HUNTSMANHUNTSMAN
Real Name: Unrevealed (Possibly Cephalus or Keres (see comments) )
Identity/Class: Uncertain. Magical warrior
Occupation: Hunter/tracker of Olympians for Zeus
Group Membership: Olympians
Affiliations: Agent of Zeus; indirect pawn of Ares, Pluto, and Hippolyta; Mutates, Shadow-Hound; utilized variety of mythological agents, including the Menoetius, Polyphemus, Scylla and Charibdis, and the Sirens
Enemies: Avengers (Black Panther, Goliath (Clint Barton), Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision), Champions of Los Angeles (Angel, Black Widow, Ghost Rider/John Blaze, Iceman), Hercules, Namor, Venus
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Huntsman of Zeus
Base of Operations: Mount Olympus
First Appearance: Ka-Zar Quarterly#1/2 (August, 1970)
Powers/Abilities: The Huntsman generates terror in the Olympians Gods, making them particularly vulnerable to him. All of his powers stem from his Power-Staff, which is directly powered by Zeus, himself. His abilities, and those of the staff, were initially completely dependent on the Huntsman maintaining contact with it. If it was knocked from his hands, he became completely powerless, and the staff had no more power than an ordinary wooden stick. In addition, the Huntsman’s powers are dependent on Zeus. If Zeus ceases to desire the Huntsman to accomplish his mission, his powers drop off sharply. If either of these situations occurs, anything summoned or created by the staff will return back to where it originated.
The Huntsman’s staff can project powerful bursts of energy, travel between dimensions (at least Earth and Olympus), generate convincing illusions, and summon (or create) creatures from Olympian mythology, or artificial duplicates of these creatures (see below). The Huntsman must speak some form of rhyme to summon these creatures.
The Staff drains the power of an Olympian on contact. In addition, the staff grants him superhuman strength and durability, presumably even to the Class 100 level if need be.
The Huntsman could also generate a flaming staff which allowed him to travel through the air on a trail of mystic flame. When thrown, it could temporarily disperse and paralyze all caught in its energy release. Again, Olympians were even more susceptible to this power than others.
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 285 lbs.
Eyes: Black
Hair: Brown
History: Unrevealed. The Huntsman may be either a human or an Olympian mutated by the power of Zeus, or he may have been completely created by Zeus. He was created an unknown number of centuries ago, possibly even millennia. When first seen, he commented that it had been a long time since he had been summoned. His previous exploits are unrevealed.
(Ka-Zar Quarterly#1/2(fb)) - Shortly after returning to Olympus following his first exile alongside the Avengers, Hercules again incurred the wrath of Zeus, and headed back to Earth. Enraged (and goaded by Ares), Zeus summonned the Huntsman to drag Hercules back to Earth
(Ka-Zar Quarterly#1/2) - Hercules, terrified by the
Huntsman, encountered Goliath II and headed to Avengers Mansion to
gain assistance. The Huntsman sent his Shadow-Hound to attack
Hercules at the mansion, but Hercules managed to subdue it. The
Huntsman then arrived and blasted the rest of the Avengers
unconscious. Hercules flled from the Hutnsman, complaining that
he was forced to flee against his will.
(Sub-Mariner I#29) - The Huntsman said that he had filled Hercules with too much fear, such that he could now sense his approach and escaped him. He summoned the Sirens to bring Namor under his control, whom he then sendt to overtake and occupy Hercules until he could smite him. This was effective, and after catching up with the two, the Huntsman summoned Polyphemus, Scylla, and Charybdis to subdue them (Namor had recovered his own will in struggle against Hercules). As Hercules and Namor began to overpower the three creatures, the Huntsman struck down Hercules from behind. Namor then knocked the staff from the Huntsman’s hands, causing the creatures and the Hutnsman’s powers to vanish. Zeus, however, intervened and summoned the Huntsman back to Olympus. Hercules and Zeus made their peace, and all was right again. Namor, his memory of the events erased by Zeus, snapped the now powerless staff of the Huntsman in half.
(Champions#2) - Ares, Hippolyta, and Pluto duped Zeus into agreeing to the marriages of Hercules to Hippolyta, and of Venus to Ares, in order to prevent an attack by a union of the lords of the death dimensions. When Hercules and Venus refused, Pluto coerced Zeus into summoning the Huntsman and sending him after them. Hercules had recently joined with a group of other heroes to form the Champions. They succeeded in initially fighting off the Huntsman (along with the Titan, Menoetius, whom he had summoned). However, the Huntsman then cast an illusion that made the Ghost Rider see the other Champions as Pluto and his allies, and he attacked and incapacitated them. When he saw what he had done, he was shocked and was easy prey for a blow from behind by the Huntsman. The Huntsman then took Hercules and Venus back to Mount Olympus.
(Champions3) - The Champions arrived in Olympus to stop the weddings. The Huntsman summoned an army of Pluto’s Mutates to battle them and warned Pluto of their arrival. Zeus heard this and questioned Pluto’s true motives. The Huntsman prepared to summon forth more allies, but got his head smacked against a stone wall by the Angel.
Clarifications:
Huntsman should not be confused with: Mount Olympus is not to be confused with: The mythological Scylla serves as the namesake
for others, ie: Comments: Created
by Allyn Brodsky and Frank Springer. The Huntsman seemed to show some direct
allegiance to Pluto, but this was not elaborated upon. There is no evidence one way or the other to
determine whether the creatures summoned by the staff of the
Huntsman are the genuine article or not. Some of these commented
on the fact that they had been summoned (rather than created(?)).
They may differ significantly from the stories of myth, but
that’s artistic license for you. Thanks to our resident Master of Mythology, William Uchtman, for clarifying/detailing the origins of mythological
characters for me. Smite. What a great word. In the All-New OHotMU Update#3 Huntsman received his own entry. In this entry it was suspected that he was the reincarnation of the famous Greek hunter Cephalus. It possesses greatly amplified canine strengths
and abilities. It is described as having claws of "burning
ice" --Ka-Zar Quarterly#1/2 They represent the Sirens who would sing so
beautifully that they would cause sailors to dive from their
ships in an effort to be with them. The sailors would then be
crushed against the rocks of the isle on which the Sirens stood.
The original Sirens were half bird. These Sirens sang beautifully
as well, although they were entirely humanoid, with the exception
of their green skin. Their songs could summon and entrance anyone
within earshot. They may be more effective against men. They were
used to place Namor under the control of the Huntsman. In Greek mythology, the Sirens were daughters of Achelous the river-god and Melpomene
the Muse (daughter of Zeus). They were playmates of Persephone
who left her alone to be kidnapped by Hades. Demeter punished
them by binding them alone to the island of Anthemoessa near
Italy. The Sirens were not evil, but they spent much of their
lives starving for companionship. He was one of the Titans, who were the
precursors of the Olympian Gods. In eons past, he was slain by a
thunderbolt from Zeus. When summoned by the Huntsman, he had been
transformed by the energy of the thunderbolt into living energy.
He was "short-circuited" in battle against the
Champions when the Black Widow caught him between a steel
flagpole and a puddle of melting ice with her widow’s line.
In Greek mythology, Menoetius (also spelled
Menoeceus) was a brother of Prometheus, Atlas and Eprimetheus.
They were sons of the Titan Japet and Clymene, an Oceanide. --Champions#2 Scylla and Charybdis are the original "rock and a hard place" -- they
represented a rocky cliff and a whirlpool in the Strait of
Messina off the coast of Sicily, between which sailor had to
carefully navigate in order to avoid destruction. Polyphemus was one of the second-generation Cyclopes, and
encountered the crew of Ulysses/Odysseus during the voyage known
as the Odyssey. Polyphemus was a son of Poseidon and the nereid
Thoosa. His four brothers have never been named, but one fiction
names them as Pallas, Argus, Atlas and Actaeus. They were
peaceful shepards on Sicily (some myths say in Libya) who adopted
the seer Telemus. He was so grateful that he warned Polyphemus to
beware of Odysseus. Unfortunately, when Odysseus appeared years
later, Polyphemus had forgotten the dire prophecy. Furthermore,
Odysseus claimed his name was Nobody and only screamed out his
name as he fled. As you know the Odyssey: "Brothers,"
Polyphemus cried out. "Nobody has blinded me and stolen
my sheep !" All of the above three creatures demonstrated
primarily immense strength and durability when summoned by the
Huntsman. --Sub-Mariner I#29 Appearances: Last updated: 10/26/02 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. All characters mentioned or pictured are
™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real
thing!
Olympia, home of the Eternals, @ Eternals I#5
In addition, he comments (regarding the Huntsman): "something
about him reminds me of Keres, an ancient god who predated the
Titans. He sadisticly terrorized the spirits of the dead until
ripped apart by Cerberus. I'm not saying this is who the Huntsman
is supposed to be, but if I drew a depiction of him, it'd
resemble the Huntsman."
--Markus Raymond
The Shadow-Hound
The Sirens
--Sub-Mariner I#29
The Scylla of mythology was originally a nymph changed into a
monster. Scylla was the daughter of the sea-god Phorcys (father
of the Gorgons by Ceto) and Hecate, the witch-goddess. The
sea-god Glaucus fell in love with her and went to Circe to win
her love. Circe however fell in love with Glaucus herself and
transformed Scylla into a six-headed dragon to be rid of her.
Scylla terrorized the seas in hostility until Hephaestus bound
her to the cliffs near Sicily. She stayed there for so long she
became part of the cliff (hence her transformation to
stone). Charybdis was a whale-goddess, and daughter of Poseidon
and Gaea. Possessed of a veracious appetite, she embarrassed her
father on her first visit to Olympus by eating too much and was
bound opposite Scylla to live off her scraps.
"Nay, foolish cyclops !" Odysseus screamed as
his men rowed away. "You tell your brothers you were
blinded by the cunning Odysseus !!"
Polyphemus, however, told his father who blinded him and Poseidon
threw a curse on Odysseus to never reach home for several years.
Ka-Zar I#1 (August, 1970) - Allyn Brodsky (writer), Frank Springer (pencils), Dick Ayers (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Sub-Mariner I#29 (September, 1970) - Roy Thomas (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Champions#2 (January, 1976) - Tony Isabella (writer), Don Heck (pencils), John Tartaglione (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Champions#3 (February, 1976) - Tony Isabella & Bill Mantlo (writer), George Tuska (pencils), Vince Colletta (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
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