Marvel Database
Advertisement

History

Origin

Hera is the youngest daughter of Cronus and Rhea beings known as Titans who once ruled Olympus. The Titans were the offspring of the sky god Ouranos and the primeval earth goddess Gaea. Cronus overthrew his father's rule by fatally wounding him. The dying Ouranus prophesied that Cronus would likewise be overthrown by one of his own children.
Cronus (Earth-616) from Incredible Hercules Vol 1 130 001
As a result, upon the birth of each of his own children, Cronus had the infant imprisoned in Tartarus, the most dismal section of the extra dimensional underworld known as Hades. The offspring he sent there were Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia and Hera. Appalled at the mistreatment of their children, Cronus's wife Rhea concealed her sixth pregnancy from him and secretly gave birth to Zeus and hid him on Crete.[1]

Titanomachy

Zeus grew to adulthood and then set about taking revenge on Cronus. Zeus went down into Tartarus and freed his siblings. Hera and the others fought a ten year war with the Titans which ended with Zeus's victory. They imprisoned most of the male Titans in Tartarus.[2]

Age of the Olympians

Hera married Zeus and along with Poseidon, Demeter and Hestia, together with Zeus's children Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Venus, comprised the membership of the high council of the Olympian gods known as the Pantheon. Hestia later resigned her seat in the council in favor of Zeus's son Dionysus. Zeus's brother Hades was not a member of the Pantheon, preferring to spend virtually all of his time within Hades, which he ruled.

20th Century

In 1919, she and Frigga, wife of Odin, chieftain of the Asgardian Gods, discovered Mark Cadmon living on the streets of Chicago, Illinois and saw his true untapped potential. They placed him among a group of other young adults who became known as the Young Gods, and when the Fourth Host of the Celestials occurred, Gaea produced the Young Gods to the Celestials as what the human race could attain if allowed to exist. The Celestials accepted the Young Gods as prime examples of humanity and departed Earth taking the Young Gods with them.[3]

By the late 1940s, Hera --assuming her Roman name of Juno-- had relocated with the other Olympians to the planet Venus and were briefly under the rule of Aphrodite who took on her Roman name as well. When Venus came to the aid of an office girl named Lucy whose boyfriend Frank Foster became obsessed with Juno, Venus decided to let him meet her face to face. The easily jealous Juno proved to too much for Frank to handle after the goddess got into a fight with a waitress. Later, when Juno crossed paths with Venus' lover Whitney Hammond. With her romance in jeopardy, Venus returned Juno back to Olympus.[4]

Modern Era

After Zeus' death at the hands of Mikaboshi's, Hera inherited his thunderbolt and position as ruler of the Olympians, promising a new era to her race. However, Hera abused both of her powers as well as of her subordinates, indirectly killing Amadeus Cho's parents, making an uneasy alliance with Norman Osborn, bullying Poseidon into submission with Pluto's help, expelling Apollo and Artemis simply for not being her children, and extending her hatred over her own children like Ares, Hephaestus and Hebe for even the smallest disobedience. Ultimately, her ambition grew to the point that she tried to recreate the whole universe with the Continuum, but while resurrected as a child, Zeus convinced her to give up such insanity. Unfortunately, Typhon, temporarily controlled by Hera's mystical powers betrayed her, slaying both her and Zeus while protected by the Aegis breastplate,. Their souls where promptly taken by Thanatos to the underworld.[5]

Their souls would not rest forever. Mikaboshi, now calling himself the Chaos King, conquered the relative spirit realms of the gods of earth and enslaved all the souls, included Zeus and Hera in Hades. Hercules resurrected both of them under his own power. When Hulk tried to force Zeus to cure A-Bomb and Red She-Hulk, Hera sensed his true noble reasons and informed them to everyone present. She mocked the Hulk, but Zeus still refused to help, claiming that such kind of altruism is the "wrong religion." Zeus quickly beat up the green Goliath into submission. Hera witnessed Hercules freeing Hulk of his torment, and, when she asked Zeus why he allowed Hercules to do such thing, Zeus replied that the Hulk brought his own punishment upon himself long ago.[6]

Attributes

Power Grid[7]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Multiple Types:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Learned

Powers

File:Hera (Earth-616).gif

Hera possesses the conventional attributes of the Olympian gods. However, some of these powers are more developed than those of the majority of her race.

Superhuman Speed: Hera is capable of running and moving at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Stamina: Hera's superhuman musculature generates almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity, granting her nearly limitless superhuman stamina in all physical activities.

Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Hera's bodily tissues are about 3 times as dense as the tissue of a human being, which contributes somewhat to her superhuman strength and weight.

Superhuman Durability: Hera's body is considerably harder and more resistant to injury than the body of a human being, or most other Olympians for that matter. Hera can withstand high caliber bullets, falls from great heights, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining physical injury. Among the Olympians her durability is inferior to Neptune and Pluto and comparable to Ares and Athena.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite her high resistance to injury, Hera, like all Olympians, can be injured. However, her metabolism enables her to recover with superhuman levels of speed and efficiency. Most injuries can heal within a matter of hours. However, she cannot regenerate missing limbs or organs without outside magical assistance.

Immortality: Like all Olympians, Hera is functionally immortal in the sense that she is immune to the effects of aging and has not aged since reaching adulthood. Hera is also immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections.

Energy Manipulation: Apparently, Hera possesses the ability to manipulate vast amounts of energy. She typically uses these abilities for simple feats common to the Olympians such as changing her shape or teleporting herself across.
File:Hera marvel 3.jpg
great distances or dimensions. She can, presumably, channel energy for destructive purposes as well. When she inherited Zeus' Thunderbolt, her powers were greatly amplified, to potentially galactical point. After her death and resurrection, she returned to her normal level of power. Telepathy: Hela is also capable of reading minds by physically observing the thoughts of others, as show when she realized the Hulk's true intentions by magic.

Abilities

Hera is a fair hand to hand combatant. Though she has had little experience and no formal training, her natural Olympian physical capabilities make her a formidable combatant against foes. She is also a cunning strategist and manipulator.

Weaknesses

None

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Dimensional teleportation using her own powers.

See Also

Links and References

References

Advertisement