Attuma a 'Worthy' barbarian of the deep in 'Fear Itself'

By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

When it comes to sea monsters, Nessie and the Kraken have nothing on the barbaric Attuma.

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  Marvel Comics

  Already a savage undersea warlord, Attuma becomes even more powerful when transformed by one of the Serpent's mystical hammers.

Marvel Comics

Already a savage undersea warlord, Attuma becomes even more powerful when transformed by one of the Serpent's mystical hammers.

The big, bad, blue-skinned supervillain is the star of the latest issue of the Fear Itself: The Worthy digital series, available Tuesday for free download on the Marvel Comics app for iPhone and iPad, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited and Marvel Comics on Chrome.

Every Monday, USA TODAY gives you an exclusive look at that week's Worthy character and issue, this week by writer Tom DeFalco and artist Mario Alberti.

Who he is: Attuma was already a formidable foe before he was transformed into a powerhouse thanks to picking up one of the Serpent's mystical hammers in Fear Itself. An Atlantean warlord and longtime enemy of Namor the Sub-Mariner, Attuma has always believed himself to be the prophesized conqueror of Atlantis, yet no matter whom he has allied himself with over the years, he has always been stopped. Now, that may change as he's part of the Worthy army and is laying waste to the worlds under the sea and on the surface.

Vicious intent: Attuma has always been one of the more savage super-villains in the Marvel Universe, DeFalco says, but we've never known why. "I wanted to find out what sparked this savagery in the first place and what continues to motivate him. I got a real chance to see beyond man within the barbarian. A prophecy almost destroyed his race and led to a life of torture for him. Having lost so much because of this prophecy, Attuma now is willing to risk everything to accomplish it."

An event staple: Fans have seen Attuma in other major crossover events such as Atlantis Attacks and The Evolutionary War, so he's the perfect villain for something as large a scale as Fear Itself. Attuma is a powerful adversary who has never considered retreat or defeat an option," DeFalco says. "He is always fighting to the death and will never stop ? no matter what you throw at him!"

Why he's Worthy: "Attuma is a character that doesn't really have a deep history, but is such a great visual. So much of the world is water, it made sense that really there should have been like three Worthy that were solely involved with underwater activities," Fear Itself writer Matt Fraction says, laughing. "I wanted a sea monster. There's a sequence in Fear Itself 4 where a kid is fishing, and there's a blue tide of dead Atlanteans who start washing up on shore, one after the next after the next. We cut to Attuma just in a rampaging murder spree, like a human shark underwater. I wanted the idea of something monstrous happening on 80 percent of the world that we can't see, but trust me, it's down there and you should be very afraid of it. And it makes the hair on the back of my neck go up."

From the editor's desk: "Attuma is a barbarian in the classic sense, a sort of undersea Genghis Khan," says Tom Brevoort, editor on Fear Itself. "But his newfound divinity dispenses with the need for an army or followers or just about anything. It boils him down to his essence, which is an unstoppable killing machine of the ocean depths who subsists on the fear of his enemies ? or those who just happen to cross his path."

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