The Collector

Real Name
Taneleer Tivan 
 
Occupation
Collector/Curator; Cosmic Being
 
Citizenship
Unknown
 
Place of Birth
Cygnus X-1
 
Known Relatives
Matani (wife, deceased), Carina (daughter, deceased) 
 
Group Affiliation
Elders of the Universe
 
Education
Unrevealed

Height
6' 2" (variable)

Weight
450 lbs. (variable)

Eyes
White (no visible iris)

Hair
White (no hair in alien-form)

Powers 
As an Elder of the Universe, the Collector possesses an immortal body, immune to the cellular deterioration of aging and impervious to conventional harm (disease, penetration wounds, etc.). Only the dispersion of a major portion of his bodily molecules could prevent his regenerative power from functioning and cause death. He can also manipulate cosmic energy for a variety of effects, including projecting concussive force beams, and the increasing of his size and mass (including physical strength) at will. He also possesses limited shape-changing abilities. His precognitive abilities give him brief visions of alternate futures, although he must meditate for long periods to identify the individuals he sees in the vision and its apparent point in time. He has telepathic abilities that enable him to make limited contact with the minds of other Elders. Unlike some of the Elders who have used their long lifetimes to develop vast powers of the body or mind, the Collector has not devoted any of his energies to self-perfection. Therefore, he has no special superhuman physical or mental abilities. The Collector is more interested in acquiring physical objects of power rather than developing powers of his own. 

Abilities
The Collector possesses a wealth of knowledge of an excess amount of topics due to his millennia of experience and education. Also, due to his nature of collecting objects, the Collector has an abundance of resources, including various teleportation devices, weapons, potions, battle-suits, lasers, bombs, cannons, and various types of items, equipment, and artifacts.

Other Info
Taneleer Tivan is one of the eldest living beings of the universe. His species on Cygnus X-1 was one of the first to evolve after the Big Bang. Death took Tivan along with one respresentative of each of the first species of the universe and gave them total immortality. These people have associated among themselves to create the "Elders of the Universe." As they are relatively few, they call each other "brother." (To learn about the above highlighted character and/or group, click on their names above.)

Taneleer spent the first millennia of his existence with his wife Matani and daughter Carina on the tranquil world he chose as his head quarters. However, after their daughter had grown to maturity and left them, Tivan's wife died of mysterious causes. Taneleer was completely surprised by her death--he had thought her as immortal as well. Soon after, during meditation, he realized that an important factor in an Elder's immortality was the will to live, and his wife had simply lost hers. (To learn about the Collector's daughter, click on the highlighted name above. Note: Beware of the low-cut outfit on Carina's bio page.)

After his wife's death, Tivan was determined to not succumb to the same fate as his wife. Therefore, after meditation about his meaning in life, he received a vision. In the vision, Tivan saw that powerful things would rise and would be determined to destroy the universe. Therefore, he decided to prevent this from happening and dedicate his life to collecting artifacts and living beings throughout the universe to place them out of danger. Then, after the destruction of the universe, Tivan could re-populate the universe and give them knowledge of cultures from the past. Thus, he built a great spaceship and began his work as "The Collector."

The Collector stopped in every world to get a sample of its greatest achievements, as well as living representatives of each of their life forms. He has two appearances, a gentler humanoid appearance and a more aggressive alien like form he claims is his true form. He uses whichever form he feels he needs to collect his artifacts from the various worlds. In a matter of years, the Collector's ship was completely filled, and he was forced to suspend his mission in order to build expanded facilities for his permanent collection. With the aid of robo-mechanics acquired from the planet Cron, the Collector converted several uninhabited planets into giant museums for his collections. Every time his ship was full, he would return to his museum-worlds to deposit his recent acquisitions. (Currently, he has filled ten museum-worlds with artifacts from one hundred-thousand planets). (To learn about Cron, click on the highlighted name above. Also, the Collector in his alien form is shown in the third picture posted above. In addition, the Collector morphing between his human and alien form is shown in the forth picture posted above. )

Over the eons, the Collector's monomania became more and more obsessive--making him lose sight of his original reasons for his collecting. In recent years, the first being of great power he had foreseen as a threat to all life, Thanos of Titan, was born and eventually defeated without the Collector's intervention.  (To learn about Thanos and/or Titan, click no the highlighted names above.)

It was during this time, the Collector had an obsession with collecting Earths mightiest heroes--the Avengers. He attempted on several occasions to collect the team; however, he always eventually failed. (To learn about the Avengers, click on the highlighted name above.)

Later, when the second great threat to life, Korvac of Earth, appeared, the Collector decided to send his daughter Carina to spy on him. The intelligence he obtained led to the Collector attempting to report it to the heroes of Earth. However, Korvac found the Collector before he could do so, and he destroyed him. (To learn about Korvac, just click on the highlighted name above.)

After the Collector's death, fellow Elder of the Universe, the Grandmaster  (who can resurrect most living beings after their deaths) discovered that he could not resurrect virtually immortal beings like himself who are killed. Therefore, the Grandmaster challenged Death itself to a game. If Grandmaster won, then the Collector would live; however, if he lost, then he too would also die. Death agreed and each selected teams from among Earth’s superhumans to do battle each other in a Contest of Champions. The Grandmaster's team consisted of Captain America, Talisman, Darkstar, Captain Britain, Wolverine, Defensor, Sasquatch, Daredevil, Peregrine, She-Hulk, Thing, and Blitzkrieg; Death's team consisted of Iron Man, Vanguard, Iron Fist, Shamrock, Storm, Arabian Knight, Sabra, Invisible Girl, Angel, Black Panther, Sunfire, and Collective Man. The two teams were forced to battle each other and the Grandmaster’s team was victorious. However, Death revealed that in order to bring the Collector back to life, the Grandmaster would have to forfeit his own life as well. Compelled by his sense of gamesmanship to see the game through to its end, the Grandmaster sacrificed his life and the Collector returned from death. (Click the highlighted names above to learn more about the characters and/or event. Note: Beware of the extremely revealing outfits on Storm and She-Hulk's bio pages.)

Now resurrected, the Collector resumed his ancient task of collecting. He, with his extensive contact with Earth and earthlings, eventually established a large underground zoo located under Canada. Here, the Collector, housed such gigantic beasts as Fin Fang Foom, Goom, Gargantus, Grogg, Groot, Grottu, and Rommbu, among others. (Click the highlighted names above to learn more about them.)

During a recent vision, the Collector foresaw the attempt of Surtur in destroying Asgard. However, Surtur was also stopped without the Collector's intervention. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn about Surtur and/or Asgard.)

Later on, the Collector was able to return the favor to his brother, the Grandmaster, by having him resurrected. This happened in a complex scheme that included the Avengers fighting the West Coast Avengers--each team following one of the Elders and believing the other one was a villain. (Click on the highlighted team above to learn more about them.)

More recently, the Collector joined the other Elders in the Grandmaster's scheme to kill Galactus, which would result in the existing universe to collapse. The Elders would survive the big crunch and the subsequent big bang of a new universe; thus, becoming Galactus-like beings in the new universe. However, their scheme failed. But, the Collector has now become one of the threats to the universe he had once predicted.  (Click the highlighted name above to learn about Galactus.)

To learn a little more about the Collector, just click on the following link, http://marvel.com/universe/Collector_%28Taneleer_Tivan%29.

The Collector makes an appearance during the credits of Thor: The Dark World. He is also supposed to make an appearance in the Guardians of the Galaxy film.