Elder Gods (Marvel Comics)
| Elder Gods | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Characteristics | |
| Pantheon | Fictional |
The Elder Gods are fictional characters from the Marvel Comics universe. They were the first generation of Earth's gods, apparently inspired by Greek mythology and the Cthulhu Mythos.
The Elder Gods first appeared billions of years ago, even before organic life began to evolve on Earth. The precursor to the Elder Gods was a being known as the Demiurge, born from Earth's natural magical energies. Wishing to know itself, it then decided to spread its substance over the planet, 'birthing' the rest of the gods. The full number of the Elder gods has not been revealed, but among them were: Gaea, goddess of the Earth, of life, and renewal; Chthon, god of darkness and chaos, Set, the serpent god of death and destruction, and Oshtur, goddess of the dawn, order and intellect. Hyppus and Isuus are other mentioned Elder gods. The "Wild One" (seemingly inspired by Rebel Without a Cause) is an Elder God who only made one brief appearance, in a plot involving the otherdimensional Sorcerer Supreme Shanzar. The Gibborim are also Elder Gods, surviving the Demogorge, having ruled Earth before humanity arose, but as their power faded, they retreated to a limbo-like dimension; they are sustained through souls and possess vast magical powers, including that of resurrection and reality-manipulation; they existed in a void-like limbo until the events of X-Infernus released them, albeit temporarily.
Gaea took to nurturing the living beings born of the Earth. Chthon took to mastery over dark mysticism and wrote his spells down in an indestructible set of parchments that would be known as the Darkhold. Oshtur left Earth for the vastness of space and to explore the mystic heritage of the universe before the fall of the Elder Gods, and eventually became one of the Vishanti. Set discovered that if he ate his brethren Gods, his own power would increase, so he started to do so, becoming the first murderer in the history of the planet. The process also caused him to degenerate into a demon. Most of the other Elder Gods, with the exception of Gaea, began to imitate him, so that, eventually, whoever was not devoured had now become a demon.
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