Selene (Marvel)
Selene is a female comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Selene Gallio
She was born over 17,000 years ago in the lands of Central Europe before the rise of the Sons of Aryas. Her mother was said to had been a mere child when she gave birth to Selene who was presented to the tribe. Selene's mother died on her birth but the child was recognised as special by the tribal elders who instructed the rest to offer their lives to the young girl to assure her ascendancy. In time, she began to feed off their life force and she became the last survivor of the tribe. (X-Necrosha v1 #1)
During the Hyborian Age, she came to encounter the sorcerer Kulan Gath where the two became enemies. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #190)
As time passed, the human world advanced and great empires covered Europe and the Middle East. The biggest of these belonged to the Romans, a society that Selene greatly admired and whose way of life would impact her long after its fall. She travelled to Rome itself and found a man called Eliphas, a former soldier who had become a respected senator. Selene waited until Eliphas’ life and social standing in Rome was crumbling around him before she approached him, offering him a deal. Entrancing the desperate man with her beauty and power, she claimed to have been waiting for him for thousands of years. Whether it was true or not may never be known, but Eliphas listened as she promised him eternal life as well as her ever-lasting love. All she wanted him to do was sacrifice every soul in Rome. Eliphas declined her offer, not wanting to commit such a grave crime and Selene left him alone, knowing it would only be a matter of time before he saw things differently. When Eliphas returned home he discovered he had lost his senate position and his wife had abandoned him. Selene was there to comfort Eliphas, who accepted her offer and prepared to sacrifice all of Rome in revenge. She handed him a blade forged out of the bones of her mother and gave him the instructions to complete the ritual. Her faith had been misplaced, however, as Eliphas had warned someone about the ritual and they in turn had told the authorities. As Selene was about to cast her spell, she was attacked and a sword was thrust through her head, disabling her long enough for her to be captured. When she woke up, she found herself tied to a stake alongside Eliphas, with a group of soldiers ready to burn her. The physical attack had forced her body to show the true ravages of her age and she now looked more demonic than the ethereal beauty she previously portrayed. She used her magic to burn the soldiers and turned her attention to the traitorous Eliphas instead. The man had denied her the godhood she longed for and so she cursed him to live an eternal life of torment. She threatened him to never grace her presence again or he would see what cruelty she could truly be capable of inflicting on him. (X-Force v3 #11)
Later on, she came to face an exile to South America where she settled in the city of Nova Roma. This settlement was an offshoot of the Roman empire and was located deep within the Brazilian rainforest. Whilst there, she established herself as the Black Priestess where she headed the Cult of Fire. For centuries, the cult would sacrifice people to the fire where their life force was absorbed by Selene to sustain herself. Among those to had died this way included the wife of plebian senator Lucius Antonius Aquilla leaving the man to raise his daughter Amara Aquilla by himself. (New Mutants v1 #10)
Hellfire Club
Despite the failure, Selene was now aware that there were more people like her and she decided to leave Nova Roma to see what the world had to offer her. Arriving in New York, Selene was astounded by its size, as well as all the souls she had at her disposal. There, she ran into the Juggernaut and went on a date with him, intending to steal his lifeforce. It remains to be seen which villain would have been in for the ruder surprise as the date was disrupted by Colossus of the X-Men. After accidentally shoving Juggernaut, the two men got into a devastating bar brawl, leaving Selene looking for a new meal. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #183) Selene kept on prowling New York until running across the newly arrived Rachel Summers. Sensing the immense power potential in Rachel, Selene decided to make the young girl her disciple, whether she was willing or not. After a first attempt to seduce her to the dark side failed, Selene followed Rachel and murdered the man who had taken her in. Selene’s power and psychic influence proved too much for Rachel in her weakened state and it was only the interference of the X-Men, as well as Professor Xavier (who mentally attacked Selene) that made the energy vampire flee and give up her claim on Rachel. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #184)
Later on, Selene showed an interest in joining the Hellfire Club and its Inner Circle. This saw her worshipper Friedrich Von Roehm presenting her to Sebastian Shaw for admission. As part of her joining, she decided to present Shaw a gift with this being Rachel Summer and Magma who were infiltrating the Club. They later came to free themselves from Selene's control leading to a battle with her where she nearly overpowered them until Nightcrawler teleported her away from the scene. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189)
Her plans for the world came to be threatened when Kulan Gath had awakened in the modern day. He had conducted an ensorcellment that was transforming the city according to his wishes. All those passing the mystical barrier were transformed with the spell growing to the point that it could affect the entire planet where its effects would become permanent. To stop him, Selene decided to ally herself with the few X-Men who were unaffected by the spell. It was her spells that helped free Storm and Callisto from Gath's control. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #190)
Rachel Summers plotted to kill Selene and the other members of the Hellfire Club after recovering the memories of the Phoenix Force, whom she believed to be her mother. Having drained the X-Men's life-forces temporarily to battle the Beyonder, the spirit of Wolverine was drawn into her dreams, where he learned her intentions. Rachel confronted Selene in her room at the club, and was about to kill her when Wolverine arrived. He tried to reason with the young X-Man, and when she attempted to carry on, he stabbed her through the heart with his claws, saving Selene. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #207) Joined by Sebastian Shaw, Harry Leland, and Friedrich von Roehm, Selene sought revenge for Rachel's attack. Encountering the X-Men in Central Park, the two groups clashed, even though the Hellfire Club were outnumbered by the heroes. Selene proved herself in combat by disintegrating Rogue's gloves as she tried to save Colossus from Leland's density-altering power. To both teams' surprise, the time-displaced mutant hunter Nimrod appeared, declaring that they were all viable targets. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #208) Within moments the robot had vaporized von Roehm and proceeded to attack the others, leading to Nightcrawler being shocked and Shaw being launched into the upper atmosphere. Combining their efforts, the Hellfire Club and X-Men were able to defeat Nimrod. Leland used his power to change Shaw's orbit-bound course, while Selene animated power cables to restrain the advanced Sentinel. Even with the Black King smashing into Nimrod at terminal velocity and Wolverine poised to slash apart the exposed internal systems, the mutant hunter was still able to teleport to safety. Having exerted his power to its limit, Harry Leland died. The two groups parted amicably, willing to cooperate in the future. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #209)
Necrosha
Following the Decimation, she came to be one of the few Mutants to had retained her powers. (House of M v1 #7)
In the guise of an old woman, she came to befriend Wither and they began to live together in Mutant Town. She encourages him to use his powers and not be afraid of his natural gifts. She then asks him if he would use his powers to save his or her life. She had been killing a large number of people by draining their life-forces, and during her last feeding her disguise was spotted by a witness. She reveals to Wither that Laurie has died, while he was away. Later she is attacked by the police and managed to kill two of them before being shot multiple times. Wither arrives and kills the other two officers, only for Selene to drop her disguise, telling him she is immortal and that they are two of a kind and should be together. She tells Wither that she will be his queen if he agreed and proceeded to kiss after which he consented. (New X-Men v2 #32)
By this point, she had learnt from Sebastian Shaw about a precognitive named Destiny and her powers to tell the future. Selene had desired to make use of this power for herself though the Mutant in question was deceased. Despite that, she had Caliban sent to find her remains where Selene used her magic to resurrect Destiny. (X-Force v3 #19)
Her remains including her soul came to be preserved as airborne particles that were stored in stasis in a vault located somewhere in New York City. Lady Deathstrike and the Enchantress gained access to the vault and through powers granted by Arkea they were able to fully restore Selene to physical life for the purpose of adding her to the newly-formed Sisterhood of Mutants. (X-Men v4 #11)
House of X
She along with various other Mutants were invited to the living island of Krakoa that was to serve as the home of a Mutant nation. (House of X v1 #5)
Alongside Emplate, she was assigned a task by Xavier with measuring the psychic energy taken by Krakoa from the people inhabiting the island. (X-Men v5 #3)
She came to work with Alexa Lukin and aided her in her endeavours which included bringing about the resurrection of her husband Aleksander Lukin. Unknown to anyone, the resurrected Lukin was returned back alongside the mind of the Red Skull that inhabited his body. (Captain America v9 #6)
Magneto came to step down from the Quiet Council of Krakoa where they came to seek out a replacement. Among the candidates was Selene who offered her vast mystical knowledge to them. However, she came to face competition in the form of Hope Summers who offered her own candidacy at the last minute. A vote was held amongst the council where Hope one the position where Professor X announced the decision to Selene. However, she came to be angry at being denied leading to her summoning a monster that proceeded to attack Krakoa. (Immortal X-Men v1 #1) Selene then departed to England to seek shelter with the Coven of Akkaba in order to wait it out until Krakoa capitulated to her demands. The monster she had summoned was capable of regenerating itself and was tied deeply to the land thus preventing the Krakoans from destroying it. To stop it, Hope Summers borrowed several Mutant powers in order to teleport to England where she used a Mysterium-coated bullet to assassinate Selene thus ending the crisis affecting Krakoa. (Immortal X-Men v1 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was said that she was named after a goddess. (X-Necrosha v1 #1) When being introduced, she had her minions refer to her as Lady Selene. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189) She referred to herself as the Daughter of the Moon and the Mistress of the Fire. (New Mutants v1 #10) After joining the Hellfire Club, she came to claim the mantle of the Black Queen. (New Mutants v1 #23)
Among her people, it was said that it was customary on occasions to present a host with a gift. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189)
Countless thousands were said to had been sacrificed in the fire in her name. (New Mutants v1 #10)
For countless generations, she had wandered the Earth alone where she thought herself to had been unique with her thinking she was a different better breed of human. (New Mutants v1 #10)
She claimed that she was a goddess who had walked the Earth before the dawn of history. (New Mutants v1 #10) She had a desire to transcend her physical body and become the deity that she believed she was destined to become with those impeding her ascension to godhood suffering her wrath. (X-Necrosha v1 #1)
Selene preferred for others to do her fighting for her rather than risk her own life. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #191)
In Nova Roma, she came to be married to a patrician Roman senator named Marcus Domitius Gallio who she called her husband. He was said to had loved her fiercely yet also feared her. (New Mutants v1 #9)
Kulan Gath was held as one of her old and deadliest foes. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #190) She was regarded as being one of Kulan Gath's greatest foes and claimed to had known him well. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #191)
Powers and abilities
Selene was able to use her telepathic abilities to make a psicall where she could project her thoughts into the minds of others. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #190) A psychic, she was capable of tugging the mind of other beings and even block a person from using their powers. (New Mutants v1 #10) It was shown that she could create a momentary trance effect resulting in instant transitory hypnosis allowing her to depart in that moment. She could also place others within her power making them serve her. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189)
She could take enough of a person's soul to place them within her power. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189)
Her powers allowed her absolute control over all forms of inorganic matter. With it, she could reshape the ground to encompass a target or simply repair it restoring it back to normal. An example of this was turning the ground into a hand that could grab onto a target in a passive attack. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189)
While not indestructible, she once survived and recovered completely from molecular discorporation, though it took considerable time to reconstitute herself. (New Mutants v1 #11)
To cast spells, she required a mouth in order to speak her incantations and her hands so that she could draw her sacred sigils. She could cast a spell that could cause someone to remain silent and prevent them from revealing certain information. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #191)
As a sorceress, certain enchantments were unable to affect her. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #190)
She was the head of the Cult of Fire that resided in the hidden city of Nova Roma which was a Roman settlement located in South America. (New Mutants v1 #10) Around the world, there were cultists who worshipped her as a goddess. (New Mutants v1 #22) Through her servants, she came to be introduced to the Hellfire Club where she joined the ranks of their Inner Circle and held the title of Black Queen. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #189) At one point, she came to join the Sisterhood of Mutants where she was a briefly a member of the group. (X-Men v4 #11)
She came to build a manor by a cliffside on the coast of Scotland. Underneath the site, there was a place of extraordinary power as it was the site where the Infinity Gems once came to Earth long ago. (Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil v1 #4)
Notes
- Selene was created by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema where she made her first appearance in New Mutants v1 #9 (November, 1983).
- Writer Kevin Grevioux stated that he loosely based his Underworld character on Selene from Marvel Comics.
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Wolverine and the X-Men, Selene appeared in the animated television series where she was voiced by actress April Stewart.
Films
- In X-Men Dark Phoenix, Selene appeared in the live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Kota Eberhardt.
Video games
- In Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge, Selene appeared as a boss antagonist in the setting of the video game.
- In X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Selene appeared in the setting of the video game where she was voiced by actress Jeannie Elias.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Selene appeared as a character in the setting of the Facebook video game.
Appearances
- New Mutants v1: (1983)
- Uncanny X-Men v1:
- Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil v1:
- New X-Men v2:
- X-Necrosha v1:
- X-Men v4:
- Captain America v9:
- House of X v1:
- X-Men v5:
- X-Corp v1:
- Immortal X-Men v1: (2022)
External Links
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