Origin
The Faceless One is a member of an alien race known as the Kt’Kn, who hail from the Tk’kn System in the Milky Way Galaxy, and has made various attempts at conquering Earth.
Creation
The Faceless One was created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Wally Wood.
Major Story Arcs
Revolution!
The Faceless One first appeared as a secret accomplice of Prince Rudolfo, who sought to overthrow Doctor Doom from his position as ruler of Latveria. Rudolfo ended up merely being a pawn in the Faceless One’s scheme however, as the Faceless sought to conquer Latveria for himself in order to have the country serve as a base from which to orchestrate his plan to take over the world. While Rudolfo kept the brunt of Doctor Doom’s forces occupied with his rebel army, the Faceless One confronted Doctor Doom himself. When the two combatants proved to be too equally matched, the Faceless One brought forth the Doomsman, a powerful android of Doctor Doom’s that had been thought lost. Having reprogrammed the android to serve him, the Faceless One ordered it to attack its creator, Doctor Doom.
The Secret of the Faceless One!
Unfortunately for the Faceless One, Doom’s orginal programming of the android proved more resilient than anticipated, and the android ended up struggling to obey both the Faceless One and Doctor Doom. Its command paradox ultimately allowed the Doomsman to abandon its programming and assert its own mind, and it chose to attack both the Faceless One and Doctor Doom. Making quick use of an Ovoid mind-transference ability, Doctor Doom was able to momentarily control the Doomsman again and allied with it against the Faceless One. The Faceless One soon found himself captured by Doomsman, and so he chose to escape by revealing his true form as a disembodied sphere and detonated his abandoned body as a distraction. Making use of his ship, the Omni-Sphere, the Faceless One managed to escape, and turned the castle’s defenses against Doctor Doom, forcing him to flee from the rebel army. Refusing to grant the rebels victory however, Doctor Doom activated a machine that generated an earthquake and destroyed his castle.
Where Angels Fear to Tread!
The Faceless One later resurfaced as the leader of a revolt of robots that used to serve Doctor Doom. Luke Cage was hired by Doctor Doom to deal with some of the robots in the United States, but Doom ended up denying Cage his payment upon completion of the task. Cage therefore traveled to Latveria in order to force Doom to pay him what he was owed. Not long after he arrived in Latveria though, Cage ended up being brought to the Faceless One by a group of robots. Cage decided to aid the Faceless One in his invasion of Doom’s castle, if only so that he could confront the dictator over his payment. When he finally confronted Doom, Cage actually managed to damage his armor, giving the Faceless One the chance he needed to slay Doom. Not willing to allow murder, Cage fought the Faceless One and destroyed his exo-skeleton, causing him to flee. Doctor Doom ended up paying Cage the $200 that he owed him.
The Woman Who Fell to Earth
When he next resurfaced, the Faceless One took control of Dry-Dock, a space station that was serving as the base of the time-travelling Guardians of the Galaxy for the moment. The Faceless One managed to capture astronaut Salia Petrie, after it was believed she’d burned up after free-falling through the Earth’s atmosphere. Implanting a mind-control device in the back of her neck, the Faceless One had Salia ask her friend, Carol Danvers, for help and then forced Salia to incapacitate Carol so that he could use a mind-control device on her as well. Carol managed to get free however, switched to her Ms. Marvel persona, and ended up coming across Vance Astro of the Guardians. Together they battled the Faceless One and Salia. They managed to seperate the Faceless One from his body, but it then injected Ms. Marvel with its paralyzing toxin so that it could implant a mind-control device in her neck. Vance Astro managed to blow off some of the Faceless One’s legs, as well as its body, forcing it to admit defeat and teleport away. Ms. Marvel and Vance Astro where able to free Salia from the Faceless One’s control after he left.
Powers and Abilities
The Faceless One was a Kt’Kn alien and its true form was therefore a featureless globe with six insect-like legs. Its senses were psionic rather than physical. It could only communicate through telepathy and had limited telekinetic abilities. The globe absorbed air and food for sustenance, rather than eating.
The claws of its insect-like legs released a toxin capable of causing temporary paralysis.
The globe that comprised its being was usually attached to an android body from which it could easily be detached. This body could be controlled even from a distance, and typically carried a laser pistol and forcefield generator.
The Faceless One also had access to a flying starship known as the Omni-Sphere, a teleport globe, and mind-control devices.