10 Popular Comic Book Characters Who Have Completely Vanished
5. Micronauts
The Micronauts was a Marvel comic book based on the Mego toy line. It was written by Bill Mantlo, drawn by Michael Golden, and ran for 59 issues and two annuals from 1979 to 1984. Several future stars worked on the series, including Gil Kane, Howard Chaykin, and Kelly Jones.
Taking place in the Microverse, the original team came together to oppose the despotic Baron Karza. The team consists of Commander Arcturus Rann, his robotic co-pilot Biotron, Princess Mari, the only surviving member of Karza’s slaughter of the royal family of Homeworld, her robot tutor Microtron, and alien gladiators Acroyear and Bug. After several intense battles and a brief adventure on Earth where they are the size of action figures, Karza is defeated and Rann achieves the Enigma Force, which gives him many powers.
Karza briefly returned and killed several of the newer members of the team but is eventually defeated. The Micronauts encountered a number of notable members of the Marvel Universe, including the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, and Nightcrawler, and villains such as Doctor Doom, the Molecule Man, and Nightmare cross into the Microverse. Bug became a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Microverse became an important set piece in the MCU, but the rest of the story went the way of the toys. Fondly remembered but nowhere to be seen.