Thena
| Thena | |
|---|---|
 Cover art for Eternals (vol. 3) #3 Art by Daniel Acuña. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Eternals #5 (Nov 1976) |
| Created by | Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Azura |
| Team affiliations |
Eternals Heroes for Hire |
| Notable aliases | Thena Eliot, Athena, Corona |
| Abilities |
|
Thena (born Azura) is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. She is a member of the Eternals.
Fictional character biography
Thena was born in the city of Olympia in ancient Greece, and is thus one of the Eternals of Olympia. Originally named Azura, but her father Zuras had her name changed by royal decree to resemble that of Zeus' daughter Athena to seal the treaty between their two peoples. Due to this, she has often been mistaken for Athena. The city of Athens was apparently built for her, not the goddess, although Thena later allowed it to be conquered by the Spartans in 404 B.C.
Thena became a scholar and a warrior as she grew. She encountered Kro in Babylon 2,500 years ago. He had a chance to slay her, but did not; as the years passed, the two of them grew closer together. Thena and Kro made love during the Vietnam War, resulting in Thena becoming pregnant with twins. She placed them inside of Ms. Ritter, an infertile woman, who raised them as her own twin children, Donald and Deborah.[1]
When Kro led his armies in an attack on New York, Thena opposed him to help rescue Sersi. Thena was reunited with Kro, and publicly declared herself to be an Eternal.[2] After Kro called a truce, he showed her Ransak the Reject, a genetically stable Deviant. Thena was convinced by the Deviant Karkas to grant both of them sanctuary and take them under her protection. She then participated in the Uni-Mind.[3] With Karkas and the Reject, she battled Zakka and Tutinax.[4] She met and became an ally of Thor,[5] and then battled Athena of Olympus, during a battle between the Olympian gods and Eternals.[6] She then formed the Uni-Mind again, and battled Maelstrom alongside the Avengers; she was chosen by the Uni-Mind to stay on Earth.[7] After Zuras' death and the subsequent departure of most of Earth's Eternals, Thena became Prime Eternal (leader of the Eternals of Earth), but she was traumatized by her father's death and was being subtly influenced by a Brain-Mine Kro had placed upon her. She thwarted the other Eternals' efforts against Kro and turned against Ikaris to help save Kro's life, but later relinquished her title to Ikaris and was banished. She was captured with Kro by Ghaur, and freed from Kro's brain mine; when she learned of the Brain-Mine, she was furious with Kro. She battled Ghaur alongside the Eternals, Thor, and the West Coast Avengers.[8] She was eventually reunited with her children and Kro.[9]
The Eternals (2006)
In the 2006 Eternals title, Thena is married to Thomas Eliot, with a son, and is a researcher at Stark Enterprises. Like Sersi and Makkari, she was affected by Sprite's reality warping to have no memory of her past as an Eternal.
She was released from a hostage situation by Iron Man in relation to the Civil War comics event. Afterwards, she began to suffer terrible nightmares in which she was indeed immortal, and fought off various multicolored Deviants with ease. When she awoke from one of these dreams, she found she had gained back her costume and powers. She is then enlisted by Ikaris to help stop 'The Dreaming Celestial' from awaking in his sleeping place beneath Los Angeles.
By the end of the story, she remains one of the Eternals, keeping her (human) child with her in their home after a heated argument with Ikaris.
Powers and abilities
Thena is a member of the race of superhumans known as the Eternals. As a result, she has superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes. Thena also possesses the ability to manipulate cosmic energy to augment her life force, granting her virtual invulnerability and immortality, the ability to project cosmic energy from her eyes or hands in the form of heat, light, or concussive force and possibly other powers. Thena has total mental control over her physical form, granting virtual invulnerability and immortality. She also has the ability to levitate herself and thus fly at superhuman speed, the psionic ability to rearrange the molecular structure of objects, the ability to cast illusions to disguise her appearance and that of others from the perceptions of normal human beings, the ability to teleport herself and others with her, and the ability to initiate formation of the Uni-Mind.
Thena has a gifted intellect, and has studied under the greatest Eternal and human scholars throughout her lifetime. She is highly educated in numerous areas of Eternal and human knowledge. Thena is also a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, with extensive training in unarmed combat and the use of many ancient and Eternal high-tech weaponry.
Thena wears body armor of unknown composition. She carries a bow that fires arrows that release "cold energy", and she carries an energy spear that surrounds victims with a ring of intense heat and light or bombards them with anti-gravitons.
Other versions
MC2
In Avengers-Next issue #2, It is revealed that Thor had a daughter in the alternate timeline, who is also called Thena, and possesses her father's storm god powers.
Bibliography
- Red Raven #1
- Eternals (vol. 1) #5-6, 8-10, 12-14
- Eternals: Herod Factor #1
- Eternals Annual #1
- Thor (vol. 1) #285-289, 291-292, 300-301
- Contest of Champions vol. 1 #1-3
- Iron Man Annual #6
- Iron Man (vol. 1) #179
- Eternals (vol. 2) #1-12
- Avengers (vol. 1) #246-248, 299, 308-310, 361, 374-375
- Silver Surfer Annual #1
- Starblast #1
- Quasar #58
- Fantastic Four Unlimited #10
- Heroes for Hire (vol. 1) #5-9, 11-12
- Eternals: Apocalypse Now
- Eternals (vol. 3) #1-6 (limited series; Jun. 2006 - Nov. 2006)
- Eternals (vol. 4) #1-9 (2008–2009)
As Corona
- Eternals: Apocalypse Now
As Athena
- Red Raven Comics #1
References
- Thena at the Grand Comics Database
- Thena at the Comic Book DB
External links
- Thena at the Marvel Universe
- Thena at Sersi's Loft
- Know Your Eternals I: The Eternals, Newsarama, April 21, 2006