Shagg

History: The warrior Shagg came to Earth ages ago to collect information on mankind for an attack. In present times, an archeologist in Egypt dug up a mechanical control panel in the sands. Pulling a lever on the panel, the archeologist was stunned to see the Sphinx come to life and move. The Sphinx grabbed the archeologist, opened its jaws to reveal a metal door, and hurled the archeologist into its mechanical interior. A disembodied voice told him that the Sphinx was Shagg and he had waited ages for the lever to be pulled. Shagg swam to France and destroyed Paris, then swam towards America. The archeologist could do nothing because he could not understand Shagg's internal mechanisms, so he wrote of the events in a note pad. Shagg caused destruction in New York. Shagg revealed his fellow warriors should have pulled the lever to activate him, but the archeologist told him that he did it accidentally. Shagg said he could not conquer the Earth by himself, so he used “cosmo-gamma electro-magnetic waves” to repair all the damage and erase the memories of the events from the minds of mankind. The archeologist woke up by the Sphinx, wondering if any of the events recorded on his note pad were true.

Height: 66 ft., Length: 241 ft. (actual dimensions of the Great Sphinx)
Demonstrated Powers: Shagg was a robotic being whose internal mechanisms were contained in the body of the Great Sphinx. Shagg had incredible strength and could smash buildings. Shagg was impervious to artillary fire. Shagg could manipulate energies which would reconfigure matter and repair any physical damage he caused; additionally, the energies would wipe out the memories of the damage from others' minds.

Comment: Shagg should not be confused with the Sphinx statue that appeared in Strange Tales # 70, nor with the Sphinx statue that battled the Hulk in Incredible Hulk # 145.

Comment: Speculation - In Fantastic Four # 19, Rama-Tut travelled from the future to ancient Egypt in a time machine built in the shape of the Sphinx. It is possible that “Shagg” is actually Rama-Tut's time machine in an animated form; and given the fact that Shagg could undo the damage that he caused, perhaps he actually sent himself back through time to a time before he was reactivated.

Comment: Speculation - … or perhaps there is some connection between Shagg and Umbu the Unliving, a robotic statue of alien origin that fought The Incredible Hulk and Ka-Zar in the Savage Land in Incredible Hulk # 110.

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The Steve Ditko story “When Wakes the Sphinx” (Strange Tales #70) shows the Sphinx to be a gift from the Egyptian gods that could become a cat-like monster and protect Egypt. Rama-Tut may have exchanged that statue in time with his time-machine one, knowing the statue would never let him conquer Egypt easily. (So did he leave a cat-like monster attacking his peace-loving former time?)

Since Shagg was expecting other warriors, one also wonders if Thorr, the animated Easter Island head which was also an invader activated early, is somehow related to Shagg.

Being pacifists, the people of Kang's time—an alternate 30th century—would pose no threat to the felinoid Sphinx. So, it would pose no threat to them!

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