Hecate (Marvel Comics)
Hecate is the name of several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Fictional character biography
Hecate (Olympian goddess)
| Hecate | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Ms. Marvel #11 (Nov 1977) |
| Created by |
Chris Claremont Sal Buscema |
| In-story information | |
| Abilities |
During exile: Energy projection Illusion casting Olympian powers: Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, dense tissue and durability Regenerative healing factor Immortality Energy and magic manipulation Reality warping Teleportation Ability to grant powers to people and objects |
Hecate first appeared in Ms. Marvel #11-13 (November 1977-January 1978), and was created by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema. She is a fictional Deity in the Marvel Comics based on the Greek Goddess of the same name from Greek Mythology.
Hecate was one of the Titans who lived on Olympus and ruled the ancient world before Zeus conquered it. As a Titan, she predates Zeus and the twelve Olympians, and she also predates humanity like all Titans. When Zeus conquered Olympus, Hecate was one of the Titans he spared. He allowed Hecate to keep her title as Goddess of the Underworld. However, when Pluto instead chose to take Persephone as his wife, Hecate retaliated by becoming the greatest sorcerer of Olympus and became the Goddess of Magic, Witches and Witchcraft.
To further add insult, Hecate started and mothered the line of witches on Earth when she revealed secrets of the dead and taught magic to the very first Witches of the world. She was the very first deity to give magic to mortals, while gods like Chthon and Agamotto did so later on, after her. However she did this after Zeus forbade the Gods from meddling in human affairs after a run-in with the Celestials. When Hecate was exiled from Olympus by Zeus, he wiped her memories and stripped her powers.[1]
Hecate appeared claiming to be an extradimensional female humanoid scientist and explorer, who was mistaken for the goddess Hecate when she visited Earth thousands of years ago. She allied with and later opposed the Elementals while seeking the Ruby Scarab. She fought Ms. Marvel at the time when the Elementals wanted to control the power of the Ruby Scarab. After the Elementals were defeated, Ms. Marvel forgave Hecate who took the Ruby Scarab in order to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.[2]
At some point, she lost her memory and was seen as an inmate of the Raft.
During the Fear Itself storyline, Hecate is among the inmates at the Raft who escape after Juggernaut, in the form of Kuurth: Breaker of Stones, leveled it. She assists Basilisk, Griffin, and Man-Bull in a bank robbery until Hercules arrives and recognizes her as Hecate. When Hercules drops the Shield of Perseus during his fight with the three villains, Hecate looks into the Shield of Perseus and regains her memories (one of which involving her encounter with Ms. Marvel), and remembers that she was the true goddess Hecate. She then vows to take over Brooklyn.[3] Hecate manages to revive Kyknos in order to take over Brooklyn.[4] Hecate then uses her magic to reshape Brooklyn in her own image.[5] When Kyknos is killed by Hercules, Hecate flees causing Brooklyn to return to normal.[6]
Hecat'e (Earth-1191)
| Hecat'e | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | XSE #1 (Nov 1996) |
| Created by |
John Ostrander Chris Gardner |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations |
Summers Rebellion Xavier's Security Enforcers |
| Abilities | Darkness projection through her left eye |
A character named Hecat'e first appeared in XSE #1 (November 1996), created by John Ostrander and Chris Gardner.
She is a mutant from Bishop's alternate reality.
Powers and abilities
Olympian Goddess Hecate
During her exile, Hecate was limited to the abilities of changing shape, projecting energy bolts, and pulling images from the minds of others to make them real.
When she regained her memories and her powers as the true Goddess of Magic, Hecate regained her racial Olympian powers, which includes superhuman strength, stamina, and durability, a regenerative healing factor, immortality, and energy manipulation.[7]
All Olympians possess specific skills associated with their area of expertise. Because Hecate was the Goddess of Magic, she is the greatest sorcerer of all the Olympians, second only to Zeus. Her skill in magic is so great that she was capable of warping reality around the entirety of Brooklyn and its inhabitants single handedly without any artifacts required, turning it into ancient Greece and all of its inhabitants, turning them into monsters by casting spells.[8]
Hecate has also been invoked by such Sorcerers like Clea, during rituals and spells. Most notably when Clea invoked Hecate's magic to prepare a dagger to create Ardina.[9]
Because of her specific godly expertise in sorcery, she is capable of pulling off any magical feat that has been displayed by other Olympians that expertise in other areas, and therefore have inferior skills in magic. This includes: Inter dimensional teleportation, flight at superhuman speeds, shape shifting, matter manipulation, augmentation of her physical capabilities, erecting powerful force fields, firing powerful blasts of energy, granting superhuman powers to objects and beings, possession of people or objects with which to act through, rendering herself invisible from mortal eyesight, control over weather, the elements and animals, telepathy and mind control, casting spells and curses, resurrecting the dead and hearing the prayers of her worshippers.
Earth-1191 Hecate
The Hecate from Earth-1191 has the power of projecting a field of darkness from her left eye.
References
External links
- Hecate (Ms. Marvel Foe) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Hecat'e at Marvel Wikia