Daxamites are an alien race from the planet Daxam. Their planet, like Krypton, orbits a red sun (called Valor); and likeKryptonians, Daxamites will gain superpowers when living under a yellow sun. In fact, their powers and abilities are nearly identical to those of Kryptonians; The only difference being that they have no weakness to Kryptonite, and instead are severaly weak to Lead.
Daxamites are an off-shoot of Kryptonians. Modern Daxamites are the descendants of an indigenous humanoid race with Kryptonian colonists, interbred.In DC Comics the Daxamites have recently been established as being "Space Mexicans". The human-like natives of the planet Daxam had a distinctly Mesoamerican racial appearance and culture. They were colonized by the pseudo-European Kryptonians, with whom they subsequently interbred and established a distinct culture, including things such as buildings resembling step pyramids. When the Kryptonian's intergalactic empire collapsed, the Daxamites became independent. They now exhibit some attributes of being Space Amish. While they have and use advanced technology, they are very isolationist to the point of xenophobia and have strong cultural taboos against certain technologies, such as anything related to space travel.
History[]
In canonical continuity, Daxamites were a group of Kryptonians who had left Krypton in order to explore the Universe. They are an intensely xenophobic race, and are fearful of alien invaders. Daxam's inhabitants tend to stay on their homeworld, but some have ventured into the galaxy. Daxamites are not vulnerable to Kryptonite because The Eradicator, programmed to preserve all Kryptonian culture, altered the birthing matrix ("artificial wombs") the explorers took with them so that the newborns would be fatally vulnerable to lead. Like their Kryptonian cousins, Daxamites manifest powers and abilities similar to those of Superman when exposed to the light of a yellow star, including vast strength, damage resistance, great speed, flight, enhanced senses and heat and X-ray vision. Their own sun Valor was a red giant, so while on their homeworld, they could not have their powers.
In the post-Infinite Crisis continuity the Daxamite started their life as a more peaceful and less xenophobic offshoot of the Kryptonian race, choosing to gain the trust of the people living in the planets they found rather than mercilessly killing them as the other Kryptonians did. So, when the Kryptonian explorer Dax-Am discovered a planet inhabited by a peaceful native population, the Kryptonians decided to merge with the Native Daxamites, giving birth to a race with inherent Kryptonian powers, plus the ability to breed with other humanoid races. This, coupled with the fact that, even when they lost track of their Kryptonian origins, choosing to consider themselves only Daxamites, they kept traveling through the stars, allowed for a large population of half-breeds residing on the planet, naturally inclined to seek new planets, as the descendants of the last Kryptonian purebloods kept alive their ideals of isolation and xenophobia.[volume & issue needed]
Eventually, the social unrest stirred by isolationists and explorers exploded in a full-blown civil war. The isolationists won, founding the Cult of Sorrows, and rewriting history to blame aliens for the ruins of the war, and hide the presence of half-breeds in Daxam.[1] By the time of the invasion of Earth, Daxamite society evolved into a semi-religious regime, greatly disapproving of any other form for spacefaring but conquest and war, outlawing several pieces of technology, and displaying a widespread xenophobia in every single inhabitant of the planet, let alone for selected individuals as Sodam Yat, Kel and Lar Gand, the first and the latter forced to self-exile themselves to avoid harsher punishment for their different ways.Daxamites took part in an invasion of Earth masterminded by the Dominators. During the invasion however, the Daxamite forces discovered that they gained tremendous powers, of a set and scale comparable to Kryptonians, in a yellow sun environment. However, while engaging Superman, the super-hero convinced his opponents, who were succumbing to lead poisoning, that their allies were wrong to invade Earth and Kel Gand — Lar Gand's father — sent a message before his death to their government to intervene on Earth's behalf. They were successful in this intervention when the Dominators, unaware of the Daxamite physical reaction to Earth's environment, dismissed the small force of primarily troop transports. Thus, they were caught completely off guard when the Daxamites deployed in space an extremely formidable force of hundreds of soldiers who had gained powers and quickly defeated the enemy. They also fought against the galactic destroyer known as Imperiex.
Mongul's Occupancy
Daxam is briefly invaded by the space tyrant Mongul II, and remade into the base of a splinter cell of the Sinestro Corps, the Mongul Corps. Sodam Yat, utilizing the entity Ion, is then forced to sacrifice himself to turn Daxam sun yellow, granting superpowers to every Daxamite, and, as a result, the ability to repel the invaders. However, a hooded Krona divests Ion from Sodam, freeing the young hero from the sun and restoring it to its red form. The sudden loss of powers decimates the population, as many had been using their powers of flight, superstrength, and invulnerability when the sun changed colors.
Possessed of genome similar to that of Kryptonians, Daxamites, when exposed to the radiant light of a yellow sun gain powers and abilities similar to that of Superman, including super strength, flight, near-invulnerability, super-senses, and super-speed, heat and x-ray visions. Millennia ago, the Daxamites were a group of Kryptonians who decided to wander the universe in exploration. Dax-Am founded the planet which was named after him. The kryptonian colonists were able to mate with the natives and so interbred to create a new species, Daxamites. Eventually Daxamites decided to expand in the universe. Daxamite, Bal Gand went exploring on Earth and concieved a child with an Incan man. Her bloodline inherited a desire to travel and explore while those without her blood sought isolation. This led to a civil war across the planet and eventually travel off planet was banned.
Daxamites were first encountered during the Invasion crisis, when a number of alien worlds took an interest in Earth for it’s propensity to breed numerous super-powered beings. The Dominators, looking to create an army for their own purposes, contacted the aquatic Gil’Dishpan, the brutish Khunds, the fascist Thanagarians, the shape-shifting Durlans, the warlike Okaarans, malevolent Psions, and the logical Daxamites. All species agreed to invade Earth, except the Daxamites who sent an observation team, refusing to take part in any of the fighting.
Once the invasion force had established a beachhead in Australia, the Daxamite observation group began to exhibit wondrous abilities. Drunk on power, the seven of them engaged the leader of a resistance assault group, Superman, beating him nearly senseless. They fought for several minutes but then the exertion of the fighting and being exposed to such high contents of lead in earth’s atmosphere left the Daxamites dying. Only the quick thinking of Superman saved the lives of the observation group.
The Daxamites at that moment realized they were on the wrong side. One of their number sacrificed his life to radio the Daxamite Starfleet to involve itself in this unjust invasion. Involve itself it did, within minutes many Daxamite science vessels moved to intercept Dominion warships, which the Dominion found laughable until the crews left the confines of their ships and attacked. Thousands of Supermen acting in defense of Earth, it turned the tide of the invasion.
The most famous Daxamite is Lar Gand, who has also been known as Mon-El, M’onel, and Valor. It was his father who sacrificed his life during the invasion. Inspired, he was briefly a hero on Earth during the 20th century, taking a crucial part during the ‘ Darkness Within’ saga. He later seeded all the worlds that would later become United Planet worlds. Lar Gand would later be placed into the Phantom Zone to save him from fatal lead poisoning, but freed in the 30th century by Braniac V.
The Green Lantern of Space Sector 1760, Sodam Yat, is a Daxamite who used the Ion power to turn Daxam's red sun, yellow and allowed Daxamites the power to take on the Sinestro Corps that threatened them. Sodam Yat reappears in the 31st century as a Guardian and heralds a new era in the Green lantern corps.
Daxamite Abilities[]
- Energy Absorption: Daxamites possess the ability to absorb the light and radiation of stars, specifically those in the yellow spectrum. Their body is constantly absorbing and storing energy from Earth's yellow sun, which in turn grants them incredible powers, such as superhuman strength, enhanced senses, impenetrable skin, and even the ability to defy gravity. Their body is also able to absorb the radiation of a blue sun, this grants them increased strength and various other powers.
- Superhuman Strength: Daxamites have a strength that puts them on par with their sister race: The Kryptonians. Daxamites have the ability to lift over 100 tons with minimal effort.
- Superhuman Speed: Daxamite physiology grants its members an enhanced metabolism, muscular speed, and nervous system. Due to this they have been granted a speed that is much greater compared to that of a human. They are able to see and avoid objects moving at incredible speeds and are also able to move faster than the human eye can perceive.
- Superhuman Vision (Telescopic, X-Ray, Heat): Daxamites are able to see over great distances and perceive even the smallest of objects. This vision also allows Daxamites to see through the atomic structure of an object. Though they are unable to see through lead.
- Super Hearing: Daxamites have the super human ability to hear all sounds at any volume or pitch.
- Invulnerability: Due to their Daxamite physiology they are granted a bio-electric force-field that protects their body from harm. Their muscular tissue is much more dense than that of a normal human.
- Flight: While Daxamites body is charged with solar energy they are able to emit a gravitational field that enables them to defy gravity. Daxamites have extreme mobility while they are in flight allowing them to fight, change course and also carry great weights.
- Freeze Breath: Daxamites have the ability to freeze their enemies using their breathe. They are able to control the temperature with which they expels this power.
- Longevity: Daxamite physiology allows its members to live much longer than a normal human.
- Total Recall : Daxamites have the ability to instantly recall events that he pays specific attention to or that hold great emotional significance to them. When they have absorbed solar energy they have the ability to solve problems with superhuman speeds.