Blok (character)

Blok appeared in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #253 (July 1979) by Gerry Conway and Joe Staton in an era referred to as the Bronze Age of Comic Books.^[1]

Blok first appeared as a member of the League of Super-Assassins, where he was manipulated by the Dark Man, a clone of Tharok, into attacking the Legion of Super-Heroes.^[2] Tharok made Blok believe that the Legion was seeking to destroy his home world, when they were actually working to save it. After learning the truth, Blok turned on the Assassins and eventually joined the Legion.^[3] He knew very little of the rest of his race; it was not even clear to him whether his form was that of an adult or a child.

Blok was relatively slow to acclimate to life in the Legion, though he eventually forged a close bond with two of his teammates, Timber Wolf and the White Witch, the latter with whom he spent a great deal of leisure time perusing the Legion's voluminous archives. He remained with the team for several years, eventually choosing to leave following the catastrophic Black Dawn affair and the increased scrutiny and suspicion of Earthgov towards all Legion activities. He eventually found his way to the Puppet Planetoid, where he spent a few years in isolated contemplation. Shortly thereafter Polar Boy officially disbanded the Legion of Super-Heroes.

In 2994, Blok's former teammates Rokk Krinn and Reep Daggle began to reorganize the team, a move which immediately attracted the attention of the corrupt Earthgov. To discourage and demoralize the new effort, the alien Dominators who had been secretly controlling Earthgov for years hired Roxxas to seek out and kill Blok as a warning to his other teammates. Roxxas tracked Blok down to the Puppet Planetoid and carried out his mission with ruthless efficiency, delivering Blok's dismembered corpse to the ranch home of Garth and Imra Ranzz on Winath.^[4] Far from demoralizing the other Legionnaires, however, Roxxas's act galvanized them into action, and it was directly following their discovery of Blok's murder that the Legion of Super-Heroes was officially refounded.

At the moment of his death fighting Roxxas, Blok seemed to have an out-of-body experience in which he was back on Dryad, and met Strata of L.E.G.I.O.N., who he recognized from mythology. Strata promised to finally show him the truth of his ancestral history as she led him below ground into a series of caves. Filled with joy, Blok's last thoughts were of finally reaching enlightenment.^[4]

Blok did not appear in the post-Zero Hour Legion. A female Dryadian named Brika was introduced in Legionnaires #71 (May 1999), protesting a group of colonists who intend to re-settle her hibernating clan. She was then possessed by a stone elemental named Rrox, who destroyed the planet, thinking "no-one will ever colonize Dryad now".

Blok appears briefly (with several other Legionnaires from previous iterations of the team such as Tyroc and Dawnstar) as a character in a 'campfire story' showing the Legion's influence, and the urban legends and myths that have sprung up around it.^[5] This appearance was a cameo, and does not appear to take place in the series actual continuity.

Blok, along with many other pre-Crisis Legionnaires, appears as a statue in Superman's Fortress of Solitude.^[6] He also appears as a member of the Legion in the Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes storyline.

In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #2, Blok rescues Mysa from Mordru on Zerox, being aided in the rescue by Dawnstar, Wildfire, and Rond Vidar. It is revealed at this point that Blok and Mysa are in a relationship, one that was only briefly hinted at as Blok's unrequited crush in the pre-Crisis Legion. Blok helped combat the Legion of Super-Villains until he suffered major injuries at the hand of Mordru. To save him, Mysa absorbs Mordru's magic, becoming the Black Witch, and leaves the Legion for the Sorcerer's World when the battle is over. Once his wounds are healed, Blok follows Mysa, and convinces her to let him help her use Mordru's black magic for good.

In the Watchmen sequel Doomsday Clock, Blok is among the Legion of Super-Heroes members who appear in the present after Doctor Manhattan undid the experiment that erased the Legion and the Justice Society of America.^[7]

In the pages of "The New Golden Age", Blok is among the Legion of Super-Heroes members that arrive in the present and confront the Justice Society of America over their decision to add Legionnaire (a younger version of Mordru wanting to avoid the path of evil) to their ranks.^[8]

Blok's rocky body gives him superhuman levels of strength and durability. He also demonstrated the ability to absorb energy and manipulate his own mass in early appearances, but these were later removed in favor of his strength. He later underwent a metamorphosis and gained plasma protuberances across his body.

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Blok is provided a Legion Flight Ring, which allows him to fly and protects him from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments. He originally had to wear three rings at once due to his massive size, but later changed to wearing a single ring modified to handle his increased mass.

• Blok makes a cameo appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Far From Home" as one of several Legionnaires under the Fatal Five's mind control.
• Blok makes non-speaking cameo appearances in Legion of Super Heroes.

Jesse Murray of Syfy placed Blok as the 33rd greatest Legion member of all time, describing him as "once a misguided bad guy who saw the light".^[9] Warner Bros. producer James Tucker cited the character as a favorite of his.^[10]

• A Hero History Of Blok