Gaea (Marvel)

Gaea is a female comic deity that features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Gaea

Gaea became aware that the dinosaurs that had evolved on Earth had reached an evolutionary dead end. She also realized that their existence prevented mammals from evolving to their full potential and she shifted her attention to them. The Elder God, Set, however, had become linked with all the dinosaurs on Earth and ordered them to destroy the mammals of Earth. Gaea realized what was occurring and called upon her son Atum, who appeared and did battle with Set, cutting off his head in the process. Set re-grew each head as it was severed until he had seven, but in the course of the battle, nearly all the dinosaurs of Earth were destroyed except for an isolated few in areas such as the Savage Land. With Set weakened, Atum in the form of Demogorge proved victorious in breaking Set’s control on Earth. (Iron Man Annual v1 #10)

As the First Host of Celestials approached Earth, Gaea met their ship and gave off star-like light to beckon a wandering tribe to come forward to accept the gifts the Space Gods were bringing them. The Celestials dispelled some of Set's Serpent Men descendants and began their experiments on true humans, creating the Eternals and Deviants, as well as generating the potential for superhuman mutation within mainstream humanity. (Uncanny X-Men Annual v1 #13)

Modern Age

Gaea called upon the sorceress Clea to protect her from “a growth in the world which was not of her desire.” She was referring to the presence of Dormammu. (Doctor Strange v2 #6) Held captive by Dormammu at the center of the Earth where he’d been imprisoned, Gaea called out to his niece Clea to free her. (Doctor Strange v2 #7) Imprisoned by Dormammu, Gaea watched with joy as the Vision, Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness escaped the demon's clutches. (Giant-Size Avengers v1 #4) Gaea again called out to Clea for help, as Dormammu attempted to destroy the Earth, but Doctor Strange transferred part of his power to Clea so that she could set Gaea free, and Gaea harnessed the power of every living being on Earth to banish Dormammu back to the Dark Dimension. (Doctor Strange v2 #9)

When the souls of all Asgardians (except Thor's) possessed the body of the Destroyer and attacked the Celestials, only to be defeated and scattered. Gaea then appeared with the Young Gods, and presented them to the Celestials as proof of man's worth to survive. They were accepted, and the Celestials left without destroying the Earth. Gaea, in the form of a dark-haired woman, then healed the wounded Thor, and explained the whole story to him. She also told him how he could restore the Asgardians' souls to their bodies with help from all the other Godheads, which he then went on to obtain. Gaea then went back to being 'one with the planet. (Thor v1 #301)

Gaea caused the Hulk to be teleported from the Crossroads dimension to Olympus so that he could wage war against the Gods of Olympus, thereby vindicating the injuries the gods inflicted upon her children the Titans. (Hulk vs. Hercules: When Titans Collide v1 #1)

Gaea supposedly heard the mental anguish of a park ranger left for dead after trying to protect the forest from developers. She appointed him power as nature’s guardian warrior, Brother Nature. (Captain America v1 #336) Trapped within the form of a female rat by the sinister Dormammu, Doctor Strange urgently beseeched Gaea for aid. However, Gaea, still reeling from the tumultuous events of Inferno, found herself too depleted to intervene directly. Instead, she dispatched the enigmatic mystic known as Topaz to assist the Sorcerer Supreme in his dire predicament. (Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme v1 #2) Dark Mairi, one of her devoted Celtic followers, invoked Gaea's formidable power. (Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth v1 #1) Gaea disclosed to Thor that she was unable to assist him in his battle against the Elder God Set. Instead, she advised him to seek aid from her son, Atum. (Thor Annual v1 #14) While trying to cure Hercules, the Titan; Prometheus invoked Gaea for power to help heal him. (Avengers v1 #284) As Uatu the Watcher concluded his observations on Set, Gaea approached him, expressing her belief that humanity's innate qualities of courage, idealism, and love would inevitably lead to Set's defeat at their hands. (Fantastic Four Annual v1 #22)

As Maelstrom's menacing Black Hole loomed, casting a dire shadow over the fate of Earth, Gaea sounded the alarm, beckoning Dr. Strange to confront the imminent peril. With his guidance, a coalition of mystics rallied to the cause, pooling their arcane might to stave off catastrophe. In the end, it was Quasar who delivered the decisive blow, banishing the threatening abyss and securing Earth's salvation. (Quasar v1 #25) Her pain resulting from the harm humanity had done to Earth, nearly drove the mutant Humus Sapien to take the lives of all mankind. (Thunderbolts v1 #55)

Chaos War

During the Chaos War, Gaea was sought to be protected by the divine pantheons of Earth at all cost with the Shinto Sun Goddess Amaterasu sealing off the throne room of the Council of Elite to do so. When the Chaos King destroyed most of the divine realms of each pantheons, Gaea, with her daughter the Fire Goddess Pele summoned the remaining gods to Mt. Halemaumau for the last moments of farewell. There, Gaea revealed to Hercules that she is the true font of creation, the first being to form out of chaos and that she is the true power source of what the gods can do. She then instructs Hercules to embrace her daughter Pele as she teaches him to to become the God of Gods despite Athena's words that her time draws near with the Chaos King saying that Gaea should stop dreaming of creation and return to his night. Still, despite her weakened state, Gaea managed to teach Hercules how to use the nigh-omnipotent powers within him and imbued him with her own powers allowing Hercules to destroy Athena in a single gesture. (Chaos War v1 #4)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Among the Asgardians, she was known as Jord. (Dr. Strange v2 #6)

Notes

• Gaea was created by Steve Englehart and Gene Colan where she made her first appearance in Doctor Strange v1 #6 (February, 1975).

Alternate Versions

• In Fantastic Force v2 #3 (2009), an alternate version of Gaea appeared in the Wastelands reality that was designated as Earth-807128 in the Multiverse.

Appearances

• Doctor Strange v1: (1975)
• Thor Annual v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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