BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
Early in their adventures on Earth, the Micronauts encountered the former NASA astronaut Captain Ray Coffin, and his son Steve. The aftermath of the tiny aliens’ war on his front lawn prompted Ray to alert his former mission partner, Professor Phillip Prometheus. Ray and Steve brought several broken starships and fallen Acroyears to Professor Prometheus at NASA’s research institute H.E.L.L., or Human Engineering Life Laboratories. Prometheus was already aware of the Microverse and had constructed his Prometheus Pit to tunnel through the Spacewall and reach this subatomic realm. Professor Prometheus barely survived a space mission through shoddy cybernetics, and his research gave him hints of the Body Banks and bio-upgrades to be found in the Microverse. Ray Coffin defended his son when Prometheus became aggressive about his research project, and the two men grappled with one another near the Pit before falling in.
Coffin and Prometheus entered the Microverse and drifted apart. Baron Karza located Prometheus and used a “mind-merge” to possess his body and travel to Earth as a fully human-sized Baron Karza. Meanwhile, a Time Traveler met with Ray Coffin and judged him a true hero, offering him the power to protect his son and his planet. It conjured the Uni-Power, another aspect of the Enigma Force, and transformed Ray Coffin into Captain Universe. With this new power, 
Captain Universe returned to Earth and used the gift of the Enigma Force to confront Karza as he lay siege to NASA and the Micronauts. Captain Universe and Baron Karza grappled as they cast raw power at one another until Karza noticed the Micronauts returning home through the Prometheus Pit. He broke off his attack to follow them (which led to his aforementioned defeat by Rann and the Enigma Force) and the Uni-Power left Ray Coffin now that his mission was complete. [Micronauts #8]
The Enigma Force went into dormancy in Arcturus Rann once he defeated Baron Karza, but he felt the cosmic power had changed him. Once he started experiencing increased telepathic abilities, Rann believed the Enigma Force was reawakening in response to a threat to the Microverse. Indeed, Karza returned to life through a pre-arranged contingency plan and took 
steps to seize the Enigma Force for himself. He used mental domination to take control of the S.H.I.E.L.D. ESPer unit and the forces of Hydra on Earth. Karza ambushed Rann to block his ability to access the Enigma Force before it fully manifested, then used energy shackles to contain the Time Travelers on Homeworld while draining their energy. Once Rann was in his power as well, the Enigma Force was Karza’s to command. Only the sacrifice of the Worldmind of the Acroyear planet of Spartak defeated Karza and severed their connection. [Micronauts #25-28]
In the aftermath of Karza’s death, the people of Homeworld feared the disappearance of the Enigma Force and the Time Travelers. Rann could no longer feel his connection to them, except for an obelisk left behind in his subconscious prophesizing a coming “time of darkness,” which could be prevented if three keys were found to reawaken the Enigma Force. The Micronauts feared that, without the Enigma Force, the Spacewall would break down and their Microverse would expand into the Macroverse – two universes attempting to occupy the same place and annihilating each other. And so, a quest for the three keys began.
A search through the various regions of Homeworld (including Seazone, Aegyptia, Tropica and Polaria) acquired the keys and guided the Micronauts to the Dead Zone, where the ancient tombs of Homeworld’s founders rested. They uncovered the tomb of Prince Wayfinder and learned his 
story but faced the dog soldiers of the power-hungry King Argon and the escape of the Whirl-demons, freed from containment in the Enigma Force’s absence. The three keys opened the tomb and revealed the Sword in the Star, still corporeal and awaiting the Micronauts’ arrival. Arcturus Rann and their ally, Doctor Strange, were transformed together into a single Captain Universe, who used the Enigma Force to rebuild the Spacewall and bind the escaping Whirl-demons back into stasis. [Micronauts #29-35]
When Baron Karza returned for a third time, the Time Travelers and the Enigma Force chose not to get involved. They retreated to the Temple of Time within the Spacewall to reinforce the integrity of the Microverse itself. [Micronauts #49] Arcturus Rann petitioned the Time Travelers to grant 
him the power he needed to oppose Karza’s re-conquest of Homeworld, but they would not aid him. Karza feared the Enigma Force enough to make his own petitions for power at the Temple of Time, and he and Rann argued for chaos and order, freedom or tyranny. The Time Travelers gave Baron Karza a vision of achieving the god-like power he craved, but doing so would put him above petty mortal needs for control and conquest. Karza would not give up his passions and abandoned his quest for godhood. [Micronauts #52-56] Technically, then, the Enigma Force may indirectly be credited for Karza’s defeat and death at the Micronauts’ hands. It was his decision at the Temple of Time that led Karza to renounce his status as an unkillable energy being and become human enough to face defeat. [Micronauts #58]
The connection between Arcturus Rann and the Enigma Force was strained even further with time. After a hyperspace accident blasted the Micronauts far from Homeworld, they returned from outside the Spacewall with their new allies, the Children of the Dreaming Star. As they attempted 
to pierce the Spacewall and go home, the Enigma Force rejected them. It conjured a god-like Time Traveler in size and power that destroyed the Children’s fleet to prevent the Spacewall from being penetrated. [Micronauts: The New Voyages #10] The Micronauts learned the genocide Baron Karza conducted on Homeworld drove mad the sentient Worldmind of that planet, which in turn infected the Enigma Force. They gave their lives to stabilize the Microverse against the cosmic pain wracking its living space. [Micronauts: The New Voyages #19-20]
[Note: While Micronauts #35 claimed Wayfinder and the Sword became the Enigma Force and created the Microverse, Micronauts: The New Voyages introduced the Makers as the alleged gods and creators of the wider Microverse both within and beyond the Spacewall. The Enigma Force therefore seemed responsible for creating only the Spacewall, not the Microverse, and even then only with the Makers’ oversight.]
The Enigma Force had only a minimal role in the Microverse after that. It left Arcturus Rann entirely, leaving him with radiation poisoning as a side effect of the Force’s long presence in his cells. It returned to its former host in response to the threat of Hiro-Kala, the son of Hulk. [Realm of Kings: Son of Hulk #1-4] When Rann chased Hiro-Kala to the Macroverse, however, Hiro 
used his power to strengthen the Spacewall and therefore prevent the Enigma Force from reaching Rann and empowering him. [Incredible Hulks: Enigma Force #1-3] The Enigma Force’s secrets were nearly unveiled when the Spawn of Knull, Venom and Carnage, were called to the Microverse by the insane Marquis Radu. The Microns knew symbiotes as “the Corrupters,” for their very touch was poison to the Microverse’s Enigma-infused matter. [Minimum Carnage crossover]
[Note: Micronauts stories became more difficult to tell after Marvel lost the rights to that licensed property. Although Arcturus Rann and the Enigma Force were Marvel creations, Baron Karza, the Time Travelers and half the original Micronauts came from the toys and could no longer be used or referenced directly after The New Voyages. The remaining Micronauts occasionally reappeared as “the Microns” or even “the Enigma Force,” like X-Force. Around 1999, an unpublished X-Men / Micronauts crossover reportedly would have had Baron Karza and Thanos team up and destroy the Spacewall, merging the Enigma Force’s Microverse with other sub-atomic worlds in Marvel, such as those belonging to Psycho-Man and Jarella.]