Vartox (died October 2015) was an alien convict imprisoned on Fort Rozz (prison).
Biography
Hunting Supergirl
Vartox hunted down Supergirl after she saved a plane that was transporting several D.E.O. agents, including Alex Danvers. He lured her to a power plant and the two did battle, Vartox made a beat down on Supergirl with his shear power and almost killed her, before being stopped by other D.E.O. agents, forcing him to flee.[1]
Death
While driving his truck, he was stopped by Supergirl and the two had a rematch. Supergirl had the upper hand until Vartox use his axe on her and made a beat down on her again, right before Vartox can make the final strike on Supergirl with his axe, she used her heat vision on Vartox's axe and the axe blew up. Vartox was fatally injured, and to prevent himself from being captured, he killed himself with a fragment of the axe.[1]
Powers and abilities
Powers
- Valeronian Physiology:
- Super strength: Valeronians are much stronger than a normal human. Vartox had been shown to be strong enough to inflict injury on a solar-empowered Kryptonian like Supergirl.
- Invulnerability: Valeronians are able to take more damage than a normal human. Vartox had been shown to be resilient enough to endure attacks from a Kryptonian, and not even get a scratch.
- Super leaping: Valeronians can jump extreme distances.
- Super Speed: Valeronians can run in high speeds.
Abilities
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant: In addition to tremendous raw strength, Vartox was also a skilled fighter, able to easily evade Supergirl's strikes and subdue her.
Equipment
- Vartox's axe: To aid him in combat, Vartox wielded a special axe that emitted a high level of heat, that when powered by Vartox's super strength, is strong enough to pierce a Kryptonian's skin. Alas, the axe's ability proved to be its greatest shortcoming as it was destroyed by Kara heating it to levels that eventually caused it to explode. A broken piece of the axe was used by Vartox to stab and kill himself.
Appearances
Supergirl
Season 1
- "Pilot"
- "Stronger Together" (mentioned)
Comics
Adventures of Supergirl
Behind the scenes
- Vartox is the first villain that Kara/Supergirl fights.
- Even though he is the first villain of the series, and is one of the few villains that lacks firepower (like lasers or any other projectile-type attack), Vartox is indeed powerful in his own right, being able to inflect injures on Supergirl with ease, having a weapon that is capable of cutting skin from Kryptonians and being able to nearly best Supergirl in both battles, this makes him one of the more dangerous enemies in the series.
- Technically, Super Girl wasn't the one that defeated Vartox, it was his axe that defeated him.
- Vartox debuted in Superman vol. 1, #281 (November, 1974), the greatest hero of the galaxy M104, he was a close friend and equal to Superman, from the planet Valeron. He made several appearances in the Power Girl comic book series, where he tried to woo her. The character was based on the protagonist of the live-action film Zardoz (February, 1974), played by actor Sean Connery. He was created by Cary Bates and Curt Swan.