Gaea (Earth-616)

Gaea
Name	Gaea (also spelled Ge or Gaia)
Aliases	Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Earth Goddess, Great Mother, The World, Bright Lady, A'akuluujjusi (Innuit), Aditi (Hindi Name), Ajysyt, Akka (Finnish), Akna, Ala/Ale (Yoruba), Ammaveru/ (Vedic), Armaiti (Persian), Asase Ya, Coatilique, Cihuacoatl (Aztec name), Danu (Celtic name), Demeter (Olympian name), Dilga/ Nungeena (Aboriginal), Domnu (Fomorian), Eithinoha (Iroquois), Eje, Erce (Russian), Erda, Erzulie (Voodoo name), Gaia, Haumea (Ahau name), Hannahanna (Hittite name), Hou-Tou Guo Huang (Chinese Name), Ixchebel Yax, Yo, Izanami (Japanese), Jord (Norse), Ki (Mesopotamian), Nana (Dahomey), Neith (Egyptian name), Nertha (German), Ninhursag (Sumerian name), Nokomis (Algonquin), Ot, Otuken, Pachamama (Incan), Papahanaumoku/Papa (Hawaii), Papatuanuku (Maori), Prakriti (Brahmanic), Spenta Armaiti, Terra (Greek), Umay, Vaat (Siberian), Yer, et al.
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Congress of Worlds, All-Mothers of Asgardia, Elder Gods, Earth's Pantheons (including Ahau, Gods of Egypt...)
Relatives	Demiurge (father); Oshtur, Isuus (sisters); Chthon, Set, Hyppus (brothers); Izanagi (husband, estranged); Manitou (husband); Owayodata (husband); Atum, Ammon Ra, Thoth, (sons by Demiurge); Omm (son); Kāne Milohai, Kanaloa, Kū, Lono (sons by Ranginu); Inanna, Ea (childs by Anu); Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu (sons); Praamzius (son by Rod); Bathala, Aman Sinaya, Amihan (childs); Leir, Dagda, Nuadu (sons by Iarbonel); Thor (son by Odin); Persephone (daughter as Demeter by Zeus); The Cyclopes, The Hecatonchires, The Titans (childrens by Ouranos); Erlik, Ay, Koyash, Kuara, Ulgen (childrens by Tengri); Anansi (son by Buluku); Frey (son by Njord); Freya (daughter by Njord); Ninmu (daughter by Ea); Charybdis (daughter by Poseidon); unnamed child; Viracocha (grandson); Marduk, Svarog, Gwynn, Damballah, Sagbata, Shango (grandsons); Narya, (granddaughter); Pele (granddaughter by Kane); Cuchulain (great-grandson); Lady of the Lake (great-granddaughter); Spider-People (descendants through Omm); Elder Gods' offsprings (varying relations); Percy of Scandia (part of Gaea); Red Lord, Gaea (aspects of Gaea)
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Unusual Features	Gaea can appear in humanoid form with varying characteristics, generally with ethnicity matching those who see her.
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Elder God; cosmic being
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Earth
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Occupation	All-Mother of Asgard, Patron Goddess of Earth; Egyptian goddess of war and hunting; Oceanic goddess of childbirth
Education	5 billion years of life experience
Base of Operations	Earth
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Steve Englehart, Don Heck
First	Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #6 (November, 1974) (as Mother Nature) Giant-Size Avengers #4 (February, 1975) (as Gaea)
First	Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #6 (November, 1974) (as Mother Nature) Giant-Size Avengers #4 (February, 1975) (as Gaea)

 Now learn the lesson you have forever so feared. If you would save all creation...look beyond each single life. Let those who must fall, fall. Mourn the facing of each dead leaf. But do not pause to stop it. Instead, you create anew. Create out of ashes and death. Create out of darkness and chaos. That is how existence fought for life. Remake yourself, Hercules. And rise. 

—Gaea

History

Gaea was one of the Elder Gods who materialized on Earth before any life appeared there. She and her brother Chthon inhabited Earth's land masses, affecting geological patterns.

However, the rest of the gods, following the example of Set, started eating each other, a process that turned all but Gaea into demons. Worried that they might menace Earth's organic life forms, Gaea summoned the Demiurge and "mated" with it, to give birth to her first son, the sun-god Atum, who, in its form of Demogorge the God-Eater, devoured all the demons, except those that escaped to other planes, such as Set and Chthon. Gaea then merged with the Earth itself, and dedicated herself to guiding evolution. Atum went to live in the Sun.

Millions of years later, Gaea decided to allow the dinosaurs to become extinct, so mammals would evolve in their place. This angered Set, who drew power from them. He made the dinosaurs try to hunt down all mammals, so Gaea summoned the Demogorge to deal with him. Their battle may have finished killing off the dinosaurs. In the end, Set was banished from Earth again. Gaea protected Earth from the influence of Set, supporting the development of humanity over dinosaurs and leading the cosmic entities known as the Celestials to destroy a group of Serpent Men.

Gaea and her many names

Thousands of years ago, when the second generation of gods began to appear on Earth, Gaea mated with many of them (under various different identities) thus becoming the "Mother-Goddess" mentioned in several myths. Under the name "Jord" she mated with Odin, who wanted a son who would be strong on Earth (not just in Asgard) and gave birth to Thor. However, Thor was not told the true identity of his mother until Gaea revealed it to him later on.

The Fourth Celestial Host

One thousand years ago, the Celestials came to Earth and forced the gods to stop intervening with humanity's development; they also revealed they would return in one thousand years to judge humanity. Worried, the Council of Godheads (the rulers of the various pantheons) met and made plans to combat the entities on their return; however, afraid that they might fail, Gaea met with the queens of the gods and came up with an alternate plan: they would choose the Young Gods, a group of twelve humans, each representing one of mankind's achievements, as time went by. Each would be made immortal and put to sleep in a secret chamber, where they would be watched over by the various goddesses of all the pantheons (taking turns) until the Celestials' return.

When the souls of all Asgardians (except Thor's) possessed the body of the Destroyer and attacked the Celestials, only to be defeated and scattered. Gaea then appeared with the Young Gods, and presented them to the Celestials as proof of man's worth to survive. They were accepted, and the Celestials left without destroying the Earth. Gaea, in the form of a dark-haired woman, then healed the wounded Thor, and explained the whole story to him. She also told him how he could restore the Asgardians' souls to their bodies with help from all the other Godheads, which he then went on to obtain. Gaea then went back to being 'one with the planet'.

Mystic Encounters

Over the years, Gaea continues to grant power to many who call on her, from the ancient Sisters of Danu to the modern Ardina, Brother Nature, Clea, Dark Mairi, Doctor Strange, the Neurii, the Olympian Prometheus, and Topaz. Several years ago, Gaea was captured by the entity called Dormammu (who once held her prisoner until she channeled the life force of every being on Earth to banish him), but was freed by Doctor Strange and his lover, Clea.

She has also been directed opposition to threats such as Maelstrom. Her pain resulting from the harm humanity had done to Earth, nearly drove the mutant Humus Sapien to take the lives of all mankind.

The Defenders

She was captured by the extradimensional scientist Yandroth and forced to place a curse on the earliest Defenders, compelling them to gather to oppose threats to Earth. She continued to perpetuate this curse herself for a time, pleased to have even unwilling protectors, but she dissolved it after the Defenders became corrupt due to Yandroth's influence. She informed Nighthawk that he would have the power to summon them should the need arise.

Chaos War

During the Chaos War, Gaea was sought to be protected by the divine pantheons of Earth at all cost with the Shinto Sun Goddess Amaterasu sealing off the throne room of the Council of Elite to do so. When the Chaos King destroyed most of the divine realms of each pantheons, Gaea, with her daughter the Fire Goddess Pele summoned the remaining gods to Mt. Halemaumau for the last moments of farewell. There, Gaea revealed to Hercules that she is the true font of creation, the first being to form out of chaos and that she is the true power source of what the gods can do. She then instructs Hercules to embrace her daughter Pele as she teaches him to to become the God of Gods despite Athena's words that her time draws near with the Chaos King saying that Gaea should stop dreaming of creation and return to his night. Still, despite her weakened state, Gaea still managed to teach Hercules how to use the nigh-omnipotent powers within him and imbued him with her own powers allowing Hercules to destroy Athena in a single gesture.

Fear Itself

Gaea was one third of the All-Mother of Asgard playing the role as the Mother as she ruled over Asgard alongside side Freyja and Idunn in Odin's absence after the planetary attack by the Serpent. She later ruled Asgardia as a member of the All-Mother Trinity, while having Loki serve as an agent of the trinity.

During her tenure, Gaea fell ill due to an unknown aliment affecting her physical form and her mystical garden and Sif took it upon herself to find a cure. While transporting Gaea and her garden to an asteroid space station for quarantine, she encountered Beta Ray Bill who had crashed his ship alongside another into the asteroid. Gaea was found inside the other ship, which turned out to be n ancient ark that collected one of every living creature across the galaxy and was rejuvenated by the variety of life around her. However, the ship combined and reconfigured the Stark technology on the asteroid, mutating Gaea into a monstrous form and attempting to collide with Earth before being convinced by Sif to relent. The ship crashed in Asgardia while fulling rejuvenating Gaea and her garden to their original state once more.

Gaea later left the All-Mother Trinity when the group was disbanded after it was decided that Asgardia would leave Midgard because of the destruction of Broxton. She was ordered to remain on Midgard as it befitted her role as the Earth Mother.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Gaea possesses great mystical powers of an undefined nature. Gaea can use any number of natural or magical effects as they pertain to the Earth itself.

• Spiritual Energy Absorption: She can draw on the spiritual energies of all of Earth’s living beings since all of these beings share part of her life essence.
  
• Nature Control: She can command the forces of nature on Earth, such as storms and volcanic activity.
  
• Earth Bond: Although Gaea’s powers may seem similar to many of those of the living planet, Ego, Gaea and Ego are actually two very different kinds of beings. Ego is a planet that has acquired sentience, whereas Gaea is a goddess who has infused her life essence into the living beings of her planet.
  
• Curative Healing: Gaea is known to have great powers to heal injured living beings and to cause living beings to grow.
  
• Telekinesis: She has considerable telekinetic power and can even levitate Thor’s hammer, which few beings can lift through non-mechanical means. During her meeting with the 4 original Defenders, she was also able to casually dispose of them with a mere hand gesture.
• Mystic Patron: Gaea can also bestow mystical power upon sorcerers who know how to call upon her for it.
  
• Creative Force: Gaea is the embodiment of the spirit of life, growth, harvest, and renewal on Earth.
  
• Eyes of the Beholder: Gaea does have a humanoid form, but she generally manifests herself in whatever humanoid form she chooses. Usually, she appears as a young woman with long black hair and blue eyes, but as Jord, she appeared as a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes. It has been suggested that she always appears in the form of however image she was worshiped as by whatever race on earth. So if she appeared before an ethnically diverse group, she would appear in the form of an ethnic image connected to that person such as African to a person of African descent and Asian to a person of Asian descent even simultaneously.
  

In any of her humanoid forms, she has:

• Superhuman Strength
• Superhuman Stamina
• Superhuman Vitality
• Immortality
• Superhuman Durability: Invulnerability to conventional injury and terrestrial disease. Shown most prominently when she was able to completely ignore an assault from all 4 original Defenders at once.

Abilities

• Allspeak: Thanks to the Allspeak she can communicate in all of the languages of the Nine Realms, Earth's dialects, and various alien languages.

Notes

Gaea, in her role of Egyptian goddess of war and hunting, had cow-headed servants.

See Also

• 88 appearance(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 13 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 13 minor appearance(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 49 mention(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 21 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 27 invocation(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 39 image(s) of Gaea (Earth-616)
• 7 quotation(s) by or about Gaea (Earth-616)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Gaea (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Gaea at the Guide to the Mythological Universe