(Greek-Roman Myth) - In the Fourteenth Century BC, King Polydectes of Seriphos sent Perseus on a search for Medusa to kill her and return with her head as proof. In the young heir’s absence, Polydectes hoped to marry his mother, Danae, and through her gain control of Argos. Athena meanwhile guided Perseus in his adventure and had the Graiae provide him with several weapons required in confronting Medusa. Although he had to ransom the sacred eye of the Graiae to attain their cooperation, Perseus was eventually armed with winged sandals, a cap that made him invisible, a pouch that was immune to Medusa’s power and a sword to use against her before being sent into the area where he would hope to find Medusa and her sisters.

(Greek-Roman Myth / USA Comics#6 (fb) / Journey Into Mystery I#96 (fb)) - He finally located the Gorgons living isolated in the wilderness surrounded by the stone statues of their previous victims. Watching them through the shining reflective surface of his shield, he waited until they fell asleep and then crept among them and slew Medusa with one single blow, decapitating her in the process. Medusa’s sisters rose to fight their invisible invader, but could not find him to confront him. They instead returned to mourn and bury their sister. From her corpse, the winged horse Pegasus burst forth and fled off into the night. Her blood seeping into the Earth, however, turned into serpents. Athena saved some of the blood and gave it to King Erichthonius of Athens. One drop cured disease and another drop became a deadly poison.

(Adventures Into Terror#15 (fb) ) - Medusa had secretly had a daughter, and when Medusa died, she spirited her daughter away to a subterranean world below Athens. There, in what would become Medusa-Land, her daughter, also known as Medusa, came to rule the city. Her descendents--each named Medusa and possessing similar powers to the original Medusa--each ruled the city after the deaths of their mothers.

(Greek-Roman Myth) - Perseus reached that night the Garden of the Hesperides where the daughters of the Titan Atlas treated him warmly as a guest. The Titaness Themis, however, had warned Atlas that a son of Zeus would one day rob the apples from the garden and treated him inhospitably. Wanting to take down some of the apples as a gift to his mother, Perseus tried to abscond with a few of them, but Atlas noticed him and screamed at him to stay away from them. Perseus then struck back by using Medusa’s head to turn him to stone; Atlas had managed to revert back to normal by the arrival of Hercules, the real threat of which Themis had warned him. Perseus also used Medusa’s head to turn King Polydectes to stone, but eventually realized the head was too dangerous for him to keep and he gave it to Athena for safe keeping. She emblazoned the surface of her aegis (breastplate) with its gruesome image.

    Mopsus, one of the Argonauts, was killed by one of the serpents born from Medusa’s blood in Libya as they struggled to return to Greece.

    Athena eventually saved a clipping from Medusa’s hair and concealed it in an urn to give to Hercules two generations later. He gave it to Sterope, a princess of Tegea and daughter of his good friend King Cepheus, and told her it could be used to ward off any army. She kept it hidden away as a weapon for Tegea as her father joined Hercules in a war against Sparta.

(Marvel Preview#10) <@ 1250-1225 BC> - King Kreon of Pylos sent Hercules and the Argonauts to retrieve the gold of Medusa hidden on the Isle of Fear. Kreon knew Medusa had no gold and hoped to be rid of them by sending them on the dangerous adventure. Reaching the island and encountering griffins en route, they encountered Medusa concealing her face behind a hood. She offered Jason a bite of a golden apple with the promise of immortality, but Hercules realized the truth and shot an arrow trying to kill her, but it instead knocked her hood off. Jason was turned to stone as a result as Medusa turned on Hercules, but the Old One shot an arrow and killed her to defend Hercules. With Medusa dead, Jason and all her prior victims returned back to normal as the Argonauts collected her golden apples for King Kreon and seized her winged horse.

(Greek-Roman Myth) - Sometime in the Seventh Century BC, Athena also took two ribs from Medusa’s corpse to create a flute, but she could never understand why Aphrodite and Hera broke out laughing when she tried to master playing it. She eventually saw a reflection of herself as she looked trying to blow through them and cast the flutes to earth as she cursed the person who found them. The satyr Marsyas discovered them and learned to play them excellently, but he got involved in a musical contest with the god Apollo that was judged by Midas, the king of Phrygia. Apollo won by playing his lyre upside down, but Marsyas lost his life after trying to do the same thing with the Medusa flute.

(Avengers I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Some years later, a group of Greek soldiers surprised an extraterrestrial alien from the planet D’Bari on Earth. He used a weapon to turn one of the soldiers to stone. Because of that feat and his weird appearance, they fled believing that he was Medusa returned back to life.

(Journey Into Mystery I#96 (fb) - BTS) - The extraterrestrial race known only as "Gorgons" were also mistaken for Medusa at various times. Like Medusa, they could transform people into stone with their countenance.

(Journey Into Mystery I#73 (fb) - BTS) - Ages ago, Medusa was imprisoned in the dungeon of a castle in Europe, to protect humanity from her gaze. Centuries went by and the castle remained vacant, due to fear of the curse contained within it.

(Tales To Astonish I#32) - In the 1920's, Medusa adopted the identity of "May Dusa" and became a famous award-winning photographer, keeping her face concealed beneath a black hood. On one occasion, a man attempted to rob from her, and gained access to her apartment by claiming to want his picture taken. Curious to see if "May Dusa" was as beautiful under the hood as he believed, the criminal removed the hood and was instantly transformed into stone.

(Adventures Into Terror#15 - BTS) <1954> - Anthropologist Professor Lansing discovered the existence of Medusa-Land and led a group of criminals there to steal its wealth.

(Mystery Tales#17) - Medusa lived in Paris with her husband, a blind man from Greece who won an art competition by entering a man Medusa had turned to stone.

(Tales of Suspense I#10 (fb) ) - Medusa came to be kept in the possession of a curio shop owner, who kept her locked behind a heavy iron door. On one occasion, a criminal robbed the store and, thinking that the iron door concealed the owner's most valuable treasures, forced him to open it. Upon gazing at Medusa, he was immediately turned into stone.

(Tales of Suspense I#10) - The shop owner placed the criminal's stone body in his shop. Some time later, a customer wanted to know the story behind the "statue", and the owner told him; the customer did not believe him, but when the owner challenged him to open the door himself, he fled in terror, convinced.

(Journey Into Mystery I#73) - Mr. and Mrs. Grey bought the European castle containing Medusa, ignoring the curse. They eventually came upon the locked cell of Medusa. Unaware of what was behind the door, Mrs. Grey went to fetch a crowbar, after which the door opened easily for Mr. Grey. Medusa mocked Grey as she revealed her face, but she was amazed when he did not turn to stone. Thinking that her own curse had worn off, she looked at herself in the mirror; instantly, she felt her own body begin to stiffen and petrify. As Medusa turned to stone, Mr. Grey revealed that he was blind.

(Moon Knight I#16/2 (fb) - BTS) - The head of Medusa was found in an archaeological dig in Greece by Mr. Collins. He held on to the head for many decades, until it was stolen from him by Mr. Karg.

(Moon Knight I#16/2) - Mr. Collins hired Marc Spector to recover the head of Medusa from Mr. Karg for him. Spector was followed by Collins' daughter, who wanted to keep her father from reclaiming it. They were both captured by Karg, who attempted to use the head of Medusa upon them, but Spector used a piece of broken glass to reflect Medusa's visage back upon Karg, turning him and the head into stone. Spector broke off Karg's right hand so that he could return the petrified head to Mr. Collins.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#2 (fb) - BTS) - Eurystheus and Achelous led Matsuo and the Hand to Medusa's head and reunited it with her (presumably) body.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#2) - Covered in Hand ninja garb and armed with two swords Medusa jumped through a window to Tsurayaba's apartment to attack Wolverine and Hercules after they had defeated Minotaur and the Nemean Lion. She cut Hercules' face, who realized first who she was when Wolverine cut from the Ninja garb and revealed her green, scaly arm. Hercules forced Wolverine to the ground and forced him to not look at their enemy. Medusa took off her mask and started destroying all mirrors in the apartment while Wolverine and Hercules kept their eyes closed to not look at her. When she came too close Wolverine stabbed through left hand with his Adamantium claws, forcing Medusa to drop one of her swords. Hercules picked it up, decapitated her and put her head into a bag, but it was too late for Wolverine, who had looked at her face and got turned into stone.

(Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#4) - Wolverine (not petrified anymore thanks to Pluto) used Medusa's head to turn the Kraken (Cetus) to stone.

(Herc#8 - BTS) - Arachne's tapestry, which depicted among other stories the origin of Medusa's mutation at the hands of Athena was stolen by the African trickster god Anansi, who lost it shortly after to Elektra Natchios, who was working for the Russian goddess of witchcraft Baba Yaga.

(Deadpool: Dracula's Gauntlet#7 (fb) - BTS) - Dracula claimed to have sliced off Medusa's head clean off her shoulders (which would mean that it was back on her shoulders after Wolverine had used it against the Kraken).

(Deadpool: Dracula's Gauntlet#6) - Dracula used Medusa's head against Shiklah when she attacked him in Monster Metropolis. Medusa's stare turned Shiklah to stone.

(Deadpool: Dracula's Gauntlet#6/2) - Dracula put the bag back over Medusa's head and wondered if the petrified Shiklah could steel see. When Medusa critized that she couldn't even see under the bag Dracula told her that it was not a bag because it had a high thread count.

(Deadpool: Dracula's Gauntlet#7) - Dracula told Deadpool that he had cut off Medusa's head and didn't expect Deadpool to be any competition compared to her. After Deadpool used his own cut off hand to stab Dracula, which forced him to flee because Deadpool's blood proved poisonous to him, Deadpool made a deal with Medusa. He promised her a new body if she reversed the petricification of Shiklah. Medusa complied after some additional threats from Deadpool. Above Monster Metropolis Deadpool then used Medusa's head to turn Dracula's army to stone to end the battle between monsters in the streets of Manhattan.

   After receiving the body of the Monster of Frankenstein as her new body Medusa wasn't too happy because she actually thought she would get a different body.

Comments: Adapted by an unnamed writer and Tony DiPreta.

Medusa allegedly appeared in USA Comics#6 (December 1942): "The Ghost's Gaze of Death ." If so, this would be her first appearance.
-Per Degaton

The story had an abridged version of her mythological death in it.
--Markus Raymond

In Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters & Mutants#2 Medusa presumably saved Minotaur's life after he fell to his death from Matsuo Tsurayaba's apartment as he was next seen petrified in a Greek village.

    According to the myth, Medusa was the only one among the Gorgons who was not immortal. This seems suspect and was likely added later to the myth as a convenience to make it that much more easier for Perseus to slay her.

    Considering that the Graiae (also called the Gray Sisters) are sisters of the Gorgons and were also likely goddesses at one time as well, it is reasonable to speculate that they were also found at fault for the sins of their sisters. If the Gorgons were stripped of their beauty, perhaps they were stripped of their eternal youth enchantments. In “Clash of the Titans,” they were excellently and faithfully depicted visually as three Stygian witches and their eye depicted as a crystal ball.

    Medusa has also made a few other appearances worthy of mention. She appeared in the 1963 movie, “The Gorgon” which starred Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Barbara Shelley. In DC Comics, her ghost appears in Super-Girl I#8 and possesses Super-Girl in an attempt to take over of her body and restore herself to life, but she was defeated by the spirit of Perseus in the body of Super-Girl’s boyfriend. Later, in Wonder Woman II#3, Phobos, the son of Ares, used the ashes of Medusa’s corpse to create the demoness Decay. In the episode, “Friends Till The End” of “Friday The Thirteenth: The Series,” Michelle Foster and Ryan Daillion searched for numerous cursed objects, among them the Chard of Medusa that could transform people to stone in the classic horror series.

    Also, according to the myth, Pegasus is reputedly to have sprung from Medusa’s head. As the last offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, it probably sprang from her corpse after she died, but only because Athena’s curse possibly prohibited her from conceiving it naturally. Medusa’s son, Chrysaor, is sometimes said to have sprung from her corpse too, but this must be an error, because his daughter, Echidna, the wife of Typhon, was killed several generations prior by Argus, a former sentry of Mount Olympus.

    It is hard to reconcile the later Medusas past her death by Perseus with the others described and encountered in the Marvel Universe.

• Conceivably, the other Gorgons may have used unidentified means to restore her to life, but this is unlikely considering Athena orchestrated her death and would know if she were restored to life even after going through the effort of tearing her body apart to make talismans and musical instruments.
• It has been suggested in some non-canonical stories that Medusa’s spirit can enter the bodies of others and transform them into clones of her true body, but this has yet to be confirmed.
• Since the Greeks mistook a D’bari extra-terrestrial for Medusa, it is also possible that they used her name for all the Gorgon-like creatures which they encountered.
• It could be that there was a Deviant or Inhuman assuming her identity for unknown reasons.
• My guess is that perhaps either: (1) <most likely to me> Medusa was killed the one time by Perseus, her one sister gorgon (Stheno or Euryale) slain by the Old One of the Argonauts, and the remaining sister making the succeeding appearances or (2) Both apparent deaths of Medusa were actually her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, and Medusa herself survived on into the modern era.--Snood
• It could also be her daughter or one of the people from Medusa-Land.
• In Wolverine/Hercules she was clearly resurrected and from then on was around again. Maybe she returned from death numerous times (as part of her curse). Her body can be killed, but she can be resurrected anytime.
  --Markus Raymond