AFRICAN GODS

Classification: Extra-Dimensionals/Immortals

Location/Base of Operations: Ala (an dimension similar to Olympus or Asgard)

Known Members: (in the Marvel Universe): Anansi, Avlekete, Buluku, Dam-Ayido (Damballah), Eschu, Ezili, Kibuka, Legba, Lusa, Mahu, Nana (Gaea), Ndriananahary, Nyambe, Ogun, Sagbata (Baron Samedi), Shango/Xevioso

Affiliations: Thor and the Asgardians; Other races of Gods

Aliases: Loa/Voodoo Gods; Orishas/Sky Gods (two separate branches)

First Appearance: (none named) Thor I#300 (October, 1980); (Shango) Thor Annual #10 (1980);
(as a race) Doctor Strange III#17 (May, 1990)

Powers/Abilities: The African Gods possess the ability to tap into and manipulate ambient energies of the universe in the form of magic such as crossing dimensions, casting spells and animating the dead as zombies. They also tend to have superhuman strength and incredible endurance.
The African Gods resemble African-American mortals, but are practically perfect in physical perfection. Presumably, like the Asgardians and Olympians,  they have physical densities three times greater than similar human tissue. They also cease to age upon reaching adulthood, but they might not be as immortal as the Olympian Gods.

Traits: The African Gods are made up of two interconnected parts: The Loa (gods of earth and the underworld) and the Orishas (gods of sky and heaven).
 

History: The origins of the African Gods are largely unrevealed but they are most likely descended from Buluku and Gaea in her role as Nana, the African Mother-Earth. (In Thor #301, she said she was ancestor for all the gods). Unlike most gods, they still have greater prominence in the mortal world as creators of the Voodoo religion. Many of their mortal worshippers have carried this faith into the Caribbean, South America and isolated parts of the Southern United States.

(Thor I#300 (fb))- Centuries ago, Buluku, the leader of the African Gods attended a council of Godheads in which they agreed not to interfere with the activities of the Celestials.

(Doctor Strange III#17/2, 20/2)- The connection of the African gods to Voodoo was revealed from the Book of the Vishanti, as the creation of the first Brother Voodoo was depicted when Sagbata allied with Chthon to create zombies.

(Thor I#301)- Thor visited Ala, where he successfully petitioned Buluku for a portion of the life energies to revive the Asgardians, slain in battle with the Celestials.

(Thor Annual 10)- Shango helped Thor defeat the entity Demogorge. Briefly consumed by the creature, he was freed when it rejected Thor.

(Thor I#398)- Two African Gods, Buluku and another, possibly Nyambe and Anansi, sensed the Enchantress' grief as she raged over the apparent death of Heimdall.

Comments: Adapted to the Marvel Universe by Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and Keith Pollard.

    Nyambe had more significance over Shango or his father Lusa.
    Anansi is a spider-god of wisdom who acted as vizier to his father, Nyambe.

    My book on African spirits places a lot of importance on Nyambe as ruler, judge and Great Spirit. Lusa is mentioned only as the sun-god who fathered the Great Twins of which Shango and Damballah are two of. In the MU, I would surmise that Buluku supersedes them both to keep dissension out of the Loa (Voodoo Gods) and their relations the Orishas (Sky Gods).

    In an alternate reality, (Earth-Thor-Thrall of Seth, @ What If II#38), Buluku met with the godheads to discuss Seth who has conquered Asgard in this reality.

    In the Marvel Universe, the Black Panther and a large portion of the people of Wakanda worship the Panther God. While there is no "Panther God" in the African pantheon, Christopher Priest, the ALWAYS ENTERTAINING writer of the Black Panther, named the Panther God as Bast. Bast is an Egyptian Cat God, but I see no reason why the worship of this deity couldn't have migrated South slightly to take hold in Wakanda. So, we're going with naming Bast as the Panther God, and including him/her (Androgyny is not that uncommon in mythology) with the Egyptian Gods, for now.
`The Lion God also claims to be one of the African Gods, although he does not correspond to any previously known mythological character. (Then again, neither does the Enchantress.) At any rate, the best explanation would appear to be placing both the Panther and Lion Gods in the Egyptian Pantheon, as Bast and Sekhmet. I doubt any other clarification is forthcoming
    --Snood.

    With respect to the two mythic Damballahs, Carycomix suggests: "The one who acted as eponym and power source for Brother Voodoo's first major bad guy was spawned by the Elder God Set. Set was probably trying to steal worshipers from the real Damballah, the same way some of his were stolen by Seth of Heliopolis! According to an issue of 'Nightmask' (one of the Marvel New Universe books that came out in the 1980's), the real Damballah was seen by his Afro-Caribbean worshipers as benevolent.",
    To which Snood replies: "It's name was Damballah at least as far back as 10000 BC, which is earlier than I might expect the African Gods to have been around. Perhaps the African Damballah stole the Set-spawn's thunder, much the way Seth did to Set."
    Carycomix replies that "If so, then Set's kid may have had another name. Perhaps, the Stygian equivalent of Apophis? According to the STARGATE: SG-1 website, the symbol for the actual Apophis of Egyptian mythology was a snake!"