The monolith is the name given by humans to the mysterious black slabs found scattered throughout the Solar System. The monoliths were created by an unseen alien race, known only as the "Firstborn." The first monolith to be discovered was officially dubbed Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One, or TMA-1. Three of the other monoliths were also given "TMA" designations, although none of them except the Tycho Monolith were located on the moon, let alone Tycho. TMA-1 was also the only monolith that emitted a magnetic field, so the designation is something of a double misnomer.

The monoliths are capable of many different functions. TMA-0 (the retroactively numbered monolith discovered in Africa) and the Europa Monolith served as a catalyst for evolution, encouraging the development of sentience in lifeforms. TMA-1 was a sort of "burglar alarm," alerting the aliens that the humans had left Earth. TMA-1 reported to its "brother," TMA-2, found in orbit around Jupiter. The Jupiter monolith served as a gateway to a transit system, opening up when a decided specimen was found; in one case it was David Bowman, who was pulled into the monolith and was turned into the "Star Child," an entity of pure energy who functioned as a probe for the Firstborn.

The monoliths could also replicate themselves, generating a cloud, or rather a giant disc, made up of millions of monoliths. One such assemblage was formed to increase the mass of Jupiter, inducing nuclear fusion and igniting the gas giant to create Lucifer, all to facilitate evolution on Europa. Two more clouds were formed 1,000 years later—one to block light from the sun to Earth and the other to block light from Lucifer to the human bases on Ganymede—to cause the extinction of the human race, because they posed a threat to the Europans. Because of this, the humans unleashed a destructive computer virus series on the monoliths, which were destroyed.

All the monoliths, though they vary greatly in size, were fashioned to the exact proportions of 1:4:9, the squares of the integers 1, 2, and 3. This precise measurement ruled out any naturally occurring phenomena, and because the first of the monoliths was placed more than 3 million years ago, humans could not possibly have made them.

Contents 1 TMA-1 2 TMA-2 3 Connection to the Marvel Universe 4 Appearances

TMA-1Edit

TMA-1, commonly known as the Tycho Monolith, was the first monolith discovered by humans but was presumably

placed on the moon at about the same time the other monoliths were placed. TMA-1 was discovered when a low-altitude magnetic survey was done on the moon, and an anomaly was shown in the data: an extremely intense magnetic field in the crater Tycho. At first, scientists thought it might be an outcrop of magnetic rock, but all the evidence was against it. Not even a giant nickel–iron meteorite could produce a field as intense as this. The source of the anomaly was found buried 40 feet below the lunar surface. What was uncovered was the monolith, which was dubbed TMA-1. Like all the other monoliths found later, it was fashioned to the proportions of 1:4:9.

During Dr. Heywood Floyd's visit to TMA-1, the sun rose over Tycho crater, and for the first time in 3 million years, sunlight hit the monolith, unleashing a powerful radio blast, aimed directly at Jupiter—specifically the Jupiter monolith. After the blast, the monolith remained inert, and even its magnetic field had disappeared.

The Tycho Monolith was later moved to Earth and placed in the United Nations building in New York City.

TMA-1 was destroyed along with the other monoliths when the virus was released on them shortly after the start of the fourth millennium.

TMA-2Edit

TMA-2 was the second monolith discovered. It was found by Dr. David Bowman, the commander and

only survivor of the Discovery 1 spacecraft. TMA-2 was found at the Lagrange point between Io and Jupiter, and was commonly called the Jupiter Monolith. The Jupiter monolith was identical to the Tycho monolith, except for its size. The Jupiter monolith measured nearly 2 kilometers long.

After Discovery reached Jupiter, Bowman parked the spacecraft at the Lagrange point between Io and Jupiter, since scientists back on Earth had pinpointed this to be the destination of the radio signal. Upon arrival, Bowman went out in a pod to get a closer look at the huge monolith. As he got closer, he saw that "the thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and, oh my God, It's full of stars!"

Bowman was pulled into the monolith, going on a fantastical, almost surreal journey through time and space. In the end, Dave was turned into the Star Child, an immortal being of pure energy, capable of doing whatever he wanted, while obeying the orders from the monoliths and the Firstborn.

When the Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov arrived at Jupiter, another strange chain of events occurred, ultimately transforming Jupiter into the minisun, Lucifer.

The Jupiter monolith vanished near the end of the Leonov mission. It was soon discovered that it had gone to Jupiter and replicated itself millions of times over, transforming the planet into a sun. These millions of monoliths were presumably destroyed when the planet was converted.

TMA-0 was the third monolith discovered by modern humans, though it was the first to be met by any form of

life. It was placed on Earth, somewhere in the African deserts, around 3 million years B.C. It served as a catalyst for intelligence.

It was met by a tribe of ape-men, on the brink of starvation. By mysterious means, the monolith probed the ape-men's minds, carving the path to sentience. It taught them to use bones and rocks as weapons, as well as many other life-changing skills. After 3 days of this "training," the monolith disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared. Eons later, the result was the birth of humankind.

In 3001, newly revived Frank Poole finds out that the remains of this monolith has been unearthed. It was presumably abandoned by the Firstborn after its mission was complete as it was not protected like the other monoliths were. The remains were destroyed after the computer virus was unleashed. 

Connection to the Marvel UniverseEdit

In 2001: A Space Odyssey issue #8 (July 1977), a monolith gave sentience to a robot named X-51 (also known as "Mister Machine"). Before encountering the monolith, he is the only survivor of a series of robots, and raised as a human son of scientist Abel Stack, who was killed removing his auto-destruct mechanism. He eventually spun off his own title, Machine Man, who integrated him into the Marvel Universe. References from 2001 were mostly ignored, but in the final issue it was revealed that the creators of the monolith were the Celestials, who had sent it to help record vast amounts of data over the centuries.

AppearancesEdit

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• 2010: Odyssey Two
• 2061: Odyssey Three
• 3001: The Final Odyssey