NGI
Real Name: Ngi
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (possibly? - see comments) god
Occupation: God
Group Membership: Yaounde (Cameroon) gods (N'Kokon, Otukut, Wo, Zamba, others)
Affiliations: Gorilla-Man (Ken Hale), all previous Gorilla-Men
Enemies: None
Known Relatives: Zamba (father), N'Kokon,
Otukut, Wo (brothers)
Aliases: The Gorilla God, Ngi the Strong
Base of Operations: The spiritual plane
First Appearance: (in spiritual gorilla form) Marvel Comics Presents III#2 (April, 2019)
Powers/Abilities: Ngi is a god with superhuman
size and strength and typically appears in the form of a large gorilla.
He can also project his form into the spiritual realm and travel
between the Earthly and spiritual planes in a brilliant flash of fire.
Height: Presumably various
Weight: Presumably various
Eyes: Dark brown
Hair: Gray (possibly black - see comments)
History:
(African myth) - Son of the god Zamba, Ngi and his three
brothers were tasked with the shaping of humanity, each brother
creating human beings in their image. Over time, Ngi and the rest of
his pantheon came to be worshiped by humans living in the region
of Africa that later came to be known as Cameroon.
(Wakanda#1/2 - Annotations - BTS) - Prior to the
official establishment of the country Wakanda, the people of that land
worshiped mainly the panther god Bast but others followed deities such
as Ngi and others. The worshipers formed their own tribes, with one
dedicated to Ngi.
(Marvel Comics Presents III#2/3
(fb) - BTS) - A small tribe in the
Wakandan mountains (later known as the Jabari) sought to protect itself
from its enemies so they summoned the spirit of the gorilla god, Ngi,
and merged his spirit with a man to become their champion as the
Gorilla-Man. While mystically merging Ngi's spirit to their chosen
champion, the tribe's elders also bound Ngi's spirit with magics that
would seek out new champions to merge with Ngi. Over time, Ngi's spirit
eventually took over the Gorilla-Man form and began slaughtering
natives, bathing in their blood in an effort to gain enough power to
manifest physically as a god on Earth. The magic binding spell soon
took hold and, summoned by the spell, men traveled to destroy the
Gorilla-Man, taking Ngi's spirit into their own body and becoming the
new Gorilla-Man. As time passed over generations, different men killed
the previous Gorilla-Man, each merging with Ngi's spirit themselves and
becoming the new Gorilla-Man.
(Wakanda#2/2 - Annotations - BTS) - Called the Farin
Biri, the small tribe became known as the gorilla tribe due to their
disastrous history with Ngi and they later renamed themselves the
Jabari after one of their fallen warriors.
(Wakanda#1/2 - Annotations - BTS) - As Bast became
the dominant religious deity in Wakanda, the tribes worshiping Ngi,
fellow gorilla god Gehkre, the crocodile god Sobek and the lion god
Sekhmet were viewed as heretics and cultists.
(Marvel Comics Presents III#2/3 - BTS) - In the
modern era, Ngi's spirit
took over the body of then-current Gorilla-Man, Ken Hale, and Ken
went on a savage spree, more ape than man. Seeking to end Ngi's rampage
and save his friend Hale from being killed by a mystically-summoned
possible successor, the heroic Black Panther brought the savage
Gorilla-Man to Wakanda to commune with the spirits of the past
Gorilla-Men in hopes of confronting Ngi himself and remaining alive as
the Gorilla-Man.
(Marvel Comics Presents III#2/3) - On the spiritual
plane, Ken Hale was transformed back into his human form and made his
way through the past Gorilla-Men to face Ngi himself. At first
attacking Ngi physically, Hale was easily swatted aside and after
multiple attempts to attack Ngi, Hale grumbled that it wasn't fair that
his ape-like strength had been stripped from him upon entering the
spiritual plane. As he complained, Hale realized his strength came from
Ngi and that realization provoked a grunt from Ngi, who disappeared in
a flash of flame. Awaking in a flash of flame in his Gorilla-Man form,
Hale found his mental faculties had returned and Hale later discussed
the events with the Black Panther, explaining how his test was never
about fighting Ngi but rather, embracing Ngi's spirit within himself.
Comments: Adapted into Marvel Comics by David Lapham and Maria Lapham.
I wasn't able to find much information on the gods of the Yaounde people in Cameroon online, only that Ngi is one of the four sons of Zamba who were tasked with creating humanity after Zamba created the Earth and all its creatures. If I'm able to find more information, I will gladly add the information to this profile. Due to the lack of information, I was not able to determine whether the Yaounde gods reside in an extradimensional realm or if they were some sort of terrestrial gods. Presumably, like many other mythological pantheons within the Marvel Comics, the Yaounde gods dwelled in some sort of extradimensional realm and accessed Earth via portals.
While one might assume that the Yaounde people's gods could be a variation/other aspect of the Vodu (African gods), the annotations in Wakanda#1 established that Gehkre (the gorilla god of the Vodu) and Ngi (the gorilla god profiled here) are two different beings. It's possible that perhaps Ngi is the gorilla god seen in the Solomon Kane story in Kull & the Barbarians#2.
I listed Ngi's hair as being gray,
as it seemed lighter than black in his appearances, but a few things
need to be considered in that regard. 1) Ngi was surrounded by fire so
that fire may've made his fur look lighter than normal, 2) He was
appearing in spiritual form, which could have affected the coloring of
his fur much in the same way that Dr. Strange appears transparent while
in his astral form and 3) Do we really know for sure what color hair
the true Ngi had. He appeared in the form of a gorilla but how many
mythological gods do we know that can assume different forms?
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ngi, the Gorilla God, should be distinguished
from:
Appearances:
Marvel Comics Presents III#2 (April, 2019) - "This Man, This Gorilla"
story - David Lapham (writer, art), Maria Lapham (writer), Chris
Robinson (editor)
Wakanda#1 (December, 2022) - "History of the Black Panthers
Annotations" - Ronald Byrd, Carl Farmer, Mike Fichera, Rob London,
Chris McCarver, Markus Raymond, Jacob Rougemont, Stuart Vandal
(writers), Daniel Acuna, Jerry Bingham, Jacen Burrows, Sal Buscema,
Jeff Butler, Jim Calafiore, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Scot Eaton, Setor
Fiadzigbey, Gary Frank, Fran Galan, J.L. Giles, Billy Graham, Jack
Kirby, Ken Lashley, Matteo Lolli, Ed McGuinness, German Peralta, Esad
Ribic, Alex Ross, Sam Spratt, Chris Sprouse, Brian Stelfreeze, Wilfredo
Torres, Dwayne Turner, Sal Velluto, Kev Walker (art), Wil Moss (editor)
Wakanda#2 (January, 2023) - "History of the Black Panthers Annotations"
- Markus Raymond, Jacob Rougemont, Stuart Vandal (writers), Enid Balam,
John Buscema, Pablo Raimondi, Sal Velluto (art), Wil Moss (editor)
First posted: 07/14/2023
Last updated: 07/14/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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