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The Sphinx

The Sphinx

8 appearances · Bronze Age · 1978–2021
Who is The Sphinx?

The Sphinx is a powerful Marvel villain who first clashed with the Fantastic Four and Nova, wielding the mystical Ka Stone — an ancient Egyptian artifact granting him vast energy powers and near-immortality, tied to his origins as a former sorcerer to the Pharaoh.

Emerging from the Bronze Age in 1978, The Sphinx is a Marvel creation of artist Sal Buscema, first unveiled in the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #12 amid the company of heavy-hitters like The Thing and Richard Rider. What's striking about this character is the long shadow cast across more than four decades of publication history, with the most concentrated presence found not in the cosmic corners where they debuted, but deep in the mystical world of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme — a fascinating trajectory that speaks to a character with genuine staying power across Marvel's many eras. With Anath-Na Mut among those sharing the page, and the Richards family's world as an early backdrop, The Sphinx occupies a genuinely intriguing crossroads of Marvel's cosmic and sorcerous mythologies — a Bronze Age original well worth seeking out for the dedicated collector.

★ First appearance
Fantastic Four Annual #12
Feb 1978

Top series

Covers through the years — 1978–2021

Fantastic Four Annual #12 1978
Fantastic Four Annual #12
The New Warriors Annual #1 1991
The New Warriors Annual #1
Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans #2 2010
Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans #2
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme Omnibus #1 2017
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme Omnibus #1
Doctor Strange Epic Collection #9 2021
Doctor Strange Epic Collection #9

Appearances

Fantastic Four Annual (1963)
#12
Fantastic Four (1961)
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme (1988)
#27
The New Warriors Annual (1991)
#1
Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans (2009)
#2
Essential Marvel Two-in-One (2005)
#4
Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme Omnibus (2017)
#1
Doctor Strange Epic Collection (2016)
#9