Mordru

Origin

Mordru exists primarily as a formless Lord of Chaos. He existed before the universe had fully formed and he will continue long after the last star has burnt out. During the annual meeting of the Justice League and Justice Society, he attacked them and the Legion of Super-Heroes. He was known in the Realm of Gemworld as Wrynn and fought Amethyst on several occasions, finally being trapped within stone there for an extended period.

Creation

Mordu was created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan.

Character Evolution

Silver Age

By the 30th Century, Mordru rose to power, and he became one of the most powerful beings in the universe. He had joined the ranks of the teachers on The Sorcerer’s World, Zerox. He felt threatened by one of the students, Mysa Nal, so he secretly cursed her, and she became the Hag, eventually going on to become one of Evillo‘s Devil’s Dozen. Eliminating the competition, Mordru took control of the Sorcerer’s World and embarked on a series of conquests of nearby planets. With his magic, and the technology of other worlds, he built an empire that covered half the galaxy. The worlds of the 30th Century lived in fear, the only bright spot of hope was the Legion of Super-Heroes, based on Earth. Once he set his sights on Earth, a conflict ensued. The Legion defeated Mordru’s armada, and then faced Mordru himself. Increasing his size by magic, he battled the Legion personally, only to be sealed in an airless vault by Superboy and Mon-El. His old phobia triggered, and he was helpless and comatose. The vault itself was placed beneath the Legion Clubhouse for safety.

Five Years Later

In the five years later time-line, it was revealed that originally Mordru was fated to rule the universe for a thousand years. Seeing this time-line, the Time Trapper caused the Legion to be founded in order to block Mordru’s rise to ultimate power. However, when the Legion defeated Darkseid, the Time Trapper realized they had become more powerful than he expected, and were a threat to him. After Valor destroyed the Time Trapper, this time-line did indeed come to pass (for a single issue) before the previously minor villain Glorith cast a suicidal spell that inserted herself into history to take the Time Trapper’s place as a time manipulator who would (indirectly) create the legion to block Mordru.

In this new time-line, Glorith was orchestrating a battle between the Legion and Mordru in which they would be evenly matched, destroy each other, and let her pick up the pieces as the only remaining power in the universe. Ultra Boy however figured out her plan, and turned the tables on her, visiting Mordru in disguise and provoking him into attacking Glorith before she was ready (but still more powerful than he expected). The result was a stalemate which cost both Mordru and Glorith the bulk of their power.

Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths / Gemworld

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Mordru plays a major role in the history of Gemworld, where he began his existence as Wrynn, one of the twin sons of Lord Topaz and Lady Turquoise. Wrynn became entranced by the study of black magic as he grew older and during a summoning ritual he had been performing, he accidentally resurrected the gemstone golem called Flaw, servant of the Child, one of the Lords of Chaos. Flaw chose Wrynn as the instrument of the Lords of Chaos’ plans to retake Gemworld and transformed him, granting him tremendous magical power and renamed him Mordru. During a battle with Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Mordru murdered his twin brother, Donal and was later sentenced with banishment from the Twelve Kingdoms of Gemworld after his defeat. However, Amethyst, not satisfied with this decree and angered over Donal’s senseless murder, banished Mordru into Gemworld itself, literally merging him with the planet, where he remained for many years. This led to him developing taphephobia (the fear of being buried alive), a weakness that was often his downfall thereafter.

Reboot / Earth-247

By the 30th century of Earth-247, he has created a vast interstellar empire where only the Legion of Super-heroes and the United Planets oppose him. He was apparently defeated and placed within an airtight vault, but was freed by a battle between Sensor, Umbra and Magno, and the Legion of Super Rejects. He promptly absorbed the magical power from his descendants and collecting his favorite artifacts, notably the Emerald Eye of Ekron.

When the Legion of Super-heroes engaged him in combat in an attempt to return him to his prison, he easily defeats them, sending them forth as his heralds. He destroyed the planet Sklar as a demonstration of his might. He was finally defeated by a reformed Legion, Workforce, and the Uncanny Amazers; sealed within an airtight sphere. (this is presumably the same battle that Dr. Fate showed Mordru during their second encounter.)

Post-Zero Hour / New Earth

Mordru reappeared during the last days of the 20th century responding to a prophecy that said the world’s most powerful wizard would soon be reborn. Mordru sought to find this child and kill it to claim its power. In doing so, he engineered the corruption of Hawk. Forcing him to rape Dove and becoming Monarch. He faked the death of Dove, all so he could kill the child. He clashed with the newly reformed Justice Society several times attempting to find the child, finally defeating the team. He held the infant boy marked by fate high as he prepared to sacrifice it, but the new Star-Spangled Kid intervened and touched the Scarabus to the child.

Retroboot / New Earth

Mordru story pick up before the Five Years Later and follows Post-Zero Hour, at some point Mordru came to rule the Sorcerer’s World, and captured the White Witch. During this time, he tortures and abuses her, until rescued by Rond Vidar, Wildfire, Dawnstar and Blok. Mordru then joined forces with Superboy-Prime and the Legion of Super-Villains in order to get back his ‘property’, the White Witch. While attacking Earth, he killed Kinetix, absorbing the magical power of the Earth-247 universe. When his forces nearly destroyed Blok, the White Witch cast a powerful spell, absorbing Mordru’s essence into her, turning her into the Black Witch.

Post-Flashpoint / Earth 0

Mordru is a closely allied with the Questing Queen. When Volthoom was traversing the Multiverse and Timestream, he landed in Earth 3 encountering Mordru. Upon meeting, Mordru fused piece of Volthoom’s soul to create a power ring, the Ring of Volthoom.

Major Story Arcs

Silver Age

Mordru traveled back in time to 20th Century

Mordru’s imprisonment was only temporary however, as new member Shadow Lass accidentally released him when she was exploring the headquarters. Mordru was released, and quickly defeated the Legionnaires. Some members escaped, however. Using a Time Bubble, they traveled back in time to 20th Century Smallville, the home of young Clark Kent. They hid the Time Bubble, and adopted secret identities until they could come up with a plan to defeat Mordru. Mordru tracked them down, and took control of various townspeople in Smallville, including Lana Lang, to act as his agents. When Lana found the Legion, she reported them and he arrived. They fought once more, but the Legion were able to defeat him again. Mordru was once again trapped and comatose.

Later, United Planets Ambassador Relnic summoned Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Wildfire and Dawnstar to Weber’s World to protect a diplomatic conference between the U.P. and the Dominion, while many of their fellow Legionnaires battled the Resource Raiders on and above Earth. The sudden dual crisis prevents Science Police officer Shvaughn Erin from informing the team that one of its enemies has escaped imprisonment. The Legion prevailed over the Raiders, only to discover that they were advance scouts preceding a Khund invasion of Earth. While the team struggled against the massive invasion fleet, Superboy, Element Lad, Sun Boy and Colossal Boy take the fight to Khundia (the Khund homeworld), where they discovered that the Khund warlord Garlak is being telepathically manipulated by an outside force — which they trace back to Weber’s World.

The Legionnaires prevented a pair of assassins from killing the Dominion diplomatic delegation at Weber’s World, but it was only one in a series of events seemingly designed to disrupt the peace conference. When Relnic and the Dominators vanished without a trace, the Legionnaires decided to return to Earth. Along the way, they located a space station and discovered the missing Dominators, who inform them that Relnic was a Dark Circle agent. Meanwhile, the Khundian fleet penetrated the U.P. defenses and landed on Earth, with both the regular Legion and the Legion of Substitute Heroes unable to stop them. As the Khunds approached Legion Headquarters, the only ones remaining to defend the complex were the four Legionnaires who were forced to retire upon marriage: Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel. After the four of them successfully defended Legion HQ, Saturn Girl telepathically probes one of the Khundish commanders, learning that reinforcements sent by the Dark Circle are approaching the planet. Officer Erin fends off Khundian troops at Science Police HQ with the assistance of Karate Kid, who returned from the 20th century.

At Earth’s Presidential Palace, the returning Legionnaires located their friends who were captured in battle with the Khunds, but are now being held by members of the Dark Circle. The Circle agents attempted to destroy Earth using a sphere of negative matter. Superboy, Mon-El, Ultra Boy and Wildfire block most of the negasphere’s energy as it is released, but the palace was demolished. Only a handful of Legionnaires are conscious when one of the Circle agents (who had been masquerading as Ambassador Relnic) reveals himself to be the escaped foe that Erin tried to warn the Legion about earlier: the sorcerer Mordru.

Having skillfully manipulated the Resource Raiders, the Khunds, the Dark Circle and the events on Weber’s World, Mordru seized control of Earth. After a brief retreat, Superboy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl and Karate Kid rescued the imprisoned Legionnaires and Substitute Heroes. In orbit above Earth, Mordru holds off the entire group of heroes, until Element Lad was able to transmute the free-floating hydrogen atoms surrounding the sorcerer into soil. Having been effectively imprisoned underground, Mordru is defeated. In the aftermath of the crisis, the Khunds and the Dark Circle were driven out of United Planets territory. The U.P. and the Dominion sign an extended peace treaty. The Legion unanimously amends its constitution to allow married Legionnaires to remain on active duty. Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl opt to return to the team, while Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel decline to do so.

Mordru later fled to a medieval planet named Avalon and took the name Romdur (an anagram of Mordru). Star Boy used his mass-inducing power to collapse his castle, trapping him again. He was later temporarily released by Darkseid, only to have his power stolen by the Master of Darkness.

Five Years Later

Defeated after one of his schemes, the Sorcerers on Zerox removed his magical might and were able to “cure” his mind (details are vague, he seemed simpleminded afterwards), and he lived a happy life first on Zerox, then on Tharn after Zerox was destroyed in the Magic Wars (pretty much the entire planet relocated there). He even married his old apprentice and later enemy (and Legionnaire) Mysa Nal, the White Witch. In the economic collapse of the Galaxy, the planet Tharn was undefended and facing devastation at the hands of the Khund. As none of their other sorcerers had ever proved effective at fighting things such as starships, the Sorcerer’s council decided to restore Mordru’s power to him, despite knowing its corrupting influence on him. In short order he defeated the Khundish threat and set himself up as Emperor. His power was still nowhere near his glory days, though easily enough to defeat a Green Lantern, Rond Vidar who showed up on Tharn. The Legion turned up looking for him; he seemed capable of taking them all on but backed off when Cosmic Boy pointed out that he couldn’t afford to take them on and the United Planets, which would happen if there was an incident. He relented, releasing them and Vidar.

Mordru eventually allied with Glorith in an attempt to further manipulate history again. These attempts weakened time and played a role in the Zero Hour crossover event, which completely erased previous Legion continuity, this resulted in the creation of Earth-247.

Post-Zero Hour / New Earth

In a bright flash of light the child, revealed to be Hector Hall, grew to adulthood and was clad in the raiment of Dr. Fate. After a protracted battle Mordru was imprisoned in the Amulet of Fate for several months as Hector Hall began to adapt to his new position as mystical guardian.

Eventually having fed Hector much disinformation, and convincing Hector that he was Nabu, Mordru managed to switch places with Hector, taking the mantle of Fate as Hector was trapped in the Amulet. Eventually, Hector freed himself with the help of the real Nabu and defeated Mordru, trapping him in the Rock of Eternity. Mordru has faced the JSA a couple of more times after the Infinite Crisis.

Brightest Day

Although never seen it is mentioned in the Brightest Day, The Dark Things, story epilogue that Alan Scott has made a deal with Mordru that welcomes him the Starheart city that Alan created on the Moon.

Powers and Abilities

Mordru is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the universe and is known to be immortal, having not been born nor would he ever be deceased. He gain more power through magical energy such as the Starheart, Fate’s Artifact, and Rock of Eternity, becoming more indestructible. Mordru acquires such abilities, through spells and sorcery which are listed below.

Lord of Chaos: As a Lord of Chaos, Mordru actually exists as sentient energy without mass.

• Cosmic Awareness: As a lord of Chaos he has an attunement to the universe.
• Chaos Magic: A form of magic only used and practiced by the Lords of Chaos. This form of magic doesn’t follow any sort of pentagram, sigils, and rules like that of the Magic of Order
• Immortality: Mordru is also apparently ageless.Hourman attempted to de-age Mordru to a point where he was not as powerful, however in the process he discovered that Mordru’s timeline had no beginning or end. Mordru was apparently never born, nor would ever die.
• Possession: Mordru is capable of possessing other beings in order to utilize the full might of his magical prowess. Mordru possesses his physical hosts, with those possess retaining the appearance of a young man with auburn hair and hazel eyes.
• Power Distribution: Mordru can bestow portions of his magical energy on whoever he wants to. On one occasion he was able to transform Wonder Woman and Zatanna into fully-fledged Lords of Chaos capable of rivalling the Lords of Order.

Magic: Mordru is considered one of the strongest magic users in existence, being one of the first and most powerful wielders of magic alongside the Lords of Order and has honed skill over millennials.

• Astral Projection
• Dimensional Manipulation
• Flight
• Superhuman Strength
• Regenerative Healing
• Matter Metamorphosis
• Magic Energy Manipulation
• Teleportation
• Telekinesis

Weaknesses

Claustrophobia: Mordru is apparently helpless and fearful when in captivity. One of Mordru’s few weaknesses is his fear of entombment, having lost battles in the past as his opponents managed to bury him or trap him in confined spaces.

Other Media

• Legends of the Superheroes

• Justice League Unlimited

• Legion of Super Heroes