Annihilus is a fictional super-villain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily as an adversary to the Fantastic Four and first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #6, published in November 1968. He was responsible for the attacks in the "Annihilation" comic book event. Annihilus has at various times been the ruler of the Negative Zone, controlling its inhabitants via his powerful Cosmic Control Rod. He first encountered the Fantastic Four after Reed Richards discovered how to travel to the Negative Zone from Earth. Over the years he clashed with the Fantastic Four on many occasions, often with the group foiling his plans to invade Earth. He is often the partner of Blastaar, who started out as a rival to Annihilus' rule of the Negative Zone before becoming allies. He would later lead an enormous fleet of space ships from the Negative Zone into the main universe, setting off the Annihilation Wave by destroying or subjugating many planets. The armada was opposed by a number of cosmic heroes such as Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, and Silver Surfer, and was ultimately stopped by the cosmic entity Galactus, killing Annihilus in the process, but he was later reborn as an infant in the aftermath of the "Annihilation" storyline.