Olympus (Marvel)
Olympus is a place that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
Olympus was an extradimensional world that was the home to the pantheon of gods known as the Olympians.
When the Earth was young, it was inhabited by the already ancient Titans who were already old by this point. (Avengers v1 #49)
Countless millennia ago, the Titans were defeated leaving Typhon the last of their number who was banished from Olympus by Zeus. (Avengers v1 #49) Long ago, another conflict that erupted among the Olympians was the primal night goddess Nyx who alongside her children were imprisoned in the eternal darkness. (Avengers: No Road Home v1 #4)
Typhon was responsible for sending the Olympians into the Land of Shades thus leaving Olympus deserted. (Avengers v1 #50) Hercules came to return to return to his home in search for his kin only to come upon Typhon who banished him as well. (Avengers v1 #49)
One day, Dionysus was drunk and fell off Olympus where he came to be taken captive by Advanced Idea Mechanics. They used him as a power source for an Inebriation Wave to stimulate people falling into an inebriated state with this being used as a weapon. However, Deadpool and the Great Lakes Avengers came to defeat A.I.M. and returned Dionysus back to Olympus. (Wolverine & Deadpool: Decoy v1 #1)
During the assault, agents of Mikaboshi managed to capture Alexander Aaron where they took the boy to their master. In response, a wounded Achilles with his surviving Myrmidons went to Earth to recover Ares. They brought him before his father Zeus who begged his son's forgiveness and asked for his aid in stemming the tide that threatened to destroy Olympus. (Ares v1 #2)
Inari who was the messenger deity of the Japanese gods came to Olympus to inform the Olympians of the dangers of Mikabushi. He requested the Greek gods to reach out to his people so that together they could battle the threat posed to the heavens by Amatsu-Mikabushi. However, Ares did not trust the messenger god and turned him away with him instead leading the defence of the realm against the enemy hordes. (Ares v1 #4)
Olympus was later struck by the goddess of the night Nyx who brutally killed its immortal champions and claimed their light for her own purposes. Voyager came to learn of this and summoned a team of Avengers through her teleportation abilities with Hercules being brought to his home where he mourned the death of his kin. (Avengers: No Road Home v1 #1) However, a cycle of rebirth was initiated that resulted in the slain Olympian's being reborn as cosmic beings who proceeded to build New Olympus. During this time, they became rogue gods that destroyed entire worlds in their path from their mobile city with the resources being used to power their home during its dimensional voyage across space. In an effort to stop them, a new Guardians of the Galaxy team was gathered who looked to stop the Olympian's by destroying the dimensional rotor that powered New Olympus. (Guardians of the Galaxy v6 #1)
Overview
Within Olympus resided the following locations:
- Garden of the Hesperides : (Hercules v3 #1)
- Temple of Apollo :
- Tower of the Sun : (Marvel Two-In-One v1 #44)
- Temple of the Promethean Flame : this was a temple containing a perpetually burning fire that was lit so long as the gods of Olympus ruled. (Avengers v1 #49)
- Fortress Tartarus : a fortress located in Hades that was ruled by Pluto and manned by the Legion of the Accursed who were the most tormented souls within his hands. (Avengers v1 #282)
- Pathway of Infinity : a golden bridge that stretched across the dimensional abyss that separated the realms such as Hades to Olympus. (Avengers v1 #282)
A world connected to Olympus was the underworld and the Land of Shades that was an abode of shadows. (Avengers v1 #50)
Similar to the Asgardians, Olympus had its own version of the world tree that took the form of Atlas and was part of the Axis Mundi. The Axis was the shared form among all the pantheons of the gods that allowed them to journey to their respective realms. (Incredible Hercules v1 #132)
After being reborn, the Olympians crafted New Olympus that was a mobile city with a dimensional rotor that moved it both in and outside normal dimensions. This allowed it to transport its occupants anywhere in the universe with the Olympians gathering resources to continue powering it. (Guardians of the Galaxy v6 #1)
Races native to this realm included:
- Gigantes : they were referred to as a superstitious people. (Hercules v4 #2)
- Kentauros : name given to the centaurs with their kind being led by a Hipparch. (Hercules v4 #3)
- Satyrs :
- Kallikantzaroi : these were horned hooved mischievous beings that spent most of the year trying to cut down the world tree in the Axis Mundi. Despite this, they tended to get distracted to cause mischief on the surface world in December and by the time they return to their goal the tree had already healed. Typically, they were see as stupid creatures that were mostly harmless. (Incredible Hercules v1 #132)
- Chimera :
The Greek god way was for children to kill their parents and inherit their title along with their position. (Ares v1 #2)
Among its famed warriors were the Myrmidons. (Ares v1 #2)
Inhabitants
- Zeus :
- Hermes :
- Phobos :
- Deimos :
- Hecate :
- Phorcys :
- Achelous : a river god with a bull appearance and a tail that was a snake who had an enmity with Hercules. (Hercules v3 #1)
- Theseus : a young male god who was slayer of the Minotaur. (Civil War II: God of War v1 #2)
- Achilles :
- Asklepios : a bald-headed male demigod who served as a healer. (Ares v1 #4)
- Typhon :
- Menoetius : a male Titan who joined in his kin's rebellion against Zeus only to be felled by a thunderbolt whereupon he was transformed into a being of electrical living energy and could be summoned by the Huntsman as a servant to aid him against his prey. (Champions v1 #2)
- Medea : (Spider-Man 2099 v3 #19)
- Atropos : a female Fate who was the one that cut the thread of life who had grown tired disillusioned with mankind leading to her deciding to kill them all to bring about a lasting peace. Thus, she took on a mortal guise as Aisa where she formed a terrorist organization called the Fist as she sought to bring about the death of all mortals. (Spider-Man 2099 v3 #24)
- Antaeus :
- Geryon :
- Arachne :
- Argus :
- Nyx : (Avengers: No Road Home v1 #1)
Notes
- Olympus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where it made its first appearance in Journey into Mystery Annual v1 #1 (1965).
- It was based on the Olympus of Greek Myth.
- In Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica v1 #1 (2009), it was described as a small pocket dimension adjacent that was a nexus to various associated realms and Earth with one doorway being on Mount Olympus.
In other media
Television
- In The Super Hero Squad Show, Olympus appeared in the setting of the animated television series in the episode "Support Your Local Sky-Father."
- In Avengers Assemble, Olympus was shown in the animated television series fourth season Secret Wars in the episode "Incredible Hercules". It was described as being the home of the Olympians that mortals were not allowed to visit unless invited with Hercules stealing the Mace of War from his brother Ares before escaping onto Earth. Ares dispatched numerous beasts before he could successfully capture Hercules again where he took him back to Olympus in order to use the mace to open the doorway to Tartarus so that he could send its hordes of monsters including the Kraken to ravage Earth. The Avengers travelled through the portal to Olympus where they worked together with Hercules to defeat Ares whereupon they trapped him in Tartarus whereupon they sealed the doorway.
Video games
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Olympus was referred to in the video game where a portal connected it to the realm of Asgard.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Olympus was referred to in the Facebook video game in the mission "Special Operations - The Wild Hunt". After Asgardians were using Iso-8, the various superheroes were worried whether the Olympians would engage in harnessing that element. Hercules journeyed to Olympus and determined that the pantheon had no desire to engage in mortal affairs with only Ares showing any interest.
Appearances
- Journey into Mystery Annual v1: (1965)
- Avengers v1:
- Champions v1:
- Incredible Hercules v1:
- Avengers: No Road Home v1:
- Guardians of the Galaxy v6:
External Links
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