Daxam
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| Daxam | |
| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| In story information | |
| Type | Planet |
| Notable people | Lar Gand Laurel Gand Sodam Yat |
| Notable races | Daxamites |
Daxam is a fictional planet within the DC Universe. It is home to a race called the Daxamites, who are descended from Kryptonian colonists. Like their Kryptonian cousins Daxamites manifest powers and abilities similar to those of Superman when exposed to the light of a yellow sun, including vast strength, damage resistance, great speed, flight, enhanced senses and heat and X-ray vision. Their own sun Valor is a red giant, so while on their homeworld, they do not have their superpowers. They are fatally sensitive to lead, which affects them as kryptonite affects Kryptonians. They are an intensely xenophobic race, and are fearful of alien invaders. Daxam's inhabitants tend to stay on their homeworld, but some have ventured into the galaxy.
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[edit] History
The Daxamites were originally Kryptonians who left their homeworld in order to explore the Universe. The Eradicator, programmed to preserve all Kryptonian culture, altered the birthing matrices ("artificial wombs") the explorers took with them so that the newborns would be fatally vulnerable to lead. Thus, if they persisted in their anti-Kryptonian wanderlust, they would all die from it. Later, The Eradicator altered the DNA of all remaining Kryptonian lifeforms so that they would instantly die upon leaving the planet.
[edit] Invasion
- See also: Invasion! (DC Comics)
Daxamites took part in an invasion of Earth masterminded by the Dominators. During the invasion however, the Daxamite forces discovered that they gained tremendous powers, of a set and scale comparable to Kryptonians, in a yellow sun environment. However, while engaging Superman, the superhero convinced his opponents, who were succumbing to lead poisoning, that their allies were wrong to invade Earth and Kel Gand — Lar Gand's father — sent a message before his death to their government to intervene on Earth's behalf. They were successful in this intervention when the Dominators, unaware of the Daxamite physical reaction to Earth's environment, dismissed the small force of primarily troop transports. Thus, they were caught completely off guard when the Daxamites deployed in space an extremely formidable force of hundreds of soldiers who had gained powers and quickly defeated the enemy. They also fought against the galactic destroyer known as Imperiex.
[edit] Great Darkness Saga
During the Great Darkness Saga, Darkseid learned of Daxam from Mon-El and proceeded to mind-control its entire populace, and then moved the planet to a yellow sun, creating an army of several billion beings each roughly equal in power to Superman. He then commanded them to sculpt the entire planet's surface in his likeness, effectively destroying Daxam's civilization. This army was then unleashed upon the galaxy as an almost unstoppable force. After the Great Darkness Saga, the planet had to be terraformed into being habitable again, and the Daxamites returned there.
[edit] Five Years Later
In the V4 Legion storyline, Glorith, fearing that the Dominators might gain control of Daxam, destroyed the planet and all its inhabitants to prevent this. Also revealed was the existence of Laurel Gand, another Daxamite and possible descendant of Mon-El.
[edit] Post-Zero Hour
Following the Zero Hour reboot of Legion continuity, 31st century Daxam was reinvented as a closed-off and insular society, home to a racist political group called the White Triangle. Later, the planet Daxam was forcibly removed from its orbit and used to power Imperiex's war efforts. It was quickly returned to its proper place in space by the Justice Society and their reserve members.
[edit] Threeboot
Following another reboot of Legion continuity, it was revealed in Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #25 that Daxam was wiped out 300 years earlier by natives of Trom using mass lead poisoning. Mon-El, it would seem, is the only surviving Daxamite.
In the 21st century setting of current DC continuity, Daxam is a religiously intolerant society. They are technologically advanced, but believe the decay of their technology is a sign from the gods, and anyone who wishes to repair it is going against the gods' will. They also distrust all outsiders.
[edit] Daxamites of note
[edit] Lar Gand
The galaxy's most famous Daxamite is Lar Gand, known in various incarnations as Mon-El, Valor and M'onel. After the invasion, it was found that the Dominators had been experimenting on humans and still held a significant number of them captive. Lar Gand helped save the humans the Dominators were experimenting on and took these victims to uninhabited planets, in effect seeding the worlds which would eventually become Legion member worlds. He was later sent to the Phantom Zone for 1,000 years as a protection against dying from lead poisoning. His sudden disappearance troubled many he had helped, and they started a religion around him. He would later be rescued from the Zone by Brainiac 5 and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
[edit] Julia
- See also: Wonder Woman
A female Daxamite with cybernetic eyes named Julia befriended Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman vol. 2 #68 (February 1993) during the six issue space arc, both women were prisoners of the Sangtee Empire. Julia later makes a cameo appearance in Wonder Woman vol. 2 #172 (September 2001) during the company wide Our Worlds at War crossover. The Human Defense Corps are keeping a female Daxamite in stasis, for unknown purposes.[1][2][3]
[edit] Sodam Yat
According to Alan Moore's Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2, an ancient prophecy since inscribed into the Great Book of Oa marks as the last milestone in the destruction of the Corps the death of a Lantern called Sodam Yat, an unstoppable Daxamite adding the Power Ring's powers to his own. When in fact a rookie Daxamite Lantern called Sodam Yat joins the Corps, Arisia is charged to protect him by Salakk, out of fear the prophecy would come true. However, the sheer stubbornness and the huge willpower of Sodam allows him to survive the first battles, even turning the tide on the prophesied destruction of the Corps. The Guardians of the Universe, impressed by his willpower, grant him the Ion symbiote further boosting his powers, and unleash him against the mad Superman-Prime. After a long battle that spans the both of them across the state of New York; Sodam is exposed to lead which is poisonous to Daxamites and is defeated by Superman-Prime. Defying the prophecy, Sodam Yat is able to survive, but vastly weakened, his left with a new sense of mortality: even as Ion, he now must wear and keep charged a power ring, using all its power to keep his body from succumbing to lead poisoning.
[edit] Other versions
Freedom Fighters from Daxam appear in Justice League Adventures #3.
