When Communist China threatens to invade his homeland, teenager Chan Liuchow takes matters into his own hands. Rousing the sleeping dragon from a thousand-year-old slumber, he lures the irritable creature to the Communist encampment to create mayhem and chaos as only a giant, purple-shorts-wearing dragon can.
The character appeared off and on in Marvel comics for the next 35 or 40 years, most notably and memorably in Iron Man comics.
Foom is experiencing a bit of a resurgence of late, appearing as a game boss in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance video game, an action figure and making several notable guest appearances throughout the Marvel universe of titles. He's even received a 21st century update courtesy of artist Adi Granov.
It even turns out (through a bit of creative back-story) the big brute is an ancient alien from the planet Kakaranathara, which incidentally sounds like a sound-effect from a '60's comic book.
The Big Guy is goofy, yes. But I like him. He has character.
