"The Helmet of Power"
In 1920 an Antarctic expedition, led by Captain Leonard McKenzie of the icebreaker Oracle discovers some remnants of the Ancients' civilization. One of the expedition party, Paul Destine, uncovers the Serpent Crown (which is still disguised by its encasement in a protective substance). Calling it the "Helmet of Power" Destine puts the crown on his head and immediately received a vast increase of his latent psionic powers and was changed physically into a stronger and larger man then he had previously been. Destine, who is thought lost by the expedition which left without him, then uses some of the Ancient's equipment to place himself in suspended animation. Destine emerged from this state decades later, his powers further increased during his period in stasis.
The crown appears in its original form, worn by Lilia Calderu, queen of the Gypsies, during the time period when Destine is in suspended animation.
The Crown next appears in disguised form as the "Helmet of Power". Calling himself "Destiny," Paul Destine seeks to take over the world and comes into conflict with the son of Captain Mackenzie, Namor the Sub-Mariner. Destine continues to draw on the power of the Crown throughout the story though he is never shown to fall under the overt influence of Set, perhaps due to the protective encasement under which the Ancients had placed the Crown centuries before and (more probably) the fact that the concept of the Crown had not been fully developed by the creators yet.
Read more about this topic: Serpent Crown
Famous quotes containing the words helmet and/or power:
“Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 17:38-39.
Saul was very tall.
“Power corrupts ... when the weak band together in order to ruin the strong, but not before. The will to power ... far from being a characteristic of the strong, is, like envy and greed, among the vices of the weak, and possibly even their most dangerous one.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)