Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, the character first appeared in The Avengers #28 (May 1966), during the Silver Age of Comic Books, and has been a recurring antagonist in various storylines over the course of the ensuing decades.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character was portrayed by Benicio del Toro in the films Thor: The Dark World (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and in the Disney+ television series What If...?

[volume & issue needed] For millions of years, the Collector lived on an unknown world with his wife and child, spending his days in thought and contemplation.

Over three billion years ago, when his wife, Matani Tivan, lost the will to live and relinquished her immortality, the Collector realized he would need a hobby to maintain his own sanity, and began collecting interesting artifacts and creatures from around the universe.

[volume & issue needed] At some point over his billions of years of life he came into contact with other beings who, like him, are the sole survivors of the first species in the universe.

In an attempt to protect them, the Collector added some of them to his collection and was probably planning to enlist their aid, when a second group of Avengers appeared and defeated him in combat.

[volume & issue needed] Sensing that his end was at hand, the Collector revealed that having learned of Korvac, he had made his own daughter Carina into a spy and living weapon to use against the Machine Man, imbuing her with the Power Primordial.

Just as he was about to tell the heroes who their enemy was, Michael learned of his duplicity and used his cosmic powers to blast the Collector into atoms, proving the prediction of the aged scholar's own end to be correct.

[13] Since Death had vowed that the Elders could no longer die, they caused Galactus to have "cosmic indigestion" until they were forced out of him by Master Order and Lord Chaos.

Once released from Thanos's prison, the Runner returned to his true age and began to beat the Collector up for daring to try to imprison him.

[22] Eight months after the events of the 2015 storyline "Secret Wars", the Collector is shown in charge of Battlerealm, the small surviving portion of Battleworld.

[25] Odinson chooses not to claim the hammer, but he and Bill are able to channel its power to return Asgard to its true place, simultaneously decimating the Collector's forces, prompting him to kill his last soldier so that he can have the pleasure of destroying something unique.

[26] The Collector possesses the ability to manipulate cosmic energy for a variety of effects, including projecting concussive force beams, and the increasing of his size and mass (and hence physical strength) at will.

His armored battle-suit is made of the alien metal etherion, which amplifies the wearer's strength to superhuman levels, and it has jets that permit flight.

Among his arsenal from Earth's past are catapults, Tibetan crystal balls that emit mystical rays, and magic beans that can conjure up warrior giants.

[27][28] Taneleer Tivan / The Collector appears in media set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Benicio del Toro.