The Living Mummy

Living Mummy
Cover of Supernatural Thrillers #5, art by Rich Buckler
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Supernatural Thrillers #5 (August 1973)
Created by	Steve Gerber (writer) Rich Buckler (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	N'Kantu
Species	Mummy
Team affiliations	S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Paranormal Containment Unit Shock Troop Legion of Monsters
Notable aliases	The Mummy, Captain Ace Bandages
Abilities	Superhuman strength and durability High-level resistance to injury Mystic senses

N'Kantu the Living Mummy is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

N'Kantu the Living Mummy first appeared in Supernatural Thrillers #5 (Aug. 1973), created by Steve Gerber and Rich Buckler. It introduced the character in a standalone story set in Cairo, Egypt, "The Living Mummy". N'Kantu the Living Mummy returned two issues later in "The Return of the Living Mummy" by the same team, who brought the character to New York City. With the cover logo reading "Supernatural Thrillers featuring The Living Mummy", the series ran from #7 to the final issue, #15 (June 1974 - Oct. 1975). With issue #8, the creative team became writer Tony Isabella and artist Val Mayerik, occasionally credited as co-plotter. John Warner wrote or co-wrote the final two issues, with Tom Sutton drawing the finale. Len Wein scripted #10 from an Isabella-Mayerik plot.

Born 3,000 years ago, N'Kantu is the son of T'Chombi, a chief of a Northern African tribe called the Swarili of the nation of Swarilis. At the age of 21, N'Kantu must undergo the Test of the Lion, proving himself to be worthy of being called a warrior. Succeeding in this trial also means that someday N'Kantu would be worthy to succeed his father as king. Months later, his father dies in his sleep, and N'Kantu becomes the chieftain of the Swarili tribe.

Returning from a hunt, N'Kantu finds that his village has been ransacked and the entire tribe of Swarili rounded up by Egyptians as slaves. N'Kantu fights to rescue his people, but is overwhelmed and captured by the Egyptian soldiers.

N'Kantu and the Swarili are then taken to Egypt, and put to work building monuments to the current Pharaoh, Aram-Set. Recognized as the strongest, and most dangerous of the Swarili, N'Kantu is isolated and forced to work the hardest in an attempt to break his spirit. But at night he and the other Swarili people plot a rebellion, though unbeknownst to them their plotting is being reported to Aram-Set and his chief priest, Nephrus. At the completion of the current monument project, the Egyptians take their slaves into its catacombs in preparation for a mass execution. But N'Kantu signals for the revolt and the Swarili slaughter their would-be executioners.