Mammoth Mogul

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caption=Mammoth Mogul as seen on the cover of Sonic the Hedgehog 186, art by Tracy Yardley.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Mammoth Mogul
publisher=Archie Comics
debut="Sonic and Knuckles Mecha Madness ("July 1996")
creators= Michael Kanterovich and Ken Penders
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances=Destructix/Fearsome Foursome
aliases= Master Mogul, Ixis Mogul
powers=
* Immortality.
* Superhuman strength, stamina, and durability.
* Schooled in millennia of history, warfare, magic, and science.
* Mental powers.
* Elemental abilities derived from Ixian Magic.
* Reality warping powers derived from Chaos Energy.

Mammoth Mogul is a fictional character from the "Sonic the Hedgehog" comics published by Archie Comics. He is a major antagonist of the comics, and is to Miles "Tails" Prower what Doctor Eggman/Dr. Robotnik is to Sonic or what Dimitri/Enerjak is to Knuckles.

Mogul is a large, brown-furred, anthropomorphic, humanoid woolly mammoth, originally clad in a white double-breasted suit, which later changed color to become purple only to return to white. In flashbacks, he has been seen wearing a toga made from animal skins, and on a number of occasions in both the past and the present he has donned gold or green armor. When wearing the gold, he wore a red cape; the green armor came with an under-outfit of matching hue. Mogul also seems to favor walking sticks, and has owned at times both a cane proportionate to his size and a sceptre with a green gem embedded in the top. He originally had a Chaos Emerald embedded in his chest, usually concealed by whatever he was wearing, but revealed to unleash blasts of energy. This gem was later taken from him, and he afterwards wore his suit opened slightly to reveal the pit in his torso where it once rested; upon obtaining a new Emerald, he continues to have it exposed, but appears to have had his shirt modified to reveal it without exposing any more of his torso. Initially, Mogul was also depicted with long braids of his fur hanging down his back, but these appear to have been removed from his design.

History

Distant Past

Mogul was originally a woolly mammoth in the early history of Mobius - some 8000 years ago due to his association with fellow prehistoric Mobian Mobie - born some time after the Ancient Walkers and always dreaming of gaining more from life. One day, a Chaos Emerald fell from the sky and became embedded in his chest, granting him enormous power. Despite his vast abilities, Mogul lacked the knowledge of the Chaos Emeralds to correctly wield them, and was driven from his herd. With the immortality the emerald granted him, Mogul lived for centuries, becoming wise and powerful, and founded what would become the mystical Order of Ixis. Through this arcane brotherhood, Mammoth Mogul trained others to wield elemental energies, becoming known as Ixis Mogul. However, he was once more dethroned when the order of Ixis was defeated during the Forgotten War by the Albion Knights of Aurora. Mogul took on many roles as the millennia passed, his youth preserved by the power of his Chaos Emerald, but eventually slipped into obscurity - until Robotnik came to power. However, long before he would battle Sonic and his allies, Mogul would encounter two of them - Mighty the Armadillo and Mina Mongoose - and grant them enhanced abilities so that they could save their loved ones. In the process, he also erased their memories of the encounters and placed post-hypnotic suggestions as one of his countless preparations for future conquest.

Rivalry with Tails

In modern times, his first attempt at gaining even greater power began with his theft of the Chaos Emerald that served as the power supply for Angel Island (then known as the Floating Island). He and his minions, the Fearsome Foursome, briefly engaged the Chaotix only to be driven off, since Mogul was apparently not at the peak of his powers. Calculating that the direct approach would be doomed to failure if attempted again, Mogul used his powers of illusion to pit the Chaotix and the Freedom Fighters against each other. Sally Acorn and Archimedes the Fire Ant quickly saw through his deception, though, and Mogul was forced to fight both groups for possession of the Sword of Acorns. Duping them into believing he was dead and tricking the heroes with a false copy of the blade, Mogul retreated to lie low until he commenced the next phase of his intricate plot.

The second phase of Mogul's plan began when he freed Knuckles' ancestor Dimitri - who at that time went by the alias of Enerjak - from his exile in space and returned him to Mobius. During the confusion of Enerjak's attack on Echidnaopolis, he used the genuine Sword of Acorns to steal the power of eleven Chaos Emeralds that fueled Enerjak, gaining the practically omnipotent might of twelve Chaos Emeralds and taking the name Master Mogul; he then claimed once again to be Mobius' ruler. Despite his newfound strength, Mogul, while attempting to drain the power from the remaining Emeralds on the Floating Island, found himself challenged by the combined forces of Super Sonic, Turbo Tails, Hyper Knuckles, the Brotherhood of Guardians, the Chaotix, the Freedom Fighters, the Ancient Walkers, and other parties. Despite successfully absorbing the energies of the other Chaos Emeralds, Mogul's power and life force became trapped in the new Master Emerald. Knuckles expressed his concerns about this, but could do nothing about it.

Escaping when Doctor Eggman shattered the Master Emerald to feed Chaos, Mogul used the last embers of his power to wound the Ancient Walkers, which steadily lead to their deaths. Capturing Turbo Tails, he replaced him with a clone replica while he drained enough power from him to challenge Chaos Knuckles, who at the time was in essence a living Chaos Emerald. Sonic and the clone later discovered him and freed the original, but not before Mogul was able to place a post-hypnotic suggestion in his mind. Drawing Knuckles out by taking the dying Enerjak hostage, Mogul trapped him inside a giant Chaos Syphon, which Knuckles seemingly overloaded and destroyed. At the time, both Knuckles and Mogul seemed to have died, but in truth, the Echidna's life was transitory whilst Mammoth Mogul absorbed all his power. When Knuckles returned from the afterlife to aid in the battle with the Xorda, it caused an imbalance in the Chaos Force that allowed Mogul to seize complete control of it, becoming seemingly omnipotent once more. Using his revitalized power, Mogul transformed into Master Mogul a second time and started to destroy the multiverse. This time, Mogul was challenged by an army of multi-dimensional Tails counterparts, but was not brought down until Tails merged with them to become the colossal Titan Tails. Reduced once more to his original power level, he was imprisoned within his own Chaos Emerald.

Teamup with Ixis Naugus

Mammoth Mogul made his return when the children of Arachne used the Sword of Acorns to cause a dimensional rift leading to the Zone of Silence in the Egg Grape Chamber, killing the Ancient Walkers and breaking their curse on Mogul's Emerald, while at the same time sending all previous prisoners of the chamber to the Zone. At the time, the gem was in Knothole, having been brought there as part of a plan to restore the Walkers' health and keep the villain imprisoned using the Artifacts of Acorn. With the curse gone, Mogul was able to free himself while Tails' uncle, the powerful wizard Merlin Prower was holding his emerald. Despite not being at the peak of his power, Mogul quickly struck Merlin and the Freedom Fighters down and absorbed his emerald once more. After liberating the Destructix from jail to serve as his minions, he stole the Crown of Acorns.

To everyone's surprise, Mogul was temporarily halted by none other than Ixis Naugus, who hoped to usurp Mogul's powers. Fighting each other to a standstill, Mogul revealed to Naugus his foundation of the Order of Ixis. In a terrible twist of fate for the heroes, Naugus acknowledges Mammoth Mogul's superiority and pledges himself to Mogul's teachings. This granted Mogul in control of both the Sword and Crown of Acorns and Naugus' minions, the Arachne.

Restarting the battle, Mogul became locked in a contest of swordplay with Sir Connery, Paladin of the Ancient Walkers, who channeled his spiritual energy and life force through his Sword of Light to destroy the artifacts of Acorn, vanquishing the corrupted Source of All and diminishing Mogul's power at the cost of his own life. Despite this setback, Mogul prepared himself for a fight with Sonic, only to come under attack from Dr. Robotnik's Egg Fleet. Using weapons specially tailored to affect Chaos energy, Robotnik managed to imprison Mogul, Naugus, and their minions in another Egg Grape Chamber. Rouge the Bat later revealed that Mogul managed to escape, abandoning the still captive Destructix and the expired Arachne and accompanied only by rather dumbed down Naugus. The forsaken criminals were later liberated by the Dark Legion renegade Doctor Finitevus with assistance from Scourge the Hedgehog and Rouge, which is how she learned of Mogul's escape. A.D.A.M. eventually claimed to have released him, granting the Mammoth his freedom in exchange for his Chaos Emerald, which was afterwards verified by Mogul himself. This was part of A.D.A.M.'s larger plan, which involved gathering every Chaos Emerald in the universe.

Some time later, Mogul was lured into a sting operation by Rouge the Bat, who had spread word that she had stolen the Master Emerald and was auctioning off the powerful gem. Despite his claims of still being a formidable opponent despite lacking the power of his Emerald, he was still easily defeated by the Freedom Fighters and taken into custody along with Naugus, Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite. Mogul and company were then further incarcerated by Eggman when his Egg Fleet launched an assault on Knothole, being among the hundreds captured and sent to the Egg Grapes. He was promptly released along with the others when Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and NICOLE launched a rescue mission following the attack. Not at all repentant, he and Naugus - together with his new minions Nack, Bark, and Bean - demanded to be given control of New Mobotropolis, proclaiming that his rule was preferable to being forced to deal with both him and the approaching Egg Fleet. Unfortunately for his scheme, NICOLE had designed the city in preparation for his return, and Mogul's new alliance was transported to a new prison only moments after being brought to the city. Despite this setback, Mogul remained confident, mockingly addressing both Elias Acorn and Amadeus Prower during the king's visit to the imprisoned general and just prior to Amadeus' outbreak. He also joined the other prisoners in watching the battle between Sonic and Tails, betting on Sonic because "he always wins", only for the pair to resolve their dispute peacefully.

New Plan

Following the rampage of the second Enerjak, Mammoth Mogul began orchestrating his escape from prison, which he announced to Sonic would be accomplished through a new Fearsome Foursome. Unbeknownst to Sonic, Mogul was not speaking of his fellow prisoners: using his telepathic powers, he brought Mighty, Mina, and Tails under his control, and intended to do the same to Sonic. However, when his new minions proved unable to defeat the Hedgehog, he instead decided to ransom them, sending all three into certain death situations that they would only escape if Sonic submitted to his wishes and brought him the Chaos Emerald he'd obtained from Feist. Forced to comply, Sonic freed Mogul and the other prisoners, and the diabolical Mammoth fulfilled his promise. He then revealed that his new plan was to use his regained immortality to wait Sonic out: having been defeated time and again, he had come to the realization that he couldn't beat Sonic, and so would wait to resume his reign of terror until after his enemy was dead or too old to fight.

Leaving New Mobotropolis, Mogul took over a casino that had once belonged to Robotnik and renovated it, taking it as his base of operations. In addition to his fellow former inmates, his forces included restored Badniks and the Destructix, who had fled Dr. Finitevus' employ during a battle between the second Enerjak (a brainwashed Knuckles) and Super Sonic. Though he claimed legitimacy in his new business venture, Mogul soon came under the investigation of the Kingdom of Acorn, who dispatched Rouge the Bat and Geoffrey St. John of King Acorn's Secret Service to ascertain the truth of Mogul's dealings. Unknown to the spies, Mogul was already making plans against his enemies, commissioning his fellow former inmates and the Destructix to abduct Sonic. Sonic was soon liberated by Sally Acorn and Amy Rose, as well as Geoffrey and Rouge. When the heroes confront Mogul however, he denies all claims of wrong-doing as his accusers lack any incontrovertible evidence. He then sends the group away, having won a psychological victory by publicly humiliating his adversaries.

Abilities

Thanks to the Chaos Emerald embedded in his chest, Mogul commands Chaos Energy. In order to achieve mastery of this force, he formed the Order of Ixis. As a result, he can also use Ixian Magic on an even higher level than Ixis Naugus. Thanks to these abilities, Mogul is capable of warping reality on a massive scale. The loss of his Chaos Emerald greatly reduced Mogul's strength, making him a far less dangerous opponent; as of recent events, Mogul's powers have been restored upon taking possession of the grey Chaos Emerald.

Mammoth Mogul is also one of the few villains with his own super form. When charged with immense amounts of power, he can become Master Mogul. This has happened on various occasions, the first time being when he used the Sword of Acorns to drain the powers of Enerjak, thus giving himself the power of 12 Chaos Emeralds. Later, Mammoth Mogul absorbed the power of Chaos Knuckles, and thanks to that was able to assume complete command of the Chaos Force. In his second appearance, Mogul had the power to crush entire universes with his bare hands.

Being a mammoth, Mogul is also stronger than the average Mobian, which is only enhanced by his powers. However, Mogul's most dangerous muscle is his brain, especially since he has a number of mental abilities such as telepathy or creating illusions, the latter of which he once used to trick the Chaotix and Freedom Fighters into attacking each other. For a time, these powers were greatly diminished by the loss of his Chaos Emerald, to the point where he could no longer affect anyone but beings who had already been affected by those abilities, which are marked by a green diamond shape on their foreheads, though it is likely that he can now affect anyone with his psychic powers now that he has a new Emerald. A genius of caliber equal or greater to Dimitri and Doctor Eggman, Mammoth Mogul poses a threat to anyone he pits himself against.

Trivia

Mammoth Mogul inspired C.H. Greenblatt for the creation for Gazpacho from Chowder.

Footnotes