Delphyne Gorgon is a fictional character appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

s published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. A

Gorgon The Gorgons ( ; ), in Greek mythology, are three monstrous sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, said to be the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. They lived near their sisters the Graeae, and were able to turn anyone who looked at them to sto ...

member of the

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

nation, she is a love interest of

Amadeus Cho Amadeus Cho 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 #15 (January 2005). C ...

. She first appeared in ''

The Incredible Hercules ''The Incredible Hercules'' was an ongoing series, ongoing comic book series written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and published by Marvel Comics. The series starred the mythological superhero Hercules (Marvel Comics), Hercules, his sidekick Amad ...

'' #121, and was created by

Greg Pak Greg Pak is an American comic book writer and film director. He 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, and Hercules.Truitt, Brian ...

Fred Van Lente Fred Van Lente (born February 14, 1972, in Tacoma, Washington) from Chagrin Falls, Ohio is an American writer, primarily of comic books and graphic novels. Career Van Lente is the co-founder, along with artist Ryan Dunlavey, of Evil Twin Com ...

, and

Clayton Henry Clayton Henry is an American 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 (comic book ...

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 interbred with humans, and their genetic line continued within the Amazon nation.''

'' #122 (December 2008) One human/Gorgon hybrid named Delphyne was assigned to serve

Hippolyta In Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; ''Hippolytē''), was a daughter of Ares and Otrera,Hyginus, ''Fabulae'', 30 queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Greek word foun ...

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

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

against the armies of

Amatsu-Mikaboshi Amatsu-Mikaboshi (天津甕星), also called Ame-no-Kagaseo (天香香背男) or Hoshi-no-Kami Kagaseo (星神香香背男), is a god of stars who appears in Japanese mythology. No reference to Mikaboshi is made in the ''Kojiki'', however, he plays ...

. When Artume conceives a scheme to depose her mother, locate the

Omphalos An omphalos is a religious stone artefact. 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 the Delphic ...

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

(who they believe 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 b ...

) to convince him to help locate the Omphalos. Delphyne warns Cho that Artume is deceiving him, but Cho initially ignores her advice. Eventually, however, he sees reason, and the two kiss. This was witnessed by Artume. She attempts to murder Delphyne, but fails as a result of a lack of knowledge about Gorgon anatomy. Delphyne joins Cho, Hercules, and

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

in defeating Artume. After killing Artume, Delphyne succeeds her as queen of the Amazons and separates from Cho. Now queen, Delphyne joins

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

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

Hephaestus Hephaestus ( , ; wikt:Hephaestus#Alternative forms, eight spellings; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985: III.2. ...

, Delphyne has Athena's

Aegis The aegis ( ; ''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 deity named Aex, a ...

shield reforged into a helmet. When the

Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...

raid the headquarters of the Olympus Group, Delphyne attempts to confront Athena, despite Cho's entreaties to cease. She uses the helmet to turn Athena into stone, which frees her from the Gorgon curse, appalling Cho.''The Incredible Hercules'' #139 (February 2010) However, Delphyne balks at allowing Hephaestus to kill Cho and Hercules, and Athena is revived by Zeus' thunderbolt, conferring on Athena the leadership of the Pantheon, and returning Delphyne to her Gorgon appearance. For Delphyne's attempted

deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from ...

, she is imprisoned at the bottom of the Olympus Group building. After Vali Halfling obtains control of the Olympus Group headquarters, Delphyne escapes her imprisonment. She finds Athena weakened by Halfling's capture of the

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

of the gods, but is convinced not to kill Athena and instead works with her to repel the invaders. Delphyne defeats Pantheon member

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

in combat and joins Cho in defeating Vali Halfling and rescuing Hercules. The two then kiss 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, she does not possess the ability to turn people to stone, which is only possessed by Medusa's lineage. Delphyne's snake-like hair can inject victims with a 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, Delphyne does not register on infrared scans, giving her an advantage in the dark.

Other versions

An alternate universe variant of Delphyne Gorgon from Earth-16191 appears in ''

Secret Wars ''Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars'', commonly known as ''Secret Wars'', is a 12-issue American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Jim Shooter ...

''. This version is a student at the Victor von Doom Institute for Gifted Youths and a member of the Night Witches alongside

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

and

Pixie A pixie (also called pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, piskie, or pigsie in parts of Cornwall and Devon) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cor ...

.''

Runaways Runaway, Runaways or Run Away may refer to: Engineering * Runaway reaction, a chemical reaction releasing more heat than what can be removed and becoming uncontrollable * Thermal runaway, self-increase of the reaction rate of an exothermic proce ...

'' (vol. 4) #1 (August 2015)

References

External links

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