ASHEMA the LISTENER

.

History:
 (Heroes Reborn: The Return#3 (fb) - BTS) - As one of the mysterious Celestials, Ashema spent eternity being above "it all" (mortal life). She saw life in billions of different forms throughout the cosmos

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#1 (fb) - BTS / Heroes Reborn: The Return#4 (fb) - BTS) - To resolve the situation of the pocket universe Franklin Richards -- whom the cosmic Celestials felt was on par with themselves -- had created to save the heroes from Onslaught, the Celestials sent Ashema to Earth to take human form and teach and test Franklin.

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#1) - Ashema appeared to Franklin -- in the mortal form she would soon assume -- in his dreams, advising him of the extent of his powers and that while his parents were elsewhere, that he could bring them back to a world but that he would have to decide the world.

    Before Franklin awakened -- under the care of the Man-Thing, Guardian of All Realities, in the swamps of Citrusville, Florida -- Ashema advised him that she would be along to see him soon.

    As astronomer Warren Rothchild monitored from his observatory, Ashema arrived in a burst of energy that immolated Rothchild. Nude in her newly adopted human form, Ashema claimed one of Rothchild's lab coats before departing.

    Ashema subsequently confronted Franklin; when the Man-Thing sought to protect Franklin, she caused it to know fear and burst into flames.

    Introducing herself, she guided him to appreciate that he had created the world in which his parents currently existed and that he could rescue them but that he could only save one world: The Earth on which he was born or the one he had created. She subsequently sent him into the world he had created so he could better appreciate the situation. 

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#2) - After Loki of Franklin's pocket universe contacted Dr. Strange of Earth-616, Ashema transported that Loki away and apparently destroyed him.

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#2 (fb) - BTS) - Ashema transported Franklin back to Earth-616.

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#2) - Despite Franklin's defiance, Ashema reminded him that he must choose which of the two worlds would survive.

    When a wounded bear cub approached them, Franklin begged Ashema to help the cub. She advised him that he could help, but when he insisted he didn't know how and exclaimed that the cub should mean something to her, she healed the cub; however, seconds later, she incinerated the cub, instructing Franklin that the cub had meant nothing and insisting that he choose before it was too late.

    She was surprised when Franklin furious blasted her to the ground and then ran off.

    Nonetheless, Ashema subsequently warned Franklin that the Celestials were coming, that their approach would create energy waves that threatened both Earths, and that if Franklin did not choose, the Celestials would choose to obliterate...<presumably both worlds>."

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#3) - Unaccustomed to inconvenience of being disconcerted, Ashema was pleased when Franklin stopped shouting until she found that he had run off the edge of a precipice, fallen over 100' and was barely breathing at the bottom. Looking down at this, she pondered the situation. 

    Considering that the Celestials had expected such an odd ending to the experiment, Ashema concluded that "varied and unexpected are the paths of discovery," and she wished the dying Franklin peace.

    However, she was then contacted by the Celestials, who instructed her to save him. Briefly arguing that he had proven so inadequate and fragile, Ashema accepted the instruction, after which she touched him, catching his soul and restoring it to her form, which she healed.

    However, in touching his soul, she touched the souls of every living being on the world he had created. Such a "crash course in humanity" proved to be humbling, numbing, even for a Celestial in human form.

    She suddenly found herself overwhelmed, as if she were remembering things she did not know that she had forgotten.

    The reviving Franklin was surprised to find her crying, which she denied, but when he asked to see his parents, she agreed and hugged him.

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#3 (fb) - BTS) - Franklin apparently decided that if only one of the two Earths could survive, it would be the world of his birth rather than the world he had created.

    She transported him to Reed Richard's laboratory on Franklin's pocket dimension's Earth. After a number of heroes -- the Avengers (Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Thor, Vision), Fantastic Four, two Hulks (as Banner had been split from the Hulk and pulled to the pocket world to form a new Hulk) of both Earth, and Spider-Man (who had not been part of this reality but had been drawn to it alongside the remaining Hulk) -- gathered there to discuss the threat to their world, Ashema informed them of the Celestials' ultimatum and Franklin's choice. She advised the heroes that their only hope was escape, and she showed them the approaching "fireballs" were the Celestials.

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#4) - After the heroes had gathered together everyone on the pocket world who was native to Reality-616, Reed Richards informed Ashema that they were not going to allow the pocket world to be destroyed.

    Ashema reminded him that Franklin had chosen the pocket world for obliteration and that they must return to their own world or the Celestials would obliterate both worlds. Afterwards, Franklin was to come with her to meet his true destiny.

    When she offered to remove Franklin from the others' memories to ease the pain of his loss, Sue Richards insisted she would not allow this, and Thor informed Ashema that all gathered agreed that the pocket world must be preserved and that Franklin must stay with his parents.

    Furious at the defiance and crackling with power, Ashema called the heroes microbes with pretensions of significance and warned them that she could obliterate them with a thought; however, when she looked into Franklin's eyes, she felt small in comparison, despite her cosmic power.

    Ashema then gave her word that the pocket world would survive; when Thor questioned trusting her and suggested that she had acquiesced due to fear of the heroes power and wrath, Ashema demonstrated her power by briefly turning Thor into a frog. She then instructed the group on her terms that they must all leave this sphere and that if any of them remained, all would perish.

    As the group aboard Doom's ship headed toward the Negative Zone, through which they would return to their own world, Ashema smiled at Franklin and then transformed into an energy form while making the vague statement to herself, "Fools. They have sown the seeds of their own destruction...and still they do not understand! Why can they not see...the light!" (the light statement and her energy transformation paired together and made sense, but I'm not sure what she meant by their having sown the seeds of their own destruction).

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#4 - BTS) - Despite Doom trying to usurp Franklin's power and Thor stopping him, with Thor and Doom passing into some other realm in a prolonged battle, the group returned to Reality-616, and the collective departure met the terms to allow the pocket Earth's survival.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (fb) - BTS) - At this time and/or when Ashema was first sent to counsel Franklin, the Celestial Arishem the Judge gave the pocket realm to Ashema for safe-keeping.

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#4 (fb) - BTS) - Ashema sacrificed her consciousness -- apparently aided with or without her knowledge by Eternity -- to preserve the pocket world, which would exist within her "for all time."

(Heroes Reborn: The Return#4) - The other Celestials studied Ashema's fallen form, experiencing what she experienced from the pocket world and apparently learning of humanity in a fashion new to them.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 (fb) - BTS) - Ashema's Celestial form was placed in a tomb beneath the Keewazi reservation.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 (fb) - BTS / Fantastic Four III#25 (fb)) - Franklin's departure also removed his protection, and, as the world was created as something of a dream, Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial asserted his power over the pocket realm. Ashema attempted to resist Tiamut to little avail.

(Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 - BTS / Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 (fb) - BTS) - The Tiamut's influence caused massive flooding killing untold millions in Manhattan, New York alone, with the only survivors being those dwelling in buildings above the 20th floor.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 (fb) - BTS) - Either as part of an effort to resist Tiamut or for unrevealed reasons, Ashema was cast back into human form, although this was really a psychic projection animated by Ashema's mind. 

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1) - Finding herself on a Manhattan rooftop, Ashema was assaulted by an Atlan. She reflexively tried to use her powers to obliterate him, but after her eyes glowed to know effect, the Atlan punched her back.

    Able to access at least enhanced strength, Ashema kicked him back but her lack of fighting experience allowed the Atlan to gain the advantage over her. When he raised his blade to slay her, however, she fought back fiercely and apparently fatally re-directed the blade into him.

    Leaping to safety on another building as the roof collapsed, and she considered that killing this one man affected more than when she had determined the fate of entire worlds in her previous existence.

    Ashema was then confronted by a manifestation of Tiamut, mocking her as the latest of his toys in his newest playground. As she considered Tiamut's threat not just to this world but to the entire cosmos, however, she was ambushed and covered by Divinity who took control of her.

    While Doom's agent Lancer attempted to rescue her, Divinity's assimilation caused Ashema's psychic projection to discorporate. 

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 - BTS) - Tracking Ashema's energies to the ground below the Keewazi reservation, Doom traveled there with Lancer, using her to occupy the immense robot guardian Tomazooma.

(Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1) - Gazing upon the seeming sarcophagus of Ashema, Doom was assaulted by Divinity whom he subsequently contained with Lancer's aid. However, the contact with Divinity, who had previously contacted Ashema's form, allowed Ashema to share information and imagery about the involvement of the Dreaming Celestial.

    After Divinity's containment, Ashema expressed her existence as a human/mortal as a type of purgatory, although she also stated that she did not regret anything she had done. She shared that this world could be the key that allowed Tiamut to escape his prison on Earth-616 and that the other Celestials were pledged not to interfere in the affairs of the pocket world.

    She further noted that both she and Tiamut's powers were a fragment of their previous might as the price for their involvement on that world.

    Doom resolved that he would stop the Dreaming Celestial and protect the pocket world.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (fb) - BTS) - Synthesizing Technarx's technology and Shakti's magic, Doom created a spell of phenomenal power but specific and limited effect. Over a couple weeks, Doom used this spell to form energy pylons that extended from the world's surface and would "ultimately reach all the way to what we used to consider the Heavens."

    Doom and his Generals were in the midst of forming an energy pylon when his newest allies in Wakanda called for aid under an assault from the Weaponeers of Al-Khalad (aka the Arabian Knights); prioritizing the pylons' creations, Doom was unable to respond to the pleas in a timely fashion.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1) - After Doom's forces had routed the Weaponeers of Al-Khalad, Doom met with Ashema telling her that their mission was accomplished. She asked how he could say that, when two valued allies lie slaughtered (presumably the king and queen of Wakanda), and when he assured her that there would be a reckoning for Al-Khalad, commensurate to his crimes, she replied, "How comforting for his victims."

    She explained her pique, noting that she had sacrificed her very nature to become this world's guardian and asking why he continued to refuse to allow her to take an active role in its defense. Easily trapping Ashema in an energy field, Doom noted that she was incompetent, refusing her demands to release her and noting that she was now merely human, possessing human frailties and mortality.

    Expressing frustration and then feigning weakness, Ashema collapsed to the ground, and when Doom approached her, she kicked out his feet. Although Doom then swatted her aside, he appreciated her deception as potential, and he instructed her to report to Lancer, who would tutor her.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (fb) - BTS) - Doom extended the last pylon from the equatorial African jungle.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (fb) - BTS) - Later, after Doom had departed by Shakti's San Francisco stronghold to aid Lancer against an insurrection by his generals, Ashema adopted Doom's form to lure Tiamut (who hadapparently taken control of Doom's General Dorma and/or replaced her) to "him."

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1) - When "Dorma" seemingly tried to seduce "Doom," Ashema opened Doom's armor. Seizing the opportunity, Tiamut revealed his true identity and attacked "Doom"; weathering this attack and mocking Tiamut to provoke further assault, "Doom" revealed that Tiamut's drawing power from the corporeality of this world to strike at him energized the pylons Doom had created. Ashema then revealed her true identity as well and noted that Tiamut's presence on her world allowed her to channel the same energies that empowered him. "Though we are but shadows of our former glory...we face each other at long last as equals."

    Further noting that this world was under her safe-keeping and that he would not claim or corrupt it, Ashema then clarified that her union with Doom had made it so that the force of their struggle energized the power pylons, affixed to the planet's heartlines. She further explained that while Tiamut had influence over this world in its pocket dimension/artificial construct, by the fundamental nature of their creation, both the dimension and the world were malleable. The pylons generated a sidereal transmat field designed to shift this world into the same dimension as its creator. As reality in universe-616 was not as mutable as that of the pocket dimension, Tiamut lost his ability to manipulate that world.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 - BTS) - The Earth from the pocket realm stabilized on the opposite side of the sun from Earth-616.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (fb) - BTS) - Both Ashema and Tiamut made the transit to Universe-616, but they apparently jointly discorporated.

(Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 - BTS) - Doom concluded that Ashema's failure to rejoin him meant that she was being held captive by the Dreaming Celestial, whom he vowed to destroy.

(Fantastic Four III#24 (fb) - BTS) - Within the Tomb of the Dreaming Celestial, Tiamut replaced the statue of Ashema's Celestial form with that of her human form.

(Fantastic Four III#24 (fb) - BTS) - Earth-616 was afflicted by reality warps and a threatening of worldwide flooding mirroring the former pocket universe's Earth, due to the pocket Earth's transport into Universe-616, Ashema and Tiamut's arrival and/or influence, and/or Doom's arrival. Beyond the Fantastic Four, who were at the epicenter of the chaos wave, the rest of the planet's inhabitants were trapped in time.

(Fantastic Four III#25 - BTS) - After Doom and his generals arrived, the Fantastic Four and Marvel Girl joined forces with him to confront Tiamut.

(Fantastic Four III#25) - Within the Tomb of the Dreaming Celestial, below the Keewazi reservation, Reed and Doom activated the twelve keys associated with the twelve keeper/statues, and Ashema broke out of the statue in which she was contained. Apparently joined by the energies of the other Celestials' statues, she blasted Tiamut, and he vanished while battling Doom and Reed. Thereafter, Doom climbed from the rubble and Reed was nowhere to be seen (in reality, Reed had returned but was trapped within Doom's armor).

(Fantastic Four III#26) - Ashema announced to the others present that the chaos storm had passed, that Earth-616 again existed in time as well as space, and that all was as it was before the battle with the Dreaming Celestial.

    When Lancer noted with frustration that her world was still flooded with millions dead, Ashema accepted blame for Tiamut's actions as the world had been left in his charge. Doom (secretly Reed) noted that fate had granted Ashema the opportunity to make amends by fulfilling her original charge and charter. However, further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the Keewazi tribe, and "Doom" transported the rest of the group back to his ship.

Comments: Created by Peter David and Salvador Larroca.

    And, as far as I know, Ashema has not been seen since...

    It is really hard to tell how much Ashema is involved in Fantastic Four III#25-26.

    This profile was completed 05/03/2024, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event to represent the Heroes Reborn characters and stories.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ashema should be distinguished from:

• other "Ashema" or "Listener" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places...
  

Appearances:
Heroes Reborn: The Return#1-4 (December, 1997) - Peter David (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Polly Watson (assistant editor), Bobbie Chase (editor);

Heroes Reborn: Doomsday#1 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Mike McKone (penciler), Mark McKenna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Heroes Reborn: Ashema#1 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Ryan (penciler) Don Hillsman (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Heroes Reborn: Doom#1 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Mike McKone (penciler), Mark McKenna (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Fantastic Four III#24 (December, 1999) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#25 (January, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Art Thibert & Mark Pennington (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Fantastic Four III#26 (February, 2000) - Chris Claremont (writer), Salvador Larroca (penciler), Art Thibert (inker), Bobbie Chase (editor)

First posted: 09/04/2026
Last updated: 07/18/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other 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!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters