Hiroim

Origin

Hiroim was born one of the Shadow People of the planet Sakaar and did not know who his parents were. They had been two Saka priest sworn to celibacy, having obviously violated their vows. They disappeared after he was born, and he was embraced by the priesthood despite his illegitimate heritage. Because he did not know where he had come from, he began to wonder. This wonder led to what would become his shame. As a priest, he endeavored to be like the Sakaarson, who was to be the fabled savior of planet Sakaar. But due to his mysterious origins, he began to believe that the Sakaarson could be him. He pledged himself to all the vows of the priesthood and endured the trials with the best of them. But the day came when an elder looked into his eyes and saw the truth of the hubris. Realizing how he had just failed, Hiroim unthinkingly lashed out and knocked the elder down. For this, he was expelled from the priesthood and hence forth known as Hiroim the Shamed.

After this, he wandered among his people and dedicated himself to learn their martial ways. His failure in the priesthood did not shake him from his teachings, and he would continue to offer spiritual guidance to those who needed it. Soon, the Spike War began. He became the commander of an army of Shadow warriors from various tribes, leading them successfully in battle and saving a great many lives.

Creation

Hiroim was one of the foremost of many characters created by Greg Pak for the Planet Hulk story, becoming one of the principle members of the cast of that and the sequel stories that followed.

Major Story Arcs

The Father Emperor’s Warbound Shadow

Despite Hiroim’s excellent strategies and tactics, the Spikes simply could not be stopped. He soon discovered that the Shadow Elders had entered into a treaty with the Father Emperor of the Imperials to fend off the Spikes, and as part of the treaty, the Father Emperor was entitled to having a Warbound Shadow. To be warbound was to be bound by a sacred oath of loyalty. Hiroim was chosen to be this Warbounds Shadow, whether he wanted it or not. He guarded the Father Emperor through the rest of the Spike War and beyond.

Soon after the Spike War ended, a very specific and secretive task was asked of Hiroim by the Father Emperor. One more threat to Sakaar’s peaceful existence remained, and he wanted Hiroim to eliminate it. What the Father Emperor spoke of was his own son, Angmo II. Hiroim snuck into the city and located the helpless boy, who was said to be a pampered and arrogant child that would surely bring ruin to the empire should he ever take the throne. Despite this, Hiroim found he could not murder a defenseless boy. He did not carry out his duty and therefore broke his sacred warbound oath. Not only was he no longer welcome among his own people, he was a criminal to the empire.

For the next twenty years, he wanders the deserts alone as a hunted man.

Planet Hulk

For further details:Planet Hulk

Eventually, Hiroim was captured by the Imperials, and his punishment was to fight as a gladiator in the Great Arena. But first he was sent to the Maw, the training arena. He spent his days in silence and prayer when he was not being forced to fight for his life with an obedience disk branded to his chest. This was where he met the stone man Korg, the Brood No-Name, Miek the Unhived, the senator’s daughter Elloe, her protector Lavin Skee and the monster from Earth the Hulk. They survived their vicious trials as a group, and Hiroim soon began to break his silence among them. It was Hiroim, over the slain body of Lavin Skee, to declare the oath that they would all be Warbound in Skee’s honor.

Along with his fellow Warbound, Hiroim fought the enslaved Silver Surfer in the Great Arena as the final match required to see them earn their freedom. He thought the Surfer had been painted silver as a form of mockery to resemble the legendary Sakaarson, but Hulk informed him otherwise. After tha match, the Red King demanded that they show their loyalty to him by executing Elloe. Hiroim tried to refuse on the grounds that they were all warbound to her through Lavin Skee, and killing her would be a violation. His plea fell on the deaf ears of Caiera the Oldstrong, who pointed out that he could not claim the warbound oath when he was a shamed exile from their people.

It was the Silver Surfer who solved the dilemma. He fried the obedience disks enslaving everyone in the Great Arena, which included Hiroim and the Warbound. They rescued Elloe and made their escape, now free men and fugitives.

The Hulk’s party of fugitives grew into an army, and Hiroim was their chief strategist for he knew the ways of war. He brought Hulk to the Shadow Elders so that they could see Hulk was the Sakaarson they had been waiting for and pledge allegiance. But the Shadow Elders rejected the Hulk and his rage. That did not matter. Hulk took their great stone ship and used it attack the Red King’s forces, pushing the way to the crown city. Hiroim was there to see the Red King defeated, and he supported the Hulk taking the throne.

Only a few days after Hulk became king, the Crown City was destroyed in a warp core explosion that devastated Sakaar. Caiera the Oldstrong and the Shadow Elders were killed, and Hiroim found himself as a recipient of some of the Oldpower, this become Hiroim the Oldstrong. In the face of this enormous tragedy, he almost gave up and allowed himself to be consumed by the lava. It was Korg who snapped him out of it. They would find the Hulk and join him in his crusade of vengeance against those who seemed to be responsible for the destruction.

World War Hulk

For further details:World War Hulk

On the way to Earth to make the Illuminati pay, Hiroim helped Hulk properly channeled his rage before it became too out of control and threatened even his Warbound. Hiroim spoke with Hulk about who they would be facing and began devising a strategy against them. He decided they would first attack Black Bolt, the most dangerous of the Illuminati. Parading Black Bolt’s defeated form for all to see would get them a good psychological advantage against the rest. With his knowledge of the magic of the Shadow People, Hiroim was also instrumental against Dr. Strange. However, in battle with an overpowered and enraged Dr. Strange, he lost his left arm.

Hiroim understood that the Hulk was perhaps taking vengeance too far but supported it completely as the Hulk’s Warbound. If they were to all be damned, then so be it. Those responsible for the deaths on Sakaar would still be made to pay.

The discovery that it had been Miek responsible for the destruction of Crown City and not the Illuminati. Being betrayed by one of his fellow Warbound shook Hiroim’s faith. Following the Hulk’s blind fury had been a mistake, and they had all taken out their rage on those who were innocent of blame. Hiroim willingly surrendered himself to SHIELD and harshly questioned Elloe about whether she was in on Miek’s betrayal. When she confessed that she was not, he felt shamed all over again.

Aftersmash

For further details:World War Hulk: Aftersmash

Hiroim and the Warbound escaped custody to help the humans deal with the fallout of all the destruction they helped to cause. He used his Oldpower, with the help of Korg and the Thing, to heal the massive amount of damage done to the ground beneath Manhattan and return it to normal. After that, they fled underground from SHIELD and were pursued by Agent Kate Waynesboro.

Hiroim was targeted by some sort of teleportation technology, and the rest of the Warbound chose to go with him wherever he was being taken, dragging Waynesboro along. Hiroim was separated from the others during the teleport, finding himself held captive in an abandoned factory in New Mexico. He was being held by the Leader, who used device to channel his Oldpower into generating a dome of gamma radiation over the area. The Leader declared the place Gammaworld. Even after his fellow Warbound freed Hiroim, anything he did with his Oldpower only strengthened the dome. Not only that, but the radiation had created a horde of mutated monsters that threatened all the human life inside the dome. Hiroim told the others to protect the humans, finally finding a fight that made sense again.

With Waynesboro’s guidance, Hiroim was able to create a tunnel through the dome to evacuate the humans. It took all his strength and concentration to hold the tunnel open for people to escape. The Leader tried to seed his mind with doubt about bothering to save the humans, but Hiroim would not break. He said he would not let anyone die and meant it. Though some did die when he was attacked and could no longer hold the tunnel open. The Leader had done something to his connection to the Oldpower. He was able to create a replacement arm for himself from the earth. It was more powerful than he had every felt before and growing beyond his control. He could sense that there were hundreds more humans still inside the dome and would die of radiation within hours.

HIroim claimed to have a plan to bring down the dome by destroying the Leader’s underground machinery, sending all the Warbound away except for Korg. Before leaving, Wayneboro kissed him. After they were gone, Hiroim revealed his true plan. He was the one powering the dome, so Korg would have to kill him. Korg refused, forcing Hiroim to attack him. Eventually, Korg relented to his friends wishes and shattered Hiroim with one mighty blow. As he lay dying, Waynesboro returned and revealed that the humans would also die if the dome collapsed, so he healed himself with the Oldpower and repowered the dome. They would have to find another way to protect the humans.

Hiroim battled the Leader, who grew in strength from the Oldpower since he too was connected to the dome. He attempted to overpower Hiroim, not realizing what Hiroim was truly trying to do. Hiroim took all the Oldpower the Leader was assaulting him with along with his own and transferred it all to Kate Waynesboro. She was left transformed, and the Leader was left weakened and defeated. This was his final act in life, and he crumbled.

Chaos War

For further details: Chaos War

As Amatsu-Mikaboshi consumed the universe and threw open the doors between life and death, Hiroim returned along with a few other dead allies to the Hulk. Once again, he was able to fight alongside Korg. He aided the Hulks against the forces Mikaboshi had dispatched against them to locate Marlo Jones and the residual touch of Death inside her. Once this task was complete, he and the others abruptly faded back to where they belonged.

Abilities

Hiroim was considered to be one of the most dangerous and skilled warriors on Sakaar. He was trained in the martial arts of the Shadow People and a master strategist who learned from the Book of War. As one of the Shadow People, he was fast to mature in life and would have been quite long-lived. Physically, he strong enough to press greater than a ton.

With the Oldpower, Hiroim’s strength and durability was increased to unmeasured levels. He could manipulate the inertial and tectonic energies of whatever planet he was on. He could both cause and stabilize earthquakes and the like. His senses were amplified to the point he could feel raindrops hitting the ground anywhere, and he could heal and rebuild his own body using earthly material.

Characteristics

• Height: 7’2″
• Weight: 430 lbs.
• Hair: Black
• Eyes: Black