"GODHEAD"
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Cosmic Being (Celestial) (Distant Past to present)
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: Celestials
Affiliations: Viscardi race (extinct except for Gara)
Enemies: Unrevealed
Known Relatives: Celestials
Aliases: Our Lord Godhead, The Godhead (names used only by the Viscardi)
Base of Operations: The universe
(12 billion years ago) The planet Viscardi
First Appearance: Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1 (April, 2015)
Powers/Abilities: The entity known to the Viscardi as the "Godhead" was actually one of the Celestials, a group of beings created in the first iteration of reality by the First Firmament, the consciousness of that first reality. The "Godhead" is presumed to possess all of the powers that a normal member of his "race" would have.
As a Celestial, the Godhead possessed cosmic powers that seemingly had no limits. He could manipulate energy and matter at will. The apparent creation of the Black Vortex out of nothing may have been an example of this power.
As a Celestial, the Godhead was immortal unless killed but was so durable that killing or even harming him was almost impossible. However, if harmed without being killed outright, the Godhead would have been able to instantly regenerate any damaged portion of his body.
As a Celestial, the Godhead could travel throughout space (and probably hyperspace) without need of a spacecraft. The Godhead could also land on and launch himself away from planets without using any vehicles.
As a Celestial, the Godhead may have been able to teleport himself across space and/or time. If the Godhead did not create the Black Vortex out of nothing, then he was able to teleport objects into his presence from far distant locations.
As a Celestial, the Godhead was able to generate energy blasts of vast power. The Godhead also possessed immense physical strength that was well beyond that of any non-Celestial being.
Although Celestials are usually known by their names and assigned functions, neither the Godhead's true name nor his function have yet been revealed.
Height: 2,000' (approximately)
Skin color: Unrevealed (possibly inapplicable)History:
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1) - The being known as "the Godhead" to the Viscardi is a member of the Celestials, a mysterious group of giant aliens who roam the universe conducting genetic experiments on lesser races.
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1 (fb) - BTS) <12 billion years ago; see comments> - This particular Celestial was on the planet Viscardi as its native humanoid race developed. Although he remained silent and unmoving throughout most of his time on the planet, his mere presence made the Viscardi sure that there was more to the universe than just themselves and so they devoted themselves to reaching the stars. Over the course of only four generation the Viscardi moved from the caves to a civilization capable of creating rockets designed to carry "star scouts" to outer space. The launch site of these rockets was directly in front of the feet of the Godhead. Eight such rockets were launched but all of these flights ended in failure.
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1) - A ninth rocket was launched but it exploded as it was rising past the Godhead's face. This latest failure provoked Gara, a female Viscardi who had been watching the launch from a ledge near the Godhead, to make this impassioned speech to the Godhead: "We know there is more out there than just us. We know there is more to the universe than just the Viscardi. We know because of you, Our Lord Godhead. You tower above us and never speak! Never concede our existence! Does our bravery not move you? Does our ambition not inspire you? I am Gara! I will live with the stars! Can you not hear me?! Have you never felt longing as we have? Have you never dreamed higher than your grasp? Do you not love us? We only wish to be closer to you...to know the cosmos."
Seemingly in response to Gara's words, the Godhead then moved his head so as to look down at Gara, shocking the Viscardi. The Godhead then raised his right hand and, in a burst of energy, caused the artifact later known as the Black Vortex to appear in front of Gara. Gazing into it, Gara saw her enhanced self looking back at her and asked if it was a gift, the answer to their prayers, the way to realize their potential, but the Godhead did not respond.
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1 (fb) - BTS) - Believing that it was what the Godhead asked of them, all of the Viscardi submitted to the Black Vortex, and over the following year their race was torn apart and annihilated from within.
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1) - One year after the advent of the Black Vortex, only two Viscardi, Gara and Adron, were left alive. As Gara knelt on the chest of the defeated Adron, he begged her to destroy the Black Vortex before it destroyed her as it had already done to the rest of their race, but she refused and slew him. As Gara again confronted the Godhead, this time as the last of the Viscardi, and asked if what had happened to her race was what it had wanted, the Godhead did not answer except by launching itself into space. Left behind with the body of her last kill and the Black Vortex, Gara asked how did it dare abandon them now and called for it to come back...but it didn't.
TWELVE BILLION YEARS PASSED
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega#1 (fb) - BTS) - During this time, Gara, who remained alive as an Elder of the Universe, learned that the "Godhead" was a Celestial.
(Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Omega#1 - BTS) - In recent years, the Black Vortex was rediscovered and used by a number of beings to enhance their powers to cosmic levels. Seven of those beings later helped Gara to reclaim the Black Vortex. As a reward, Gara offered those seven allies "a way out" but she warned them that, since the Celestial had intended the Black Vortex as a gift, rejecting its gift would earn its ire and that it might come to hunt those who renounced their "cosmic mantle." Despite this warning, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Groot accepted her offer while Angel, Gamora and Kitty Pryde chose to keep their enhanced abilities.
There has been no sign of the "Godhead" Celestial hunting those four who rejected its gift...so far.
Comments: Created by Sam Humphries, Ed McGuinness, Kris Anka, Mark Farmer, Jay Leisten and Mark Morales.
Five unanswered questions
1. No data has been provided concerning the first encounter between the Viscardi and the Celestial. However, there are only two real options. The first is that the "Godhead" was already present and immobile on the planet even before the Viscardi had evolved to intelligence and they later deduced that it had originated elsewhere in the cosmos. The second is that the Viscardi race was already sentient by the time the Celestial arrived on their planet and some of them actually witnessed his arrival.
Personally, I prefer the second explanation but, since it would require some in-story evidence before it could be canon, I used the first theory in this profile.
2. Gara's warning that rejecting the Celestial's gift would "earn its ire" and could lead to it hunting whoever did so is interesting. As a rule, Celestials are generally presented as being dispassionate and unemotional, and they also tend to only deal with aliens as species. For one to take an interest in individuals is unprecedented and for a Celestial's actions to be motivated by a personal grievance is also a new concept. I wonder what happened that caused Gara to believe this of her former "Godhead" but, sadly, we'll probably never find out.
3. Given how MASSIVELY DESTRUCTIVE using the Black Vortex has been to EVERY sentient race who has encountered it throughout history, the idea that the Godhead Celestial intended it as a gift seems ludicrous. So, maybe it was something else, perhaps a test to see if the Viscardi were worthy enough to resist temptation? Or maybe the Godhead deliberately used this "gift" to kill off the Viscardi in a way that he could claim (to the other Celestials?) was not his fault?
4. Although is was definitely the "Godhead" Celestial who gave the Black Vortex to the Viscardi race, the story does not make it clear if he actually created the device when he caused it to appear before Gara. It's possible that the energy manifestation that produced the loud "KAZZRN" sound was part of a process by which the Celestial had teleported the Black Vortex to the planet Viscardi from some other location. Then again, maybe the "Godhead" did both: He created the Black Vortex some time before coming to Viscardi and he later teleported it there to present it to Gara. Since the Watchers didn't even exist then, only the Celestials themselves (or time travelers) could know for sure.
5. The biggest problem that I have with the Black Vortex storyline is that
it begins TWELVE BILLION YEARS AGO!!! According to ALL previous stories set in the
Marvel Universe, the only beings who should have even existed back then were the Conceptual
Beings and the Proemial Gods and (according to their most recent origin) the Celestials.
Eon wouldn't even be created for another 4 billion years and it would be another 6.5 billion
years before the (other) Elders of the Universe were born and the race who would become the
Watchers discovered the way to make themselves virtually immortal. Even Galan of Taa, the
being who would become Galactus, was still inert in his starship as it hurtled through space.
So, setting the origin of Gara and the Black Vortex in that era is unprecedented and I find
it to be unnecessarily disruptive to the established history/continuity since the story would
have worked just as well if Gara and the Viscardi had lived 6 billion years ago.
See the Viscardi profile for a more extensive discussion of this.
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Celestial known as the Godhead has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1, page 3 (main image)
page 5, panel 5 (head shot)
page 6, panel 3 (creating or teleporting the Black
Vortex)
Appearances:
Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha#1 (April, 2015) - Sam Humphries
(writer), Ed McGuinness (pencils), Kris Anka (additional pencils), Kris Anka, Mark Farmer,
Jay Leisten & Mark Morales (inkers), Mike Marts (editor)
First Posted: 01/11/2018
Last updated: 01/11/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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