Glorian's History
Early Life
Thomas Gideon is the son of the late billionaire Gregory Gideon and his wife Claire. When Thomas was still a young boy his father became obsessed with obtaining great wealth and began neglecting his family. While Thomas still idolized his father he looked for other heroes in his life and became a fan of the heroic team known as the Fantastic Four. When his father made a bet that he could defeat the Fantastic Four in order to beat out his three biggest competitors, Gregory Gideon began plotting against the group. The end game of his plan was to trick them into triggering their time machine and trapping the group in the distant past. When Thomas learned of this, he rushed to warn the Fantastic Four. Thomas accidentally triggered the trap himself, and was transported to an undisclosed time along with the Fantastic Four's Thing. When Gregory realized what he had done he relented, surrendering to the Fantastic Four. When their leader, Mister Fantastic returned Thomas and the Thing to the present, Gideon promised to turn his life around and liquidate his wealth so he could focus on his family, much to the delight of Thomas.
Their second chance of being a happy family proved to be short lived when his father took them on one last vacation before he relinquished his vast fortune. Gideon chartered a private plane which accidentally flew onto the site of an ocean atomic bomb test. The blast knocked their plane out of the sky and it crashed into the ocean. While Claire was killed in the crash, Thomas and his father survived and were rescued by a Russian trawler and returned to the United States. There they were examined by doctors who informed Gregory that they were exposed to a large amount of radiation and that radiation decay set in. While Gregory was believed to have only two years left, Thomas was believed to survive at least a little longer than that. Gregory became obsessed with finding a cure, using his vast fortune to find one, before finally setting his sights on the Fantastic Four to obtain it.
Orphaned
Since Gideons last dealt with the Fantastic Four, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman had married and had a son named Franklin. During the time that he was plotting to capture the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue were undergoing a separation, with Sue taking Franklin to live with some childhood friends. Learning that the android creature known as Dragon Man -- a sometime foe of the Fantastic Four -- was frozen within a refrigerated rail car, Gideon hired a private army to free the creature to use it in his scheme. Gideon kept his plans a secret from his son.
Gregory sent out drones to monitor the Fantastic Four, catching the team as they investigated the disappearance of their ally Agatha Harkness. When they left in the Fantasti-Car, Gideon had the drone attack the Fantastic Four in the hopes that when their vehicle crashed they would be knocked out and his men could capture them, but they were relatively unscathed. He was more successful when he sent Dragon Man to capture the Invisible Girl and Franklin from the ranch they were staying at. When Mister Fantastic learned of Sue's kidnapping he, the Thing and Medusa went looking for her, tracking the Dragon Man to the factory where Gideon was holding her. Gideon was able to knock the team out and take them prisoner as well. Gideon also used one of his drones to lure the Human Torch to his lair and take him prisoner as well.
With the Torch, Thing and Medusa imprisoned, Gideon placed Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl and Franklin in his Eternity Machine to siphon their cosmically altered genes in order to cure himself. The other members of the group managed to break free and attacked Gideon. Thomas walked in on his father and failed to stop him. As the Thing battled Gideon, Gregory gained the upper hand by trying to drain his opponent's life force. The tide of battle turned when Medusa convinced the Dragon Man to attack Gideon. The fight sent them crashing through the Eternity Machine causing it to explode, killing Gideon and deactivating the Dragon Man. With Gregory no longer a threat, the Fantastic Four departed, leaving Thomas to deal with his father's body.
Reed promised Thomas to try and find a way to cure him of his condition before they left. In the aftermath of the battle one of Gregory's minions "Slugger" Johnson was approached by the Shaper of Worlds who came to make his dreams reality. The Shaper altered reality into Slugger's ideal 1950s inspired fantasy world. However reality was eventually restored to normal by the Fantastic Four. With his experiment with Johnson a failure, the Shaper sought out another whom he could empower to assist in bringing to life the fantasies of others. He found Thomas and used his vast power to cure the boy of his cancer and then transformed him into a golden skinned being he dubbed the Glorian.
Glorian
Using his newfound abilities, Glorian sought to create a paradise for the gamma spawned monster known as the Hulk. Glorian took the Hulk to what appeared to be a veritable paradise where his friend Crackajack Jackson and lover Jarella were still alive. The Hulk was not aware that these were merely illusions created for his benefit. Glorian and Hulk's arrival on this world was observed by the Tribbitites (the Toad Men). Seeking to exploit Glorian's powers, the Toad Men captured the Hulk, "Jarella" and "Crackajack" and brought them to their homeworld of Toadworld. The Hulk was later forced to incapacitate the Shaper of Worlds whom the Toad Men captured and left Hulk on the dead world after the illusion was dispelled. Glorian revived the Hulk and they both went after his mentor. When Glorian was knocked out in battle this distracted the Shaper long enough for the illusions around "Crackajack" and "Jarella" were revealed, sending the Hulk in a frenzy. After the Toad Men were defeated, the Hulk refused any more illusion fantasies, so the Shaper sent him back to Earth. He then gathered Glorian and left Toadworld to seek to offer others their greatest fantasies.
The Shaper then taught Glorian to shape the dreams of others and sent him on Earth to test out his new abilities. Glorian chose the broken down town of Dustbowl, creating illusions of the dreams of the disenfranchised people there. When the Hulk's ally Betty Ross went into Dustbowl for supplied, she too was caught in Glorian's thrall, shown an image of her love, the Hulk's alter-ego Bruce Banner. When the Hulk and his friend Rick Jones went looking for her later, Glorian could not make the Hulk fall into a fantasy either. Not wishing his test to be ruined, he set the towns people to attack him. The Shaper eventually intervened when Glorian's test began to go awry and stopped it. Disgusted that they would use people as their play things, Rick ordered the Hulk to attack both the Shaper and Glorian but the pair quickly fled into space.
Fall From Grace
Sometime later Glorian returned to Earth to once more grant people their greatest wishes, renewing the light in their lives. He settled on Las Vegas where the Hulk -- in his grey form -- operated in the town as an enforcer for casino owner Michael Berengetti as "Joe Fixit". At the time the Hulk was protecting his employer from the Maggia crime family who were trying to muscle in on the region. Seeing the Hulk saving his employer from Maggia assassins, Glorian decided to focus his attentions on the Hulk once more. As the Hulk struggled to deal with the Maggia, and prevent interference from his alter-ego, Bruce Banner, that was effecting his status quo as a Vegas enforcer, Glorian watched waiting for the right moment to intervene. When the Hulk returned during one of his nightly transformations, Glorian created illusions of his greatest desires. However the Banner part of his mind was able to manifest itself in these illusions and fight against him. When Glorian revealed himself to the Hulk and that the illusions were his doing the Hulk attacked in a fit of anger. Their fight took them in the middle of a video convention where the Hulk seemingly beat Glorian to death, before leaving the scene.
Glorian went to the Shaper of Worlds who warned Glorian that he was on a fools errand, but Glorian refused to give up on the Hulk and returned to Earth to continue on his quest to show the Hulk the light. By this time the Maggia boss Nick Scratch was -- secretly the demon Cloot -- was manipulating both the Hulk and Glorian for his own ends, starting by agitating the Hulk into various fights around Vegas. He then brought Glorian to his casino where Scratch convinced Glorian to sign a deal that he could get the Hulk to "see" the light within 24 hours or both their souls were forfeit. Believing this to be the Shaper of Worlds testing him, and confident of his abilities, Glorian signed the contract. Cloot convinced Glorian to turn Berengetti and his girlfriend Marlo Chandler against the Hulk while setting his own creation, the demonic Ghoul against the gamma spawned monster. While the Hulk defeated the Ghoul, his allies turned their backs on him, prompting Cloot to boast over his coming victory although Glorian was still confident that he would win. When Cloot explained that this was all real and not a test being conducted by the Shaper, Glorian refused to believe it. With his time running out, Glorian confronted the Hulk directly begging him to turn over to the light to spare his life. The Hulk refused and when it became apparent that Glorian was not going to win, Cloot arrived to take him away early. Glorian was teleported to the Grand Canyon before being sent to Hell and the Hulk followed to gloat. However when Cloot revealed the terms of the contract consigned not only Glorian's soul, but that of the Hulk's as well the Hulk tried to fight back. The Hulk convinced Cloot to a game of chance to win their freedom and beat the devil at his own game by cheating on a game of dice. When Cloot tried to take the Hulk and Glorian's soul's anyway the Shaper of Worlds stepped in and forced the devil back. The Shaper told Glorian that he still has much to learn about his actions before they both left for space once again.
After a time away from Earth, Glorian returned again this time appearing before the youthful mutants of Generation X who were lost at sea at the time. He created a fantasy world for all the members giving them base desires. The only member of the team who refused was Skin who refused to give into trivial wish fulfillment. Troubled by this, Glorian asked Skin what he really wanted. When Skin specified that he just wanted his friends by his side, Glorian ended the illusions and teleported Generation X back to land. Returning to the Shaper, Glorian was present when the Shaper petitioned Eternity, Infinity, and the Living Tribunal to be allowed to create an entire world. When these beings agreed, Glorian combined his abilities with the minds and imaginations of Prester John, the Stranger and a human known only as Tim to create the world Eurth where medieval versions of Earth's heroes existed.
Annihilation
Sometime later Glorian apparently fell out of favor of the Shaper of Worlds and sought to become his superior. This quest brought him to the world of Godthab Omega. There he tricked the disgraced Kree warrior Ronan the Accuser and Gamora, the so-called deadliest woman in the universe, to battle each other. Glorian then absorbed the energies unleashed by the epic battle and used it to begin reshaping Godthab Omega into a paradise. However this coincided with the arrival of the Annihilation Wave that was sweeping across the Andromeda Galaxy. An invasion of creatures from the Negative Zone led by Eradica, one of the many brides of Annihilus attacked. Glorian was overwhelmed by the swamp of invading creatures and tried valiantly to defend himself and his adopted world. In an all-or-nothing attempt to vanquish his foes, Glorian unleashed a powerful blast that wiped out Eradica and her forces, but Glorian also suffered as well. Seeing his paradise completely destroyed was the breaking point for Glorian whose mind was shattered leaving him in a vegetative state, the lone living being left on Godthab Omega.
Last Days
At some point a romantic relationship between the cosmic entity known as Eternity -- the embodiment of all time and reality -- and the cosmic entity known as the Queen of Nevers -- the embodiment of all possibility -- created a place where the universe, all of time, and all possibilities were one, and anything could happen, a Land of Couldn't-Be Shouldn't-Be.
During one such romantic moment, Incredulous Zed used the Edge of Reality, a sword which could cut through reality itself, to infiltrate the Land of Couldn't-Be Shouldn't-Be, and steal the Never Queen's heart, which he used to power the Impericon.
As the Never Queen approached the Impericon, seeking to reclaim her heart, Glorian revealed himself to be the mysterious benefactor behind the theft, and prompted Zed to choose the Silver Surfer to combat her and protect the Impossible Palace,[24] but when the Herald destroyed Zed's cambots, thus preventing them from monitoring the subsequent battle, Glorian decided it was time for Zed to take a more direct role. He once again bestowed upon Zed the Edge of Reality and commanded that he kill the Queen of Nevers himself.
However, with the help of Dawn Greenwood, Zed's plans were thwarted by the Silver Surfer, the Never Queen's heart was returned, and the Impericon destroyed. For his crime, Eternity expelled Zed from within, and he found himself banished from all space and time in the Land of Couldn't-Be Shouldn't-Be where he was surprised to discover once again with his mysterious benefactor, Glorian, who transformed him into a slave for his failure.
Later, while attempting to outrun the collapse of the Multiverse caused by the final Incursion, the Silver Surfer and Dawn Greenwood encountered their future selves. Dawn told her past self where to escape the known universe through a tear in the fabric of reality, and the pair found themselves in what appeared to be a vast blank void, a plane of non-existence. Glorian then explained that he and his new assistant, the lowly Zee, had created the escape route to rescue the Silver Surfer from the end of everything. Next Glorian revealed that where they stood was not in fact an empty void, rather upon his master, the Shaper of Worlds.
At the behest of the Shaper of Worlds, Dawn and the Silver Surfer then began recreating the known universe within the Lands of Couldn't-Be Shouldn't-Be, with Glorian and the Surfer focusing on the cosmic, while Dawn and Zee concentrated on Earth. But the pair soon began to alter things to their own desires. The Surfer resurrected then killed Galactus; meanwhile, Dawn quickly realized that her crafting was merely two-dimensional, so she accidentally created another Silver Surfer to help her, but all the changes upset the Shaper of Worlds.
Once most of these anomalies were dealt with, only the duplicate Silver Surfer remained. The Shaper made Dawn choose between one of the Surfers; however, Glorian was impatient for the reality to be finished and killed the Shaper, whose power had been depleted during the creation of the universe. Glorian revealed that his ultimate goal was to break free from the Shaper's commands, for which he had waited until his master was weak enough to kill him.
The Surfer and Dawn managed to escape from Glorian and bring back the Queen of Nevers, whose heart had been recreated in this new universe. The Surfer was forced to choose between Glorian's universe and what remained of the rest of the Multiverse; however, at that very same time, the old universe was brought back. The Silver Surfer managed to resist the temptation of Glorian's perfect universe, which was in the end a simply hollow day-dream. Once the Surfer chose his old universe, Glorian's reality was destroyed, and apparently him with it.
