Drax The Destroyer

Origin

Original Drax

Mentor determined that the threat of his son Thanos could no longer be ignored and wanted to create a being of sufficient power to defeat Thanos. Enlisting the aid of his father Chronos, who millennia before had become a disembodied wraith, Mentor had Chronos seize the astral form (living consciousness) of Arthur Douglas before it had completely fled from Arthur Douglas' body. Chronos and Mentor then fashioned a humanoid body from the Earth's soil, granted it superhuman powers (Superhuman strength, invulnerability, flight and being able to fire energy blasts), and cast Douglas' spirit inside it. Thus they created the being who would become known as Drax the Destroyer.

Mentor blocked all of Drax's memories of his old life, instilling in him monomaniacal hate for Thanos. For years, Drax served as Thanos' nemesis, thwarting several of the Titan's plans, but never crushing Thanos himself. Thanos hired legions of alien mercenaries just to keep Drax away from him. During this period, Drax tracked down and slew Thanos' adopted daughter Gamora (though as she lay dying, Gamora's ally Adam Warlock came to her side and took her soul into his Soul Gem).  Finally, in Thanos' campaign to possess the Cosmic Cube, Drax, in the company of the Avengers, Captain Marvel, and Moondragon, saw Thanos destroyed. Suddenly lacking a reason for existence, Drax wandered space in grim contemplation, even at one point attempting suicide by getting a hive of alien beings to attack him, but was saved by Thor. By the time he learned that Thanos had managed to re-materialize himself, Thanos had once again been killed, this time by being permanently turned to stone. Drax, purposeless again, used Captain Marvel as a scapegoat upon whom to vent his frustrations.

Sometime later, Drax was contacted by his daughter Moondragon and invited to join her in her journey through space in search of knowledge, Drax accepted. The two rode aboard Moondragon's personal starship Sensia, and came upon the planet Ba Banis, a world of humanoid aliens caught in a vast civil war. Moondragon decided to used her mental powers to quell the conflict and then decided to set herself up as the world's goddess. Drax assisted his daughter for a time before he recognized that her ambitions were ignoble and so sent their ship to Earth with a holographic distress message. The Avengers responded and discovered Moondragon's world of mentally enforced tranquility. Freed by the Avengers from his daughter's mental domination, Drax advanced toward her, seeking to end her menace. In order to stop him, Moondragon mentally forced Drax's life essence to vacate his artificial body. Later, after subduing Moondragon and returning to Earth, the Avengers placed Drax's body inside Sensia and sent it into space programmed to self destruct. Without Drax's spirit inside it, Drax's body was destroyed when the Sensia exploded.  For a long period after this the only appearance of Drax would be as a member of one incarnation of the Grandmaster's Legion of the Unliving.

Resurrection

Reborn

Infinity Watch

Following Thanos' defeat and the subsequent breakup of the Infinity Gauntlet, Drax was chosen by Adam Warlock to safeguard the Power Gem as part of the Infinity Watch alongside his daughter Moondragon who had once killed him and Gamora who he had once killed.  When presented with the Power Gem, unlike most of the other Infinity Watch members who wore their gems upon their brow, Drax mistook the gem for a jelly bean and ingested it (luckily it is indigestible and, as it would reside within Drax for a few years, apparently lodged itself within him rather than merely passing through).  During his time as a largely earth-based Superhero, Drax, with the power gem, would prove to be stronger even than the Hulk, though his diminished mental faculties would hold him back in more ways than one, including his inability to land gracefully when flying; almost always causing great amounts of property damage as a running gag. 

Towards the end of the Infinity Watch's existence, Moondragon was critically injured during a mission and had to be put into a full body cast which Drax would dutifully watch over.  Eventually, due to internal strife and the disappearance of the Infinity Gems, the Watch fragmented and went their separate ways. After wards, Drax returned to Titan with Moondragon, who would successfully petition Chronos on the astral plane to restore Drax's mind to its former acuity (and Drax for Moondragon's restored health), at the cost of some physical power. Thus, Drax was restored to his original condition of somewhat lesser strength but restored intellect.

A short time later, Drax was accused of the murder of Elysius (wife of the late Captain Marvel and mother of Genis-Vell) and several other individuals. Warlock, along with Gamora, Pip, and Genis-Vell (without his nega bands), tracked Drax down and subdued him in time to find that the real culprit was the re-animated corpse of the original Captain Marvel. Using his soul-gem, Warlock traced the being controlling the corpse...a creature within the Negative Zone known as Syphon who was using the Nega-Bands as a conduit. Felled by a backlash of psychic energy, Warlock was unable to stop the transfer of the Nega-Bands to the unconscious Drax, who flew off into space. Warlock then gathered his allies and pursued Drax, finding that Syphon was using Drax and the bands to rip a portal into the Negative Zone, a portal which threatened the structure of our Universe. Summoning all of his strength, Warlock yanked Drax free and removed the Nega-Bands, causing the portal to shrink. But, before the portal could completely close, Syphon yanked Warlock into the negative zone, and in front of the audience of Blastaar and Annihilus, Syphon took Warlocks gem, and used it to re-open the portal. Warlock recovered, and fought back, but without his soul-gem he had little chance of subduing both Blastaar and Annihilus before Syphon was successful. Fortunately, Drax arrived with Pip, Gamora, and Genis (who was once more possessor of the Nega-Bands) in tow. As his friends fought on, Warlock went on to damage Syphon's conqueror wheel, thus closing the portal once more. Syphon attempted to use the soul-gem to kill Warlock, but found his attack turned upon his own soul. He fought back long enough to flee his own body. Warlock again claimed the gem, and along with Drax and his other companions, returned to our Universe.

Since then, Drax's condition began to revert. His mass and strength climbed back to previous levels, and his mind became clouded once more. Why this transpired was never fully addressed.  Finally, he sought out Moondragon who was residing with Genis Vell and Rick Jones on Earth, which led to an altercation with Genis-Vell, son of Mar-Vell and the new Captain Marvel. In the course of this struggle, Drax was transported to the microverse with Genis, where he finally found acceptance and happiness on the planet K'ai, where he remained for some time.  During this period Drax fought alongside the Micronauts until his diminished mental state was taken advantage of by the Psycho Man.

After leaving the Microverse, Drax is next seen as a combatant recruited by Adam Warlock to take on The Champion of the Universe in an attempt to stop Champion from exploiting another planet.  Drax fails to defeat champion, as do warlock's other recruits (Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, The Silver Surfer and Warlock himself).  Champion is eventually defeated by She-Hulk, who trained months for her battle under Gamora.

Earth Fall

Reborn, Again

Murdered by Paibok

Annihilation

Drax kills Thanos

Drax plays a role in the 2006 Annihilation crossover event, written by Keith Giffen. Surviving Annihilus' attack on the intergalactic prison known as the Kyln, Drax and Cammi team up with the last member of the Xandarian Nova Corps, Richard Rider (Nova). Together they fight against the advancing Annihilation Wave. Drax teaches Nova the power of concentration so that he may contain the entire Nova force. Moreover, Nova asks Drax to teach him an important lesson: How to destroy.  Drax is given the benefit of the doubt by Nova as his new body is just different enough from the Wanted file for 'Drax the Destroyer' that as long as Drax refers to himself merely as 'Drax' and acknowledges no past of destroying things, Nova lets the record slide.

Drax's daughter Moondragon is taken captive by Thanos, who has allied himself with Annihilus and her severed ear is sent to Drax.  Rather than rushing straight to Heather's aide, Drax stays behind to assist the United Front for a time and, during a doomed battle between the Annihilation Wave and the United Front on Daedalus 5, Drax stays behind to fight off the invaders while Nova and the rest of the group (including Cammi) finish the evacuation. Drax fights his way to one of the Annhilation Wave's ships in his quest for Thanos. He finds the Titan attempting to release Galactus from his prison on Annihilus' mother ship. Moondragon attempts to keep Drax at bay until Galactus is released but fails.  Before Thanos can release Galactus using his unique energy signature, Drax breaks through Thanos' defensive shield and punches a hole through the Titan's chest. Drax then realizes that they could "trick" the security system into shutting off by using the Silver Surfer, which succeeds. Once Galactus is freed, he teleports Moondragon and Drax to a far-off planet to spare them from his wrath on the Annihilation Wave. Afterwards, Moondragon says Drax just disappeared, with it heavily implied she was covering for him.

Drax resurfaces during the second Annihilation war on the run from the Phalanx's select hunters.  Drax is taken down by the phalanx-infected Nova and Gamora, and is turned into one of the select.  Once Nova manages to free himself from Phalanx control, select Drax and Gamora go after him with the goal of reinfecting him or destroying him.  Nova eventually manages to free Drax and Gamora from select control.

Guardian of the Galaxy

Drax profile with the Guardians

Drax and Phyla in Oblivion

War of Kings

Adam Warlock returns with Gamora to the Guardians and informs the team of the War of Kings. Starlord and Rocket Raccoon decide they should split in 3 teams to avoid this war growing out of proportions;

1. The Kree Team with Starlord, Bug, Gamora, Jack Flag and Martyr (Phylla-Vell)
2. The Shi'ar Team with Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, Adam Warlock, Major Victory and Groot
3. The Coordination Team with Moondragon, Mantis and Cosmo the Spacedog

Drax was placed on the Shi'ar team because this team required the brute force necessary to counteract Vulcan's destructive power.  The Kree Team asked Blackbolt to stop the war, a request he denied. The Shi'ar team becomes separated from Adam Warlock, who is transported on to a Shi'ar vessel and is attacked by Vulcan, emperor of the Shi'ar. The rest of the Shi'ar Team works with the Starjammers to free Lilandra from Emperor Vulcan.

Powers & Abilities

Original Powers

Second Ressurrection

When Drax was later resurrected, his physical might increased, but he suffered severe mental disability in his new incarnation. Instead of his ability to sense Thanos across vast distances, he now possessed the ability to sense when beings have been in recent contact with Thanos, and a precognitive ability to sense when beings will be in contact with Thanos in the near future.  Drax's strength was compared with that of the Hulk, but lacking the latter's rage-fueled potential.

With the Power Gem, Drax was a truly unstoppable force with limitless strength. He subconsciously used the Power Gem to tap into it's power and grow stronger and stronger.

Current Powers

Drax has proven to have a superhuman olfactory senses. During the Annihilation event he is able to determine that Nova is a human like Cammi by sheer smell alone. Drax has also used this ability to recognize when weapons are about to be discharged in his area. In the Guardians of the Galaxy #5, he is asked if this acute sense has picked up any of the cloaked Skrulls.

In issue #4 of "Annihilation," Drax displayed an ability heretofore unseen in any of his previous incarnations; while in close proximity to Thanos's body, his own body emitted a strange, form-fitting aura; shortly thereafter, he punched straight through the Mad Titan's chest with a single blow.

The full extent of Drax's powers after his most recent rebirth are unknown at this time.

Abilities

Strength levels

Drax's original form possessed superhuman strength, allowing him to lift (press) 40 tons. Following his death and subsequent resurrection, his was strength increased to the Class 100 level, allowing him to lift (press) 100 tons. With the Infinity Gem his strength was raised even further, able to lift well in excess of 100 tons. As a result of his recent rebirth (shortly before Annihilation) Drax's strength appears to have diminished somewhat, to what degree is unknown.  The Marvel Power grid places his current strength at being able to lift over 75 tons, up to 100 tons.

Equipment

Characteristics

Height: 6'4" (Currently), 5'9" (Douglas), 7'4" (Most powerful form)

Weight: 680 lbs (Currently), 161 lbs, (Douglas), 1050 lbs (Most powerful form)

Eyes: White (Currently), Blue (Douglas), Red (Most powerful form)