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Goddess (comics)
Encyclopedia
The Goddess is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics
universe. The name is assumed by the "feminine, self-aware" supposedly "good" aspect of Adam Warlock
, subconsciously exiled from his psyche whilst he was in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet
. She was the main antagonist of the Infinity Crusade
crossover.
, was created while Adam Warlock
was in brief possession of the Infinity Gauntlet; desiring to be a logical god, and not prone to judgment-impairing emotions, Warlock subconsciously expelled both good and evil from his soul, creating the beings The Goddess and The Magus respectively.
Neither stayed inactive, and both would resurface. The first hint of The Goddess' existence came at the end of the Infinity War
crossover, when it was revealed that an unknown woman had stolen the five Cosmic Containment Units
in the Magus' possession. Thanos suspected the Goddess' existence and threat to the universe.
When The Goddess made her appearance, reaching out to the heroes of Earth who were of a religious or spiritual persuasion as their would-be savior, she possessed 30 such Cosmic Cube
s, gathered from a multitude of different realities, which she soon reformed into the enormous structure known as the Cosmic Egg. The Egg afforded the wielder a phenomenal amount of power, although it still fell short of the legendary Infinity Gauntlet
, most notably in its lack of control over the soul
. She recruited various heroes to join her in her mission to create peace throughout the universe, and created her base on Paradise Omega.
From her base on the newly-reformed Counter-Earth
, The Goddess used her Earth heroes and Cosmic Egg to declare holy war on a sinful universe; despite being the "good" portion of Adam Warlock's soul, she was a creature of extremes, and saw only extreme solutions to the problems she perceived; in this case, she decided at some point that the only way to remove all sin was to remove all sinners by blowing the Universe up. Using heavy telepathic emissions from the Egg, The Goddess slowly removed all crime, hate and war from everywhere across the galaxy, with seemingly the only ones unaffected being Earth's "heretical" heroes, and Uatu
, the Watcher
. She stopped Mister Fantastic
, Iron Man
, and the Vision from investigating her base on Paradise Omega.
As the heroes plotted against the Goddess, Pip the Troll
teleported into Paradise Omega and used the Cosmic Egg to temporarily change the Goddess into salt. His victory was short-lived, as she was soon reverted to normal by her follower Silhouette
.
Ultimately, it was Thanos
of Titan, in conjunction with Warlock and the heretic heroes, who engineered the defeat of The Goddess. Believing she had triggered the celestial armageddon she had worked for, The Goddess was dismayed to learn that Warlock's spirit had communicated with the Egg, sending out an illusion that armageddon had been triggered, a fraction of a second before the real thing. This meant that The Goddess' plans were ruined; since her many universal followers now realized her intent, she could not generate the universal will needed to override the Egg's inbuilt safeguards regarding destruction.
The climax came in a showdown on the spiritual plane between The Goddess, the soul of Adam Warlock (now linked with the Cosmic Egg through his own machinations), Thanos (powered by Adam's Soul Gem, which he had been given for the duration of the conflict), and Professor X
(catatonic, but with Thanos able to access his spirit on the spiritual plane). The Goddess evaded their attacks, but when she returned to the physical plane to utilise the Egg's energies against the heroes, she found that Adam Warlock had beaten her to it, taking control of the Egg long enough to stall her, during which period Thanos used the power of the Soul Gem to take her spirit within, to Soul World.
Within Soul World, The Goddess met with her counterpart, The Magus; the two made to battle, but it transpired that, as part-souls themselves, not only could they not interact with the other denizens of Soul World, but they could not even touch each other. As The Magus put it: "Even to each other we are as ghosts."
, cosmic awareness, and mind-control, the ability to fly at supersonic speed, and the ability manipulate cosmic energy for a variety of other effects. She is also an accomplished self-taught philosopher
, and a master planner and schemer.
Her powers are mostly unconfirmed, since all of the recorded actions of the Goddess were during her possession of the 30 Cosmic Cubes. Nevertheless, since she was able to gather the Cubes in the first place, an extremely high degree of personal power must be assumed, presumably similar to those shared by her "brothers" Warlock and Magus.
She melded these units into the supremely-powerful Cosmic Egg, capable of reality manipulation on a massive scale - galactic at the least, judging by her intentions. Unlike the Infinity Gauntlet, however, the Egg could not affect the soul, and was possessed of inbuilt safeguards concerning massive destruction.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
universe. The name is assumed by the "feminine, self-aware" supposedly "good" aspect of Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 and #67 Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel...
, subconsciously exiled from his psyche whilst he was in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet
Infinity Gems
Infinity Gems, sometimes referred to as the Soul Gems, are six immensely powerful gems featured in the fictional Marvel Universe. Whoever holds all six gems in the Infinity Gauntlet gains omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and God-like power, and has absolute dominion over the universe...
. She was the main antagonist of the Infinity Crusade
Infinity Crusade
Infinity Crusade is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in 1993. The series was written by Jim Starlin and penciled by Ron Lim, Ian Laughlin, Al Milgrom and Jack Morelli....
crossover.
Fictional character biography
The Goddess, along with her counterpart The MagusMagus (comics)
The Magus is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics supervillain. He is an evil version of the hero Adam Warlock.-Publication history:The Magus was created by Jim Starlin, and appears as an image in Strange Tales vol...
, was created while Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #66 and #67 Adam Warlock, originally known as Him, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel...
was in brief possession of the Infinity Gauntlet; desiring to be a logical god, and not prone to judgment-impairing emotions, Warlock subconsciously expelled both good and evil from his soul, creating the beings The Goddess and The Magus respectively.
Neither stayed inactive, and both would resurface. The first hint of The Goddess' existence came at the end of the Infinity War
Infinity War
The Infinity War is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics in 1992. The series was written by Jim Starlin and penciled by Ron Lim, Ian Laughlin, Al Milgrom, Jack Morelli and Christie Scheele....
crossover, when it was revealed that an unknown woman had stolen the five Cosmic Containment Units
Cosmic Cube
The Cosmic Cube, called the Tesseract in the film Captain America: The First Avenger, is the name of a fictional object that appears in the Marvel Universe. The concept was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Tales of Suspense #79 .-Publication history:The first Cosmic Cube...
in the Magus' possession. Thanos suspected the Goddess' existence and threat to the universe.
When The Goddess made her appearance, reaching out to the heroes of Earth who were of a religious or spiritual persuasion as their would-be savior, she possessed 30 such Cosmic Cube
Cosmic Cube
The Cosmic Cube, called the Tesseract in the film Captain America: The First Avenger, is the name of a fictional object that appears in the Marvel Universe. The concept was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Tales of Suspense #79 .-Publication history:The first Cosmic Cube...
s, gathered from a multitude of different realities, which she soon reformed into the enormous structure known as the Cosmic Egg. The Egg afforded the wielder a phenomenal amount of power, although it still fell short of the legendary Infinity Gauntlet
Infinity Gems
Infinity Gems, sometimes referred to as the Soul Gems, are six immensely powerful gems featured in the fictional Marvel Universe. Whoever holds all six gems in the Infinity Gauntlet gains omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and God-like power, and has absolute dominion over the universe...
, most notably in its lack of control over the soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
. She recruited various heroes to join her in her mission to create peace throughout the universe, and created her base on Paradise Omega.
From her base on the newly-reformed Counter-Earth
Counter-Earth (comics)
In the fictional Marvel Universe, there have been three versions of the hypothetical planet known as Counter-Earth, each one a near-duplicate of Earth.-Publication history:...
, The Goddess used her Earth heroes and Cosmic Egg to declare holy war on a sinful universe; despite being the "good" portion of Adam Warlock's soul, she was a creature of extremes, and saw only extreme solutions to the problems she perceived; in this case, she decided at some point that the only way to remove all sin was to remove all sinners by blowing the Universe up. Using heavy telepathic emissions from the Egg, The Goddess slowly removed all crime, hate and war from everywhere across the galaxy, with seemingly the only ones unaffected being Earth's "heretical" heroes, and Uatu
Uatu
Uatu, often simply known as The Watcher, is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and designed by artist Jack Kirby, he first appeared in The Fantastic Four #13 ....
, the Watcher
Watcher (comics)
The Watchers are a fictional race of extraterrestrials that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the first Watcher - named Uatu - appears in Fantastic Four #13 .-Fictional history:...
. She stopped Mister Fantastic
Mister Fantastic
Mr. Fantastic is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the Fantastic Four. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 ....
, Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...
, and the Vision from investigating her base on Paradise Omega.
As the heroes plotted against the Goddess, Pip the Troll
Pip the Troll
Pip the Troll is a fictional character who appears in publications of Marvel Comics.-Publication history:Pip the Troll was introduced by Jim Starlin in Strange Tales vol 2 #179 to be a comic foil to the story's main protagonist, Adam Warlock...
teleported into Paradise Omega and used the Cosmic Egg to temporarily change the Goddess into salt. His victory was short-lived, as she was soon reverted to normal by her follower Silhouette
Silhouette (comics)
Silhouette is a fictional character, a superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appeared in New Warriors #2, , and was created by Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley...
.
Ultimately, it was Thanos
Thanos
Thanos is a fictional character that appears in comic books and other media published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Iron Man #55 and was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin....
of Titan, in conjunction with Warlock and the heretic heroes, who engineered the defeat of The Goddess. Believing she had triggered the celestial armageddon she had worked for, The Goddess was dismayed to learn that Warlock's spirit had communicated with the Egg, sending out an illusion that armageddon had been triggered, a fraction of a second before the real thing. This meant that The Goddess' plans were ruined; since her many universal followers now realized her intent, she could not generate the universal will needed to override the Egg's inbuilt safeguards regarding destruction.
The climax came in a showdown on the spiritual plane between The Goddess, the soul of Adam Warlock (now linked with the Cosmic Egg through his own machinations), Thanos (powered by Adam's Soul Gem, which he had been given for the duration of the conflict), and Professor X
Professor X
Professor Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero known as the leader and founder of the X-Men....
(catatonic, but with Thanos able to access his spirit on the spiritual plane). The Goddess evaded their attacks, but when she returned to the physical plane to utilise the Egg's energies against the heroes, she found that Adam Warlock had beaten her to it, taking control of the Egg long enough to stall her, during which period Thanos used the power of the Soul Gem to take her spirit within, to Soul World.
Within Soul World, The Goddess met with her counterpart, The Magus; the two made to battle, but it transpired that, as part-souls themselves, not only could they not interact with the other denizens of Soul World, but they could not even touch each other. As The Magus put it: "Even to each other we are as ghosts."
Powers and abilities
The Goddess is the abstract representation of the "positive" emotional elements of Adam Warlock's persona, made manifest into a physical form. Her body has certain cosmic energy receptive-cells, granting her superhuman strength and durability, telepathyTelepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, cosmic awareness, and mind-control, the ability to fly at supersonic speed, and the ability manipulate cosmic energy for a variety of other effects. She is also an accomplished self-taught philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and a master planner and schemer.
Her powers are mostly unconfirmed, since all of the recorded actions of the Goddess were during her possession of the 30 Cosmic Cubes. Nevertheless, since she was able to gather the Cubes in the first place, an extremely high degree of personal power must be assumed, presumably similar to those shared by her "brothers" Warlock and Magus.
Equipment
The Goddess had gathered thirty Cosmic Containment Units (not all were shaped as cubes) from over a dozen realities, which are power objects containing powerful reality-changing energy-beings.She melded these units into the supremely-powerful Cosmic Egg, capable of reality manipulation on a massive scale - galactic at the least, judging by her intentions. Unlike the Infinity Gauntlet, however, the Egg could not affect the soul, and was possessed of inbuilt safeguards concerning massive destruction.