Hence, Lykos took the name Sauron, after the archvillain of J.R.R. However, the transformation distorted Lykos' personality, turning him evil. The energy triggered his metamorphosis into a creature that resembled a half-humanoid pteranodon, who retained his human intelligence and ability to speak. However, this was the first time that Lykos had ever siphoned energy from a superhuman mutant, with a result that he had never experienced before. Īfter treating Havok's wounds, Lykos began using his equipment to drain life energy from him. Lykos' Manhattan office, believing he was the only physician they could trust with the knowledge that Havok was a mutant. Aware of the connection between Xavier and Lykos, the X-Men rushed Havok to Dr. The resulting explosion buried him in rubble, nearly killing him.
įollowing a battle between the X-Men and the robotic Sentinels, the X-Men's Havok, at that time unable to control his superhuman abilities, tried to kill himself by releasing his full power. Xavier knew about Lykos' need and ability to siphon the life energy of others into himself, but he never told his protégés, the mutant hero team known as the X-Men, about it. Together they worked on the secret "Project Mutant." It has yet to be explained exactly what this project was, why it was secret, what results it might have had, and who, if anyone, had commissioned it if not Xavier himself. Lykos met the geneticist Professor Charles Xavier while Lykos was still studying to be a doctor. Hence, he constructed devices through which he could drain his patients' life energies into himself. Lykos became a hypnotherapist, but his need for life energy increased as he became an adult. So Karl Lykos set off for medical school, vowing to become wealthy so he could marry Tanya. Anderssen refused to let her marry Karl because of his lack of financial means. Īs Karl grew older he fell in love with Tanya, but the stern Dr. However, he killed none of them, merely leaving them temporarily weakened. Karl kept his condition a secret, even after he found himself forced to drain energy from other human beings. His first unintentional victim was his dog Jager, whom he drained of energy simply by touching him. Karl discovered that he needed to drain life energy from other living beings to survive. įor reasons that have never been explained, the pteranodon bites somehow changed Karl, apparently altering his genetic structure. Anderssen allowed Karl to live with him and Tanya after Karl's father died. Grateful to Karl for saving Tanya's life, Dr. Anderssen used his medical skills to save Karl's life. Traumatized by their experience, neither Karl nor Tanya remembered the pteranodons, and Dr. Apparently, the pteranodons had traveled to Tierra del Fuego through natural subterranean tunnels.) Karl drove the pteranodons off with his walking stick, but not before he was severely bitten. (In actuality, these pteranodons were from the Savage Land, the tropical region in Antarctica where prehistoric creatures still live. Īt one point during the trip Tanya became lost, and Karl found her in a cave being attacked by gigantic pteranodons, a form of flying reptile from the age of dinosaurs. Anderssen, and his daughter Tanya, who was about the same age as Karl. Along with them on the journey were a physician, Dr. As a young boy, Karl Lykos went with his father on an expedition to Tierra del Fuego near the Antarctic Circle.