover_Landfall

I agree that Darkover is very likely, but also the Cycle of Fire books by Janny Wurts has similar ideas.

Perhaps the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman?

It takes place on a planet colonized over a millennium prior by humans from Earth.

The planet has an energy field which reacts to the wishes and desires of the colonists, and this manifests as magic.

It's possible you're thinking of the Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friedman.

It's set on a fantasy world with magic where it turns out that current civilization is the result of a failed future society.

Things that don't match include that the order is different — it starts in the magic society and we later learn about the futuristic underpinnings — and that the ship didn't crash, but rather, the colonization attempt failed due to the technology failing.

I don't remember anything specific about the plants, but the first book involved an evil forest and the latter books were set in other strange environs.

It could be L.E. Modessit Jr's.

Recluce Saga .

In Fall of Angels , a modern spacefaring (and -fighting) ship with a small crew is forced into an alternate universe where much technology fails and magic works.

Crew members find themselves with new abilities such as "Order Magic", healing, night vision, and prophetic visions.

They struggle to found a working society that will last despite being mostly women surrounded by excessively chauvinistic nations.

The other books in the series mostly deal with their descendants in a world where magic works, and technology is largely limited by choice as it strengthens "Chaos Magic".

The overall theme of the series is the eternal struggle between Order and Chaos, each of which can be manipulated by adepts as Magic.

It could also, at a stretch, be the Well World series by Jack Chalker, which starts with "Midnight at the Well of Souls".

In that first book, a spacecraft gets caught up in a gateway to the Well World, and the people on board are sent to a variety of regions and are transformed to different species based on where they go.

Following books in the series cover various power struggles both in the outer universe and on the Well World, where some of the geographic regions are coded to stop any technology working but in exchange have a form of magic.

The True Game series (3x trilogies) by Sherri S. Tepper has this as its core concept - however the revelation that they landed on a spaceship doesn't come out until the very last book in the set.

Possibly Saga of Pliocene Exile - Julian May ?

Question: I'm trying to figure out the title of a series I read when I was younger.As far as I can remember, it started with a spaceship crashing on a planet in book 1.Some plants on that planet had weird effects on the people of the ship, not sure what kind though.  All of the books afterwards are set centuries or even millennia later, about the rebuilt civilization where "magic" or some kind of powers were around.  I'll update if I remember anything more specific.

Looking for name of a book-series - Spaceship crashed, Civilization based on Magic rebuilt

There are various books that might fit this description. One possibility is the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Other potential answers include the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman, the Well World series by Jack Chalker or the True Game series by Sherri S. Tepper.

A number of suggestions are made, including the Darkover series, Cycle of Fire, Coldfire, Well World, Saga of Pliocene Exile and True Game.

Perhaps the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley the Cycle of Fire  books by Janny Wurts which has similar ideas.

Perhaps the  Coldfire Trilogy  by C.S. Friedman? It is set on a planet colonized over a thousand years earlier by humans.

It could also be the  Well World series  by Jack Chalker, which starts with "Midnight at the Well of Souls".

It could be the True Game series by Sherri S. Tepper which has this as its core concept. However the revelation that they landed on a spaceship doesn't come out until the very last book in the set.

Possibly Saga of Pliocene Exile by Julian May.


Within the comics continuity, yes.

Comics Alliance explains that the story of The Brave & The Bold #191 is about Batman and The Joker teaming up to figure out who murdered The Penguin on live TV.

Comics Alliance also notes that such team-ups between them have occurred multiple times, but always as a matter of extenuating circumstances.

For one thing, it’s a Batman/Joker team-up story.

That actually happened more often than you might expect

— Bob Haney did it twice during his run, within eight issues of each other — but it’s always one of those things that requires some extenuating circumstances.

In Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Vol 1 145

The Joker is dying, but is the only one with the knowledge that Batman needs to save the day.

Batman is forced to put the Joker in a Lazarus pit to save him.

Anyone else who is resurrected by the Lazarus pit comes out temporarily insane.

As usual, things are subverted with the Joker, and he emerges from the pit calm, rational, and filled with genuine remorse for all of the pain he has caused.

This newly sane Joker goes with Batman to defeat Ra's al Ghul.

(Not that he's useful, he just mopes around a lot).

And, of course, the effects of the Lazarus pit are temporary, so by the end he's back to the insane psychopath we know and love.

While not exactly an alliance in the classic sense of the word, there is a certain amount of cooperation in the Arkhamverse, especially in City and Knight.

Note: spoilers for the Arkham City and Arkham Knight video games follow.

Arkham City, Batman is forced to help Joker find a cure for his illness after being infected with his blood.

Batman finds a cure together with Mr Freeze, and administers it to himself, but before he can cure Joker, Joker ambushes him, accidentally destroying the only cure that can heal him.

Joker dies shortly afterwards.

In Arkham Knight, it is revealed that Joker's blood turned the infected people insane, Joker style.

4 people were infected, along with Batman.

3 of the normal people infected turned into Joker copycats soon after infection.

The 4th infection took hold during the events of Arkham Knight.

Early during the events of Arkham Knight, Batman inhales a large dose of Scarecrow's toxin, forcing the Joker Personality to emerge.

The Joker Personality is present throughout the rest of the main storline.

providing comments on the situation in Joker's classic sarcastic tone.

During 2 segments of the storyline, the Joker takes control over Batman.

The first time, it is unintentional, after Scarecrow sprays additional toxin in Batman's face onboard the Stagg zeppelin.

The second time could be seen as intentional: Batman has been forced to surrender to Scarecrow to save his friends, and Scarecrow injects him with toxin.

Unbeknownst to Scarecrow, Joker was waiting for this moment to take over Batman.

Scarecrow thus was surprised when Batman said he was not afraid, and injected him again.

This then made Joker become afraid of being forgotten and allowed Batman to take control again.

Neither of these are alliances in the classic sense of the word, but especially the events of City sound like what you are looking for: a common goal in saving both of their lives.

Arkham Knight is a bit more tenuous, but it could be argued that they both had the common goal of saving Gotham from Scarecrow, although Joker had the goal on top of that of gaining control over Batman.

Yes.

In Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon, Batman teamed up Joker to fight Owlman.

The Episode is "Game Over for Owlman!"

During the Justice Leagues story arc, the original JLA was erased from everyone's memories, and the various League members each created their own interpretation of 'A' (Aliens for Superman, Atlantis for Aquaman, etc.).

Batman created the Justice League of Arkham, for which the Joker was a member.

They worked together at first, but near the end the Joker and the rest of the villains turned on Batman.

Yes, he recently teamed up with the Joker in Batman:

Europa when both are infected with a deadly virus:

Also in Lego Batman 3:

Beyond Gotham most of the heroes and villains team up to defeat Brainiac including Batman and Joker.

However this may not be canon.

Question: I don't mean true alliance, but have they ever fought some kind of common enemy or had a common goal?  For example, I can imagine Batman fighting some kind of oppressive regime due to his virtuous principles he believes in, and Joker would be interested too - because he just loves creating chaos.

Has Batman ever teamed up with Joker?

There are multiple occasions on which Batman and Joker have teamed up together. These include the story entitled The Brave and the Bold (#191) and the Justice Leagues story ark. There is also an episode in the Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon in which this happens, entitled "Game Over for Owlman".

Batman and Joker have teamed up in the comics - in the story The Brave & The Bold - and they have cooperated in the films in the Akrhamverse,

Yes - in the comics, in the story The Brave & The Bold.

Yes, in a sense, in the Arkhamverse, where they at least cooperate a bit.


Yes.

In the October 1999 comic Batman: Harley Quinn , he tries to kill Harley precisely because he is starting to have feelings for her and dislikes this in himself:

The relationship between Joker and Harley was always complicated but Joker did feel affection/love for Harley at some point in time and the results were rather contradictory as he tried to kill her.

Per Batman Wikia : Quinn's relationship with the Joker is one of the most complex and twisted love affairs in comics: as with all people, the Joker is abusive and manipulative towards Harley, but, just as often, there's evidence of camaraderie, playfulness, and genuine affection towards her.

She's the only person who's managed to become intimate on such a long term basis with the Joker, who, in turn, displays occasional moments of confusion and discomfort which results in attempts to kill her.

The Iconic Depiction of Harley Quinn

One time, when the Joker realized he had very deeply hidden feelings of love, he sent Harley off in a rocket

Maybe wasted effort, but I think there is so much going on

that isn't being pointed out.

Joker being clinically psychotic, for one.

Is someone in his shoes capable of feeling that deep a 'good' emotion?

I mean, he is essentially living in an unending psychosis (

Quote from his profile on DC Wiki:

"He is constantly adapting his personality and his psychosis to respond to the world around him, sometimes a harmless trickster and at others a brutal mass-murderer."), and that's ignoring his sadism and narcissism sprinkled on top of it.

That being said.

Though it is possible for Harley to be blindly in love with him, I highly doubt that.

This isn't some high school cheerleader that is in love with being in love.

This is a mastermind and psychiatrist that worked with Joker during his time in Arkham Asylum.

It can be argued that she is deluding herself, but that kind of delusion won't stand up to multiple attempts on her life, not with her intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the mind.

In other words, he can't be in love in the sense we understand it.

That's not possible, not in his situation.

However, it is possible that he loves her in his own, sick, twisted way and that she understands enough of his inner workings to appreciate that about him.

Hence their twisted off-on relationship.

But maybe that's just me fangirling on Harley ^_^

In The New Batman Adventures episode, Beware the Creeper (this series was the follow-up to Batman:

The Animated Series , where Harley Quinn was created), there is one scene where she is standing in a giant pie singing a song to Joker.

There were brief flashes of a look that wasn't mocking on Joker's face.

I always read that as him realizing he loves her but can't admit it, even to himself.

"Great kid, lousy cook."

I really think Joker can't really admit it to himself that he cares for her.

He does, it shows simply because he keeps her around unlike anyone else, but I don't see him understanding how to be in love.

Instead, he just wonders why he keeps her when he gets rid of every other henchman he has.

Like most things, this is open to interpretation.

Some people want to believe that Joker had feelings for her, others are skeptical that Joker cares much for anyone other than himself.

But that's itself is open for interpretation, for example you could say the joker only cares for himself

but then you look at Heath Ledgers Joker who didn't even care about himself, that type of Joker would only keep Harley around as an example of what a 'bad day' could do to someone.

I think whether or not Joker cares about Harley is dependant on which Joker we're talking about.

Excuse

any grammar/spelling mistakes my phone sucks.

The reason people ask whether the Joker has any love or affection for Harley is mostly because of the movie Suicide Squad .

I honestly loved the movie since it depicted love between them.

However, when it comes to the comics itself, I don't think that they will get together.

Joker only loves himself and he is just using Harley.

He is so twisted, that he wanted to kill Harley because of the feelings he started to have within.

I believe that since joker was so badly abused as a kid, that he only knows one kind "Affection".

and because of how messed up joker is and psychotic, there are a lot of reasons as to why he is they way he is towards Harley.

that being said, he has probably seen how his father treated his mother and only knows that type of love and doesn't realize how horrible he is to Harley.

there are a lot of reasons and it isn't clear as to whether or whether not he has feelings for Harley.

But if he does, he doesn't want to.

People who grow up under such harsh circumstances have troubles with emotions and it's just a really messed up situation.

Question: The Joker seems to care little about anything other than himself (and to some extent, Batman), whereas Harley Quinn is quite literally mad for the Joker.  Has the Joker ever shown any genuine concern or affection towards Harley?   I would prefer sources, if any, from comics.

Does the Joker care about Harley Quinn?

The answer to to this question will be largely subjective and open to interpretation. However, whilst the Joker's relationship is very complicated, there are indeed numerous instances in which the Joker demonstrates genuine affection towards Harley Quinn, even if this subsequently resulted in him trying to kill her. That being said, some people believe that he is simply using her.

This question has no easy answer as it is a matter of interpretation, but any feelings of love that the Joker does experience are soon consumed by a desire to destroy.

The Joker can be seen as having love for Hayley but it is open to interpretation, and even if it is something like love, his response to such feelings is to seek to destroy the object of his affections, i.e. Harley.


50 Billion See Richard's answer to

What is the bloodiest war in the Star Trek universe?

--the largest number killed due to a war on any of the Trek TV shows/

movies was 50 billion (in an incident recalled by a powerful energy being known as a Douwd , in the TNG episode

The Survivors --this

particular Douwd had been disguised as a Federation citizen, and he destroyed the entire Husnock species after they destroyed the Federation colony he had been living in, just three days before the episode was set).

In the novels, the highest number Richard found was 63 billion (during a Borg invasion of the Alpha Quandrant in the novel Lost Souls ).

And if you want only Federation deaths from TV shows or movies (as might be suggested by the line 'what was the single worst catastrophe the federation faced'), there is also the Federation/Klingon war shown in an alternate history in the TNG episode Yesterday's Enterprise , which was said to have resulted in 40 billion lives lost--and since the Federation was losing this war, it's a safe bet that the number of Federation lives was more than 20 billion, or at least, not significantly less than that

(if you reject this one because it took place in an alternate timeline, please specify what timeline you are asking about, since the timeline that was created in the 2009 Star Trek movie is obviously different than the one most previous TV episodes and movies have been set in).

This question is not exactly a duplicate of that other question since that one was specifically about war while this one is about death counts from any causes, but I don't think there have been any natural disasters or other non-war-related incidents that have been shown to have killed a larger number.

Possibly over 18 billion

In the events leading up to Star Trek (2009), the planet Romulus is destroyed and its population of over 18 billion is wiped out when the Hobus star goes supernova — a tragedy that Spock tried, but failed, to prevent.

This event is documented in the (fully canon) Star Trek: Countdown comic book series and referred to in Star Trek (2009).

Because of the improved relations between the Federation and the Romulan Empire after Nemesis , and because of Spock's involvement in this incident, I am including this within the scope of the question.

Every Earth-based organism that ever lived and maybe more

In the series finale of TNG, Q convinces Picard to perform an action which causes ripples back in time that prevents life from ever existing on Earth.

Arguably, this could be considered "killing" every human who ever lived or will live, along with any non-human Earth species.

Just taking humans into account, we're probably talking about trillions or even quadrillions (depending on how far into the future you want to consider).

Counting every other species on Earth, those numbers would skyrocket by several orders of magnitude.

And given that the anomaly is spreading (it was actually pretty far from Earth when they found it), it could affect many other inhabited planets as well.

If it doesn't eventually stop, it could potentially end all life in the Universe.

Of course it was a Q-based scenario, and it was reversed by the end of the episode, and of course all those lives weren't actually ended so much as not started, but depending on how loose your criteria are for a life-ending event, this could qualify.

Possibly over 6 billion In Star Trek (2009) when the planet Vulcan is destroyed in 2258 in the alternate timeline created by Nero's arrival, almost everyone on Vulcan was killed, which amounts to about 6 billion people

- I doubt that there would be another single incident that had that many deaths.

There's also the uninhabited Dyson's Sphere (TNG, "Relics"), which size was equivalent to ~400 million Earths (according to Star Trek science consultant, Naren Shankar).

Multiply that by the ~6 billion inhabitants just on one Earth.

Even if only fraction of the Dyson's Sphere was populated, that would be well into the trillions gone.

I can't remember if one of the crew said they all left due to the star's radiation issues, or did something suddenly happen with the star that wiped them out.

Maybe someone can illucidate more on that.

Question: In  Star Trek  they face many trials, wars, battles, what was the single worst catastrophe the federation faced, in reported casualties? Was it the battle of Wolf 359, an engagement in the Dominion war, when the Borg went back in time and assimilated all of Earth?

What was the largest death count in Star Trek?

There is no clear answer to this question, however suggestions range from 6 billion, to 18 billion  or even 63 billion, depending on whether referring to the books, comics or TV series.

There are many different candidates proposed, with the casualty numbers varying from 6 billion to trillions.

The Borg invasion of Alpha Quadrant - 63 billions dead.

The destruction of the planet Romulus - 18 billion dead.

The destruction of every Earth based organism that ever lived - possibly trillions.

The destruction of the planet Vulcan - possibly over 6 billion.

The destruction of Dyson's sphere is a possible contender if we assume population density equal to that of the Earth.


Night Owls by Lauren M. Roy Night Owls book store is the one spot on campus open late enough to help out even the most practiced slacker.

The employees’ penchant for fighting the evil creatures of the night is just a perk…

Valerie McTeague’s business model is simple: provide the students of Edgewood College with a late-night study haven and stay as far away from the underworld conflicts of her vampire brethren as possible.

She’s lived that life, and the price she paid was far too high to ever want to return.

Elly Garrett hasn’t known any life except that of fighting the supernatural werewolf-like beings known as Creeps or Jackals.

But she always had her mentor and foster father by her side—until he gave his life protecting a book that the Creeps desperately want to get their hands on.

When the book gets stashed at Night Owls for safe keeping, those Val holds nearest and dearest are put in mortal peril.

Now Val and Elly will have to team up, along with a mismatched crew of humans, vampires , and lesbian succubi, to stop the Jackals from getting their claws on the book and unleashing unnamed horrors…

It was released in 2014 and has been stated to be part of a series with Grave Matters released in 2015.

The Jane Jameson series, starting with #2, Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men , has the vampire protagonist working at a bookstore.

Following

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs, the second in a hilarious, smart, sexy romantic series about an out-of-work librarian who is turned into a vampire.

With her best friend Zeb’s Titanic-themed wedding looming ahead, new vampire Jane Jameson struggles to develop her budding relationship with her enigmatic sire, Gabriel.

It seems unfair that she’s expected to master undead dating while dealing with a groom heading for a nuptial nervous breakdown, his hostile werewolf in-laws, and the ugliest bridesmaid dress in the history of marriage.

Night's Master is the 3rd book in Amanda Ashley's Children of the Night series.

Kathy McKenna was sure that the little Midwestern town of Oak Hollow would be isolated enough for safety, but the moment the black-clad stranger walked into her bookstore , she knew she was wrong.

Raphael Cordova exudes smoldering power, and his sensual touch draws Kathy into a world of limitless pleasure and unimaginable dangers.

Oak Hollow was supposed to be neutral territory for Supernatural beings.

Instead it has become home to an evil force determined to destroy them—and kill any mortal who gets in the way.

As leader of the North American vampires , Raphael has always put duty first, but then, no woman ever enthralled him the way Kathy does.

And as the enemy’s terrifying plan is revealed, Raphael’s desire could be a fatal distraction for all his kind, and for the woman he has sworn to love forever…

This one is probably the least likely, as it looks like the vampires are the focus of the series with the bookstore owner only showing up in this 2008 entry.

Hounded the first book in the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound.

His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old.

Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries.

Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys , a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

Points where this matches the description: Occult bookstore in which he has a collection of rare magical books Main character is owner of said bookstore One of his attorneys is a vampire, "friend" and sparring partner First book in the series Published during the mentioned four year time frame (2011) What may not fit:

Open at night - I don't specifically remember the bookstore open at night, but several of the key scenes do occur at night.

Only one point that doesn't quite match, but seems to match on all other details.

Could it be Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore , by Robin Sloan?

I don't recall vampires, but there is a secret society and a mystery.

It was published in 2012.

This could be the Alex Verus series

Alex is a clairvoyant, who can see the future.

He also runs a Magic store.

It's not actually a bookstore per se , but a general magic store.

If I recall correctly, the store was generally open at odd hours.

The first book in the series (Fated) was published in 2012.

I can't quite recall the status of vampires in the series though.

So it may be a miss on that part.

Question: The book is fairly new, at most 4 years and it's the start of a series.I know vampires were involved and that the bookstore was open at night butthat's about it.

I'm looking for the title of a book about a magical bookstore and its owner

There are numerous possible books that could fit this description. The most likely book is probably "Night Owls" by Lauren M. Roy. However, other potential candidates include "Night's Master" from Amanda Ashley's "Children of the Night" series, "Hounded" by Kevin Hearne, "Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan or a book from the Alex Verus series.

There are many possible candidates, but the most likely one appears to be Night Owls by Lauren M Roy.

Night's Master from Amanda Ashley's Children of the Night series.

Hounded from Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles.

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.


In The Empire Strikes Back , we see TIE Fighters in the atmosphere of Bespin, not the vacuum of space, when the Millennium Falcon is being chased after rescuing Luke.

(See around 2.44)

As Bespin is a Gas Giant they obviously do not fly over land, but they are below a floating city known to have a breathable atmosphere.

In The Empire Strikes Back , the Millennium Falcon hides in a "cave" on an asteroid.

The TIE bombers fly low over the asteroid dropping bombs.

I argue that the asteroid had a non-trivial atmosphere: Han and Leia explore outside the ship.

Although they carry supplemental breathable air, there is clearly enough atmospheric pressure that they do not immediately die.

Since the "cave" (actually a space slug) is open to the surface of the asteroid, it would be near-vacuum if the asteroid didn't have an atmosphere.

They seem to experience a normal gravity as they walk outside the Falcon , suggesting that the asteroid has enough gravity to hold an atmosphere.

The mynocks appear to fly using bat-like wings, which implies a certain minimal amount of atmosphere.

The space slug appears to have nostrils, which implies it breaths an atmosphere.

(I'll concede this point, though, since what appears to be a nostril may just be a shadow.)

This is questionably canonical, but there's an easter egg in Episode 2 that includes three distant TIE fighters and X-wing during the chase seen through Coruscant at the start of the film.

Coruscant has a breathable atmosphere (evidenced by the chase scene is in an open air vehicle).

Wookieepedia says that: During the chase through Coruscant, after Padmé Amidala survives Zam Wesell's assassination attempt, three TIE fighters are seen chasing an X-wing starfighter.

They can be clearly seen inside the red rectangle in the following images, from this site.

Edit

It seems that I was wrong :(

It's always difficult to prove a negative, but all references to TIE fighters I can find from the two movie trilogies indicate that we do not see a TIE fighter flying in an atmosphere (which has now been proven wrong)

However...

In Canon we do see this!

Wookieepedia tells us that:

They were able to operate both in space as well as in planetary atmospheres , acting as fighters or scouts.

according to the canon work Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion

We see this at 0:45 in the below clip:

But this isn't from either of the movie trilogies as requested in the question!

Nevertheless, we do know from canon that it is possible.

This is slightly outside the scope of the question (not Original Trilogy), but in New Disney Canon - even pre-Episode-7, we do see this.

In the novel Aftermath , we see TIE Fighter being commandeered by Nora, flown in the planet's atmosphere, engeged in dogfight with other TIE Fighters, and eventually crashed into Satrap's palace.

Tie fighter engines are ion thrusters , which wouldn't work outside the vacuum of space (i.e. in the presence of other ion atoms).

Question: In the trailers for  Star Wars - Episode VII:  The Force Awakens , we see TIE-type vessels flying near the ground, in the atmosphere of a planet (the planet itself looks a lot like Tatooine).       Have we ever  seen  this before?  I am specifically looking for:   Footage from the two existing film trilogies   Spacecraft from the TIE family, either fighters or bombers   Operating in full-atmospheric conditions, not the near-vacuum of space

Have we ever seen TIE fighters/bombers operating in atmosphere before?

scifi.stackexchange.com/users/44025/Wad Cheber stands with Monica

As TIE-fighter engines were ion thrusters, they would not work outside the vacuum of space, and indeed it is doubtful that there are actually examples of TIE-fighters flying in full-atmospheric conditions. However, there are numerous possible examples of TIE-fighters flying in what could be considered to be atmospheric conditions. These could include when they fly in the atmosphere of Bespin or when they drop bombs on an asteroid, both scenes in The Empire Strikes Back.

A number of scenes are mentioned in which TIE fighters do fly in atmospheric conditions, but some canonical sources nonetheless state that their engines would not be able to operate in such conditions.

TIE fighters fly in the atmosphere of Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back.

TIE fighters fly low over an asteroid that has an atmosphere in The Empire Strikes Back.

TIE fighters fly through the atmosphere of Coruscant in Episode 2.

Wookiepedia tells us that TIE fighers can operate in planetary atmospheres as well as space.

TIE fighters use engines that cannot operate in planetary atmospheres.


There are two main reasons for this: Aragorn is part Maia himself (over Isildur , Elendil , Elros , Elwing , Lúthien and Melian , links from the LOTR Project family tree).

Isildur, Aragorn's ancestor, was the one who took the ring from Sauron in the war of the Last Alliance (with Narsil , the sword that was reforged and given to Aragorn before the end of the Ring War).

In addition to the reasons cited in other answers, e.g., one of Aragorn's ancestors was a Maia, another one of his ancestors cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, he wields that same sword, reforged, there is another fear that Sauron had: Sauron does not know who has the Ring.

He suspects that Aragorn may have it, and in his pride, is attempting to overthrow Sauron to put himself in Sauron's place.

Aragorn, as a descendant of the Men of Númenor, armed with the One Ring, would be a truly terrifying foe.

Presumably, he would be able to control the Nazgûl, Orcs, and Trolls; he could persuade the men of Harad and Rhûn to change sides.

Sauron would be left without an army.

It is what he would do in our place.

That we would wish to overthrow him and have no one in his place, he has not considered.

That we should seek to destroy the Ring has not yet entered his darkest dreams.

(That quotation is from memory; I don't have the books with me.)

Because Aragorns ancestor Isildur was the one who cut the finger with the ring from Sauron.

And Aragorn is wielding the same reforged sword that did the deed.

Aragorn is the Heir of Isildur Being the rightful King to the thrones of Gondor 1 (and Arnor re-established), he had the potential to reunite the sundered Kingdoms of the Dúnedain: Arnor and Gondor, to oppose Sauron.

Then Aragorn, being now the Heir of Isildur, was taken with his mother to dwell in the house of Elrond; and Elrond took the place of his father and came to love him as a son of his own.

But he was called Estel, that is "Hope", and his true name and lineage were kept secret at the bidding of Elrond; for the Wise then knew that the Enemy was seeking to discover the Heir of Isildur, if any remained upon earth.

The bigger reason that Sauron was so fearful was that: Sauron (mistakenly) believed that Aragorn had the Ring and would use it against him '

Now Sauron knows all this, and he knows that this precious thing which he lost has been found again; but he does not yet know where it is, or so we hope.

And therefore he is now in great doubt.

For if we have found this thing, there are some among us with strength enough to wield it .

That too he knows.

For do I not guess rightly,

Aragorn, that you have shown yourself to him in the Stone of Orthanc? '

I did so

ere

I rode from the Hornburg,' answered Aragorn. '

I deemed that the time was ripe, and that the Stone had come to me for just such a purpose.

It was then ten days since the Ring-bearer went east from Rauros, and the Eye of Sauron, I thought, should be drawn out from his own land.

Too seldom has he been challenged since he returned to his Tower .

Though if I had foreseen how swift would be his onset in answer, maybe I should not have dared to show myself.

Bare time was given me to come to your aid.'

Therefore Sauron had all the more reason to fear Aragorn's power.

Though being a mortal Man, Aragorn 'wrenched' the Orthanc-stone against from Sauron's will .

That's definitely to be afraid of Aragorn.

I don't think that Aragorn having a very small amount of Maiar blood in him was the reason that Sauron feared him, as many of the other answers given seem to suggest.

By the time Aragorn was born, his Maiar blood was so diluted that it can be considered as irrelevant.

In this excellent answer Aragorn's Maiar blood percentage is calculated to be 0.000000000000000001355% .

: This is perfectly answered here .

Aragorn is the one man who can reunite the kingdoms of men (I mean Rohan and Gondor) and stand up to Sauron.

He can also summon the Men of the Mountain, but I do not think Sauron is aware of that.

Sauron manipulated the Palantíri to deceive, driving Saruman to treason and Denethor to despair, thus nobbling the strongest of his opponents.

Then up pops Aragorn.

He has the Palantír of Orthanc, so presumably he has already defeated Saruman while Mordor wasn't looking.

What's worse, he has the strength of will to take control of the Palantír, and the clear intention to claim the throne of Gondor, rally its people, and generally do all that Denethor could not.

All that scheming wasted!

He fears Aragorn (specifically Aragorn) because of a Prophecy of the Elves which fortells that the Heir of Isildur will encompass his destruction.

Sauron is a Maia but he is also dammned.

He fears the inevitable retribution for his evil.

I think most of the other answers have overlooked something else.

In addition to Sauron fearing him for his potential with the One Ring, which he thinks is Aragorns for the taking, there is this: He can command men, that is pretty much it.

In a fractured world (there are few and weak alliances)

he is the one man that can bring them together and put up a fight, even win, especially with the ring.

Question: Sauron, formerly known as Mairon, fears Aragorn for reasons I do not know.  I especially do not understand, since Sauron is far more powerful than Aragorn even without the ring, as he is a Maia.  Why does Sauron fear Aragorn?

Why does Sauron fear Aragorn if he is a Maia?

There are many potential reasons that Sauron would fear Aragorn, and any answer would be at least partially speculative. However, it is true that Aragorn is at least part Maia himself, and furthermore, Aragorn's ancestor was the one who took the ring from Sauron in the first place. Furthermore, Aragorn would be able to unite the kingdoms of men, and this combined with the One Ring would make him a very fearsome force.

There are many reasons for Sauron to fear Aragorn, the main ones being that Aragorn has Maia ancestry, Aragorn's ancestor originally cut off the Ring, Aragorn is prophesied to be his doom, Aragorn may have the Ring and Aragorn can command men.

Because of Aragorn's Maia ancestry (Aragorn's ancestor Isildur had cut the Ring from Sauron's hand long ao) and because Aragorn has a sword forged from the original one used to cut off Sauron's ring finger.

Sauron fears Aragorn because he can command men.

Sauron fears Aragorn because he suspects that Aragorn may have the Ring.


He has had control over his ability, albeit temporarily in Astonishing X-Men .

In Astonishing X-Men #14, during an impromptu telepathic "therapy session", Emma Frost presented Cyclops with the possibility that his lack of control over his optic blasts actually stems not from physical brain damage, but from a sort of mental block She reasons that it was a coping mechanism to deal with the loss of his parents.

In Astonishing X-Men # 23 , he uses them:

Scott admits that this theory is the truth ..

the issue ends with Scott apparently in a catatonic state, with his eyes uncovered and displaying their natural shade of brown, with no evidence of his powers manifesting.

Later he manifests, and has full control over his optical blasts, although it was only temporary.

I don't know of any other instance where he has regained this ability, and I don't own the issue in question, otherwise I could provide more details.

Actually the way it was explained back in Uncanny X-Men (1st Series) 138 and 144 published in the early 80's - Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops , does not have full control over his powers because of a head injury he suffered as a child, when his mother pushed he and Alex (Scott's younger brother and later the X-Man Havok ) out of an airplane in order to save their lives:

Cyclops 's head injury caused an inability to fully control his optic beam as explained here: However a retcon, by Joss Whedon in the pages of Astonishing X-Men , suggests that Cyke is in fact the one who does not allow himself full control over his mutant powers: But as Emma Frost was under the subliminal control of Cassandra Nova when she was messing about in Scott’s brain, so it isn't 100% clear that this is actually true.

The control he gained from that incident was temporary and in the end he required his ruby quartz lens to again gain some control over his optic blast : As is the nature with the X-Men convolution abounds, because if those two options weren't enough for you way back in X-Factor (1st Series) 39, circa 1988, this was revealed:

So the reality is that it could be that Mr Sinister , Scott himself or even that ole head injury that does it...

But, if you don't mind a little speculation, one would think if it was either of the first two Professor X , or even Phoenix , would have be able to help due to their vast mental powers?!

Yes.

In the film X-MEN: The Last Stand we see that Jean/Dark Phoenix is able to use her powers to seemingly restore Scott's normal eye functions.

Jean asks Scott to remove his glasses, saying something to the effect of I can control it now.

Whatever happened seemed to be permanent, however it's possible that it was only temporary.

Either way he did have normal eye functions the rest of his life!

However there is simply not enough information for us to understand exactly what happened.

In the animated series X-Men Evolution , in episode The Cauldron : Magneto, cajoled the two young mutants into testing his mutant enhancement machine, which was powered by the mystic Cytorrak gem.

Cyclops emerged with the newly named Havok, both able to fully control their powers.

However, the two boys' minds were altered by the gem and they were now the most powerful members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants.

There was a time when Scott and the original X-men were altered by an alien entity which negated and modified their mutant powers.

Scott had total control over his optic blasts, he could even look at people without his visorIt was in X-Men First Class Vol 2

#6-7 2008

In the Ultimate Universe (universe 1610)

Cyclops gained the ability to control his powers completely when he was under the effects of Banshee , aka 'Mutant Growth Hormone'.

This drug gives mutants who take it a secondary mutation, and/or enhances the one(s) they already have.

Unfortunately, Banshee is highly addictive and tended to have mind-altering effects.

Cyclops could not safely stay on it for an extended period, and eventually had to cease taking it.

Shortly after he stopped taking it regularly, his powers returned to normal.

Question: Pretty straightforward question. We see Cyclops with his trademark visor/glasses on 24/7 to control his power.   So is there ever a point in any universe where Cyclops develops control of his power and is able to use it without the visor/glasses?  Note:  this question  says that he was never able to control his powers before becoming one of the X-men. I'm looking for an all-time answer in any Marvel universe.

Has Cyclops of the X-Men ever developed the power to control his eyes?

There are numerous instances where Cyclops has had control over his optic blasts and has been able to discard his visor. This happened temporarily in Astonishing X-Men, and potentially more permanently in First Class X-Men Vol 2 and the film X-Men: The Last Stand. In Ultimate Universe, Cyclops again was able to control his optic powers completely whilst under the influence of a drug called Banshee.

There are differing views, e.g. that Cyclops gained control of the eye during a therapy session, that he never gained control (possibly due to a head injury), that he gains control after Jean cures him and that he gains temporary control after taking a hormone drug called Banshee.

Cyclops had control only temporarily during a therapy session in Astonishing X-men #14.

No - Cyclops lost control over his eye following a head injury, although there is a suggestion elsewhere that Mr Sinister might have caused it.

Yes - Jean/Dark Pheonix cures him and thereby gives him control of the eye.

Yes - Scott was altered by an alien entity and then had total control over his optical blasts in X-Men First Class Vol 2.

Yes - Cyclops gained the ability to control the eye after taking a hormone called Banshee, but he had to stop taking it in the end and then returned to normal.


Aku sent Jack to the future as a last ditch effort to stop Jack from killing him.

Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law.

This is especially clear in the first episode/movie, in which we see him beg with Jack before this.

It's never directly said why Aku sent him to that particular era, but it's safe to say that sending him in the future would prevent him from tampering with the past -- and that Aku is strongest in the future, where he has had time to recover and take everything over.

Yes, this is stated at the start of every episode in the first four seasons .

Moreover, lending credence to Aku's decision

, we see that 50 years further down the road, Aku has regained an immense amount of power, being able to destroy a whole army in seconds.

Clearly, Aku knew that he could recoup and hoped to become powerful enough to overcome the "foolish samurai wielding a magic sword".

He's in the future because the Samurai was not allowed to slice through living beings, due to TV viewer age restrictions.

Slicing robots was perfectly acceptable by the network.

So the setting was hand-waved into the future, so that all of his opponents could be robots.

"Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil!

But a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me.

Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law!

Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku!"

-- Aku, opening sequence

Aku saw him as a threat, and sent him to a time where Aku was (apparently) too powerful to be threatened by him.

From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

After taking his father's magic katana, the prince challenges Aku to a duel and defeats him.

However, before the prince can deal the killing blow, Aku creates a time portal and sends his opponent into the distant future, anticipating that he would be able to amass sufficient power to deal with the samurai later .

And from Wikia (emphasis mine): Jack travelled to the castle of Aku and found his father enslaved and nearly skin and bones.

He warned Jack that it was too early for him to fight Aku , but he didn't listen and continued on.

Jack then confronted the sorcerer and the battle began.

Jack managed to severely wound Aku , but before he could deal the final blow, Aku opened a time portal and threw Jack into it, sending him centuries into the future.

When Jack finally escaped the portal, he found himself in a dystopian future.

After Jack escaped being crushed, he met three alien teens who called him "Jack."

He asked them where he was and what was going on around him, and learned that Aku had conquered the world and spread his influence across the universe , enslaving many planets while using Earth as his base of operations.

What would you do if you had encountered a dungeon boss you cannot beat?

CAUTION:

Tongue in cheek answer imminent, reader discretion is advised.

That's right

, you would use your escape rope , lick your wounds, go out and grind in those levels some more until you think you can beat it.

That is what Aku actually did in this case.

During the conclusion of the initial battle between Jack and Aku, Aku realized that his power level is not enough to beat Jack, and carelessly he had no more health potions left as well, so Aku decided to escape to live and fight another day.

Since Jack is not some dungeon boss that will idly sit in some dungeon waiting for Aku to grind in those levels he delayed the encounter the only way possible, by sending Jack to the future, Aku used his metaphorical escape rope and sent Boss Jack back to his "dungeon".

Evidently either Aku got lazy and forgot about this encounter, or he is just not that good in power-leveling, by the time it's once again destined to battle the boss, he is not high level enough to steamroll over Jack by this point.

Whether or not he did this to keep the boss battles interesting remains uncertain.

Tearing open a portal in time was obviously a last-ditch effort, so it stands to reason Aku didn't have a solid plan for it.

It was the only way he could think of, at the time, to distance himself from Jack.

From the facts that Aku isn't shown to use such portals at any other occasion (AFAIR), and that he waited until the very end to do it, we can conjecture that it was a sort of experimental ability

- Aku wasn't sure he could do it at all, let alone what would be the exact consequences.

Aku probably did consider that in the future he would have an advantage against Jack, but didn't engineer the exact destination - he just did what he could with his remaining strength, and that ended up sending Jack when it did.

Aku attacks Jack's village when Jack is a child and he is helped by his Mother and friends of his Father to escape so that he could return to defeat Aku at a later time.

After training and growing up, Jack gets his Father's sword and returns to his village and confronts Aku.

Jack wins the battle and as he is about to defeat/kill Aku, Aku sends Jack into the future to escape the battle and so that Aku will be stronger and have a better chance of defeating Jack when they meet again in the future .

This is why Jack is trying to get back to the past so that he can fight the weaker "past Aku" and finish the job, as "future Aku" has a lot of resources which makes defeating him more difficult.

Question: In the TV show Samurai Jack, he is transported to the future where most episodes involve him chasing the one who sent him there, and trying to get back to his time. What was the reason AKU sends him to the future?

Why is Samurai Jack in the future?

It is apparently never directly said why Samurai Jack was sent to the future, however, it is fairly implicit that Jack is sent to the future so that when Aku next comes to fight him, Aku will be much stronger and stand a better chance of victory. Another factor as to why this decision was made to set the programme in the future, is that violence against robots was considered more palatable to the TV networks than violence against people.

Nearly all responses agree that Aku sent Jack into the future because he realised Jack was going to kill him and it was the only way to save himself. One response saw it as a plot device designed to get around TV viewer age restrictions.

Aku sent Jack into the future as he knew Jack would otherwise kill him and this was the only way to save himself.

Aku sends Jack into the future so that Jack can fight against robots rather than people, thereby avoiding the TV age restrictions on slicing into living beings.