Weight: 420 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Strawberry blonde
History: (Greek-Roman myth) - Artemis was born centuries ago on the island of Delos in the Aegean Sea (now part of modern-day Greece) to the Olympian god-king Zeus and the day-goddess Leto, daughter of the Titan moon-gods, Coeus and Phoebe. When the Queen of the gods and wife of Zeus, Hera, discovered the truth about Leto's pregnancy, she was consumed by great anger and jealousy over Zeus's infidelity. Hera drove Leto from Olympus, forcing the goddess to retreat to Earth in search of a place to give birth. To confound Leto's dilemma, Hera forbade the Earthly kingdoms at that time in Greece from welcoming Leto and sent the monstrous serpent Python to pursue her but Leto eventually evaded him. Leto sought shelter on the isle of Delos, in the center of the Aegean sea, and thereupon gave birth to the divine twins Apollo and Artemis. Apollo was actually given the name Phoebus Apollo in honor of his grandmother, Leto's mother, Phoebe.
Artemis and Apollo lived on Delos for several years until they reached adolescence and during their childhood became the closest of friends. Eventually, the twins were summoned by their father Zeus to Olympus to join their fellow immortals. At some point, Artemis developed an interest in hunting and of animals that resided in forests and wild areas. Thus, she became the patron goddess of wild creatures and of hunters who hunted as a means of survival and not merely for sport. She became a major deity for the Taurian tribes. In ancient times, Artemis's favorite pastime was to roam mountain forests and uncultivated lands hunting for lions, panthers, hinds and stags with her band of female followers which included both mortals and other minor goddesses. Sometimes, in contrast, she helped protect and saw to the care, safety and propagation of the very creatures she hunted. Artemis was renowned for traveling with her bow and arrows that were made by her half-brother, the smith-god Hephaestus and his assistants, the giant beings called the Cyclopes.
Artemis, like some of her Olympian brethren, had encounters with Earth mortals. While out hunting, the human Actaeon accidentally stumbled upon Artemis and her goddesses, who were bathing in a secluded pool. Enraged upon discovering Actaeon observing her, Artemis transformed him into a stag and then set his own hunting dogs upon him who proceeded to both chase and kill him as they thought their master was just another stag. Another incident involved Orion, a great hunter, whom Artemis had fallen in love with. Artemis had vowed long ago to remain a chaste goddess and demanded the same of her followers, although there were several accounts of her followers forsaking this. She nearly put aside her vow when encountering Orion and even pondered marrying him. However, her twin brother Apollo was repulsed by the fact that Orion was only a mere mortal and deemed him unworthy of being the lover of a goddess, especially to his own sister and he contrived a plot which resulted in Artemis accidentally killing Orion while out hunting. To this day Artemis bears a bit of resentment towards Apollo for his act of duplicity. The Greek high king of Mycenae, Agamemnon also angered Artemis when he killed a stag in her sacred grove and claimed to be a better hunter than she. She punished him by seeing to it that his ships were unable to set sail when mounting an expedition against the city of Troy. With no winds to sail his ships Agamemnon was told by the prophet Calchas that the only way Artemis would bring back the winds was for him to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. When Agamemnon intended to sacrifice Iphigenia, Artemis exchanged a deer in her place, taking Iphigenia to the land of the Tauri to become her priestess.
Artemis' and Apollo' friendship still blossomed as seen when they put to death the children of Niobe, a queen of Thebes. This was to avenge an insult visited upon their mother Leto by Niobe. Being a mere mortal only, Niobe boasted to Leto that she had borne more children and thus must be superior to the goddess herself. The outraged Apollo informed his sister of this and the twin gods hunted Niobe's children down and shot them with their bows and arrows; Apollo slew the sons and Artemis the daughters.
Artemis' anger could also be visited upon her own kind. This was observed when one of her followers, the goddess-nymph, Callisto, was seduced by Zeus through trickery, appearing to her in the form of Artemis herself. The young goddess was duped and later gave birth to Arcas, the ancestor and a king of the Arcadians. Artemis, however, was far from lenient or understanding when Callisto's pregnancy was one day revealed and she rejected Callisto causing the goddess to flee from her presence.
Like the other foremost members of the Olympian pantheon, Artemis' worship was carried over to the Roman peoples who called her by the name of Diana, and sometimes revered her as goddess of the moon.
(Hercules: Fall of an Avenger#2 (fb)) - When Hercules, after his Twelve Labors, joined with Athena and declared war on King Augeas of Elis, Pluto, Neptune, Ares, and other gods went to war with him.
(Avengers: No Road Home#1 (fb) ) - Artemis joined battle against the gigantic two-headed serpent Amphisbaena alongside Athena, Hercules, Hermes, Neptune and Zeus. They vanquished the monster.
Artemis attended the festivities after the battle.
(Avengers: No Road Home#4 (fb) ) - Artmies joined the Olympians' battle against Nyx and her children Hypnos, Apate and Dolos when they turned on the other Olympians. Artemis defeated Apate. In the aftermath Zeus exiled Nyx and her children into a prison of eternal darkness.
(Thor Annual#5) - Artemis was present when Hercules attempted to convince
Zeus to wage war against Asgard, but she sided against her half-brother.
(Thor: Blood Oath#3-4) - Artemis observed Hercules and Thor as they fought over the enchanted pig of Dionysus.
(Thor I#129) - Artemis was present in Olympus
when Hercules was forced to go to Hades and rule there in Pluto's
stead. (Avengers I#281) - Artemis journeyed to earth
alongside Hermes and Dionysus to capture the Avengers for Zeus,
who blamed them for injuries Hercules had suffered. While Captain
Marvel fought Hermes, Artemis shot at arrow at her which passed
through her intangible state, and shocked her, returning her to
mortal form unconscious. Hermes was attracted to the Avenger, but
Artemis reminded him that she was one of their enemies. (Avengers I#284 (fb)) - Artemis next journeyed
to the Caribbean, to capture the Wasp. She caught the Wasp's
attention with a deer (possibly Artemis transformed herself into
the deer), then fired an arrow at her. The Wasp destroyed the
arrow with her sting, but it burst into dust which numbed her
mind, striking her unconscious. (Avengers I#283) - Artemis presented the Wasp to
Zeus, then stood alongside him against Venus, Hephaestus, Athena
and Apollo, who had allied themselves with the Avengers. (Avengers I#284) - Artemis fired another of her
arrows at Captain Marvel but this time, Captain Marvel blasted
the ground out from under her, defeating her. (Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed) - Artemis
attended a fest in Olympus in which the Hulk served as their
guest. She attempted to to rouse her brother Apollo from a
drunken state after he attempted to keep up with the Hulk's
drinking. (Hercules III#4 - BTS) - Artemis was presumably present with the Olympian pantheon as they convened a board meeting on Earth at the Olympus Group, assuming the appearances of mortal businessmen in an attempt to maintain some connection with humanity. Zeus had gathered them to confront Hera for manipulating Hercules into appearing on a reality television show as part of an attempt to gain revenge upon him, but he wound up being jeered at by his own family for his many infidelities. They finally voted against interfering with Hercules' labors.
(Ares#1) - After a battle with Pluto, Artemis met with the other gods of Olympus as they discussed how distasteful Ares' brutality was to them.
(Incredible Hercules#123) - Artemis attended a meeting of the Olympus Group called in by Hera after Zeus' death. She was shocked when Hera struck her brother Apollo with a lightning bolt. (Assault on New Olympus Prologue#1 - BTS) - When Athena asked Artemis to help against Hera she did what her brother Apollo did and didn't want to get involved. (Hercules: Fall of an Avenger#1) - Athena led the Olympus Group including Artemis to the funeral of Hercules. (Hercules: Fall of an Avenger#2) - Artemis followed her brother Apollo in opposing Athena, who declared herself queen of Olympus and Amadeus the Olympus Group's leader. She chose Skaar as her representative in a battle between mortal proxies. The battle ended in a draw when the mortals decided to stop fighting and went up against the gods themselves. After the fight everyone went their own way. (Incredible Hulks#621) - On his way up Mount Olympus to ask Zeus for help the Hulk was attacked by several gods. Artemis was among them and fired numerous arrows at him that got stuck in his back. She got distracted when he threatened her hounds and annoyed by her calling him a hero jumped further up Mount Olympus while she fired a few more arrows at him without causing any him to stop. (Herc#6.1) - Artemis was present when Hera chewed up Zeus for not being around (or more exactly sleeping around on Earth) while Hercules stole weapons from the Armory of Ares. (Avengers: No Road Home#2 (fb) ) - Nyx and her children Apate, Dolos, Hypnos and Oyzis attacked the Olympian gods, including Artemis, on Mount Olympus. Comments: Adapted by Stan Lee and Jack
Kirby. Legends also claimed that the jealous Hera had
detained her daughter Eilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to
prevent Leto from giving birth to Apollo and Artemis, but the
other gods intervened and forced Hera to release Eilithyia
enabling Leto to give birth. Furthermore, other legends state
that Artemis was born before Apollo on the island of Ortygia and
assisted her mother in delivering her twin brother when reaching
Delos. Obviously not all of the accounts can be true and are
probably hyperbolic explanations passed down by the human
worshippers of the gods. Profile by Alex K, Prime Eternal, Will Uchtman and Markus Raymond. CLARIFICATIONS:
Artemis should not be confused with:
