Stan Lee Vs. Jack Kirby #2 - Him


There was another instance where Kirby's original concept was changed, and that was with "Him", the character who would later become Adam Warlock. Him first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 & 67, the product of an experiment by a group of renegade scientists who wanted to create a race of perfect beings with whom they could take over the world.


His visual appearance was inspired by the alien race, the Metrons, from the Star Trek episode, "Arena."

Kirby clearly liked the name "Metron," as he'd later use the name for one of his New Gods.

Kirby's concept for Him was quite different to what saw print, though. He was intended to be a commentary on Objectivism, Ayn Rand's "philosophy" that inspired much of Steve Ditko's later work, such as The Question and Mr. A.


Kirby's original plot was for the scientists to create a being who embodied Objectivism completely, and would lead humanity towards enlightenment. Ultimately, though, He would find his creators compromised, imperfect, and would destroy them. The story in #67 feels truncated, though, with Him only appearing briefly on the last page, as though, having seen how his story had been altered, Kirby decided to end it prematurely. He was disillusioned, and it marked a change in his work for Marvel.

After the creative explosion that brought about the Inhumans, Galactus, the Silver Surfer, the Black Panther, the Kree, Him etc., Kirby stopped introducing new concepts. He relied much more on reusing old ones, and the few new ideas he did introduce were noticeably less inspired. For example, Fantastic Four #91-93 borrowed elements from the plot of another Star Trek episode, "A Piece of the Action," and #97 was obviously heavily inspired by "The Creature From The Black Lagoon."

In 1969, the Kirby family moved from New York to California, and later that year, they were visited by the new Editorial Director of DC Comics, Carmine Infantino. Kirby showed him some new characters he'd designed and said, "these I want to do - but I won't do them for Marvel."



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