Fin Fang Foom is a
Makluan, a dragon-like alien from the planet Kakaranathara (also known as Maklu IV) in the
Greater Magellanic Cloud. The aliens arrive on Earth in
China near the end of its ancient period, intending to conquer Earth. Because of them, the
Chinese dragons symbolize potent and auspicious powers in
culture, allowing monarchs, especially
emperors, to claim the banner "
Sons of Heaven" since
King Wen of the
Zhou dynasty. In time, during the
Qin dynasty, their presences signal the beginning of the country's imperial periods. Using their shapeshifting powers to mimic human form, the aliens infiltrate human society to study it before beginning their conquest. Foom, the navigator, is the exception and, acting as a reserve, is placed in a tomb in a catatonic state. In the 1960s, Fin Fang Foom is awakened by scholar Chan Liuchow, whose home country of
Taiwan is under threat from invading forces of
Communist China. Liuchow goads Foom into destroying the Communist invasion force before returning him to his hibernation through the use of a rare herb. Fin Fang Foom is awakened and returned to hibernation on two occasions before being freed by the
Mandarin. Foom helps the Mandarin take control of one-third of China and is reunited with his former teammate, who had been masquerading as a human named Chen Hsu. When the two begin to summon the rest of their crew, who had been disguised as humans for centuries, the Mandarin realizes that he has been tricked. He forces with heroes
Iron Man and
War Machine to defeat the Makluans, who are apparently killed. Although Fin Fang Foom's body is destroyed, his spirit survives and bonds itself to a dragon statue, which was stolen from a curio shop by teenager Billy Yuan at Foom's mental urging. Using Yuan's body as a conduit for his power, Foom summons thousands of lizards and fuses them with Yuan's body to recreate his own body. Iron Man defeats Foom with assistance from the remnants of Yuan's mind. Foom is then taken to Monster Isle. Fin Fang Foom is captured by the
Elder of the Universe known as the
Collector, and imprisoned with a subterranean collection of monsters. After being rescued by the
Fantastic Four, Fin Fang Foom decides to reform and becomes a follower of
Buddhism. Entering into a rehabilitation program with
Elektro,
Gorgilla, and
Googam, Foom is shrunken to the size of a human, stripped of his powers, and allowed to enter human society. Foom becomes the head chef of a Chinese restaurant within the
Baxter Building. During the "
Monsters Unleashed" storyline, Fin Fang Foom, Gorgilla, the Green Thing, and
Zzutak confront
Kei Kawade in the forest outside his house and warns Kei against the preceding monster summoning. Foom is among the monsters summoned by Kei to help combat the Leviathons. Following the Leviathon Mother's death, Foom and the other Goliathons confront Kei. Kei thanks the Goliathons for their help in fending off the Leviathons, but Foom warns him about summoning them again. An alternate universe version of Fin Fang Foom, corrupted by a
symbiote and serving the Poisons, manipulates Kei Kawade and attempts to make him help the symbiote hive enter his universe. The prime universe Foom convinces Kei that their adversary had been using its own mental abilities to undermine Kei's strength of will, allowing Kei to overcome the alternate Foom's influence and defeat him. ==Powers and abilities==