Heliopolitans

Fictional group of gods from Marvel Comics

Heliopolitans
Heliopolitans in Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 (September 2009). Art by Kevin Sharpe
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Tales #96 (June 1950)
Created by	Stan Lee (Writer) Werner Roth (Artist)
Characteristics
Place of origin	Celestial Heliopolis
Notable members	See Members

Heliopolitans are a fictional group of gods, based on Ancient Egyptian deities, appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

Characters based on ancient Egyptian deities were first mentioned in Captain America Comics #20 (November 1942), published by Marvel Comics' predecessor Timely Comics, in which Captain America and Bucky investigate the murder of Colonel Fitzpatrick, who was studying the Book of Thoth while stationed in Egypt.^[1] The Heliopolitans' first full Golden Age appearance was in the story "The Terror That Creeps" by Stan Lee and Werner Roth, published in Marvel Tales #96 (June 1950), and involves a man that fails to convince the public that the Great Sphinx of Giza is slowly moving to the edge of the desert, where it will be empowered by Set and destroy mankind.^[2] The goddess Bast would later make her first appearance (as a totem) with the Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), being called only Panther God, in Black Panther vol. 3 # 21 by Christopher Priest and Sal Velutto, it was revealed that the Panther God is Bast.^[3]^[4]^[5] Many of the other deities, including Horus, Isis and Osiris, were introduced in Thor #239 (September 1975).^[6] Khonshu, who became associated with Moon Knight, first appeared in Moon Knight #1 (November 1980).^[7] Joseph Muszynski argued in his book Everything I Needed to Know About Life I Learned from Marvel Comics that the introduction of Egyptian deities "excited our tendency to enjoy variety" as the pantheon contained multiple gods and personalities as opposed to the Judeo-Christian religions.^[8] Ed Strauss contended that Marvel was able to dive into ancient Egyptian religion because it "had long been retired into the realm of mythology" unlike Christianity.^[9]

Fictional history

The Heliopolitans were worshipped as deities by the inhabitants of the Nile River Valley from as early as 10,000 BC. According to Heliopolitan legend, the first of these were Gaea (as Neith), the Demiurge (as Nun), and Set (as Apep/Apophis). Neith and Nun sired Atum, the first of the Ogdoad — the old gods. As Neith went about creating mortal life, Set desired to destroy her creations. In turn, Neith called Atum for protection. Atum and Set fought for eons until Atum transformed into the Demogorge and drove Set off. After Set's defeat, Atum begot the Ennead — the new gods, took the name Ra and settled in the sun.^[4]

The Ennead resided in the ancient city of Heliopolis until their king Osiris placed mortal pharaohs in charge so that the gods could become less involved with human affairs and relocated themselves to the extradimensional realm of Celestial Heliopolis, known to the ancient Egyptians as "Aaru."^[4] A few, including Bast, Sobek, Sekhmet, Thoth, and Ptah choose to remain on Earth, integrating themselves into The Orisha, the pantheon of Wakanda.^[10]^[11] Bast would eventually become the patron deity of Wakanda, while Sobek and Sekhmet became patrons of lesser influential Wakandan cults.^[4]

In Celestial Heliopolis, Seth murdered his brother Osiris in an attempted coup but Osiris' wife Isis, and his sons Horus and Anubis combined their powers to resurrect Osiris. Osiris then dispatched Horus to exact revenge on Seth in a battle that lasted for several hundred years, ending when Seth gained the upper hand and sealed the gods in a pyramid.^[4] The trapped gods remained in the pyramid for several millennia until they managed to reach out to the Asgardian god Odin. With help from Odin's son, Thor, they defeated Seth, severing his left hand as they battled, and freed the Heliopolitans.^[12] The Heliopolitans had captured a large creature called the Devourer, who later escaped and fought Thor and the Thing.^[13]

Osiris later empowered Thor to revive Asgardians who were harmed by the Destroyer.^[14]

The gods of Heliopolis, powerless and calling themselves "Lost Ones", joined Thor and Earth Force in fighting Seth and his forces again, and ultimately regained their powers after the apparent death of Seth.^[15]

The pages of Moon Knight: City of the Dead reveals that Heliopolitan Taweret assists in the judgement of souls in Duat.^[16]

Members

Anubis — The god of the afterlife
Atum — The god of the sun
Bast — The god of pleasure, poetry and dance
Bes — The god of luck and probability
Geb — The god of the Earth
Horus — The god of the Sun
Isis — The goddess of fertility
Khonshu — The god of the Moon
Neith — The goddess of the Earth
Nun — The god of the watery abyss
Nut — The goddess of the sky
Osiris — The god of the dead
Ptah — The god of craftsmen and architects
Ra - The king of the Heliopolitans and god of the sun
Sekhmet — The god of war
Seth — The god of evil and death
Sobek - The god of rivers
Taweret - The goddess of fertility
Thoth — The god of wisdom

Other versions

In the pages of "Ultimate Invasion", Maker traveled to Earth-6160 and remade it into his own image. Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu were depicted as the rulers of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Africa. Lord Ra speaks when the Sun is up and Lord Khonshu speaks when the Moon is up as Tony Stark learned from Emmanuel da Costa.^[17] Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu also work together under the name of Moon Knight where they soon face oppositions from Black Panther.^[18]

In other media

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The gods Bast and Sekhmet were both mentioned by T'Challa / Black Panther in the 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: Civil War, with T'Challa explaining, "In my culture, death is not the end. It's more of a stepping-off point. You reach out with both hands, and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where you can run forever."^[19] Bast is again mentioned in the prologue of the 2018 film Black Panther as having helped the first Black Panther become king of Wakanda,^[20] and later appears in person in Thor: Love and Thunder portrayed by Akosia Sabet.^[21]
Khonshu and Taweret appears in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Moon Knight, with Khonshu performed by Karim El-Hakim and voiced by F. Murray Abraham^[22]^[23] and Taweret voiced and motion-captured by Atonia Salib.^[24] Khonshu is an outcast amongst his fellow Egyptian gods for waging a "one-god war on perceived injustices", which necessitates him to find and use his avatar, Marc Spector.^[22] Taweret guides the souls to Duat and later briefly turns Layla El-Faouly into Scarlet Scarab.^[24]
Bast appears in Thor: Love and Thunder, portrayed by Akosia Sabet.^[25] She is a member of the Council of Godheads and is among it's members that meet with Zeus in Omnipotence City.

Video games

Horus appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Colin McFarlane.^[26] He is found in the Egypt area of Chronopolis and helps Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Thor fight an awakened N'Kantu, the Living Mummy while Captain Marvel works to free Hulk from the quicksand. After Loki is defeated, Horus sees to it that Loki puts right what he has wronged in Egypt.

References

^ Captain America Comics #20 (November 1942). Marvel Comics.
^ Marvel Tales #96 (June 1950). Marvel Comics.
^ Panther God at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Anthony Flamini, Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente & Paul Cornell (w), Kevin Sharpe (p), Kevin Sharpe (i). Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica, no. 1 (July 2009). Marvel Comics.
^ Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). Marvel Comics.
^ Thor #239 (September 1975). Marvel Comics.
^ Moon Knight #1 (November 1980). Marvel Comics.
^ Muszynski, Joseph (May 7, 2017). Everything I Needed to Know About Life I Learned from Marvel Comics. Lulu. ISBN 978-1365686740.
^ Strauss, Ed (March 1, 2017). The Superheroes Devotional: 60 Inspirational Readings. Shiloh Run Press. ISBN 978-1634099639.
^ "A Guide to the Myths, Legends, and Gods of Wakanda". Marvel Entertainment. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
^ "Black Panther's Sequel Could Bring a New Mythology Into the MCU". 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
^ Thor #240-241 (October–November 1975). Marvel Comics.
^ Marvel Two-in-One #23
^ Thor #301 (November 1980). Marvel Comics.
^ Thor #397-400 (November 1988-February 1989). Marvel Comics.
^ Moon Knight: City of the Dead #2. Marvel Comics.
^ Ultimate Invasion #3. Marvel Comics.
^ Ultimate Black Panther #1-2. Marvel Comics.
^ Sum, Ed (May 27, 2016). "Identifying Bast and Sekhmet in Captain America: Civil War, The Black Panther Movie Lore". otakunoculture.com. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
^ Armitage, Hugh (February 15, 2018). "Updated: 11 Black Panther Easter eggs and references to the wider Marvel world". Digital Spy. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
^ "New Thor: Love and Thunder Photo Confirms Major Black Panther 2 Connection". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
^ ^a ^b "Moon Knight Production Brief" (PDF). Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution. March 16, 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
^ Leston, Ryan (February 15, 2022). "Moon Knight Adds F. Murray Abraham as Khonshu". IGN. Archived from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
^ ^a ^b Paige, Rachel (April 27, 2022). "'Moon Knight': Antonia Salib on Bringing Taweret to Life". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on May 6, 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
^ Barnhardt, Adam (May 16, 2022). "New Thor: Love and Thunder Photo Confirms Major Black Panther 2 Connection". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
^ "Characters". IGN Database. Retrieved 14 February 2018.