Marvel’s Top 10 Silver-Age Monsters Have Been Scaring Us for Decades

Several of these beastly creatures are still around today!

Silver-Age Monsters | Marvel Top 10

The Marvel Universe is filled with tons of terrifying Super Villains -- but before many of those characters came around, there were monsters. During Marvel's Silver Age, a slew of frightening folks struck fear into Marvel fans. Here are the Top 10 monsters from Marvel's Silver Age!

When M-11 was commissioned by an international terrorist, it was designed with one purpose in mind: killing. This worried its creator, who programmed the robot to kill him, take on his own spirit and human free will, and disappear into the ocean where he couldn’t cause any harm. M-11 was later found by Namora and reprogrammed, upgraded, and made one of the Agents of Atlas!

When a team of scientists traced the so-called “missing link” to a wild region of Borneo, they found Gorgilla, who was known to the natives as the “God of Vengeance” who resided on Midnight Mountain. A confrontation with a Tyrannosaurus rex saw the massive creature side with humans, who decided against capturing him and taking him to be studied further.

The former Howard Lindley was a scientist who longed for the physical power of comic book heroes. Be careful what you wish for, Howard! Following a laboratory accident in which an atomic machine somehow responded to Howard’s daydreams, the meek scientist was transformed into the much bigger Bruttu!

Monstro the Menace from the Murky Depths comes from unknown origins, but some theorize that the massive mollusk was the result of an atomic mutation. Among Monstro’s abilities are changing size and leaving the water to attack villages on land!

Spragg, the Mountain That Talks Like a Man, did not start out as a seemingly organic part of the Earth. He was among a race of aliens that became trapped on Earth after drifting through space. Upon their arrival, Spragg and the rest of his fellow aliens melded with the planet’s molten core, eventually evolving into supremely intelligent, mountain-sized beings with psychic abilities! But Spragg, once an outcast among his own race, made his share of enemies on Earth, including Mole Man and She-Hulk!

Once an alien prisoner from an exile world, Xemnu crash landed on Earth, where he was revived by an electrician named Joe Harper. But no good deed goes unpunished – Xemnu hypnotized Joe, then realized he could hypnotize the entire human race! Joe launched Xemnu back into space, but the giant alien menace made several return trips – he’d try repeatedly to control the minds of Earthlings, only to be thwarted by the Defenders and other heroes.

The Mentelleronites were an alien race that wanted to conquer Earth – Orrgo was the one who volunteered his efforts to invade Earth. His first stop was a circus, where he hypnotized the whole population, but was seemingly killed by a gorilla named Jo-Jo. Thinking their entire race had suffered a deadly defeat, the Mentelleronites abandoned Earth, where Orrgo was later captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and became a Howling Commando – and later a dog. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

Kenneth Hale began as an ordinary human who set out to confront the fearsome Gorilla-Man in Africa. But after killing the beast, Hale took on the identity of the immortal Gorilla-Man himself. As the new Gorilla-Man, Hale eventually joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Agents of Atlas.

Goom came to Earth from Planet X to conquer and control humans – but once his own race showed up, they set the record straight: they weren’t looking for trouble, they were pacifists! Poor Goom was an anomaly and an outcast, and after the interplanetary misunderstanding, the aliens arrested Goom and brought him back home.

On first glance, Fin Fang Foom looks like a dragon – but that’s just one of the many forms taken by the shapeshifting alien from Kakaranthara in the Maklu system of the Greater Magellanic Cloud. As one of the most legendary Marvel monsters, Fin Fang Foom has been up to many centuries of no good since he first awoke in ancient China. He’s had run-ins with Iron Man, the Hulk, and Squirrel Girl, among so many others. With his super strength, longevity, and a variety of other powers, there’s no doubt that Fin Fang Foom will always rise again!

For more about Marvel's 80th Anniversary, visit www.marvel.com/marvel80.

The Hype Box

Can’t-miss news and updates from across the Marvel Universe!