Grax (Earth-One)

The four-armed Grax was a terror of the galaxy and sworn enemy of Superman. Despite his claims of being a 20^th order intelligence, the Man of Steel had defeated Grax at every turn and Grax had sworn vengeance.

History

Grax was a thief and conqueror, who stole technology and demanded tribute from planets that could not withstand him. His sole opposition had been Superman, who had crushed Grax's robot army, and stopped his flying saucers after they had stolen Venusian Radonite.^[1]

Always a treacherous and jealous being, Grax attacked fellow science-criminal Brainiac and took his impenetrable force-field device, which he fortified with matter from the core of a red sun. Grax distracted Superman with one rocket, while another attached a tamper-proof K-Meson bomb to Superman. The red sun-reinforced force-field that he placed around the Earth would ensure that the impervious Superman witnessed the destruction of the entire planet, first hand.

It was only the intervention of the embittered Brainiac that saved the Earth, and thus it was Grax's own treachery that lead to his downfall. Superman used a super-magnet to draw Grax to the forcefield; and facing his own demise, Grax released Superman to deactivate the K-Meson bomb, but too late. The blast destroyed Grax's ship and Grax only escaped by becoming a phantom, and in this form he sought a planet to become solid again and rebuild.^[1]

Some time later; Grax, the Marauder, and Brainiac were called together by Luthor at the Anti-Superman Fortress. Past treachery returned to haunt Grax, as Luthor had to stop Brainiac from seeking revenge against him for stealing his force-field and leaving him adrift. ^[2]

Luthor reminded Grax that he had sworn that Superman and his friends were his mortal enemies; and they launched their worldwide public campaign to sue Superman for peace. Grax convinced Superman that his super-feats were creating negative phantom duplicates that were laying waste to the Earth, and the Man of Steel signed an armistice with the 'four-armed' Anti-Superman gang.^[3]

Briefly, the world saw Grax and the other villains respond to emergencies on Earth, while Superman sat idly by, for fear of releasing more phantoms. Once the hoax was revealed and Superman restrained, Grax immediately turned on Luthor and gloated that Luthor was "not fit to lick the boots of a 12^th level intelligence like Brainiac, not to mention a 20^th level mentality like me!"^[3] But it was ultimately his treachery that made Luthor truly ally with Superman and freed the phantom Supermen from the Marauder's control. Their attack forced Grax to flee the galaxy — and possibly the universe — a trip from which he was not seen to return.^[3]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Enhanced Intellect: Grax regularly claimed to have a 20^th level intellect, though no other being has verified this.

Abilities

Gadgetry: Grax uses the technology of others in novel ways; for example, combining Brainiac's force-field with the energy of a red sun.^[1]
Deception: Grax lead Superman to believe that he could not use his super-powers without dire consequences.^[2]
Robotic Engineering^[1]

Weaknesses

Egoism: Grax has an inflated sense of his own intelligence.
Treasonous: Grax turns on those around him to a fault; and his deceit has been his undoing. ^[1] ^[3]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Brainiac's Force-Field
Power Charger
Space Tractor Beam

Transportation

Star Ship

Weapons

K-Meson Bomb: A planet-devastating bomb that causes the the nuclei of atoms to fly apart.
Super-Gas Grenade

Notes

This version of Grax, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.

Trivia

Though not seen again in Earth-One, an analogue of Grax returned in Super Friends #7.