Origin
Ravenous was a native of the Negative Zone under the rule of Annihilus. He and others of his kind were genetically engineered to be powerful enough to under down Heralds of Galactus in preparation for Annihilus’ invasion of the positive matter universe. Ravenous was made leader of the Seekers, becoming one of Annihilus’ top generals.
Creation
The character of Ravenous was created by Keith Giffen and Renato Arlem as part of the Annihilation event, which saw a major revival in popularity of Marvel’s cosmic franchise. He debuted as a direct enemy of the Silver Surfer, but his presence continued to grow as the event continued until it ended with him as one of the major players in the reshaped cosmic hierarchy.
Major Story Arcs
Annihilation
For further details: Annihilation
Hailing from the Negative Zone, Ravenous made his presence known to the positive universe when the Annihilation Wave began its invasion. He was the leader of the Seekers, being like him who had been bonded by umbilical cords to dog-like beasts. These Currs, as the beasts were called, connected Ravenous and his fellow Seekers to the Opposing Force, an equivalent to the Power Cosmic in the Negative Zone. While the Annihilation Wave laid waste to Xandar and rampaged through the Skrull Empire, Ravenous and his Seekers were assigned the special task of capturing the Heralds of Galactus so that his lord Annihilus could have them studied for their connections to the Power Cosmic. Gabriel the Air-Walker was the first found by Ravenous and the Seekers, and his injures became so severe that they exposed he was a machine rather than an organic being. Ravenous was disappointed, because his mission was to bring back living beings possessing the Power Cosmic. As he was about to have Air-Walker destroyed, the Silver Surfer intervened and managed to escape with his fellow herald. However, the damaged done by Ravenous was too severe, and Air-Walker soon died anyway.
Ravenous was a high ranking member of Annihilus’ forces, and as such, he took time away from overseeing the hunt for the heralds to personally escort Thanos to a meeting with Annihilus. Meanwhile, his Seekers successfully captured Terrax the Tamer. Ravenous later learned the location of Galactus from tracking the Silver Surfer and dared to confront the Devourer with a fleet of vessels from the Annihilation Wave. He arrived just as the Silver Surfer was being reforced as Galactus’ herald once more, and his fleet was overwhelmed by the Surfer’s newfound and ruthless determination. Ravenous survived his fleet’s destruction, declaring in a challenge that he was still the Surfer’s equal. This proved not to be the case any longer. The Surfer soundly defeated Ravenous but allowed him to live to learn the lesson that Galactus’ will cannot be opposed.
After Thanos succeeded in acquiring Galactus and the Silver Surfer for Annihilus, Ravenous was given a more direct role in the war. He led the assault on the last stronghold of the United Front, personally facing off against Ronan the Accuser and Firelord. His forces won the day, and he was teleported to safety as the Annihilation Wave’s new Galactus weapon destroyed the planet. The United Front crumbled after this defeat, and Ravenous focused on the Kree Empire to conquer for his lord Annihilus next. The ruling part of the Kree, House Fiyero, reached out to him to negotiated terms of surrender rather than fight him. As he met with them, the trio of Ronan the Accuser, the Super Skrull and Praxagora fought their way through Hala to confront House Fiyero. Ravenous had little concern over whether Ronan killed them or not. The fact that they were so willing to sell out their people to him hardly convinced him of their loyalty. Still, he fought when Ronan broke through their final defenses. The two clashed, and Ronan struck him with such a mighty blow from the universal weapon that the left side of his head fractured. He was teleported away before Ronan could finish him off, so Ronan settled for executing House Fiyero instead.
Ravenous quickly received the necessary medical attention, getting prosthetics grafted to his head, and resumed his campaign against the Kree. In return, Ronan led the Kree to throw everything they still had against the Annihilation Wave. The two forces waged brutal war in the skies above Hala without realizing what was happening elsewhere. Galactus had been freed and in his rage was destroying the bulk of the Annihilation Wave. Ravenous suddenly found all his supply lines were nonexistant and reinforcements were the same.
The tide of battle turned against the Annihilation Wave, and Ravenous found himself in charge after Nova killed Annihilus in the wake of Galactus’ devastating retaliation. He sued for a peace agreement and received ownership over several Kree territories along with all of the former Skrull Empire in return for an immediate end to the war. It was all his to rule from his new throneworld of Kree-Lar. However, he ruled only as caretaker. Annihilus was reborn in a larval stage, and though he was tempted to kill the vulnerable Annihilus and keep power, his honor required him to do his duty and rule until Annihilus was fit to once again.
Annihilation Conquest
For further details: Annihilation Conquest
When the new Ultron-led Phalanx invaded Kree space, Ravenous found his ceded Kree territories targeted for conquest as well. Ronan the Accuser, Super Skrull, Praxagora and the mysterious Wraith paid him a visit while his forces did their best to defend Kree-Lar. At first, it appeared Ronan came to plea for an alliance against the Phalanx, but instead, Ronan revealed he really wanted something Ravenous did not realize was even there. Ravenous had almost literally been sitting on a force of 15,000 Kree Sentries without knowing it, and Ronan was taking them to purge the Phalanx from Hala. Ravenous managed to convince Ronan to first use the Sentries to destroy the invading Phalanx on Kree-Lar and then provided Ronan with a fast vessel to get to Hala along with the Sentry fleet.
When the heroes on Hala succeeded in destroyed Ultron, the Phalanx troubles in Ravenous’ ceded territories presumably ended.
War of Kings
For further details: War of Kings
Ravenous later became embroiled in the war between the Shi’ar and Kree due to Emperor Vulcan of the Shi’ar no caring that Ravenous’ ceded territories were no longer part of the Kree Empire. Ravenous expressed that he would have gladly allied with the Shi’ar against the Kree if Vulcan had not insanely decided to attack him as well. Even after the Annihilation War and the attack by the Phalanx, his forces were formidable enough to hold off the Shi’ar and were even projected to force them back. However, Vulcan surprised him by dispatching Xenith to assassinate him. The Strontian female attacked him so fast and hard that he was no match for it, and it was only the intervention of Robbie Rider, a newly recruited Nova Centurion, that kept him from being killed.
Meanwhile, Blastaar had allied with the Shi’ar again him and was currently leading a campaign to conquer Kree-Lar and all of the Negative Zone territories. Ravenous was in no position to fight back and was too busy depending on Robbie Rider’s constant concentration keeping Xenith at bay for both of their sakes. Nova arrived just as Xenith broke free and saved both their lives by defeating her. However, Blastaar’s forces were now at Ravenous’ gates. Robbie Rider had already promised him the protection of the Nova Corps, and Ravenous demanded it of Nova now. Without protection, it was clear that Blastaar would overrun his forces and have him killed. Nova successfuly negotiated with Blastaar to leave Kree-Lar by quietly threatening to do to Blastaar what he did to Annihilus.
Ravenous was peacefully extracted from Kree-Lar. Now dethroned, he became a prisoner of the Nova Corps for his crimes during the Annihilation War.
Powers & Abilities
Ravenous is a being of immense physical strength and endurance. When bonded to his Currs, he is able to channel the energies of the Opposing Force which is said to make him the equal of a typical herald of Galactus. Since the Currs are the vessels of his Opposing Force, he loses this power when they are destroyed or no longer connected to him by their umbilicals. However, Currs can rapidly regenerate.