biology

Inhumans

Inhumans is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Inhumans rather than just read about it. In short: The Inhumans are a superhuman race of super beings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The comic book series has usually focused more specifically on the adventures of the Inhuman Royal Family, and many people associate the name "Inhumans" with this particular team of superpowered characters.

Key takeaways

Inhumans belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Inhumans to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Inhumans from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Inhumans are a superhuman race of super beings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The comic book series has usually focused more specifically on the adventures of the Inhuman Royal Family, and many people associate the name "Inhumans" with this particular team of superpowered characters. The Inhumans first appeared in Fantastic Four #45 (December 1965), though members Medusa and Gorgon appeared in earlier issues of that series (#36 and #44, respectively). Their home, the city of Attilan, was first mentioned years earlier, in a Tuk the Caveboy story written and drawn by Jack Kirby that appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). The city was described as the home of a race that was evolutionarily advanced when human beings were still in the Stone Age. The Inhuman Royal Family has been adapted to numerous Marvel animated series and video games over the years. Inhuman characters were introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in live action in the second season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while the Inhuman Royal Family is featured in the television series Inhumans, which premiered in 2017; the latter show was critically panned and lasted only one season. Earlier, a proposed film adaptation of the Inhumans was announced in 2014 by Marvel Studios but was later removed from its slate and never came to fruition. The Inhuman race was represented by the appearance of Black Bolt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), portrayed by Anson Mount who reprised his role from the television series.

Development In a 1967 interview, Stan Lee discussed the creation of the Inhumans: "The first Inhuman that we brought in was Gorgon... And he was a fella who looked a little like a centaur or something. He could kick his foot very hard and he had great power. He could shatter a mountain by kicking his foot. He started out as a villain. We liked him so much, I should say Jack liked him so much, that he kept using him. We figured he has to come from somewhere. We decided, let him come from some strange land over in Europe, where there are a whole group of people like him. And well, what else could you call them except the Inhumans. Then Jack had to create a whole bunch of Inhumans and I think he did a great job. When it came to doing the leader, we decided, well, there was no need for them all to be villainous. I think we did have in mind that Black Bolt would eventually be a heroic type. And again, we always try to give a character a hangup so his hangup is he doesn't speak." In a 1969 interview Kirby discussed the costumes of the Inhumans "[with] Black Bolt I began to dress up the lightning insignias. Karnak with the judo-type uniform, it's almost Japanese Oriental and half-Egyptian and Medusa with her hair"

Publication history The Inhumans first appeared in Fantastic Four No. 45 (December 1965). The Inhumans appeared as a back-up feature in Thor No. 146 (Nov. 1967) to No. 152 (May 1968) which contained their first extensive origin story. They fight the Silver Surfer in Silver Surfer No. 18 (September 1970). The Inhumans' first ongoing feature, the first six issues of which were written and pencilled by their co-creator Jack Kirby, appeared in Amazing Adventures No. 1 (Aug. 1970) to No. 10 (Jan. 1972). The characters received their own self-titled series in October 1975, which ran for 12 issues and ended in August 1977. All but issue No. 9 were written by Doug Moench, who has said he was fascinated with the shaggy God story aspect of the Inhumans. A follow-up to the series's ending appeared in Captain Marvel No. 53 (November 1977). The Inhumans were largely absent from publications for much of the 1980s, but appeared in their own graphic novel in 1988, written by Ann Nocenti and illustrated by Bret Blevins. Nocenti followed up by making the Inhumans Karnak and Gorgon supporting cast members in Daredevil from issue No. 272 (November 1989) through No. 283 (August 1990). An Inhumans limited series by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee ran for 12 issues from November 1998 – October 1999. The series, which used the Inhumans as a social allegory for the U.S., won an Eisner Award for Best New Series and established the Inhumans as viable comics-selling characters. A four-issue limited series by writers Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marín and artist José Ladrönn was published in 2000. The fourth volume (2003–2004, 12 issues) concentrated largely on new characters within the Inhumans' society. In 2007, the Inhumans featured in the Silent War limited series by writer David Hine, and artist Frazer Irving. Following events in the Secret Invasion, the Inhumans appeared on one side of the War of Kings storyline, with Black Bolt being made king of the Kree, facing off against Vulcan, who is leading the Shi'ar. The 2013 event, Infinity, led to major changes in status quo for the group, with many new Inhumans, or "NuHumans", appearing as a result of the detonation of the Terrigen Bomb. Writer Charles Soule became the lead writer of the Inhuman franchise, starting with the Inhuman series, which ran for 14 issues from April 2014–June 2015. The NuHuman Kamala Khan also becomes the lead of her own title, Ms. Marvel vol. 3. Following the Secret Wars event, the franchise expanded to two ongoing titles, Uncanny Inhumans, which ran for 20 issues from 2015 to 2017, and All-New Inhumans, which ran for 11 issues. There have been two spin-off titles with Karnak running in 2015 for six issues penned by Warren Ellis and drawn by Gerardo Zaffino and Roland Boschi and Black Bolt running for 12 issues from 2017 to 2018 penned by Saladin Ahmed and drawn by Christian Ward. In 2017, Marvel announced two series involving the Inhuman royal family, Royals written by Al Ewing drawn by Kevin Libranda that was cancelled after 10 issues, and a five issue miniseries titled Inhumans: Once & Future Kings written by Christopher Priest and drawn by Phil Noto that explored the royal family's origins. In July 2018, Marvel launched a new five-issue miniseries titled Death of the Inhumans written by Donny Cates and drawn by Ariel Olivetti.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Inhumans

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Inhumans claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Inhumans before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Inhumans ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Inhumans

In research: Inhumans appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Inhumans in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Inhumans is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 comics debuts, 1977 comics endings, 1998 comics debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Inhumans outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Inhumans in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Inhumans means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Inhumans out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Inhumans in simple terms?

Why does Inhumans matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Inhumans?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Inhumans.