Delphyne Gorgon is a fictional character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

. A

Gorgon A Gorgon (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɔːrɡən/; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ ''Gorgṓn/Gorgṓ'') is a creature in Greek mythology. Gorgons occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature. W ...

member of the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

nation, she is a love interest of

Amadeus Cho Amadeus Cho, also known as Brawn, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by American writer Greg Pak and Canadian artist Takeshi Miyazawa, the character first appeared in ''Amazing Fantasy'' vol. 2 #1 ...

. She first appeared in ''The Incredible Hercules'' #121, and was created by

Greg Pak Greg Pak is an American comic book writer and film director. Pak is best known for his work on books published by Marvel Comics, including ''X-Men'' (most notably '' X-Treme X-Men''), several titles featuring the Hulk (including ''Planet Hulk'', w ...

, Fred Van Lente, and

Clayton Henry Clayton Henry is a comic book artist, known mostly for his work for Marvel Comics. His first known works were providing the art on ''Nine Rings Of Wu-Tang'' and ''Area 52'', and has since worked on such series as '' Exiles'', ''Alpha Flight'', ' ...

Fictional character biography

In the classical age, the Amazons were engaged as mercenaries to battle an army of

s. They were victorious, and took many Gorgons as prisoners, who gradually interbred with humans, and their genetic line continued within the Amazon nation.''The Incredible Hercules'' #122. Marvel Comics. One human/Gorgon hybrid named Delphyne was assigned as a servant to Amazon Queen

Hippolyta In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Gr ...

's daughter Princess Artume at a very young age. She became a highly respected general, fighting in the siege of Olympus against the armies of

Amatsu-Mikaboshi In Japanese mythology, (あまつみかぼし), also called (あめのかがせお), Hoshigami Kaseo (星神香香背男, ほしがみかがせお), Kaseo (香香背男, かがせお), Amenoseo (天背男, あめのせお), or Ame no Murakumo n ...

. When Princess Artume conceived of a scheme to depose her mother, locate the

Omphalos An omphalos is a religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Ancient Greek, the word () means "navel". Among the Ancient Greeks, it was a widespread belief that Delphi was the center of the world. According to the myths regarding the founding of ...

and use it to remake the world in the Amazons' image, Delphyne joined her. They abducted

(who they believed to be

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

eromenos In ancient Greece, an ''eromenos'' was the younger and passive (or 'receptive') partner in a male homosexual relationship. The partner of an ''eromenos'' was the ''erastes'', the older and active partner. The ''eromenos'' was often depicted as a ...

) in order to convince him to help locate the Omphalos. Delphyne warned Cho that Artume was deceiving him (claiming to have sympathy for "small animals and morons"), but Cho ignored her advice initially. Eventually, however, he saw reason, and the two kissed. This was witnessed by Artume. As she explained later, she would have tolerated this but a displeasing farewell wave sealed her subordinates's fate. She attempted to murder Delphyne, but failed as a result of a lack of knowledge about Gorgon anatomy. Delphyne joined Cho, Hercules, and

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

in defeating Artume, and, in killing her, became the new Queen of the Amazons. Telling Cho that because of this she could not engage in a relationship with a man without killing him after consummation, she departed. Now queen, Delphyne subsequently joined

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

's alliance of New Olympians, with the goal of killing Hercules and Athena. This brought her face to face with Cho again, who was perplexed by her decision. Delphyne explained her desire to kill Athena in revenge for the original Gorgon curse, and warned him against trusting the goddess. Later, when Hera attempted to kill her daughter Hebe in retaliation for Hebe's helping Hercules, Delphyne drew a gun on Hera, demanding that she cease. Seeking the aid of

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter Burk ...

, Delphyne had Athena's

Aegis The aegis ( ; grc, αἰγίς ''aigís''), as stated in the ''Iliad'', is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. There may be a connection with a d ...

shield reforged into a helmet that granted her the abilities of the Medusa head within the shield. When the Avengers raided the headquarters of the Olympus Group, Delphyne attempted to confront Athena, despite Cho's entreaties to cease. She used the helmet to turn Athena into stone, which freed her from the Gorgon curse, appalling Cho.''The Incredible Hercules'' #139. Marvel Comics. Subsequently, however, she balked at allowing Hephaestus to kill Cho and Hercules, and Athena was revived by the arrival of Zeus' thunderbolt, conferring on Athena the leadership of the Pantheon, and returning Delphyne to her Gorgon appearance. For Delphyne's attempted deicide, she was sentenced to dwell forever in the bowels of the Olympus Group building. Subsequently, upon Vali Halfling's capture of the Olympus Group headquarters, she escaped her cell. She found Athena weakened by Halfling's capture of the

ambrosia In the ancient Greek myths, ''ambrosia'' (, grc, ἀμβροσία 'immortality'), the food or drink of the Greek gods, is often depicted as conferring longevity or immortality upon whoever consumed it. It was brought to the gods in Olympus ...

of the gods, but was convinced not to kill Athena, and instead found herself allied with the goddess to repel the invaders. She defeated Pantheon member

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

in combat, and then joined Cho in defeating Vali Halfling himself and rescuing Hercules. The two then kissed and officially became a couple.

Powers and abilities

Delphyne is a skilled martial artist and combatant, capable of knocking over Hercules through effective application of technique, rather than through sheer strength. Unlike most Gorgons in fiction, she does not possess the ability to turn people to stone, something she says only flows through the line of Medusa Gorgon. However, she was able to circumvent this fault by having Hephaestus craft a helmet which drew upon her potential lineage inheritance. Delphyne's snake-like hair can inject victims with an incredibly deadly poison through their fangs, are strong enough to hold up all of her body weight without much effort and prehensile enough to manipulate the trigger of a firearm. Being cold-blooded, she does not register on infrared scans, giving her an advantage in the dark.

Other versions

Secret Wars

During the ''

Secret Wars ''Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars'', commonly known as ''Secret Wars'' for short, is a twelve-issue American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written ...

'' storyline, a version of Delphyne Gorgon from the

Battleworld Battleworld is a fictional patchwork planet appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history The first Battleworld debuted in the ''Secret Wars'' crossover where it was created by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck. The s ...

island nation of Arcadia is a student at the Victor von Doom Institute for Gifted Youths in Doomstadt. She is a member of the Night Witches alongside

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

of Limbo and

Pixie A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas arou ...

of Mutopia.''Runaways'' vol. 4 #1. Marvel Comics.

References

External links

Delphyne Gorgon
at Marvel Wiki
Delphyne Gorgon
at Comic BookDatabase
Interview with Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente on upcoming stories
{{Hercules Comics characters introduced in 2008 Characters created by Clayton Henry Characters created by Greg Pak Characters created by Fred Van Lente Fictional amputees Fictional queens Gorgons Marvel Comics Amazons Marvel Comics female supervillains Marvel Comics female superheroes Marvel Comics martial artists