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Yetis
Yeti 001
Yetis
Aliases: Abominable Snowmen
Sub-groups: Bigfoot; Sasquatch
Films: The Snow Creature; Man Beast; The Abominable Snowman; The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer; Snowbeast; Snow Beast
1st appearance: The Snow Creature (1954)

Yetis are creatures of Asian folklore, often referred to as Abominable Snowmen. They are classically represented as arthropods standing greater than seven feet tall with minimal intelligence and white fur covering the entirety of their body. They are usually found in tribal communities in the Himalayan Mountains near Tibet. The Western counterpart to the Yeti is the North American Bigfoot or Sasquatch. Yetis have not had a profound impact on the horror genre, but they have been known to appear in various films, TV programs and comic books.

Origins[]

Yetis in film[]

The first appearance of a Yeti in film was the 1954 W. Lee Wilder movie The Snow Creature. In the film, an American expedition to the Himalayas encounter a family of Yetis and manages to capture one, whereupon they bring it back to the United States for study. A watered down version of the Abominable Snowman was featured in the 1956 movie Man Beast. Yetis were also featured in the 1957 Hammer Film Productions feature The Abominable Snowman. Although Yetis were the provincial antagonists of the feature, they only received minimal screen time and only appeared at the very end of the film. In the 1977 film Snowbeast, an Abominable Snowman was featured attacking a Colorado ski resort. Like many of its predecessors, this version of a Yeti received very little screen time and its ascetic value was hampered due to a low budget and cheap costume design. Like most physically imposing monsters, Yetis eventually received the Hollywood computer generated image treatment as seen in the 2008 adventure film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. In the film, Yetis played a significant role, but were not cast in the role of villainous monsters. In fact, they were benevolent creatures who aided the protagonists against the efforts of evil Chinese mummy Emperor Han.

An alien version of a Yeti is featured in the sci-fi franchise Star Wars. Referred to as a Wampa, these creatures were very similar to traditional Yetis, but possessed curved, downsweeping horns that grew from the sides of their heads. A Wampa appeared in the film Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where it attacked and captured Luke Skywalker. Luke used his lightsaber to escape, but the noise alerted the Wampa who charged after him. Luke swung his saber, severing the creature's arm, then made his escape out into the bleak, snowy landscape. Additional material from the novelization as well as several Star Wars reference guides established that Luke's allies in the Rebel Alliance had captured several of these creatures and contained them within a cell at their headquarters on the ice planet Hoth. [1]

A more family friendly version of Yetis can be found in the 2018 animated feature Smallfoot. The film focuses on a family of Yetis who regal each other with stories of strange inexplicable beings called humans - beings with very little body hair, perfect white teeth and minty-fresh breath. Truly terrifying.

Yetis in television[]

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Yetis in books[]

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Yetis in comics[]

Hu Wei

Hu Wei, the Yeti.

An early version of a Yeti was the DC Comics super-villain Klaus Kristin. He was introduced in July, 1981 in the pages of Batman #337. He made a second and final appearance in 1983 in Detective Comics #522. Known as the Snowman, Klaus Kristin was the hybrid child of a human woman and a Yeti. He came to Gotham City to freeze it, but ran afoul of Batman. Batman later headed to Tibet to confront him only to fight his father also. Snowman presumably perished in the fight.

Another DC Comics character, who actually went by the code name Yeti, was the tormented Chinese hero Hu Wei. Hu Wei was a member of a super-hero team known as the Great 10. He was introduced in 2006 in issue #32 of the weekly limited series 52 and created through the collaborative efforts of writers Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. A Metahuman, Hu Wei discovered how to trigger his own atavistic gene enabling him to transform into a lumbering, chaotic beast. He was taken in by the Great Ten who supplied him with an electronic medallion, which could be used to control his transformations.

Six months after the "Infinite Crisis" event, Hu Wei discarded the medallion and lost himself to his savage fury. He stalked the valleys of the Himalayan Mountains, killing over thirty people. The Great Ten sent the Accomplished Perfect Physician into the mountains to stop him. Along the way, Accomplished Perfect Physician met up with the American, Ralph Dibny, who had been engaged upon a quest to find Nanda Parbat. The Yeti attacked them by hurling a boulder at them from the top of an icy slope, but Dibny pushed the Accomplished Perfect Physician out of the way in time. The Physician then used his powers of sound to distract the Yeti, enabling Ralph the chance to slip the Medallion around the creature's neck, forcing him to change back into Hu Wei.

The Accomplished Perfect Physician brought Hu Wei back to China where he served with the Great Ten. During "World War III", Hu Wei changed back into the Yeti and attempted to stop the rampaging Black Adam. Black Adam's strength greatly surpassed that of the Yeti and the battle quickly ended at the cost of the Yeti's life.

In Marvel Comics, a character named the Yeti was introduced in 1970 in Fantastic Four (Volume 1) #99. This Yeti however, was actually part of an offshoot branch of humanity known as an "Inhuman". He lived with other Inhumans in their mountain refuge in the Himalayan Mountains. The Yeti later became part of a super-hero team called the First Line.

Another character named the Yeti was a member of a covert government agency known as Weapon P.R.I.M.E. He was introduced in issue 11 of the first X-Force title.

Notes & Trivia[]

See also[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back


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