Venus (comics)
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This article is about the comic-book character. For other uses, see Venus (disambiguation)
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Venus is a fictional character in the Marvel Comic universe, based on the goddess Venus (Aphrodite) from Greek and Roman mythology. The Marvel version of the character first appeared in Venus #1 (August 1948), and made her first Silver Age appearance in Sub-Mariner volume 1 #37 (1973).
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[edit] Character history
In the original 1940s Venus series, Venus dwelled on the plant Venus with her female companions. She travelled to Earth and took on the human identity of Victoria "Vicki" Starr, a journalist and reporter for Beauty magazine. She developed a romantic relationship with Beauty editor Whitney Hammond; he and Venus's rival Della Mason were among the few people to meet Venus who did not believe her when she claimed that she was a goddess. The series began as a light-hearted humor/fantasy series, but as the series continued, its focus shifted towards darker fantasy and horror themes. Through the course of the series, the Marvel Comics interpretations of several mythological figures appeared, including Hercules and Zeus and various other Olympians, Satan, and in their first Marvel appearance, the Norse gods Thor and Loki. Venus was eventually cancelled with issue #18.
The character drifted into obscurity after her series ended, and did not reappear again for 25 years, when she resurfaced in an issue of the Sub-Mariner's comic book. Venus manipulated the Sub-Mariner into defeating Ares, who was attempting to force her to love him. For the most part, her subsequent appearances featured her alongside other Greek deities, and did not reference the character's history from her own series.
The retcon series Marvel: The Lost Generation revealed that Venus and several other heroes who had been active in the 1950s briefly banded together, but did not remain as a team. This team has recently rebanded in Agents of Atlas and Venus has rejoined the team.
Venus’s true origins were revealed by Namora: this Venus was actually a soulless naiad that lured sailing ships to her with her voice and fed on the sailors. To prevent his ship and his crew from being feed on, the captain of a merchant ship hired a mystic to kill her. The mystic instead gave her a soul. The naiad then took the form of a beautiful woman and was taken in by a nunnery as a servant girl. She lived at the nunnery for decades until she joined a chorus, filling the visiting clergy with lust. She was then expelled from the nunnery. Learning how to use her voice for good, she blocked out all memories of her previous life and assumed that she was Venus reborn, based on the legends she had heard about a beautiful, immortal girl wandering the world as a goddess in a human body and winning her battles with the power of "love". ‘Venus’ resurfaced in the 1940s and acted as a superhero. After learning the truth about her past, Venus slipped into depression and filled all of her male companions with lust. With Jimmy Woo’s help, she reconnected with her past life and regained all of her previous she possessed as a naiad.
[edit] Powers
Venus has the power to project images or illusions of herself and to control the emotions of others. She is immortal, and presumably possesses the enhanced physical characteristics typical of Olympian gods in the Marvel Universe.
Her naiadic origins in Agents of Atlas reconnects all her powers to her unearthly voice. Everyone in range cannot help but feel in love and obey all her utterance, like in the greek mermaids mythos. Her song, even more powerful that her plain speaking voice, has such persuasion strengh that "even a deaf man could hear her".
[edit] Alternate versions
- What If volume 1 #9 showed Venus as a member of a 1950s Avengers team which assembled to defeat the Yellow Claw. This story was initially suggested to have occurred in the main Marvel Universe (Earth-616) - but the series Avengers Forever later revealed that it was an alternate timeline, which was soon destroyed by the time traveller Immortus.
[edit] Bibilography
- Agents of Atlas #1-2
- Avengers vol. 1 #283-284
- Captain America Comics #1
- Champions #1-3
- Hercules vol. 3 #4
- Marvel: Lost Generation #5
- Marvel Super-Heroes vol. 3 #9
- Marvel Valentine Special #1
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Golden Age
- She-Hulk vol. 2 #36
- Sub-Mariner vol. 1 #57
- Thor Annual #8
- Venus #1-19
- What If? vol. 1 #9
