X-Men (vol. 1) #78 (Oct. 1972):
“The Menace of Merlin!”
by Roy Thomas, Jack Sparling, John Tartaglione

X-Men (vol. 1) #78

Title: “The Menace of Merlin!”

Medium: comic

Cover date: Oct. 1972

Publisher:
Written by: Roy Thomas
Art by: Jack Sparling, John Tartaglione

28 characters in this story:

Character (Click links for info about character and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.)	Religious Affiliation	Team(s) [Notes]	Pub.	# app.
Cyclops (Scott Summers)	Protestant; mutant supremacist	Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy; Summers Rebellion...  The Twelve; X-Factor; X-Men		8,371
The Beast (Hank McCoy)	Episcopalian; agnostic	Academy of Tomorrow; Brotherhood of Mutants...  The Avengers; The Defenders; X-Club; X-Factor; X-Men		5,233
Marvel Girl (Jean Grey)	Episcopalian	Metro College; The Twelve...  X-Factor; X-Men		1,905
Iceman (Bobby Drake)	Jewish Catholic	Secret Defenders; Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends...  The Champions; The Defenders; The Twelve; X-Factor; X-Men		1,752
Angel (Warren Worthington III)	Episcopalian	Academy of Tomorrow; Horsemen of Apocalypse...  Renegades; Secret Defenders; St. Joe's Preparatory School; The Champions; The Defenders; X-Club; X-Factor; X-Force; X-Men; X-Saviours		1,741
Professor X (Charles Xavier)	religious	Brotherhood of Mutants; Genoshan Excalibur...  Illuminati; The Mutant Underground (founder); The Twelve; X-Men (founder)		4,999
Warlock	primal-indigenous; Arthurian; occult/sorcerer	[born 10,000 years ago]		37
henchmen (details)  The Warlock has many henchmen (or followers) dressed as knights and many in outfits with a medieval motif, but their outfits do not appear to be attempting to be a purely period-authentic costume.		[generic, unnamed henchmen]		1,150
Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters		[high school]		373
X-Men		[1st app: The X-Men (vol. 1) #1 (Sep. 1963)]		9,958
horses (details)  Regular horses (non-winged) are featured prominently in a jousting tournament the Warlock forces the X-Men to compete in against his own knight-dressed henchmen.	N.A.	[animal species]		100
three winged unicorns		horse; unicorns [created scientifically; used by Warlock for transport]		1
The Museum of the City of New York (details)  Not identified by name.		[museum]		2
Thor (Donald Blake) (flashback cameo)	Norse/Teutonic deity	Asgardian; Cosmic Avengers...  The Avengers; The Ultimates; Thor Corps		4,362
police (cameo)  After the X-Men defeat Warlock and capture his many henchmen and guards, state police pick up the henchmen and guards.		[generic listing]		28
unnamed museum staff (cameo)		[saw Warlock's body return to crypt in museum]		1
knights (someone disguised or dressed as)  The Warlock's henchmen include numerous men dressed as medieval knights.	Christian (medieval)	[occupation]		10
Adolf Hitler (character based on)  Three museum staff (or patrons?) appear to be physically based on Sigmund Freud, James Cagney and Adolf Hitler.	Nazi	[1st app: Uma Kaeru (1935)]	Shochiku Kinema	1,593
James Cagney (character based on)  Three museum staff (or patrons?) appear to be physically based on Sigmund Freud, James Cagney and Adolf Hitler.	Catholic	[actor]		104
Sigmund Freud (character based on)  Three museum staff (or patrons?) appear to be physically based on Sigmund Freud, James Cagney and Adolf Hitler.	Jewish; Freudian	[psychologist]		104
Changeling (Kevin Sydney) (behind the scenes)  Factor Three is an ominous but mostly remote threat behind some of the events in this issue. Although not yet revealed, Kevin Sidney is leading Factor Three's efforts, on behalf of Mutant-Master.		Factor Three; X-Men		23
Magneto (Erik Magnus Lehnsherr) (mentioned)  When the Warlock first attacks the X-Men, all they see is a giant hand pulling them through a teleportational vortex. They theorize (incorrectly) that their unseen foe is Magneto.	Jewish; Gypsy/Roma	Brotherhood of Mutants; Genoshan Excalibur...  The Acolytes; The Twelve; X-Men		916
Merlin the Magician (Merlin) (mentioned)  The villain known as "the Warlock" claims to be Merlin, but he is not the real Merlin.	Druid wizard, prophet	[King Arthur's chief advisor]		406
King Arthur (mentioned)  The Warlock claims (falsely) to be Merlin from King Arthur's court. His goal is to revert all humanity to King Arthur's time technology, without modern technology, allowing him to conquer them.	Celtic Pagan; Christian (medieval)	[king]		831
The Avengers (mentioned)  The Warlock recounts his recent experiences. Thor tricked him into a sleep-like state in a crypt. But when he sensed that the Avengers had been gone from Earth for many weeks, he arose...		[1st app: The Avengers (vol. 1) #1 (Sep. 1963)]		100
Factor Three (mentioned)  After the X-Men deafeat "The Warlock", Prof. Xavier orders them to return home so they can begin preparing to face the oncoming threat of Factor Three.		[1st app: The X-Men (vol. 1) #28 (Jan. 1967)]		44
Guinevere (mentioned)	Celtic Pagan; Christian (medieval)	[King Arthur's wife/consort]	N.A.	453
Lancelot (mentioned)	Celtic Pagan; Christian (medieval)	Knights of the Round Table [King Arthur's trusted friend; Guinevere's lover]	N.A.	369

This comic was reprinted from: The X-Men (vol. 1) #30 (Mar. 1967): "The Warlock Wakes!".

This story was indexed from secondary sources only. The character list above is not necessarily comprehensive. Webpage for X-Men #78 (Oct. 1972) created 23 May 2014. Last modified 3 February 2018.

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