Hephaestus is a member of the Olympians, a group of humanoid beings that hail from the pocket dimension; Olympus. He was worshipped by the Humans of Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. He was the God of fire and metal,[1] patron god of blacksmiths, and weapon maker and armorer of Olympus.[1]
History
Early Life[]
Hephaestus was the son of the king and queen of the Olympians; Zeus and Hera. Hera threw him from Mount Olympus because he was crippled; he fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis. It is on Earth where he became a master craftsman. He was later accepted back to Olympus, and became the craftsman of the gods, creating majestic armors, shields, and weapons.[6]
He was forced to marry Aphrodite by Zeus to prevent a war of the gods fighting for her hand.[6] He later caught his wife Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares and dragged them around the city in a net. Pan was one of the spectators laughing.[6]
Roman Empire (146 BC–324 AD)[]
In 146 B.C., the Romans conquered Macedonia and then Greece. They even adopted Olympian Gods, changing many of their names in the process. Hephaestus became "Vulcan".[7]
Modern Age[]
The first encounter between Hephaestus and some of the heroes of Earth, in addition to his brother Hercules, took place during the war between the Mount Olympus and Asgard, that faced sprouts of both pantheons both, before the watched letter of the patriarchs.[8] Hephaestus, like the rest of the Olympic Gods, was involved in the schemes of Typhon that sent Hephaestus and his companions to limbo,[9] as well as the conspiracies of Ares, that turned all the other Olympian Gods to crystal.[10]
Hephaestus was a witness as Zeus gave sufficient power to Thor to revive Odin, and this revived the other Asgardians.[11] Later Hephaestus constructed, at the request of Hercules, a new battle uniform, after his original was destroyed during a fight.[12] Hephaestus also battled the Avengers on one occasion, when Zeus wrongly blamed them for the injuries of their teammate, Hercules.[13]
Following the massacre of the Olympians by the hand of the vengeful goddess Nyx,[14] Hephaestus resurfaced as part of the reborn pantheon. However, the Olympians were revived as savage warmongers who razed planets and took tribute in blood and treasure, regularly rotating in and out of reality aboard New Olympus,[4] a floating city built by Hephaestus. The Olympians also captured locals from the planets they ravaged, and Hephaestus turned them into automatons that did his bidding.[15]
When Guardians of the Galaxy intercepted New Olympus in an attempt to destroy it,[4] Hephaestus had his automatons steal the bomb from their stationed ship while at the same time herding Star-Lord to the dimensional rotor, where he was confronted by their creator. After feigning surrender, Star-Lord managed to catch Hephaestus off-guard and stabbed him in the throat with an arrow from Artemis. He subsequently sacrificed himself to activate New Olympus' dimensional rotor while detonating the bomb.[15]
Both Star-Lord and the Olympians survived but were stranded in the other side of reality. During their encounter, Star-Lord had become entangled with the Olympians and their power was locked away in himself and his Element Gun. Star-Lord lived unaging in the otherdimensional world of Morinus for over a hundred years until enough uses of the Element Gun freed enough of the Olympians' power to enable their return. Star-Lord lured the Olympians away from Morinus, using the Gateway to return to his home dimension.[16] The Olympians pursued him to reclaim their full power,[17] and confronted him and the Guardians of the Galaxy on Daedalus 5.[18] During their final battle, Hephaestus was killed by Phyla-Vell when he was able to punch a hole in his chest.[5]Attributes
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Powers
Hephaestus possesses all of the conventional powers of an Olympian god.
- Superhuman Strength: Hephaestus is superhumanly strong, substantially more so than the average male Olympian. Hephaestus possesses sufficient strength to lift about 40 tons.[19]
- Superhuman Speed: While wearing his leg braces, Hephaestus is capable of running and moving at speeds greater than even the finest human athlete.
- Superhuman Stamina: Hephaestus' musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a human. He can exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue begins to impair him.
- Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Hephaestus' skin, muscle, and bone tissues have about 3 times the density as the same tissue of a human. This contributes, somewhat, to his superhuman strength and weight.
- Superhuman Durability: The tissues of Hephaestus' body are much harder and more resistant to injury than those of a human being. He is capable of withstanding high caliber bullets, great impact forces, temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury.
- Regenerative Healing Factor: Hephaestus, if injured, is capable of rapidly regenerating damaged or destroyed tissue with greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. However, his natural healing powers are not sufficient to allow him to regenerate missing limbs or organs.
- Immortality: Like all Olympians, Hephaestus is functionally immortal in the sense that he is immune to the effects of aging. He hasn't aged since reaching adulthood and is also immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections.
- Allspeak: Due to the Allspeak (also called All-Tongue), Hephaestus can communicate in all languages, Earth's dialects, and various alien languages.
Abilities
Weaknesses
Lame: Due to his broken legs, Hephaestus requires leg braces in order to walk.
Death by Unnatural Causes: While he can't die from old age, Hephaestus can die from unnatural causes including being grievously injured like having a hole punched through his chest.[5]
Ambrosia Consumption: Despite his immortality, Hephaestus still needs to consume the Olympian Ambrosia to remain deathless and virtue otherwise he will start to age or even die by turning to dust.[20]Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
See Also
- 23 appearance(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 5 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 13 mention(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 2 invocation(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 10 image(s) of Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
- 2 item(s) used/owned by Hephaestus Aetnaeus (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1 ; Hephaestus' entry
- ↑ Red Raven Comics #1
- ↑ Avengers No Road Home #2
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #12
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Incredible Hercules #140
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8
- ↑ Thor Annual #5
- ↑ Avengers #50
- ↑ Avengers #100
- ↑ Thor #301
- ↑ Avengers #256
- ↑ Avengers #281–285
- ↑ Avengers No Road Home #1
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #2
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #9
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #10
- ↑ Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 6) #11
- ↑ Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1
- ↑ Heroic Age: Prince of Power #1
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 14