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Mammoth Mogul is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. He is a major antagonist of the comics, and is to Miles "Tails" Prower what Dr. Eggman/Dr. Ivo Robotnik is to Sonic or what Dimitri/Enerjak is to Knuckles.
Mogul is a large, brown-furred, dark green-eyed, anthropomorphic woolly mammoth, originally clad in a white double-breasted suit (although he also temporarily wore a purple suit). In flashbacks he has been seen wearing a toga made from animal skins, and on a number of occasions in both the past and the present he has donned gold or green armor. When wearing the gold, he wore a red cape; the green armor came with an under-outfit of matching hue. Mogul also seems to favor walking sticks, and has owned at times both a cane proportionate to his size and a scepter with a green gem embedded in the top. He originally had a Chaos Emerald embedded in his chest, usually concealed by whatever he was wearing but revealed to unleash blasts of energy. This gem was later taken from him, and he afterwards wore his suit opened slightly to reveal the pit in his torso where it once rested; upon obtaining a new Emerald, he continues to have it exposed but appears to have had his shirt modified to reveal it without exposing any more of his torso. Initially, Mogul was also depicted with long braids of his fur hanging down his back, but these appear to have been removed from his design.
Mammoth Mogul has sworn to Sonic that while he's willing to wait out Sonic's lifetime, neither he, nor his children, nor his children's children will ever know true peace because he will always be prepared to potentially bring trouble to their lives. As a result, Sonic considers Mogul to be the pettiest villain he knows.
Appearances
Mammoth Mogul appears as a large, brown-furred Mammoth with dark green eyes, which previously appeared black. Mogul's attire has varied throughout his history, beginning with a fur toga during his early life. He subsequently adopted a hooded robe while operating as leader of the Order of Ixis, and was seen in other historical attire in flashbacks. When transformed into Master Mogul, his attire has consisted of a suit of armor with a cape: gold armor with red upon his first transformation, and all green in the second.
The modern Mogul consistently wears double-breasted suits that usually come in either white, gray, or purple. He has been seen with and without shirts underneath the suit coat, and typically wears black shoes. Unlike many Mobians, he doesn't typically wear gloves, but several of his fingers are adorned with rings. Mogul is also known to carry a cane, though it seems to serve as a weapon or accessory rather than as a means of supporting himself.
History
Distant Past
Mogul was originally a woolly mammoth in the early history of Mobius-some 8,000 years ago due to his association with fellow prehistoric Mobian Mobie-born some time after the Ancient Walkers and always dreaming of gaining more from life. One day, a Chaos Emerald fell from the sky and became embedded in his chest, granting him enormous power. Despite his vast abilities, Mogul lacked the knowledge of the Chaos Emeralds to correctly wield them, and was driven from his herd. With the immortality the emerald granted him, Mogul lived for centuries, becoming wise and powerful, and founded what would become the mystical Order of Ixis. Through this arcane brotherhood, Mammoth Mogul trained others to wield elemental energies, each member taking the title of "Ixis", just like Mogul's middle name. However, he was once more dethroned when the Order of Ixis was defeated during the Forgotten War by the Albion Knights of Aurora. Mogul took on many roles as millenniums had passed, his youth preserved by the power of his Chaos Emerald, eventually slipping into obscurity-until Robotnik came to power, that is.
Rivalry with Tails
In modern times, his first attempt at gaining even greater power began with his theft of the Chaos Emerald that served as the power supply for Angel Island (then known as the Floating Island). He and his minions, the Fearsome Foursome, briefly engaged the Chaotix only to be driven off, since Mogul was apparently not at the peak of his powers. Calculating that the direct approach would be doomed to failure if attempted again, Mogul used his powers of illusion to pit the Chaotix against the Freedom Fighters and vice versa. Sally Acorn and Archimedes the Fire Ant quickly saw through his deception, though, and Mogul was forced to fight both groups for possession of the Sword of Acorns. Duping them into believing he was dead and tricking the heroes with a false copy of the blade, Mogul retreated to lie low until he commenced the next phase of his intricate plot.
The second phase of Mogul's plan began when he freed Knuckles' distant ancestor Dimitri-who at that time went by the alias of Enerjak-from his exile in space and returned him to Mobius and, during the confusion of Enerjak's attack on Echidnaopolis, used the genuine Sword of Acorns to steal the power of eleven Chaos Emeralds that fueled Enerjak, gaining the practically omnipotent might of twelve Chaos Emeralds and taking the name Master Mogul and claiming once again to be Mobius' ruler. Despite his new-found strength Mogul, while attempting to drain the power from the remaining Emeralds on the Floating Island, found himself challenged by the combined forces of Super Sonic, Turbo Tails, Hyper Knuckles, the Brotherhood of Guardians, the Chaotix, the Freedom Fighters, the Ancient Walkers and other parties. Despite successfully absorbing the energies of the other Chaos Emeralds, Mogul's power and life force became trapped in the new Master Emerald. Knuckles expressed his concerns about this, but could do nothing about it.
Mammoth Mogul facing Chaos Knuckles, art by J. Axer
Escaping when Dr. Eggman shattered the Master Emerald to feed Chaos, Mogul used the last embers of his power to wound the Ancient Walkers, which steadily lead to their deaths. Capturing Turbo Tails, he drained enough power from him to challenge Chaos Knuckles, who at the time was in essence a living Chaos Emerald. Drawing Knuckles out by taking the dying Enerjak hostage, Mogul trapped him inside a giant Chaos Syphon, which Knuckles seemingly overloaded and destroyed. At the time, both Knuckles and Mogul seemed to have died, but in truth, the Echidna's life was transitory whilst Mammoth Mogul absorbed all his power. When Knuckles returned from the afterlife to aid in the battle with the Xorda, it caused an imbalance in the Chaos Force that allowed Mogul to seize complete control of it, becoming seemingly omnipotent once more. Using his revitalized power, Mogul transformed into Master Mogul a second time and started to destroy the multiverse. This time, Mogul was challenged by an army of multi-dimensional Tails counterparts, but was not brought down until Tails merged with them to become the colossal Titan Tails. Reduced once more to his original power level, he was imprisoned within his own Chaos Emerald.
Teamup with Ixis Naugus
Mammoth Mogul made his return when the children of Uma Arachnis, the Arachne, used the Sword of Acorns to cause a dimensional rift leading to the Zone of Silence in the Egg Grape Chamber, killing the Ancient Walkers and breaking their curse on Mogul's Emerald, while at the same time sending all previous prisoners of the chamber to the Zone. At the time, the gem was in Knothole, having been brought there as part of a plan to restore the Walkers' health and keep the villain imprisoned using the Artifacts of Acorn. With the curse gone, Mogul was able to free himself while Tails' uncle, the powerful wizard Merlin Prower was holding his emerald. Despite not being at the peak of his power, Mogul quickly struck Merlin and the Freedom Fighters down and absorbed his emerald once more. After liberating the Destructix from jail to serve as his minions, he stole the Crown of Acorns.
To everyone's surprise, Mogul was temporarily halted by none other than Ixis Naugus, who hoped to usurp Mogul's powers. Fighting each other to a standstill, Mogul revealed to Naugus his foundation of the Order of Ixis. In a terrible twist of fate for the heroes, Naugus acknowledges Mammoth Mogul's superiority and pledges himself to Mogul's teachings. This granted Mogul in control of both the Sword and Crown of Acorns and Naugus' minions, the Arachne.
Restarting the battle, Mogul became locked in a contest of swordplay with Sir Connery, Paladin of the Ancient Walkers, who channeled his spiritual energy and life force through his Sword of Light to destroy the artifacts of Acorn, vanquishing the corrupted Source of All and diminishing Mogul's power at the cost of his own life. Despite this setback, Mogul prepared himself for a fight with Sonic, only to come under attack from Dr. Robotnik's Egg Fleet. Using weapons specially tailored to affect Chaos energy, Robotnik managed to imprison Mogul, Naugus and their minions in another Egg Grape Chamber. Rouge the Bat later revealed that Mogul managed to escape, abandoning the still captive Destructix and the expired Arachne and accompanied only by rather dumbed down Naugus. The forsaken criminals were later liberated by the Dark Legion renegade Dr. Finitevus with assistance from Scourge the Hedgehog and Rouge, which is how she learned of Mogul's escape. A.D.A.M. eventually claimed to have released him, granting the Mammoth his freedom in exchange for his Chaos Emerald, which was afterwards verified by Mogul himself. This was part of A.D.A.M.'s larger plan, which involved gathering every Chaos Emerald in the universe.
Some time later, Mogul was lured into a sting operation by Rouge the Bat, who had spread word that she had stolen the Master Emerald and was auctioning off the powerful gem. Despite his claims of still being a formidable opponent despite lacking the power of his Emerald, he was still easily defeated by the Freedom Fighters and taken into custody along with Naugus, Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite. Mogul and company were then further incarcerated by Eggman when his Egg Fleet launched an assault on Knothole, being among the hundreds captured and sent to the Egg Grapes, though was promptly released along with the others when Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Nicole launched a rescue mission following the attack. Not at all repentant, he and Naugus together with his new minions Nack, Bark, and Bean-demanded to be given control of New Mobotropolis, proclaiming that his rule was preferable to being forced to deal with both him and the approaching Egg Fleet. Unfortunately for his scheme, Nicole had designed the city in preparation for his return, and Mogul's new alliance was transported to a new prison only moments after being brought to the city. Despite this setback, Mogul remained confident, mockingly addressing both Elias Acorn and Amadeus Prower during the king's visit to the imprisoned general and just prior to Amadeus' outbreak. He also joined the other prisoners in watching the battle between Sonic and Tails, betting on Sonic because "he always wins", only for the pair to resolve their dispute peacefully.
Following the rampage of the fourth Enerjak, Mammoth Mogul began orchestrating his escape and that of his minions-which he would dub the Fearsome Foursome just as he had his original lackeys-from prison. In this case, he chose to activate the hypnotic suggestions he had implanted into Mighty, Tails, Mina years before on various occasions, before sending the three to claim the resisting Sonic as their fourth member.Sonic was able to overpower them, however, so Mogul switched tactics. He sent each of the three into an almost certainly lethal situation: Mina ran out on the ocean, where she would stop and then drown; Tails flew into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, where he would suffocate or pass out and fall to Mobius; and Mighty was sent on a suicide run into New Megaopolis, not even making an effort to resist Robotnik's forces. With no other choice, Sonic gave in to Mogul's demands, bringing him a recently retrieved Chaos Emerald that Mogul then used to free himself and his minions. Mogul then revealed his newest plan: using his regained immortality to wait Sonic out. Having been defeated by Sonic time and again, Mogul had finally realized that he could not defeat Sonic no matter how hard he tried, so he merely decided to limit himself to the occasional small assault and wait to continue his plans to conquer Mobius until Sonic was either dead or too old to oppose him. With that, he and his minions vanished, teleporting away.
New Agenda
When next seen, Mogul had taken over a casino once owned by Robotnik and established it as his own, hiring old Badniks as his staff. He had also taken over the Last Chance Bar as his casino's kitchen, and his newest "business associates" included not only his fellow escaped prisoners but also the Destructix, who had left Dr. Finitevus. For his first new plan, Mogul directed Bark and Bean to steal Sonic's shoes, and sent the Destructix and Nack along to make sure that the job got done. They ended up capturing Sonic and bringing him back to the casino, where he was soon rescued by Sally, Amy Rose, Geoffrey St. John, and Rouge the Bat, the former two coming after Sally escaped Nack and the latter two having already been investigating Mogul's activities. Freed, Sonic confronted Mogul over the incident, only for Mogul to play the wounded party, claiming that Sonic was just trying to discredit him and pointing out that the good guys had no proof to back up their claims. Defeated, the heroes left with a new idea of one of Mogul's goals: to discredit his enemies while remaining innocent in the public eye.
Mogul continued to keep himself involved as an entrepreneur over the next few months, until one dark and stormy day when Geoffrey St. John barged into his office, brandishing a purple Chaos Emerald. Unmoved but wary, Mogul plainly pointed out he was no longer involved with direct villainy and could not be swayed even with another Emerald, until Geoffrey explained he planned to restore Ixis Naugus with it. While Mogul was amused at the idea of losing Naugus as his pet and gaining a threat to his power, St. John pointed out he was too powerful to be challenged, but the idea of making Sonic miserable with Naugus' return was all Mogul needed to hear to let St. John have his way. Once Naugus' mind was restored, Mogul watched amusingly as Geoffrey revealed himself to be a sleeper agent apprenticed under Naugus and argued over his usefulness during the wizard's absence. As Naugus mentioned Mogul had much to answer for his treatment, he merely pointed out it would be at another time, and Naugus took his leave with St. John to prepare for Sonic. When Geoffrey mentioned how he shot the hedgehog in the back though, both Mogul and Naugus took great delight at the thought, and burst into a tremendous uproar of laughter.
Personality
Egotistical to a fault, Mogul sees himself as the end all of intelligence and power. While not obsessed with himself, he sees all other entities as lower forms of life, useful only as pawns in his schemes for power, although he has stated upon his return to power that he cannot beat Sonic. He also comments on how much potential Tails had after all the fights with him. Mogul also cares nothing for such pawns, and is perfectly willing to kill them to achieve what he wants. Combined with a total lack of care for any of his minions, this makes working for him unappealing, and only his sheer power holds the loyalty of those who serve him. He thinks himself infallible, and always refuses to believe that he can be defeated even when the odds are clearly against him. Even when imprisoned, he refuses to admit defeat, and is always ready with a taunt for his enemies. At the same time, Mogul is courteous and too cultured for a villain, anyway.
Since regaining a Chaos Emerald he has ceased active duty as a villain, and now like maintain a public-friendly persona, but operating behind the scenes. Of all the villains in the comic series, he is the sole one to 'retire' after deciding that Sonic was unbeatable via confrontation.
Abilities
Thanks to the Chaos Emerald embedded in his chest, Mogul commands Chaos Energy. In order to achieve mastery of this force, he formed the Order of Ixis. As a result, he can also use Ixian Magic on an even higher level than Ixis Naugus. Thanks to these abilities, Mogul is capable of warping reality on a massive scale. Unfortunately for him, the loss of his Chaos Emerald greatly reduced Mogul's strength, making him a far less dangerous opponent; as of recent events, Mogul's powers have been restored to their full potential upon taking possession of the gray Chaos Emerald.
Mammoth Mogul is also one of the few villains with his own super form. When charged with immense amounts of power, he can become Master Mogul. This has happened on various occasions, the first time being when he used the Sword of Acorns to drain the powers of Enerjak, thus giving himself the power of 12 Chaos Emeralds. Later, Mammoth Mogul absorbed the power of Chaos Knuckles, and thanks to that was able to assume complete command of the Chaos Force. In his second appearance, Mogul had the power to crush entire universes with his bare hands.
Being a mammoth, Mogul is also stronger than the average Mobian, which is only enhanced by his powers. However, Mogul's most dangerous muscle is his brain, especially since he has a number of mental abilities such as telepathy or creating illusions, the latter of which he once used to trick the Chaotix and Freedom Fighters into attacking each other; for a time, these powers were greatly diminished by the loss of his Chaos Emerald, to the point where he could no longer affect anyone but beings who had already been affected by those abilities, which are marked by a green diamond shape on their foreheads. A genius of caliber equal or greater to Dimitri and Dr. Eggman, Mammoth Mogul poses a threat to anyone he pits himself against.
Trivia
- In issue #153, Mogul's character is adapted by Sally Acorn's nanny Rosie into Mog the Troll as part of a bed time story.
- Mogul's character is similar to that of the DC Comics supervillain Vandal Savage, both of them having received powers from a meteorite. In addition, both have lived for thousands of years, are seemingly immortal, and have goals for world domination.
- Mogul's most recent appearance also makes him similar to Marvel Comics' Kingpin, as both are villains who possess superhuman strength, organized crime with other villains, and have successfully avoided being arrested.
- According to an abandoned plot line shown on Sonic HQ, a possible future storyline featured Mogul becoming a wealthy businessman dressed like Dr. Zhivago living in the North Pole of Mobius. Following his release from the Master Emerald, Mogul was to later discover that his Chaos Emerald was losing energy, and that he was slowly dying. This would lead him to finance digs for Emeralds to supply him with more power, which would lead to confrontation with Dr. Robotnik, Rouge the Bat, and the Iron Queen. However, given that Mogul has already lost his Chaos Emerald, this plot line is unlikely to take place in the future.[1]
Referencs
- ↑ http://sonichq.mobiusforum.net/newsite/comics/kbsonicoverview.php Antagonists 1st Tier Villains