Medusa (comics)
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Medusa is a fictional superhero published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in Fantastic Four vol. 1 #36, and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
She belongs to the race of Inhumans, a species of prehistoric earthlings mutated by the Terrigen Mists produced deep under the Inhuman city-state of Attilan, presently located in the oxygen-rich Blue Area of the moon. Medusa is married to Black Bolt and they have a son named Ahura. Crystal, the wife of the Avengers Quicksilver, is Medusa's sister.
Medusa first appeared in Fantastic Four #36, as Madame Medusa, making her one of the oldest characters in the Marvel Comics' universe. At that time, she suffered from amnesia and affiliated herself with the Frightful Four, Silver Age nemeses of the Fantastic Four. It was some time before the disastrous effects of wordly pollution on the Inhumans was known, but eventually Medusa regained her senses. She returned to Attilan, with the Fantastic Four as friends to be called upon, for example during the frequent power struggles of Maximus the Mad, Black Bolt's brother. Later still she joined the Fantastic Four as a temporary member filling in for Susan Richards, known as the Invisible Girl at that time, who was on leave caring for her comatose son Franklin Richards.
Medusa's primary role among the Inhumans is as interpreter for her liege and husband, the silent but commanding Black Bolt. As such she is an experienced state figure within the quasi-feudal system of the Inhumans' government, and is used to speaking with awareness of regal issues of protocol and comportment. This imperial attitude can make her seem standoffish and condescending to some audiences, but this effect is usually tempered by her strong sense of morality and fairness. For the protection of all Inhumans (her first priority) and to aid her allies (such as the Fantastic Four), she is a fierce warrior.
[edit] Powers and abilities
- Medusa possesses a long, thick head of red hair, every strand of which has greater tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and shear resistance than an iron wire of the same thickness (average hair diameter: .045 inches), as well as the psychokinetic ability to animate her hair for a number of feats including using her hair to lift and move heavy weights. A portion of her hair must be used to anchor the rest at these greater weights, so that more than her scalp/skull is used as a brace.
- Medusa can control the movement of her hair as if it were countless thin appendages growing from her head. A psionic field permeates her mutagenically altered hair-cells, causing mutual attraction across the gaps between strands. These relatively small forces operate in conjunction to develop larger forces. Through concentration, she can psionically move her hair in any manner imaginable. She can snap the length of it through the air like a whip (the tip of which moves faster than the speed of sound), or rotate it in a fan-like manner. She can bind persons or objects with it as if it were rope or use it to lift objects which weigh more than she could lift with her arms. (Her scalp, skull, and neck do not support the weight of an object that she lifts: it is held aloft by the psionic force coursing through the hair.) Medusa can also perform delicate manipulations with her hair such as lock picking or threading a needle, and such complex acts of coordination as typing or shuffling a deck of cards. Although she has no nerve endings in her hair, she can "feel" sensations on all parts of her hair by a form of mental feedback from her psionic field.
- Medusa is highly skilled at interpreting the gestures and body language of Black Bolt.
[edit] Other versions
- Medusa appeared in the Ultimate Marvel Universe in the Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #1, "Inhuman". This version had a head full of snakes like the mythical creature she is named after. She was still Black Bolt's wife and appeared to share the same relationship to the other Inhumans with her regular counter-part.
- Medusa appears in the Marvel 1602 miniseries: 1602: Fantastic Four as a member of the "Four Who Are Frightful", and the Wizard's lover. Like her Ultimate counterpart, she has snakes for hair. She must also wear a veil, to prevent her gaze turning men to stone. While her introduction describes her as "inhuman" her origins are not mentioned. She appears to be a native French speaker (hence, "Madame" Medusa).
[edit] Other media
- If certain conditions are met, she appears as an NPC in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Nancy Linari.
