Origin
Miek was a member of the Natives, an insectoid race believed to be the only sentient people truly native to the planet Sakaar. Despite being the true native race, the Natives were victims of the red-skinned, humanoid Imperials. This was a truth Miek experienced directly when he was quite young. His father and hive were slaughtered by a unit of Imperials by the order of the Red King. The Red King desired the hive’s land and resourced, which were granted to Miek’s hive by the previous emperor for his father’s honorable service in the Spike War. Miek survived the slaughter only to be taken as a slave.
Over time, he became a runaway known as Miek the Unhived, a taboo that made him an outcast even among other Natives. The sense of community was so strong among his people that most Natives did not survive for more than one or two years unhived, but Miek was unique and managed to endure.
Eventually, Miek was recaptured and enslaved once more, but this time he was sold off to be a gladiator and likely die in the arena.
Creation
Miek was created by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan as one of the primary cast members of the Planet Hulk epic. He was made a member of the Warbound, an alliance of characters that saw the Hulk through the Planet Hulk story and beyond.
Major Story Arcs
Planet Hulk
For further details: Planet Hulk
Miek was thrown into the gladiatorial arena of Sakaar the same time as the Hulk, who had been captured upon crashing onto the planet. Miek knew he was no warrior and tried to bond with Hulk to increase his odds of survival. He also tried to help the other Natives forced to fight, despite them not wanting help from someone unhived. He and Hulk survived the battle, but rather than be given their freedom, they were thrown to the gladiator training pit known as the Maw.
Miek continued to stick close to Hulk even though the green giant had no interest in making friends. Soon, he and Hulk were part of a gladiator unit from the Maw including Korg, Hiroim the Shamed, No-Name of the Brood, Lavin Skee and Elloe Kaifi. Together, they faced the Wildebots, the deranged stone brothers of Korg, Death’s Head guards and even the Silver Surfer. Miek took an oath over the body of Lavin and became Warbound with his surviving friends. When it finally came time to earn their freedom, they were betrayed by the Red King. It was only the intervention of the Silver Surfer disabling their obedience disks that saved them, and they fought their way through the Imperial forces to their freedom along with many other slaves.
The Red King sent his Warbound Shadow, Caiera the Oldstrong, to hunt the escaped slaves, so Miek led his friends to a place they could rest and prepare. It was the Imperial settlement that now stood on the land his hive was slaughtered for. The Warbound found potential allies there, as the settlement felt abandoned by the Red King. But more importantly to Miek, the Imperial who murdered his father and led the slaughter of his hive was in charge. He demanded justice.
Some of his fellow Warbound tried to talk Miek out of it. Not only as the Imperial likely a better warrior but they needed all the allies they could get. However, it was Hulk’s opinion that meant the most to Miek, and Hulk taught him the lesson that would shape his life and lead to devastating consequences. Hulk said that he would never stop making people pay. So Miek did not. He challenged the Imperial and won, cutting off one of his own arms to do it. He discovered he could not bring himself to deliver the killing strike. It was then discovered that the Imperials had been keeping young survivors of Miek’s hive as slaves hidden underground this whole time. Enraged, Miek and the Warbound laid waste to the settlement and moved on.
With the Native slaves now in their company, Miek not only had a hive again but found himself being regarded as its hero by all his newfound young brothers. He was now regarded as Hero Brother Miek and agreed with those who wanted to take the fight to the Red King rather than continue running. More and more, Hulk’s guidance to never stop making them pay was becoming his primary source of thought.
To this end, Miek entered into a fifth stage of evolution that was rare for any Native to reac, but he did so because he hive called on him to. When he emerged from his cocoon, he was many times larger and more powerful than before. He was now King Miek, the official leader of his hive. He convinced Hulk that they had to overthrow the Red King. The Red King had to pay for all his crimes, including sending the Spikes, a parasitic alien horde, after them.
Miek soon found a Native queen being held in another Imperial settlement, where her eggs were being used as a food source for the Imperials. He freed her as the Spikes began attacking the settlement, and she was wounded. They all hoped the wound was not severe. Unfortunately, it was severe enough for her to be infected. She transformed into a Spike, forcing Miek to kill her.
As far as Miek knew, he had just killed the last of the Native queens, which meant there was no future for his people. All he and his hive had left was his revenge on the Red King. Their revolution was a success with the Hulk defeating the Red King and becoming king himself. The process of rebuilding began, but it was not enough for Miek. There could be no rebuilding for the Natives. Their queen was dead. Miek and No-Name became close, and she tried to become his new queen to no avail. Miek felt no place in the peace Hulk was creating on Sakaar, so he ended it. In secret, he rigged the warp core explosion of the shuttle that originally brought Hulk to Sakaar, framing the Illuminati for the devastating destruction that explosion brought to the planet. It even claimed the life of Caiera. Now, Hulk’s queen was dead too. The Warbound boarded the great stone ship of the Shadow People and headed for Earth, resuming the quest for payback as Miek wanted.
World War Hulk
For further details: World War Hulk and World War Hulk: Aftersmash
Miek’s scheme worked. The Warbound arrived at Earth, defeated the Illuminati and devastated Manhattan on a quest for vengeance that was not truly deserved. Miek wanted to Hulk to be the Worldbreaker and destroy everything so that what comes next could begin. But Hulk stopped short of doing so. After defeating the Sentry, Hulk became Bruce Banner before Miek’s eyes. Miek could not understand who this puny human was and wanted the Hulk back, so he lunged at Banner with his spear. Rick Jones pushed Banner clear and was impaled on Miek’s spear instead.
Still, it had the effect Miek desired. Enraged, Banner transformed back into the Hulk and brutally attacked Miek. The Warbound could not get Hulk to stop beating Miek to near death. His hard shell was destroyed, and his body broken and mangled. The truth was that he wanted to die, though. He wanted Hulk to destroy him along with everything else, and he confessed to being responsible for the explosion on Sakaar. This was enough to push Hulk over the edge, and No-Name tried to finish Miek off for all the deaths on Sakaar. After Hulk was finally stopped, Miek survived his brutal beating due to being taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and given medical attention. As he floated in a healing tank in the Negative Zone prison, he was questioned by Kate Waynesboro about the remaining Warbound. He willingly told the Warbound’s secrets, because he felt they were the ones who betrayed Hulk by saving his life.
Chaos War
For further details: Chaos War
Miek made a full recovery as he remained locked away in Prison 42 and stayed there until Amatsu-Mikaboshi became the Chaos King and attacked all of reality. As order gave away to chaos, Miek found his freedom along with many other prisoners. He pledged his service to the Chaos King, who sought to destroy everything much like Miek wished Hulk would.
Miek, with an army of other former prisoners, attacked Amadeus Cho and Galactus as they attempted to complete a gateway to a pocket universe in order to save creation. Cho recognized Miek from the attack on New York but could not reason with him. Miek was unwilling to trust anything Cho said and and tried to stop Cho from completing the gateway. He failed, and Cho was able to use the gateway to help Hercules save reality from the Chaos King. In the immediate aftermath, Miek was able to evade being recaptured and sent back to Prison 42.
Planet Savage
Miek found that he had changed gender during his imprisonment in Prison 42. This allowed him to lay clutches of eggs, but the hatchlings could not survive long after birthing. Miek found his way to the Savage Land, and in the process of asserting himself there, he slaughtered 43 Sakaarian refugees residing there. He had also grown considerably larger and more powerful through this time. Ka-Zar contacted Hulk regarding the deaths of the Sakaarians, and Hulk ssembled his Warbound and headed there directly, despite his grievous injuries he’d sustained from his battle with Zeus. During the Warbound’s first night there, the Sakaarian elder had drugged the group, allowing Miek and his insect horde to abduct the Hulk. The elder had made an agreement with Miek that his people would be spared if he helped Miek obtain the Hulk as a sacrifice.
Miek had attempted to supplant his hatchlings into the bodies of Sakaarians, to keep them fed and safe, but that had not worked. When he attempted it with the Hulk’s unconscious body, the hatchlings thrived. Using exceedingly strong insect chemicals, Miek kept the Hulk drugged and under mind control while his hatchlings gestated in Hulk’s chest. He even sent the mind-controlled Hulk against his own Warbound in an attempt to stop them from rescuing his captive. When the Hulk’s rage burned off the mind control, Miek tried to convince the Warbound to help him keep his hatchlings alive.
Hulk then tore the infants from his chest and attempted to stomp them, before he set about killing Miek. Skaar then tackled Hulk, smashing his head into the ground, and calling him a âstupid monster’. Skaar promised the infant insects that no one would hurt them and that he’d care for them, as he could sympathize with their plight. Miek attempted to drug Skaar, to make him kill his father, only to have another of his arms chopped off by Hulk, before he punched Miek through a volcano and across the Savage Land, into a mountain of ice. Hulk chased after, and tried to save Miek, but Miek would not let him, and fell, presumably to his death.
Powers
Miek is a member of an insectoid species that is native to Sakaar. They are typically short (shorter than a normal human) and thin, bipedal, and have four arms and an armored exoskeleton. After changing into King Miek, Miek became much larger and thicker (comparable to the size of the Hulk or Korg). He is much stronger than before and his armor is also much thicker and more durable, able to withstand blows from the Hulk. He could be comparable to a giant cockroach in that aspect.
Like other members of his race, Miek possesses a low level form of telepathy which he can use to communicate to other members of his species sharing common memories and experiences (a process known as chemming). This ability is not limited only to members of his race, as when he accepted the Warbound as members of his hive they were able to become involved in the chemming process once Miek initiated it. When this happens they are drawn into the chemming without necessarily consenting to it.