25 of Marvel’s best spacefaring characters

Karnak (Image via Marvel)

17. Karnak

Clearly, you can’t talk about the Inhumans and only discuss Black Bolt. Don’t get me wrong, Black Bolt is very cool, but there’s an entire crazy cast of characters to cover.

Karnak, though a member of the Inhumans, has never undergone the mutating process called Terrigenesis. Inhuman parents expose their children to the Terrigen mists, a substance that encourages mutations but can do so at a cost. While some of the mutations are pretty cool, they can impose serious limitations on someone’s life. Look at Black Bolt, who cannot talk out loud for fear of destroying entire planets.

Karnak’s brother, Triton, experienced such an intense Terrigenesis that his parents begged Karnak to avoid the process. Instead, he’s sent to a monastery, where becomes a master martial artist. Despite not having some of the more impressive mutations held by his fellow Inhumans, Karnak can still hold his own.

Karnak is still an Inhuman, after all, and as such has advanced stamina, strength, agility, and reflexes. He also has a kind of extrasensory power that aids his martial arts skills, thanks to long years of meditation and training. This also means that he can control all of the functions of his autonomic nervous system, such as heart rate and breathing. Even superhuman opponents should fear his skills, as he has rendered some of them unconscious with the perfectly landed blow.