Caiera
Caiera is a female comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
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Biography
Caiera was a female member of the Shadow People of the planet Sakaar with her being born with the old shadow strength. This led to the elders putting her through intensive training by the time she was 13 years of age. She lacked control over the power or knowledge of it with her undergoing another six years of training to explore this power. It was then that the Spikes invaded the planet and Caiera's own village came to be infected by the invaders forcing her to attack her own father. However, those that succumbed to the Spikes could not be killed by simple blades. It was then that the boy who became the Red King arrived where his Death Head Guards torched the infected. Caiera learnt that he was aware of the Old Power residing in one of the Shadow's of the settlement and had allowed the Spikes to attack it in order to draw the individual out. With Caiera before him, he had her implanted with an obedience disk thus forcing her to serve the young lord as he became emperor of Sakaar. (Incredible Hulk v2 #98)
She later attended a gladiatorial match alongside the Red King that was being hosted by a region's local governor at Crown City. Among the slave fighters was a green-skinned warrior who had recently crash-landed on Sakaar. Implanted with a slave collar, he was put into the arena for the enjoyment of the Sakaarans. At first, the Red King was not impressed but was intrigued by this warrior after they defeated a Great Devil Corker. The warrior then looked to fight the emperor himself with Caiera ready to step in but the Red King decided to personally take part in the challenge against him. Wearing his exo-suit, he engaged the green-skinned warrior where his agility allowed him to gain the upper hand. However, his opponent managed to get the drop on the Red King and leave a cut on the emperor's face. This resulted in Caiera stepping into the arena to defend the emperor where she was intrigued at fighting a powerful warrior in a one-on-one duel. Before they could fight, the green-skinned warrior was knocked unconscious by a weapon blast sent by the Red King's guards on his orders. At first, Caiera was annoyed at her fight being interrupted but relented after seeing it was under the emperor's command. Despite the scar on his face, the emperor did not execute the gladiator but instead had him shipped to the Maw thinking that the slave would die there. (Incredible Hulk v2 #92) Despite that, Caiera decided to keep a watch on the Green One who survived the slave pits and rose to be a mighty gladiator that the people knew as the Green Scar. The Shadow reported her findings to the Red King where she warned of the danger posed by him but the emperor did not care as he did not think anything could challenge his rule of Sakaar. It was then that rebels from the Sakaar Democratic Insurgency struck at the Maw where they looked to free the Hulk and his fellow champions to enlist them into their cause. (Incredible Hulk v2 #93)
As the Spikes surrounded them, Caiera stabbed the Hulk's foot causing the Green Scar to toss her away where she went to the neighbouring farming village of An-sara. She invoked her authority as the Emperor's Shadow to help fortify the settlement from the coming Spikes. At that point, a messenger probe from the Red King arrived where she asked for the deployment of the Death Guard to eliminate the Spike infection. However, the emperor simply deployed bombs to cordon off the area to trap the Green Scar along with the Spikes in the region. Caiera offered refuge for the Green Scar's followers with the two working together in battling the Spikes. This angered the Red King who then revealed that the Spike attack was no accidental but that he had purposely released them in order to kill the Hulk. A shocked Caiera stated that she would protect the villagers and only then would she perform her duty in battling the Green Scar. This resulted in the emperor deploying bombs on the settlement leading to a Sakaaran Imperial child dying in Caiera's arms as she survived due to the Oldstrong power. This led to her abandoning her service to the emperor as she joined the Warbound and swore to kill the Red King for his actions. (Incredible Hulk v2 #99)
Whilst there, she saw the Spike elders who revealed their true origins and how that they had been driven insane with hunger after being trapped on Sakaar. The Green Scar agreed to aid them if they lent their help in the fight against the Red King. This saw the Spikes aid the rebel forces as they laid siege to Crown City where the Hulk challenged the emperor who after being beaten activated a failsafe that threatened to destroy the planet. Caeira resigned herself to death but witnessed the Green Scar save the planet by preventing the destruction to the world's mantle after which he defeated the Red King who was seemingly killed outside the city. With the emperor dead, the populace cheered as the Green Scar was declared the new ruler of the planet Sakaar. In this time, Caiera witnessed the Hulk allowing the Spikes to feast off his energy in order to sate their hunger as per the terms of their alliance. (Incredible Hulk v2 #102) She expressed concerns but the Hulk vowed that he would aid them and he continued in ending any strife among the different races of Sakaar as he was hailed as the Green King. Around this time, the Shadow People approached him about forging a new treaty with him where they offered Caiera to be his shadow guard. However, the Green Scar refused a guard and instead stated he desired a queen where he courted Caiera with the two pledging themselves to one another. In that moment, she came to learn of Bruce Banner as the Hulk briefly returned to his human form before returning to his Green Scar identity as they consummated their relationship. (Incredible Hulk v2 #103) During this time, she watched as the Green Scar helped try to unify Sakaar along with aid the Spikes by returning them to space. For a moment, the Hulk thought of leaving the position of leader but Caiera told him that he was a good king and revealed that she was pregnant. (Incredible Hulk v2 #104) In the celebrations that followed afterwards, the ship that brought Hulk to Sakaar suffered a catastrophic eruption from its warp reactor causing a terrible explosion that killed thousands and devastated the planet. Caiera was at the epicentre of the blast where she perished in the explosion leaving a despondent Hulk in a rage against those that exiled him to Sakaar with him gathering the Warbound to begin a war against his home planet of Earth itself. (Incredible Hulk v2 #105)
Unknown to anyone at the time, Caiera was pregnant with twin sons that she shielded to prevent their death from the explosion. (Incredible Hulks v1 #612) Though her body was gone, her spirit resided within the earth of Sakaar where she came to witness the actions of her son Skaar and spoke to him in order to guide him on the right path. However, Skaar was full of anger and instead sought to punish the guilty on his world. After gaining the Oldpower, he intended eliminate half the population that he deemed were killers with this horrifying his mother whose pleas he ignored. To stop him, she created a facsimile of her husband made of stone and made to resemble the Hulk who battled Skaar as well as stopped the fighting over leadership of Sakaar. Through the construct, she declared Princess Omaka the new ruler of the world but Skaar intended to continue his purge of the planet. Caiera revealed the truth behind the 'Hulk' as being a construct and took control of the slave control collar over the Silver Surfer who she commanded to humble her son by taking him before Galactus. (Skaar: Son of Hulk v1 #9) However, Skaar was prepared to sacrifice thousands to stop Galactus with this horrifying Caiera who ultimately decided her child was too much of a monster to remain behind. Thus, she used her power to banish him to Earth which allowed the World Devourer to begin consuming Sakaar. With the last of her power, Caiera held him back temporarily to allow the last Sakaarans to flee on-board stoneships before she was killed by Galactus. (Skaar: Son of Hulk v1 #11)
Overview
Personality and attributes
She was known by her title of Caiera the Oldstrong. (Incredible Hulk v2 #98)
As a warrior, she was known to take part in one-on-one challenges where she exclaimed that the defeated die well. She was shown to also get annoyed if her fights were interfered with by her allies. (Incredible Hulk v2 #92)
Powers and abilities
She was actually a wielder of the ancient Old Power that gave her a number of superhuman abilities. With this power, she could harden her skin making her incredibly durable. By adulthood, her strength was enough to match that of the Hulk making her a powerful combatant. She was also trained in the use of weapons and martial arts on Sakaar. (Incredible Hulk v2 #98)
Through the power, she was able to survive the death of her physical body and merge with the planet Sakaar itself. Thus, her consciousness still survived and she could mould the earth into constructs such as a facsimile of herself or her husband. (Skaar: Son of Hulk v1 #9)
Notes
- Caiera was created by Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan where she made her first appearance in Incredible Hulk v 2 #92 (April, 2006).
Alternate Versions
- In What If? Planet Hulk v1 (2007), an alternate version of Caiera was shown in a What If setting that was designated as Earth-7121. This version survived the blast on Sakaar from the shuttle's warp reactor explosion but her husband the Hulk perished leading to her vowing to take revenge on the ones responsible. As a result, she gathered the Warbound and headed to Earth where she killed the Illuminati and their allies with her preparing to kill the remaining hero population. However, she was convinced by Hiroim to stay her hand with her instead enslaving the planet and ruling the Earth with an iron fist. She forced its inhabitants to build a monument to the Hulk and merged with it in order to be with her husband once last time.
In other media
Films
- In Planet Hulk, Caiera appeared in the animated direct-to-video film where she was voiced by actor Lisa Ann Beley.
Appearances
- Incredible Hulk v2:
- Skaar: Son of Hulk v1:
- What If? Planet Hulk v1:
External Links
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