title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: In speaking about the film's storyline, Gilroy drew a distinction between the fictional programs in the "Bourne" film series:


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Although a large part of the film was set in and around Washington, DC, the real DC appears only in aerial establishing shots. Most of the film was shot over 12 weeks at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, including all interior DC scenes. The old house in Hudson, New York, used as Shearing's house was unable to accommodate the weight of equipment and crew, so it was used only for exterior shots, and all interior scenes were filmed on a Kaufman Astoria soundstage. The scenes set in the "SteriPacific" factory in Manila were actually filmed in the "New York Times" printing plant in Queens.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Several scenes were shot overseas, mostly in Manila and in the Paradise bay of El Nido, Palawan, in the Philippines. Several train scenes at Garak Market station on Seoul Subway Line 3 and nearby areas in Seocho-daero 77-Gil (1308 Seocho 4-dong), Seocho-gu, and Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, were used in some scenes. The Kananaskis Country region of Alberta, Canada, was used for the scenes set in Alaska.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Gilroy said, "there are three deleted scenes—we just mixed them and color corrected them [...] but what I like about it is all three scenes happen in the movie. One of them's referred to and they're completely legitimate parts of our story, they absolutely happen in our film, we just didn't have time to show them to you so there's nothing off to the side. I think they'll be on the straight-up DVD."


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: The film portrays Cross and Shearing as travelling non-stop from New York JFK Airport to Manila on board a fictional American Airlines Boeing 747-400, a model of 747 that American Airlines has never operated. Further, no commercial airline operated nonstop passenger service from JFK to Manila until October 29, 2018. American Airlines was actively involved in the production of the film, and contributed its own airline employees and a Boeing 777-200 for the interior terminal and cabin shots at Terminal 8 of JFK International Airport. The airline also heavily co-marketed the film throughout post-production.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: "The Bourne Legacy" premiered in New York City on July 30, 2012. It had its Asian premiere at Resorts World Manila in Pasay, Metro Manila, on , before its release in North America on August 10.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: In its opening weekend, "The Bourne Legacy" grossed about $38.7 million in the United States and Canada and debuted at #1 of the box office charts, surpassing Universal's expectation of $35 million. It grossed $46.6 million worldwide in its first weekend. The film sold roughly 400,000 more tickets on its opening weekend than the first film in the series, "The Bourne Identity". Studio research reported that audiences were evenly mixed among the sexes. The film grossed $113.2 million in North America and $162.9 million in foreign countries, bringing the film's worldwide total to $276.1 million.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 235 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It isn't quite as compelling as the earlier trilogy, but "The Bourne Legacy" proves the franchise has stories left to tell—and benefits from Jeremy Renner's magnetic work in the starring role." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film an A−, commenting that "Gilroy, who as a screenwriter has shaped the movie saga from the beginning, trades the wired rhythms established in the past two episodes by Paul Greengrass for something more realistic and closer to the ground. The change is refreshing. Jason Bourne's legacy is in good hands." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 2½ stars out of 4, writing: ""The Bourne Legacy" is always gripping in the moment. The problem is in getting the moments to add up. I freely confess that for at least the first 30 minutes I had no clear idea of why anything was happening. The dialogue is concise, the cinematography is arresting and the plot is a murky muddle."


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Peter Debruge of "Variety" wrote that "the combination of Robert Elswit's elegant widescreen lensing and the measured editing by Tony Gilroy's brother John may be easier to absorb than Greengrass' hyperkinetic docu-based style, but the pic's convoluted script ensures that auds will emerge no less overwhelmed." Michael Atkinson of "The Village Voice" also wrote a scathing review of the film, saying: "The "Bourne" films have more than just overstayed their welcome and outlasted the Ludlum books—they've been Van Halenized, with an abrupt change of frontman and a resulting dip in personality."


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" gave the film a positive review, called the film "an exemplary espionage thriller that has a strong sense of what it wants to accomplish and how best to get there." He especially commended Gilroy's work on the film: "Gilroy knows the underpinnings of this world inside out and appreciates how essential it is to maintain and extend the house style of cool and credible intelligence that marked the previous films." Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" commented on his review that "the series' legacy is lessened by this capable but uninspired fourth episode."


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: "The Bourne Legacy" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 11, 2012, in the United States and Canada.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: The soundtrack to "The Bourne Legacy" as composed by James Newton Howard, unlike the previous films, which were composed by John Powell, was released digitally on , by Varèse Sarabande Records. A new version of Moby's "Extreme Ways", entitled "Extreme Ways (Bourne's Legacy)", was recorded for the film's end credits.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: From 2012 onward, various additional Bourne film plans have been made and changed, with some intended to be "Legacy" sequels starring Renner, and others sequels to the original trilogy and starring Damon. The latter eventually saw release as "Jason Bourne" in 2016. As of 2017, a second Renner film was considered unlikely, though such a work had been in pre-production stages since 2013. The shifting course of these projects has been somewhat complex.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: In September 2012, Universal Pictures had stated at a media conference in Los Angeles that they were likely to release more Bourne films, despite "Legacy" being given mixed reviews by critics. In a December 2012 interview, Matt Damon revealed that he and Paul Greengrass were interested in returning for the next film as Jason Bourne and the director, respectively.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Damon is reported saying that although he had not seen "Legacy", he intends to do so because not only is he curious to see it, but also because he has enjoyed Jeremy Renner in everything he has seen him in. However, in June 2014, executive producer Frank Marshall said that Matt Damon would not be returning to the big screen for the next Bourne film, contrary to earlier statements made by Damon and rumors surrounding his return to the franchise. On February 21, 2013, it was confirmed that a "Bourne 5" was being planned.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: On August 2, 2013, Universal hired Tony Gilroy and Anthony Peckham to write the film's script with Renner returning as Cross. On November 8, 2013, the "Fast & Furious" film series director Justin Lin was announced to direct the film.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: On December 2, 2013, it was announced that Renner would return as Cross, Lin would both direct and produce from his production company Perfect Storm Entertainment, and the studio announced an August 14, 2015 release date. On May 9, 2014, Andrew Baldwin was brought in to re-write the film.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: On June 18, 2014, the studio pushed back the film from August 14, 2015, to July 15, 2016. In November 2014, the "Bourne Legacy" sequel was put on hold in favor of "Jason Bourne", for which Damon confirmed that he and Greengrass would return.


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: On January 6, 2015, the studio pushed back the release date to July 29, 2016. The first trailer for the film was aired on February 7, 2016, during Super Bowl 50, which also revealed its title as "Jason Bourne". The film premiered


title: The Bourne Legacy (film)

text: Producer Frank Marshall said Universal Pictures is hoping to make a sixth film in the franchise, a direct sequel to "Jason Bourne". He stated that a sequel to "The Bourne Legacy" featuring Renner's Cross is unlikely, although he did not explicitly rule it out. However, in March 2017, Matt Damon cast doubt upon any sequel, hinting that people "might be done" with the character.


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo, as his pet. Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. This continued until May 21, 1925, when Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage while at work. From then until his death on March 8, 1935, Hachikō would return to Shibuya Station every day to await Ueno's return.


title: Hachikō

text: During his lifetime, the dog was held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity. Well after his death, he continues to be remembered in worldwide popular culture, with statues, movies, books, and appearances in various media. Hachikō is known in Japanese as , meaning "eight" and the suffix originating as one once used for ancient Chinese dukes; thus, Hachikō could be roughly translated as either "Mr. Eight" or "Sir Eight".


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō, a white Akita, was born on November 10, 1923 at a farm located in Ōdate, Akita Prefecture, Japan. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the Tokyo Imperial University, took Hachikō as a pet and brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo. Ueno would commute daily to work, and Hachikō would leave the house to greet him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued the daily routine until May 21, 1925, when Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while he was giving a lecture to his class, and died without ever returning to the train station at which Hachikō waited.


title: Hachikō

text: Each day, for the next nine years, nine months and fifteen days, Hachikō awaited Ueno's return, appearing precisely when the train was due at the station.


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachikō and Professor Ueno together each day. Initial reactions from the people, especially from those working at the station, were not necessarily friendly. However, after the first appearance of the article about him in on October 4, 1932, people started to bring Hachikō treats and food to nourish him during his wait.


title: Hachikō

text: One of Ueno's students, Hirokichi Saito, who developed expertise on the Akita breed, saw the dog at the station and followed him to the home of Ueno's former gardener, Kozaburo Kobayashi, where he learned the history of Hachikō's life. Shortly after the meeting, the former student published a documented census of Akitas in Japan. His research found only 30 purebred Akitas remaining, including Hachikō from Shibuya Station.


title: Hachikō

text: He returned frequently to visit Hachikō, and over the years he published several articles about the dog's remarkable loyalty. In 1932, one of his articles, published in , placed the dog in the national spotlight.


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō became a national sensation. His faithfulness to his master's memory impressed the people of Japan as a spirit of family loyalty to which all should strive to achieve. Teachers and parents used Hachikō's vigil as an example for children to follow. Teru Ando rendered a sculpture of the dog, and throughout the country, a new awareness of the Akita breed grew.


title: Hachikō

text: Eventually, Hachikō's faithfulness became a national symbol of loyalty, particularly to the person and institution of Emperors.


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō died on March 8, 1935, at the age of 11. He was found on a street in Shibuya. In March 2011, scientists finally settled the cause of death of Hachikō: the dog had both terminal cancer and a filaria infection. There were also four skewers in Hachikō's stomach, but the skewers did not damage his stomach nor cause his death.


title: Hachikō

text: After his death, Hachikō's remains were cremated and his ashes were buried in Aoyama Cemetery, Minato, Tokyo where they rest beside those of Hachikō's beloved master, Professor Ueno. Hachikō's fur, which was preserved after his death, was stuffed and his taxidermy mount is currently on permanent display at the National Science Museum of Japan in Ueno, Tokyo.


title: Hachikō

text: In April 1934, a bronze statue based in his likeness sculpted by Teru Ando was erected at Shibuya Station. The statue was recycled for the war effort during World War II. In 1948, Takeshi Ando (son of the original artist) made a second statue. The new statue, which was erected in August 1948, still stands and is a popular meeting spot. The station entrance near this statue is named "Hachikō-guchi", meaning "The Hachikō Entrance/Exit", and is one of Shibuya Station's five exits.


title: Hachikō

text: A similar statue stands in Hachikō's hometown, in front of Ōdate Station, it was built in 1932. In 2004, a new statue of Hachikō was erected in front of the Akita Dog Museum in Ōdate.


title: Hachikō

text: After the release of the American movie "" (2009), which was filmed in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the Japanese Consulate in the United States helped the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and the city of Woonsocket to unveil an identical statue of Hachikō at the Woonsocket Depot Square, which was the location of the "Bedridge" train station featured in the movie.


title: Hachikō

text: On March 9, 2015, the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Tokyo unveiled a bronze statue depicting Ueno returning to meet Hachikō at the University of Tokyo, Japan to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Hachikō's death. The statue was sculpted by Tsutomu Ueda from Nagoya and depicts a very excited Hachikō jumping up to greet his master at the end of a workday. Ueno is dressed in a hat, suit, and trench coat, with his briefcase placed on the ground. Hachikō wears a studded harness as seen in his last photos.


title: Hachikō

text: Each year on March 8, Hachikō's devotion is honored with a solemn ceremony of remembrance at Shibuya Station. Hundreds of dog lovers often turn out to honor his memory and loyalty.


title: Hachikō

text: In 1994, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting in Japan was able to lift a recording of Hachikō barking from an old record that had been broken into several pieces. A huge advertising campaign ensued and on Saturday, May 28, 1994, 59 years after his death, millions of radio listeners tuned in to hear Hachikō's bark.


title: Hachikō

text: In 2003, in Shibuya ward, a minibus (officially called "community bus") started routes in the ward, nicknamed "Hachiko-bus". There are four different routes. People can hear the theme song in this bus.


title: Hachikō

text: In July 2012, rare photos from Hachikō's life were shown at the Shibuya Folk and Literary Shirane Memorial Museum in Shibuya ward as part of the (exhibition of newly stored materials).


title: Hachikō

text: In November 2015, a previously undiscovered photograph of Hachikō was published for the first time. The image, which was captured in 1934 by a Tokyo bank employee, shows the dog relaxing by himself in front of Shibuya Station.


title: Hachikō

text: , more often referred as Yaeko Ueno, was the unmarried partner of Hidesaburō Ueno for about 10 years until his death in 1925. Hachikō was reported to have shown great happiness and affection towards her whenever she came to visit him. Yaeko died on 30 April 1961 at the age of 76 and was buried at a temple in Taitō, further away from Ueno's grave, despite her requests to her family members to be buried with her late partner.


title: Hachikō

text: In 2013, Yaeko's record, which indicated that she had wanted to be buried with Ueno, was found by Sho Shiozawa, the professor of the University of Tokyo. Shiozawa was also the president of the Japanese Society of Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering, which manages Ueno's grave at Aoyama Cemetery.


title: Hachikō

text: Later on November 10, 2013, which also marked the 90th anniversary of the birth of Hachikō, Sho Shiozawa and Keita Matsui, a curator of the Shibuya Folk and Literary Shirane Memorial Museum, felt the need of Yaeko to be buried together with Ueno and Hachikō.


title: Hachikō

text: The process began with willing consent from the Ueno and Sakano families and the successful negotiations with management of the Aoyama Cemetery. However, due to regulations and bureaucracy, the process took about 2 years. Shiozawa also went on as one of the organizers involved with the erection of bronze statue of Hachikō and Ueno which was unveiled on the grounds of the University of Tokyo on March 9, 2015 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Hachikō's death.


title: Hachikō

text: On 19 May 2016 during the ceremony at the Aoyama Cemetery with both Ueno and Sakano families in present, some of the ashes of Yaeko Sakano were buried with Ueno and Hachikō, her name and the date of her death was inscribed on the side of his tombstone, thus fulfilling the reunion of Hachikō's family.


title: Hachikō

text: "By putting the names of both on their grave, we can show future generations the fact that Hachikō had two keepers," Shiozawa said. "To Hachikō the professor was his father, and Yaeko was his mother," Matsui added.


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō plays an important part in the 1967 children's book "Taka-chan and I: A Dog's Journey to Japan".


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō was the subject of the 1987 film directed by Seijirō Kōyama, which told the story of his life from his birth up until his death and imagined spiritual reunion with his master. Considered a blockbuster success, the film was the last big hit for Japanese film studio Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo.


title: Hachikō

text: "Jurassic Bark" (2002), episode 7 of season 4 of the animated series "Futurama" has an extended homage to Hachikō, with Fry discovering the fossilized remains of his dog, Seymour. After Fry was frozen, Seymour is shown to have waited for Fry to return for 12 years outside Panucci's Pizza, where Fry worked, never disobeying his master's last command to wait for him.


title: Hachikō

text: Hachikō is also the subject of a 2004 children's book entitled "Hachikō: The True Story of a Loyal Dog", written by Pamela S. Turner and illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. Another children's book, a short novel for readers of all ages called "Hachiko Waits", written by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Machiyo Kodaira, was published by Henry Holt & Co. in 2004.


title: Hachikō

text: In the video game "The World Ends with You" (2007), the Hachikō statue is featured, its legend referenced on several occasions. The location of the statue plays an important role in the narrative of the game. The statue is featured again in the sequel, "" (2021).


title: Hachikō

text: "", released in August 2009, is an American movie starring actor Richard Gere, directed by Lasse Hallström, about Hachikō and his relationship with an American professor & his family following the same basic story, but a little different, for example Hachiko was a gift to professor Ueno, this part is entirely different in the American version. The movie was filmed in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, primarily in and around the Woonsocket Depot Square area and also featured Joan Allen and Jason Alexander. The role of Hachi was played by three Akitas – Leyla, Chico and Forrest. Mark Harden describes how he and his team trained the three dogs in the book, "Animal Stars: Behind the Scenes with Your Favorite Animal Actors." After the movie was completed, Harden adopted Chico.


title: Graceland

text: Graceland is a mansion on a estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, which was once owned by rock and roll icon Elvis Presley. His daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited Graceland after his death in 1977. Graceland is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the Whitehaven neighborhood, about south of central Memphis and fewer than north of the Mississippi border.


title: Graceland

text: It was opened to the public as a house museum on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming its first site recognized for significance related to rock music. Graceland was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for such a site. Graceland attracts more than 650,000 visitors annually. It rivals in number of visitors such public attractions as Hearst Castle, now operated as a California state park, and the White House, home and office of the President of the United States in the capital.


title: Graceland

text: Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof, founder of S.C. Toof & Co., the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis. He worked previously as the pressroom foreman of the Memphis newspaper, the "Memphis Daily Appeal". The "grounds" (before the mansion was built in 1939) were named after Toof's daughter, Grace. She inherited the farm/property from her father in 1894. After her death, the property was passed to her niece Ruth Moore, a Memphis socialite. Together with her husband, Thomas Moore, Ruth Moore commissioned construction of a Colonial Revival style mansion in 1939. The house was designed by architects Furbringer and Ehrman.


title: Graceland

text: After Elvis Presley began his musical career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. As his success and fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, the number of fans who would congregate outside the house multiplied. Presley's neighbors, although happy to have a celebrity living nearby, soon concluded that the constant gathering of fans and journalists was a nuisance.


title: Graceland

text: In early 1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a budget of $100,000 and asked them to find a "farmhouse"-like property to purchase, with buffer space around it. At the time, Graceland was located in southern Shelby County, several miles south of Memphis' main urban area. In later years, Memphis would expand with residential developments, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties. Presley purchased Graceland on March 19, 1957, for the amount of $102,500.


title: Graceland

text: Later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and singer Buzz Cason to the house. Cason said: "We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock 'n' roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the not-yet-curtained windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds and purples that Elvis most certainly had picked out." Presley was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, "to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good."


title: Graceland

text: After Gladys died in 1958 aged 46, Presley's father Vernon remarried to Dee Stanley in 1960, and the couple lived at Graceland for a time. There was some discord between Presley and his stepmother Dee at Graceland, however. Elaine Dundy, who wrote about Presley and his mother, said that


title: Graceland

text: "Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself – when Elvis was away – had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for the singer, who still loved his late mother deeply. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis' estate."


title: Graceland

text: According to Mark Crispin Miller, Graceland became for Presley "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vague clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis' favorite records", and that the singer himself "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television." According to the singer's cousin, Billy Smith, Presley spent the night at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times: "we were all three there talking for hours about everything in the world! Sometimes he would have a bad dream and come looking for me to talk to, and he would actually fall asleep in our bed with us."


title: Graceland

text: Priscilla Beaulieu lived at Graceland for five years before she and Presley wed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 1967. Their daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, and spent the first years of her life on the estate. After her parents divorced in 1972, her mother moved with the girl to California. Every year around Christmas, Lisa Marie Presley and all her family would go to Graceland to celebrate Christmas together. Lisa Marie often returns to Graceland for visits.


title: Graceland

text: When Elvis would tour, staying in hotels, "the rooms would be remodeled in advance of his arrival, so as to make the same configurations of space as he had at home – the Graceland mansion. His furniture would arrive, and he could unwind after his performances in surroundings which were completely familiar and comforting." 'The Jungle Room' was described as being "an example of particularly lurid kitsch."


title: Graceland

text: On August 16, 1977, Presley died aged 42 at Graceland. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, although later toxicology reports strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; "fourteen drugs were found in Elvis' system, with several drugs such as codeine in significant quantities. Presley lay in repose in a 900-pound, copper-lined coffin just inside the foyer; more than 3,500 of his mourning fans passed by to pay their respects. A private funeral with 200 mourners was held on August 18, 1977, in the house, with the casket placed in front of the stained glass doorway of the music room. Graceland continued to be occupied by members of the family until the death of Presley's aunt Delta in 1993, who had moved in at Elvis's invitation after her husband's death.


title: Graceland

text: Presley's tombstone, along with those of his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, are installed in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion. They can be visited during the mansion tours or for free before the mansion tours begin. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.


title: Graceland

text: In 2019, the owners of Graceland threatened to leave Memphis unless the city provided tax incentives. The Memphis City Council subsequently voted on a deal to help fund a $100 million expansion of Graceland.


title: Graceland

text: Constructed at the top of a hill and surrounded by rolling pastures and a grove of oak trees, Graceland is designed by the Memphis architectural firm, Furbringer and Erhmanis. It's a two-story, five-bay residence in the Colonial Revival style, with a side-facing gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles, a central two-story projecting pedimented portico, and two one-story wings on the north and south sides. Attached to the wing is an additional one-story stuccoed wing, which was originally a garage that houses up to four cars. The mansion has two chimneys; one on the north side's exterior wall, the second rising through the south side's roof ridge. The central block's front and side facades are veneered with tan Tishomingo limestone from Mississippi and its rear wall is stuccoed, as are the one-story wings. The front facade fenestration on the first floor includes 9x9 double-hung windows set in arched openings with wooden panels above, and 6x6 double-hung windows on the second floor.


title: Graceland

text: Flanked by two marble lions, four stone steps ascend from the driveway to the two-story central projecting pedimented portico. The pediment has dentils and a small, leaded oval window in the center while the portico contains four Corinthian columns with capitals modeled after architect James Stuart's conjectural porticos for the "Tower of the Winds" in Athens, Greece. The portico's cornered columns are matched by pilasters on the front facade. The doorway has a broken arched pediment, full entablature, and engaged columns while its transom and sidelights contain elaborate and colorful stained glass. And above the main entrance is another rectangular window, completed with a shallow iron balcony.


title: Graceland

text: Graceland is and has a total of 23 rooms, including eight bedrooms and bathrooms. To the right of the Entrance Hall, through an elliptical-arched opening with classical details, is the Living Room. The Living Room contains a white couch against the wall overlooking the front yard. To the left are two white sofas, a china cabinet and a fireplace with a mirrored wall. The painting that hangs in the room was Elvis' last Christmas present from his father, Vernon, and also displayed are photographs of Elvis' parents Vernon and Gladys, Elvis and Lisa Marie. Behind an adjoined doorway is the Music Room, framed by vivid large peacocks set in stained glass and contains a black baby grand piano and a 1950s style TV. And the third adjacent room is a bedroom that was occupied by Elvis' parents. The walls, carpet, dresser, and queen size bed are bright white with the bed draped in a velvet-looking dark purple bedspread along with an en-suite full bathroom done in pink.


title: Graceland

text: To the left of the Entrance Hall, mirroring the Living Room, is the Dining Room, headlined by a massive crystal chandelier. It features six plush chairs in golden metal frames set around a marble table, all of which are placed on black marble flooring in the center with carpet around the perimeter. Connected to the Dining Room is the Kitchen, which was used by Elvis' aunt Delta until her death in 1993 before it was opened to the public two years later.


title: Graceland

text: The original one-story wing on the north end of the residence includes a mechanical room, bedroom, and bath. In the mid-1960s, Presley enlarged the house to create a den known as the Jungle Room which features an indoor waterfall of cut field stone on the north wall. The room also contains items both related to and imported from the state of Hawaii because, after starring in the tropical film "Blue Hawaii" (1961), the musician wanted to bring some memorabilia from The Aloha State to his mansion, which gives visitors the same feeling. In 1976, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio, where he recorded the bulk of his final two albums, "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee" (1976) and "Moody Blue" (1977); these were his final known recordings in a studio setting. During the mid-1960s expansion of the house, Presley constructed a large wing on the south side of the main house that was a sidewalk, between the music room in the original one-story wing and the swimming pool area, that connected to the house by a small enclosed gallery. The new wing initially housed a slot car track and to store his many items of appreciation, but was later remodeled to what is now known as the Trophy Building, which now features an exhibit about the Presley family, and includes Priscilla's wedding dress, Elvis' wedding tuxedo, Lisa Marie's toy chest and baby clothes and more.


title: Graceland

text: The Entrance Hall contains a white staircase leading to the house's second floor with a wall of mirrors. However, the second floor is not open to visitors, out of respect for the Presley family, and partially to avoid any improper focus on the bathroom which was the site of his death. Still, it features Elvis' bedroom at the southwest corner that connects to his dressing room and bathroom in the northwest. His daughter Lisa Marie's bedroom is in the northeast corner, and in the southeast is a bedroom that served as a private personal office for the musician. The floor has been untouched since the day Elvis died and is rarely seen by non-family members.


title: Graceland

text: Downstairs in the basement is the TV room, where Elvis often watched three television sets at once, and was within close reach of a wet bar. The three TV sets are built into the room's south wall and there's a stereo, and cabinets for Elvis' record collection. And painted on the west wall is The King's 1970s logo of a lightning bolt and cloud with the initials TCB, both of which represent 'taking care of business in a flash'. And the last room in the mansion opposite of the TV room is the billiard room; an avid billiards player, Elvis bought the pool table in 1960 and had the walls and ceiling covered with 350–400 yards of pleated cotton fabric after the two basement rooms were remodeled in 1974. The pool balls are arranged just the way they were in the musician's final days along with a strict warning sign to visitors that says "Please Do Not Touch! Thank You!" in capital letters. And in one corner of the pool table, there's a rip in the green felt, which was caused by one of Elvis' friends in a failed attempt of a trick shot.


title: Graceland

text: After purchasing the property Presley spent in excess of $500,000 carrying out extensive modifications to suit his needs including a pink Alabama fieldstone wall surrounding the grounds that has several years' worth of graffiti (signatures and messages) from visitors, who simply refer to it as "the wall". Designed and built by Abe Sauer is the wrought-iron front gate shaped like a book of sheet music, along with green colored musical notes and two mirrored silhouettes of Elvis playing his guitar. Sauer also installed a kidney shaped swimming pool and a racquetball court, which is reminiscent of an old country club, furnished in dark leather and a functional bar. There is a sunken sitting area with the ever-present stereo system found throughout Graceland, as well as the dark brown upright piano upon which Elvis played for what were to be his last songs, Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Unchained Melody".


title: Graceland

text: However, reports conflict about which one was the last song. The sitting area has a floor-to-ceiling shatterproof window designed to watch the many racquetball games that took place there when Elvis was alive. In the early hours of the morning on which Elvis died, he played a game of racquetball with his girlfriend Ginger Alden, his first cousin Billy Smith and Billy's wife Jo before ending the game with the song on the piano before walking into the main house to wash his hair and go to bed. Today the two story court has been restored to the way it was when Elvis used the building.


title: Graceland

text: Elsewhere on the estate is a small white building that served as an office for Vernon, along with an old smokehouse that housed a shooting range and a fully functional stable of horses.


title: Graceland

text: One of Presley's better known modifications was the addition of the Meditation Garden, designed and built by architect Bernard Grenadier. It was used by the musician to reflect on any problems or situations that arose during his life. It is also where his entire family is buried: himself (1935-1977), his parents (Gladys (1912-1958) and Vernon (1916-1979), and grandmother Minnie Mae Hood (1890-1980) while a small stone memorializes his twin brother Jesse Garon, who died at birth thirty minutes before Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. In late 2020, Lisa Marie's son Benjamin Keough was laid to rest on the opposite end of the Meditation Garden after his death from suicide in July of that year.


title: Graceland

text: After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon his death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis' only child, Lisa Marie, who was only 11. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis' and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla examined other famous houses/museums, and hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. Graceland was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. Priscilla's gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, or EPE, stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. The enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.


title: Graceland

text: An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis' grave is held on the anniversary of his death. Known as Elvis Week, it includes a full schedule of speakers and events, including the only Elvis Mass at St. Paul's Church, the highlight for many Elvis fans of all faiths. The 20th Anniversary in 1997 had several hundred media groups from around the world that were present resulting in the event gaining its greatest media publicity.


title: Graceland

text: One of the largest gatherings assembled on the 25th anniversary in 2002 with one estimate of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain. On the 38th anniversary of Elvis' death, an estimated 30,000 people attended the Candlelight Vigil during the night of August 15–16, 2015. On the 40th anniversary of Elvis' death, on August 15–16, 2017, at least 50,000 fans were expected to attend the Candlelight Vigil. No official figure seems to have been released, maybe because, for the first time, attendees had to pay at least the lowest tour fare, $28.75, to cover the extra security costs due to a larger than usual crowd.


title: Graceland

text: For many of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Graceland each year, the visit takes on a quasi-religious perspective. They may plan for years to journey to the home of the 'King' of rock and roll. On site, headphones narrate the salient events of Elvis's life and introduce the relics that adorn the rooms and corridors. The rhetorical mode is hagiographic, celebrating the life of an extraordinary man, emphasizing his generosity, his kindness and good fellowship, how he was at once a poor boy who made good, an extraordinary musical talent, a sinner and substance abuser, and a religious man devoted to the Gospel and its music. At the meditation garden, containing Elvis's grave, some visitors pray, kneel, or quietly sing one of Elvis's favorite hymns. The brick wall that encloses the mansion's grounds is covered with graffiti that express an admiration for the singer as well as petitions for help and thanks for favors granted.


title: Graceland

text: The Graceland grounds include a new exhibit complex, Elvis Presley's Memphis, which includes a new car museum, Presley Motors, which houses Elvis' Pink Cadillac. The complex features new exhibits and museums, as well as a studio for Sirius Satellite Radio's all-Elvis Presley channel. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Presley's music from Graceland around the clock. Not far away on display are his two aircraft including "Lisa Marie" (a Convair 880 jetliner) and "Hound Dog II" (a Lockheed JetStar business jet). The jets are owned by Graceland and are on permanent static display.


title: Graceland

text: In early August 2005, Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the business side of her father's estate. She kept the Graceland property itself, as well as the bulk of the possessions found therein, and she turned over the management of Graceland to CKX, Inc., an entertainment company (on whose board of directors Priscilla Presley sits) that also owns 19 Entertainment, creator of the "American Idol" TV show.


title: Graceland

text: Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE. Lisa Marie Presley retains a 15% ownership in the company.


title: Graceland

text: Lisa Marie Presley retains 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself and its over 13-acre original grounds and her father's personal effects – meaning costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc. She has made the mansion property and her father's personal effects permanently available for tours of Graceland and for use in all of EPE's operations.


title: Graceland

text: According to Elvis Presley's Enterprises, and as noted in Graceland's official web page, the tour guide staff did informally keep a list of celebrities who had visited in the first years following Elvis's death. This practice was not formalized for a decade. Muhammad Ali was an early celebrity visitor in 1978, as was singer Paul Simon. He toured Graceland in the early 80s and afterward wrote a song of the same name; it was the title track of his Grammy-winning album "Graceland".


title: Graceland

text: On June 30, 2006, US President George W. Bush hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a tour of the mansion. It was one of a few private residences on United States soil to have been the site of an official joint-visit by a sitting US president and a serving head of a foreign government. On August 6, 2010, Prince Albert II, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco, and his fiancée (now Princess of Monaco) Charlene Wittstock, toured Graceland while vacationing in the US. On May 26, 2013, Paul McCartney of The Beatles visited Graceland. Prince William and Prince Harry, while in Memphis for a friend's wedding, visited Graceland on May 2, 2014.


title: Graceland

text: The home has also been visited by former US President Jimmy Carter; the late Duchess of Devonshire, the sitting ambassadors of India, France, China, Korea and Israel to the United States; as well as several US governors, members of the US Congress, and at least two Nobel Prize winners, namely singer Bob Dylan, a Literature Prize laureate, and the former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, a Peace Prize honoree, who visited it on 10 October 2001.


title: Graceland

text: In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually by "Good Morning America" news program from the Jungle Room to talk about their biographical film "Elvis".


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda was born on 19 March 1922, in Kamekawa Village, Kaisō District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. When he was 17 years old, he went to work for the Tajima Yoko trading company in Wuhan, China. When he was 18, he enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army Infantry.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda trained as an intelligence officer in the of the Nakano School. On 26 December 1944, he was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was ordered to do all he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor. Onoda's orders also stated that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: When he landed on the island, Onoda joined forces with a group of Japanese soldiers who had been sent there previously. The officers in the group outranked Onoda and prevented him from carrying out his assignment, which made it easier for the United States and Philippine Commonwealth forces to take the island when they landed on 28 February 1945. Within a short time of the landing, all but Onoda and three other soldiers had either died or surrendered. Onoda, who had been promoted to lieutenant, ordered the men to take to the hills.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda continued his campaign as a Japanese holdout, initially living in the mountains of Lubang Island in the Philippines, with three fellow soldiers (Private Yuichi Akatsu, Corporal Shōichi Shimada and Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuka). During his stay, Onoda and his companions carried out guerrilla activities and engaged in several shootouts with the local police.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: The first time they saw a leaflet announcing that Japan had surrendered was in October 1945; another cell had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders which read: "The war ended on 15 August. Come down from the mountains!" However, they distrusted the leaflet. They concluded that it was Allied propaganda and also believed that they would not have been fired on if the war had indeed been over. Toward the end of 1945, leaflets were dropped by air with a surrender order printed on them from General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army. To the men who had been in hiding for over six months, this leaflet was the only evidence they had that the war was over. Onoda's group studied the leaflet closely to determine whether it was genuine, and decided it was not.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: One of the four soldiers, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the others in September 1949 and surrendered to Philippine forces in March 1950, after six months on his own. This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more cautious. In 1952, letters and family pictures were dropped from an aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a trick. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, after which Onoda nursed him back to health. On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men. Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972 while he and Onoda, as part of their guerrilla activities, were burning rice that had been collected by farmers. Onoda was now alone.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese man, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling around the world, looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order". Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching. Onoda described this moment in a 2010 interview: "This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier. Suzuki asked me why I would not come out...". Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer. Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese government located Onoda's commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had long surrendered and since become a bookseller. Taniguchi went to Lubang Island, and on 9 March 1974, he finally met with Onoda and fulfilled a promise he had made back in 1944: "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you". Taniguchi then issued Onoda the following orders:


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda was thus properly relieved of duty, and he surrendered. He turned over his sword, a functioning Arisaka Type 99 rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades, as well as the dagger his mother had given him in 1944 to kill himself with if he was captured. Only Private Teruo Nakamura, arrested on 18 December 1974 in Indonesia, held out longer.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda was very popular following his return to Japan and some people urged him to run for the Diet (Japan's bicameral legislature). He also released an autobiography, "No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War", shortly after his return, detailing his life as a guerrilla fighter in a war that was long over. A Philippine documentary interviewed people who lived on Lubang Island during Onoda's stay, revealing that Onoda had killed several people, which he had not mentioned in his autobiography. The news media reported this and other misgivings, but at the same time welcomed his return home. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to Yasukuni Shrine.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda was reportedly unhappy being the subject of receiving much attention and troubled by what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. In April 1975, he followed the example of his elder brother Tadao and left Japan for Brazil, where he raised cattle. He married in 1976 and assumed a leading role in the "Colônia Jamic" (Jamic Colony), a Japanese community in Terenos, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Onoda also allowed the Brazilian Air Force to conduct training sessions on the land that he owned. After reading about a Japanese teenager who had murdered his parents in 1980, Onoda returned to Japan in 1984 and established the "Onoda Shizen Juku" ("Onoda Nature School") educational camp for young people, held at various locations in Japan.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: President Ferdinand Marcos granted him a full pardon for his actions against local residents in a televised ceremony. As a result, controversy followed when Onoda revisited Lubang Island in 1996, because his wife Machie Onoda (née Honoku) had arranged a US$10,000 scholarship donation on his behalf to the local school there. In 2006, Machie Onoda became the head of the conservative Japan Women's Association (JWA), established by the conservative group Nippon Kaigi in September 2001.


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: For many years, Onoda spent three months of the year in Brazil. Onoda was awarded the Merit medal of Santos-Dumont by the Brazilian Air Force on 6 December 2004. On 21 February 2010, the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso do Sul awarded him the title of "Cidadão" ("Citizen").


title: Hiroo Onoda

text: Onoda died of heart failure on 16 January 2014, at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, from complications due to pneumonia. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, and later Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, commented on his death: "I still vividly remember that I was reassured of the end of the war when Mr. Onoda returned to Japan" and also praised his will to survive.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise around 607 islands (a combined land area of approximately ) that cover a longitudinal distance of almost just north of the equator. They lie northeast of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, about north of eastern Australia, 3,400 km (2,133 mi) southeast of Japan, and some southwest of the main islands of the Hawaiian Islands.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: While the FSM's total land area is quite small, the country's waters occupy more than of the Pacific Ocean, giving the country the 14th-largest exclusive economic zone in the world. The sovereign island nation's capital is Palikir, located on Pohnpei Island, while the largest city is Weno, located in the Chuuk Atoll.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Each of its four states is centered on one or more main high islands, and all but Kosrae include numerous outlying atolls. The Federated States of Micronesia is spread across part of the Caroline Islands in the wider region of Micronesia, which consists of thousands of small islands divided among several countries. The term "Micronesia" may refer to the Federated States or to the region as a whole.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The FSM was formerly a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), a United Nations Trust Territory under U.S. administration, but it formed its own constitutional government on May 10, 1979, becoming a sovereign state after independence was attained on November 3, 1986, under a Compact of Free Association with the United States. Other neighboring island entities, and also former members of the TTPI, formulated their own constitutional governments and became the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the Republic of Palau (ROP). The FSM has a seat in the United Nations and has been a member of the Pacific Community since 1983.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The ancestors of the Micronesians settled over four thousand years ago. A decentralized chieftain-based system eventually evolved into a more centralized economic and religious culture centered on Yap Island.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Nan Madol, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, consisting of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals, is often called the Venice of the Pacific. It is located on the eastern periphery of the island of Pohnpei and used to be the ceremonial and political seat of the Saudeleur dynasty that united Pohnpei's estimated 25,000 people from about AD 500 until 1500, when the centralized system collapsed.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: European explorers—first the Portuguese in search of the Spice Islands (Indonesia) and then the Spanish—reached the Carolines in the sixteenth century. The Treaty of Tordesillas gave these lands to Spain and the Spanish incorporated the archipelago to the Spanish East Indies through the capital, Manila, and in the 19th century established a number of outposts and missions. In 1887, they founded the town of "Santiago de la Ascensión" in what today is Kolonia on the island of Pohnpei.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Following defeat in the Spanish–American War, the Spanish sold the archipelago to Germany in 1899 under the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. Germany incorporated it into German New Guinea.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: During World War I, it was captured by Japan. Following the war, the League of Nations awarded a mandate for Japan to administer the islands as part of the South Seas Mandate.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: During World War II, a significant portion of the Japanese fleet was based in Truk Lagoon. In February 1944, Operation Hailstone, one of the most important naval battles of the war, took place at Truk, in which many Japanese support vessels and aircraft were destroyed.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Following World War II, it was administered by the United States under United Nations auspices in 1947 as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands pursuant to Security Council Resolution 21.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: On May 10, 1979, four of the Trust Territory districts ratified a new constitution to become the Federated States of Micronesia. Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands chose not to participate. The FSM signed a Compact of Free Association with the United States, which entered into force on November 3, 1986, marking Micronesia's emergence from trusteeship to independence. Independence was formally concluded under international law in 1990, when the United Nations officially ended the Trusteeship status pursuant to Security Council Resolution 683. The Compact was renewed in 2004.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: On June 22, 2015, the Federated States of Micronesia established the world's second-largest regional shark sanctuary in the country's exclusive economic zone covering nearly 3 million sq kilometers of western sea.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The Federated States of Micronesia is governed by the 1979 constitution, which guarantees fundamental human rights and establishes a separation of governmental powers. This constitution constructs the national government to be similar to – but not exactly alike – that of the United States. The unicameral Congress has fourteen members elected by popular vote. Four senators—one from each state—serve four-year terms; the remaining ten senators represent single-member districts based on population and serve two-year terms. Congress elects the President and Vice President from among the four state-based senators to serve four-year terms in the executive branch. Their congressional seats are then filled by special elections.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: An appointed cabinet supports the president and vice president. There are no formal political parties.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: In international politics, the Federated States of Micronesia has often voted with the United States with respect to United Nations General Assembly resolutions.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The FSM is a sovereign, self-governing state in free association with the United States of America, which is wholly responsible for its defense. The FSM National Police operates a Maritime Wing Unit. The Compact of Free Association allows FSM citizens to join the U.S. military without having to obtain U.S. permanent residency or citizenship, allows for immigration and employment for Micronesians in the U.S., and establishes economic and technical aid programs.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: FSM has foreign relations with 56 countries, including the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. FSM was admitted to the United Nations based on the Security Council's recommendation on August 9, 1991 in Resolution 703 and the General Assembly's approval on September 17, 1991 in Resolution 46/2. The FSM was an active member of the Pacific Islands Forum. However, in February 2021, FSM announced it would be formally withdrawing from the Forum in a joint statement with Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Nauru after a dispute regarding Henry Puna's election as the Forum's secretary-general.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Historically, Spain had a claim to sovereignty over a few islands including Kapingamarangi in Pohnpei State. A commission of cardinals under Pope Leo XIII arbitrated a dispute for the Caroline Islands and others extending from the equator to 11°N latitude and from 133°E to 164°E longitude. Germany and Spain on 17 December 1885 agreed in a treaty that they were a part of the Spanish East Indies. In 1899, Spain sold "las Carolinas" to Germany. Kapingamarangi is far south of the Carolines and the people are racially and culturally Polynesian, not Micronesian or Carolinian. In 1948, Emilio Pastor Santos of the Spanish National Research Council found that the charts and maps up to 1899 had shown that Kapingamarangi and a few other islands had never been considered part of the Carolines, were not included in the description of the territory transferred to Germany and were never ceded by Spain; therefore, Spain retained sovereignty. In 1949, the Cabinet of Diplomatic Information of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared, "The Ministry recognises that it is a certain fact and historic truth due to Article 3 of the Treaty of July 1, 1899, that Spain reserved a series of rights in Micronesia and for another thing, the specifications of the territories which Spain ceded in 1899 leaves apart certain groups of islands in the same zone."


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The Federated States of Micronesia consists of 607 islands extending across the archipelago of the Caroline Islands east of the Philippines. The islands have a combined area of .


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The islands are grouped into four states, which are Yap, Chuuk (called Truk until January 1990), Pohnpei (known as "Ponape" until November 1984), and Kosrae (formerly Kusaie). These four states are each represented by a white star on the national flag. The capital is Palikir, on Pohnpei.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Two terrestrial ecoregions lie within the country's borders: Carolines tropical moist forests and Yap tropical dry forests. It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.55/10, ranking it 37th globally out of 172 countries.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The major coastal communities are mangrove forests, seagrass beds, lagoons and coral reefs, biologically and physically linked. About 300 species of coral, 1000 species of fish and 1200 species of mollusks are recognized in Micronesia. In the mangrove forests there are shrimps, crabs and fish, as well as birds that feed on them. Seagrass meadows appear offshore following the mangroves. The lagoons provide food for the reef inhabitants and contain various kinds of plankton. The biodiversity and complexity of the coral reefs increases markedly from east to west, with 150 species of hard coral at Kosrae, 200 at Pohnpei and 300 at Chuuk. Coral productivity in this area is among the highest in the world, absorbing about 2500 grams of carbon per square meter per year, against 2200 grams in the tropical forest and 125 grams in the open sea.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Inland, from the tidal zone to the top of the mountains there is a varied range of vegetation, cloud forest, upland, palm, plantation, areas dominated by climbers of the genus Merremia, savannas, native secondary forest, fragments of introduced trees, cultivated areas, freshwater swamps, swamps of the palm "Nypa fruticans", atoll forests, forests in rocky areas and beaches. There are about 1230 species of ferns and flowering plants, of which 782 are native, including 145 native fern species. On Pohnpei Island, there are about 750 plant species, of which 110 are endemic. Another 457 species have been introduced.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The Federated States of Micronesia has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen: "Af"). The weather is warm, humid and rainy all year round. The islands are located north of the equator and are affected by constant trade winds, which temper the climate. Minimum temperatures range all year round between 22 and 25°C, and maximum temperatures between 30 and 32°C. The abundant precipitations oscillate between 2500 and 5000 mm per year, although in the faces oriented to the wind they can surpass 6000 mm. Mount Nahnalaud, only 750 m high, on the island of Pohnpei, receives an average of 10,160 mm, being one of the rainiest places on earth, with almost always overcast skies. In general, the rains are produced by showers and storms of short duration but very intense. The driest places are the flat atolls, where rainfall can drop below 3000 mm. The driest months are January and February, with no less than 250 mm and 20 days of rain.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Economic activity in the Federated States of Micronesia consists primarily of subsistence farming and fishing. The islands have few mineral deposits worth exploiting, except for high-grade phosphate. Long line fishing of tuna is also viable with foreign vessels from China that operated in the 1990s. The potential for a tourist industry exists, but the remoteness of the location and a lack of adequate facilities hinder development. Financial assistance from the U.S. is the primary source of revenue, with the U.S. pledged to spend $1.3 billion in the islands in 1986–2001; when the Compact was amended in 2004, the United States committed to providing $110 million in development aid through 2023. The CIA World Factbook lists high dependence on U.S. aid as one of the main concerns of the FSM. Geographical isolation and a poorly developed infrastructure are major impediments to long-term growth.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The indigenous population of the nation, which is predominantly Micronesian, consists of various ethnolinguistic groups. It has a nearly 100% Pacific Islander and Asian population: Chuukese 48.8%, Pohnpeian 24.2%, Kosraean 6.2%, Yapese 5.2%, Yap outer islands 4.5%, Asian 1.8%, Polynesian 1.5%, other 6.4%, unknown 1.4%. A sizable minority also have some Japanese ancestry, which is a result of intermarriages between Japanese settlers and Micronesians during the Japanese colonial period.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: There is also a growing expatriate population of Americans, Australians, Europeans, and residents from China and the Philippines since the 1990s. English has become the common language of the government, and for secondary and tertiary education. Outside of the main capital towns of the four FSM states, the local languages are primarily spoken. In the Catholic mission of Pohnpei, among the Mercedarian missionaries, considered an institution in the country, Spanish is also spoken. Growth remains high at more than 3% annually, offset somewhat by net emigration.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: English is the official and common language. Aside from English, the following Austronesian languages are spoken:


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The Federated States of Micronesia are 97% Christian. More than half of the population follows the Catholic Church (55%) and about 42% follow various Protestant Christian groups. In general this is due to Spanish and German colonial history. Spanish rule meant that a large part of the population remained Catholic. During the German colonial period, until 1914, Catholic and Protestant missionaries from the German Empire were deployed.Several Protestant denominations, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, are present in every Micronesian state. Most Protestant groups trace their roots to American Congregationalist missionaries. On the island of Kosrae, the population is approximately 7,800; 95 percent are Protestants. On Pohnpei, the population of 35,000 is evenly divided between Protestants and Catholics. Most immigrants are Filipino Catholics who have joined local Catholic churches, e.g. Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Pohnpei.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: On Chuuk and Yap, an estimated 60 percent are Catholic and 40 percent are Protestant. Religious groups with small followings include Baptists, Assemblies of God, Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and the Baháʼí Faith. There is a small group of Buddhists on Pohnpei, and a small group of Ahmadiyya Muslims in both Pohnpei and Kosrae. Attendance at religious services is generally high; churches are well supported by their congregations and play a significant role in civil society.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: In the 1890s, on the island of Pohnpei, intermissionary conflicts and the conversion of clan leaders resulted in religious divisions along clan lines which persist today. More Protestants live on the western side of the island, while more Catholics live on the eastern side. Missionaries of many religious traditions are present and operate freely. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. The US government received no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice in 2007.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Pingelap in Pohnpei State is notable for the prevalence of an extreme form of color blindness called Achromatopsia, and known locally as maskun. Approximately 5% of the atoll's 3000 inhabitants are afflicted.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The sport of association football in the Federated States of Micronesia is run by the Federated States of Micronesia Football Association. They control the Micronesian Games, the nation's football championship and the Micronesia national football team.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The Federated States of Micronesia Athletic Association is the governing body for the country's sports and athletics.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Each of the four states has its own culture and traditions, but there are also common cultural and economic bonds that are centuries old. Cultural similarities include the importance of the traditional extended family and clan systems and are found on all the islands.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: The island of Yap is notable for its "stone money" (Rai stones), large disks usually of calcite, up to in diameter, with a hole in the middle. The islanders, aware of the owner of a piece, do not necessarily move them when ownership changes. There are five major types: "Mmbul", "Gaw", "Ray", "Yar", and "Reng", the last being only in diameter. Their value is based on both size and history, many of them having been brought from other islands, as far as New Guinea, but most coming in ancient times from Palau. Approximately 6,500 of them are scattered around the island.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Pohnpei is home to "Nan Madol: Ceremonial Centre of Eastern Micronesia", a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the site is currently listed as "In Danger" due to natural causes. The government is working on the conservation of the site.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: Traditional dances on the main islands includes "stick dancing" on Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap, standing dances on Chuuk and sitting dances on Yap and Chuuk. The Yapese are particularly known for their skills in dancing. The Yapese stick dance is performed by men, women and children together, while standing dances are performed either by women or men and boys, but never both together. The men participate in various dancing competitions, which are segregated by caste; the lower castes have some distinct dances, such as a woman's standing dance, but can only dance when authorized by a person of a higher caste.


title: Federated States of Micronesia

text: There have been very few published literary writers from the Federated States of Micronesia. In 2008, Emelihter Kihleng became the first ever Micronesian to publish a collection of poetry in the English language.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the primary Marvel continuity. Galactus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book "Fantastic Four" #48 (March 1966).


title: Galactus

text: Lee and Kirby wanted to introduce a character that broke away from the archetype of the standard villain. In the character's first appearance, Galactus was depicted as a god-like figure who feeds by draining living planets of their energy, and operates without regard to the morality and judgments of mortal beings.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus's initial origin was that of a Taa-an space explorer named Galan who gained cosmic abilities by passing near a star, but writer Mark Gruenwald further developed the origin of the character, presenting Galan as alive during the previous universe that existed prior to the Big Bang which began the current universe. As Galan's universe came to an end, Galan merged with the "Sentience of the Universe" to become Galactus, an entity that wielded such cosmic power as to require devouring entire planets to sustain his existence. Additional material written by John Byrne, Jim Starlin, and Louise Simonson explored Galactus's role and purpose in the Marvel Universe, and examined the actions of the character through themes of genocide, manifest destiny, ethics, and natural/necessary existence. Frequently accompanied by a herald (such as the Silver Surfer), the character has appeared as both antagonist and protagonist in central and supporting roles. Since debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, Galactus has played a role in over five decades of Marvel continuity.


title: Galactus

text: The character has been featured in other Marvel media, such as arcade games, video games, animated television series, and the 2007 film "". In 2009, Galactus ranked 5th on IGN's list of "Top 100 Comic Book Villains", which cited the character's "larger-than-life presence" as making him one of the more important villains ever created. IGN also noted "Galactus is one of the few villains on our list to really defy the definition of an evil-doer" as the character is compelled to destroy worlds because of his hunger, rather than out of malicious ends.


title: Galactus

text: Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist-coplotter Jack Kirby, the character debuted in "The Fantastic Four" #48 (March 1966, the first of a three-issue story later known as "The Galactus Trilogy").


title: Galactus

text: In 1966, nearly five years after launching Marvel Comics' flagship superhero title, "Fantastic Four", creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby collaborated on an antagonist designed to break the supervillain mold of the tyrant with god-like stature and power. As Lee recalled in 1993,


title: Galactus

text: Kirby described his biblical inspirations for Galactus and an accompanying character, an angelic herald Lee called the Silver Surfer:


title: Galactus

text: Kirby elaborated, "Galactus in actuality is a sort of god. He is beyond reproach, beyond anyone's opinion. In a way he is kind of a Zeus, who fathered Hercules. He is his own legend, and of course, he and the Silver Surfer are sort of modern legends, and they are designed that way."


title: Galactus

text: Writer Mike Conroy expanded on Lee and Kirby's explanation: "In five short years from the launch of the "Fantastic Four", the Lee/Kirby duo ... had introduced a whole host of alien races or their representatives ... there were the Skrulls, the Watcher and the Stranger, all of whom Lee and Kirby used in the foundations of the universe they were constructing, one where all things were possible but only if they did not flout the 'natural laws' of this cosmology. In the nascent Marvel Universe, characters acted consistently, whatever comic they were appearing in. Their actions reverberated through every title. It was pure soap opera but on a cosmic scale, and Galactus epitomized its epic sweep."


title: Galactus

text: This led to the introduction of Galactus in "Fantastic Four" #48–50 (March – May 1966), which fans began calling "The Galactus Trilogy". Kirby did not intend Galactus to reappear, to preserve the character's awe-inspiring presence. Fan popularity, however, prompted Lee to ask Kirby for Galactus's reappearance, and the character became a mainstay of the Marvel Universe.


title: Galactus

text: To preserve the character's mystique, his next two appearances were nonspeaking cameos in "Thor" #134 (November 1966), and "Daredevil" #37 (February 1968), respectively. Numerous requests from fans prompted the character to be featured heavily in "Fantastic Four" #72–77 (March – August 1968). After a flashback appearance in "Silver Surfer" #1 (August 1968), the character returned to Earth in "Thor" #160–162 (January – March 1969). Galactus's origin was eventually revealed in "Thor" #168–169 (September – October 1969).


title: Galactus

text: The character made appearances in "Fantastic Four" #120–123 (March – June 1972) and "Thor" #225–228 (July – October 1974). These two storylines introduced two new heralds for Galactus. Galactus also featured in "Fantastic Four" #172–175 (July – October 1976) and #208–213 (July – December 1979).


title: Galactus

text: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby reunited for the origin of the Silver Surfer and Galactus in the one-shot graphic novel "The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience!" in 1978. This Marvel Fireside Book, published by Simon & Schuster, was an out-of-continuity retelling of the origin story without the Fantastic Four.


title: Galactus

text: The full Lee-and-Kirby origin story was reprinted in the one-volume "Super-Villain Classics: Galactus The Origin" #1 (May 1983), inked by Vince Colletta and George Klein, lettered by John Morelli and colored by Andy Yanchus. While nearly identical to the previous origin, this story featured supplemental material, edits, and deletions by writer Mark Gruenwald, pencillers John Byrne and Ron Wilson and inker Jack Abel. Rather than traveling into a dying star, the character enters the core of the collapsing universe before the Big Bang; the story was later reprinted as "Origin of Galactus" #1 (February 1996).


title: Galactus

text: The character guest-starred in "Rom" #26–27 (January – February 1982). Galactus featured in two related storylines of "Fantastic Four" #242–244 (May – July 1982) and later #257 (August 1983), in which writer-artist John Byrne introduced the conceit of Galactus feeling remorse for his actions, and the weight of his genocides. In the issue, Death assures Galactus of his role and purpose as one of shepherd and weeder in guiding the universe to its proper purpose, and Galactus remains resolute. Byrne further elaborated on this concept in "Fantastic Four" #262 (January 1984), which sparked controversy. At the end of the story, Eternity, an abstract entity in the Marvel Universe, appears to validate the existence of Galactus as necessary for the natural order and essential to prevent an even more catastrophic fate; Howard University professor of literature Marc Singer criticized this, accusing writer-artist of using the character to "justify planetary-scale genocide." Byrne and Stan Lee also collaborated on a one-shot Silver Surfer story (June 1982) in which Galactus returned to Zenn-La after the Surfer's rebellion and drained it of energy after allowing the populace to flee.


title: Galactus

text: Writer-penciller John Byrne and inker Terry Austin produced "The Last Galactus Story" as a serial in the anthology comic-magazine "Epic Illustrated" #26–34 (October 1984 – February 1986). Nine of a scheduled 10 installments appeared. Each was six pages with the exception of the eighth installment (12 pages). The magazine was canceled with issue #34, leaving the last chapter unpublished and the story unfinished; however, Byrne later published the conclusion on his website. Galactus played a pivotal role in the limited series "Secret Wars" #1–12 (May 1984 – April 1985), and became a recurring character in "Silver Surfer" (vol. 3) (beginning with issue #1 (July 1987)).


title: Galactus

text: Stan Lee and artist John Buscema also produced the 64-page hardcover graphic novel "Silver Surfer: Judgment Day" (October 1988), in which Galactus clashes with the demonic entity Mephisto.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus was featured in the miniseries "The Infinity Gauntlet" #1–6 (July –December 1991), "The Infinity War" #1–6 (June –November 1992) and "Cosmic Powers" #1–6 (March –August 1994). The character starred in the six-issue miniseries "Galactus the Devourer" (September 1999 –March 2000), written by Louise Simonson and illustrated by John Buscema, which climaxed with Galactus's death. Simonson originally conceived that the story arc would occur in "Silver Surfer" (vol. 3), but the title was cancelled due to dwindling sales. She proposed a separate limited series, and at the time was initially doubtful that Marvel would approve what she considered a "radical" idea concerning "why the very existence of the universe depends on the health and well-being of Galactus."


title: Galactus

text: The consequences of Galactus's death are explored in the issues "Fantastic Four Annual 2001" and "Fantastic Four" (vol. 3) #46–49 (October 2001 – January 2002) written by Jeph Loeb and culminate in Galactus's revival, bringing resolution to Simonson's cliffhanger from the "Devourer" story arc. The character features in the first six issues of the limited series "Thanos" (December 2003 – May 2004), written by Jim Starlin. Issues #7–12 (June - November 2004), written by Keith Giffen, introduce the , who is retroactively presented as Galactus' first herald.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus's origin is re-examined in "Fantastic Four" #520–523 (October 2004 – April 2005), in which the character is temporarily reverted to his mortal form. After appearing in the limited series "Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill" #1–6 (March – August 2005) Galactus was a central character in the "Annihilation" storyline, appearing in the limited series "" #1–4 (June – September 2006), "Annihilation" #1–6 (October 2006 –March 2007) and the epilogue, "" #1–2 (February – April 2007).


title: Galactus

text: Galactus was an antagonist in "Fantastic Four" #545–546 (June – July 2007), where he tried to devour fellow cosmic function Epoch. In "Nova" (vol. 4) #13–15 (May – July 2008), the character had no dialogue. Author Andy Lanning said that he and co-writer Dan Abnett were "treating Galactus like a force of nature; an inevitable, planetary catastrophe that there is no reasoning with, no bargaining with and no escaping." Galactus also appeared in the limited series "Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter" #1–3 (June – August 2009), a sequel to "Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill" #1–6.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus appears as a supporting character in "Galacta, Daughter of Galactus" (May 2010). Galactus and the Silver Surfer appeared as antagonists in both "Skaar: Son of Hulk" #7–12 (March 1, 2009 – August 1, 2009) and "Son of Hulk" #13–17 (September 1, 2009 – January 2010), and as protagonists in the miniseries "The Thanos Imperative" #1–6 (June – November 2010). Galactus was a member of the God Squad in the miniseries "Chaos War" #2–5 (December 2010 – March 2011). After an appearance in "Fantastic Four" #583–587 (November 2010 – March 2011), the character returned to Earth in "Silver Surfer" (vol. 6) #1–5 (January – May 2011) and was the antagonist in "The Mighty Thor" #1–6 (April – September 2011). Galactus played a supporting role in the story line "Forever" featured in "Fantastic Four" #600–604 (November 2011 – March 2012) and "FF" #16 (March 2012) by Johnathan Hickman, where Hickman introduced the concept of a shared destiny between Galactus and Franklin Richards. Writer Mark Waid would subsequently develop this concept further (see below).


title: Galactus

text: The character played a central role as antagonist in "Hunger" #1–4 (2013), in which the mainstream Galactus of the primary Marvel continuity merges with his counterpart from the Ultimate Marvel publication imprint, Gah Lak Tus. Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov commented that his intent was to use Galactus as a means to place the characters from the Ultimate Marvel imprint into a completely unexpected crisis: "What I hope comes across is the sense of wonder that's being brought into the Ultimate Universe... with the smart, modern tone Brian has established."


title: Galactus

text: Following his appearance in "Hunger", Galactus was a major supporting character in "The Ultimates" (vol. 3) #1–6 (January – June 2016), where writer Al Ewing fundamentally changed the nature of Galactus's character. During the events of the story, Galactus is transformed into "the Lifebringer," a being who is compelled to infuse dead planets with life-sustaining energies, thus altering the character's primary motive for the first time since Galactus's debut in 1966. Elaborating on what inspired the change, Ewing explained "What inspired it — a mixture of wanting someone big on or allied with the team — originally, we thought about Odin, but he's a bit busy — and my usual preoccupations with atonement, redemption, growth and change. So what can [Galactus] do now? Well, whereas before he was taking in vast amounts of energy, now he's putting out vast amounts of energy — pure life energy. He always said he was going to give back more than he took out of the universe — now he's making good on that, one dead world at a time." The themes of redemption and change were received well by columnist Mark Peters, who described Ewing's work on "Ultimates" as "one of the best Galactus stories ever."


title: Galactus

text: Galactus featured prominently in a direct sequel series to "The Ultimates" (vol. 2) titled "The Ultimates 2" (vol. 2) #1–9 and 100 (August 2016 – November 2017) which focused on the Lifebringer Galactus as the de facto leader of the Ultimates. Galactus in his Lifebringer persona made his final appearance in "Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur" #26–30 (December 2017 – April 2018) before being reverted back to his "Devourer of Worlds" persona by writer Gerry Dugan in "Infinity Countdown" #4 (June 2018).


title: Galactus

text: Set at the end of the primary Marvel continuity, the miniseries "History of the Marvel Universe" #1–6 (July 2019 – December 2019) by Mark Waid depicted Galactus as the in-story narrator. The story features Galactus recounting all the major events that have occurred in Marvel continuity to Franklin Richards as the universe experiences its final moments. Confirming the series as occurring within the primary Marvel continuity, Waid elaborated that "[t]here is a framing device, yes. We wanted it to be a story, not just a long Wikipedia entry. As established in Jonathan Hickman's "Fantastic Four" run, there comes a point when Galactus and Franklin Richards stand together at the end of time, and now we get to see exactly what they were doing there."


title: Galactus

text: Galactus was killed by Thor during the "Herald of Thunder" story arc in "Thor" (vol. 6) #1–6 (March 2020 – August 2020), and reappeared after a two-year hiatus in "Fantastic Four" (vol. 6) #45 (July 2022) — the final issue of the event "Reckoning War" — where Galactus is resurrected by his former heralds.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus was originally the Taa-an explorer Galan of the planet Taa, which existed in the prime pre-Big Bang universe. When an unknown cosmic cataclysm gradually begins killing off all of the other life in his universe, Galan and other survivors leave Taa on a spacecraft and are engulfed in the Big Crunch. Galan, however, does not die: after bonding with the Sentience of the Universe, he changes and gestates for billions of years in an egg made of the debris of his ship that the current universe formed after the Big Bang. He emerges as Galactus, and though an unnamed Watcher observed Galactus's birth and recognizes his destructive nature, the Watcher chooses not to kill Galactus. Starving for sustenance, Galactus consumes the nearby planet of Archeopia — the first of many planets he would destroy to maintain his existence.Subsequently, in memory of his dead homeworld of Taa and the first planet (Archeopia) to fall prey to his hunger, Galactus constructs a new "homeworld": the Möbius strip-shaped space station called Taa II.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus becomes involved in a civil war among the "Proemial Gods", who had come into being during the universe's infancy. When a faction of the gods led by Diableri of Chaos attempts to remake the universe in their own image, Galactus kills Diableri and imprisons three others (Antiphon, Tenebrous, and Aegis) in the prison called the Kyln.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus then creates the being Tyrant out of a desire for companionship, but the two ultimately engage in a major conflict. Galactus decides to empower his first herald — the — who ultimately rebels against his master. When approaching the planet of Zenn-La, Galactus accepts the offer of Norrin Radd to become his herald, the Silver Surfer, in exchange for sparing his world. Eventually locating Earth, Galactus is driven off by the Fantastic Four, Uatu the Watcher, and the rebellious Silver Surfer after the Human Torch — with the Watcher's assistance — retrieves the Ultimate Nullifier from Taa II. Although Galactus leaves Earth, vowing that he will never try to consume it again, he banishes the Surfer to Earth for betraying him. Galactus later returns for his former herald, but the Surfer is unrepentant and chooses to remain on Earth. Thor learns of Galactus's origin when the entity comes into conflict with Ego the Living Planet.


title: Galactus

text: Returning to Earth, Galactus unsuccessfully tries to re-enlist the Silver Surfer. After the Fantastic Four and the Surfer defeat Galactus's new herald, the Air-Walker, Mr. Fantastic reprograms Galactus's ship to travel to the Negative Zone, which contains many uninhabited worlds that could potentially be consumed. Thor and Olympian ally Hercules encounter Galactus when his next herald, Firelord, travels to Earth to be free of his master. Galactus frees Firelord when Thor presents Galactus with the Asgardian Destroyer to animate and use as a herald.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus comes into conflict with the High Evolutionary when attempting to devour Counter-Earth, but he is temporarily transformed into harmless energy after attempting to devour the planet Poppup, the homeworld of the Impossible Man. After returning to normal form, Galactus is sought by the Fantastic Four to help stop a new cosmic threat, the Sphinx. Mr. Fantastic offers to release Galactus from his vow to avoid Earth if he helps defeat the Sphinx. Galactus agrees, if the Fantastic Four first recruit a being called Tyros as a new herald. The quartet succeed, and the newly empowered and renamed Terrax the Tamer leads his master to Earth. Galactus locates and defeats the Sphinx in Egypt, but is confronted by Mr. Fantastic, who, unbeknownst to Galactus, wields a fake Ultimate Nullifier. Unable to read Richard's mind (which is protected by the Watcher), Galactus retreats.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus empowers and uses the superheroine Dazzler to locate a missing Terrax, who is in fact hiding from his master inside a black hole. The Dazzler defeats and retrieves Terrax, and forces Galactus to return her to Earth. Galactus is fooled by the Galadorian Space Knight Rom into trying to devour the Black Nebula, the homeworld of the Dire Wraiths, but he is repelled by the Wraiths' Dark Sun. A weakened Galactus pursues the rebellious Terrax to Earth and strips him of his power. Near death, Galactus is saved by the Fantastic Four and the Avengers while also acquiring another herald: Nova. Galactus devours the Skrulls' throneworld of Tarnax IV, and discusses his role in the universe with fellow cosmic entity Death. Mr. Fantastic is captured by the Shi'ar for saving Galactus's life, and is tried by aliens who survived the annihilation of their worlds by Galactus. During the trial, the cosmic entity Eternity — the sentient embodiment of space and reality of the Marvel Universe — intervenes, allowing all beings present to momentarily become one with the universe, allowing them to understand that Galactus is a necessary part of the cosmic order.


title: Galactus

text: During the Secret Wars, Galactus attempts to consume Battleworld in order to force the Beyonder to remove his hunger, but his plan is foiled by Doctor Doom. Galactus grants clemency to the Silver Surfer, who aids his former master against the Elders of the Universe and the In-Betweener.Galactus also rescues the Surfer and Nova from Mephisto's realm, and aids the cosmic hierarchy in a war against the mad Eternal Thanos, who wields the Infinity Gauntlet.


title: Galactus

text: When Nova II is conscience-stricken at causing the death of billions of aliens, Galactus takes on a new herald, the bloodthirsty Morg the Executioner. Tyrant eventually returns and Morg sacrifices himself to stop the former herald by using the Ultimate Nullifier. Galactus then decides, with help from his new herald Red Shift, to only devour the energy of living beings, which brings him into conflict with alien races and Earth's superheroes. During a final confrontation near Chandilar, the throneworld of the Shi'ar, the Silver Surfer turns Galactus's siphoning machines against him. A starving Galactus dies and adopts the form of a star. The death of Galactus allows the entity Abraxas (a metaphysical embodiment of destruction and the antithesis of Eternity) to emerge from imprisonment. The entity wreaks havoc across thousands of alternate universes, killing various incarnations of Galactus before the children of Mr. Fantastic — Franklin Richards and Valeria von Doom — exhaust their powers to restore the original Galactus. Galactus then provides Mr. Fantastic with the Ultimate Nullifier, which he uses to reset reality and prevent Abraxas' initial escape and destruction.


title: Galactus

text: Conscience-stricken, Galactus tries to rid himself of his cosmic hunger by feeding on the power from the Infinity Gems, but is tricked into releasing the Hunger, a being which feeds on entire galaxies. The Hunger is destroyed when Thanos orchestrates a final battle with Galactus. When an alien race develops a technology to make planets invisible to Galactus, he empowers the Human Torch (who has traded powers with his sister the Invisible Woman and becomes the Invisible Boy as a result of this) and utilizes the hero as an unwilling herald to locate the planets. The Fantastic Four and Quasar free the Torch by changing Galactus back into the humanoid Galan, who chooses to exile himself to an energy-rich alternate dimension before he can transform back into Galactus so that he can feed on that reality without endangering planets.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus consumes Beta Ray Bill's Korbinite homeworld with the help of his new herald, Stardust. When the Negative Zone villain Annihilus declares war on the universe, the entity attacks and destroys the Kyln, freeing former Galactus foes Tenebrous and Aegis. Sensing their release, Galactus temporarily releases Stardust from his service and re-employs the Silver Surfer as his herald due to his familiarity with their old foes. Tenebrous and Aegis, however, find and defeat the Surfer and Galactus and deliver them to Annihilus. Annihilus intends to use Galactus as a weapon to destroy all life in the universe, but is thwarted when the entity is freed by Drax the Destroyer. Galactus retaliates and destroys most of Annihilus's forces. Seeking a final confrontation with Tenebrous and Aegis, Galactus sends the Silver Surfer to locate them. The Surfer eventually draws the pair into the barrier between the universe and the Negative Zone, which destroys both of them.


title: Galactus

text: After an encounter with Epoch, Galactus consumes the planet Orbucen. When a distraught Beta Ray Bill seeks vengeance for the destruction of the Korbinites' homeworld, Galactus relents and creates a female Korbinite as a companion for Bill. Galactus also consumes the planet Sakaar, earning the enmity of the Hulk's alien-born twin sons, Skaar and Hiro-Kala.


title: Galactus

text: A "celestial parasite" within Galactus is revealed to have spawned a daughter, "Gali" a.k.a. Galacta, who secretly lives on Earth working as a superhero and doctor while seeking to suppress her own hunger. After attempting to use the Ultimate Nullifier to prevent herself from being driven to consume the planet, Galactus replenishes his daughter with cosmic energy and explains her origins to her, leading Gali to realize that she is pregnant.


title: Galactus

text: The Silver Surfer finds the body of a future Galactus underneath New York City, and he summons the present Galactus to Earth. Mr. Fantastic explains that, in the distant future, the heroes on a dying Earth had killed Galactus and then escaped to the present via time travel. When Galactus discovers these heroes now live on a planet called Nu-Earth, he destroys it and its inhabitants in retribution.


title: Galactus

text: A tear in the fabric of space caused by the Annihilation Wave and other interstellar conflicts allows the extra-universal forces of the Cancerverse (an alternate universe without death) to invade. Galactus, the Celestials and the resurrected Tenebrous and Aegis combat the powerful Cancerverse weapon: the Galactus Engine (constructed from the corpse of the Cancerverse's counterpart to Galactus). During the events of the Chaos War, Galactus is teleported to Earth by the Olympian demi-god Hercules to help fight the Chaos King, a metaphysical embodiment of Oblivion and another antithesis of Eternity. While the Hulk and his allies the God Squad, Alpha Flight, and several members of the Avengers fight Amatsu-Mikaboshi's forces, Amadeus Cho and Galactus develop a machine which will move Earth to a safe location in a sealed-off continuum, only to adapt the plan by trapping Amatsu-Mikaboshi in that dimension instead.


title: Galactus

text: After an encounter with the High Evolutionary, Galactus invades Asgard, home of the Norse Gods, seeking an Asgardian artifact to sate his hunger and spare future civilizations. Odin, ruler of the Norse Gods, contends that Galactus wishes to ensure that he is not replaced in the next universe. To avoid a protracted battle, the Silver Surfer offers to remain on Earth to guard the artifact on the condition that Galactus may have it once Asgard eventually passes. Galactus recruits a human preacher from Earth that he names Praeter to be his new herald. Later, when the Mad Celestials from Earth-4280 invade, Galactus destroys one before being struck down by the others. Revived by Franklin Richards, he and Franklin succeed in vanquishing the remaining Celestials, and prevent the destruction of Earth. In the aftermath, Galactus learns that he will no longer face the eventual end of the universe alone; he and Franklin will witness it together.


title: Galactus

text: Galactus is then pulled through a hole in space-time to an alternate universe and meets another version of himself: a space-faring mechanical hive mind called "Gah Lak Tus". After the two merge with one another, Galactus makes his way towards this universe's Earth in an attempt to consume it. The heroes of the alternate Earth travel to Earth-616 to acquire information on Galactus and eventually manage to send Galactus to the Negative Zone, reasoning that he will eventually starve to death, as the region is composed of anti-matter. A comatose Galactus is found by the Eternals and Aarkus, who hope to use him in their war against the Kree.