AQHAT
AQHAT
Real Name: Aqhat
Identity/Class: Ak
(see comments);
presumably originated in the post-Hyborian era; confirmed to have been active in 1953 as well as during the pre-Modern era (circa 1981, at least) and the Modern era
Occupation: Warrior, assassin
Group Membership: Annunaki (Mesopotamian gods), Everlasting (Marduk, Whiro (see comments))
Affiliations: Baal-Hadad, El, Kothar-wa-Khasis;
formerly Flag-Smasher (Karl Morgenthau), Oracle Inc., U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. (Underground Liberated
Totally Integrated Mobile Army To Unite Mankind);
Collective Man (Han, Chang, Lin, Sun, and Ho Tao-Yu; used as pawn)
Enemies: Anath, Citizen V (Paulette Brazee), Citizen V (John Watkins III), Collective Man, V-Battalion's Penance Council (notably Roger Aubrey; as well as Betty Barstow, Fred Davis Jr., Robert Frank Jr./Nuklo, Ameiko Sabuki/Goldfire, Daryl Mitchell/Topspin), Johann Weimer, Yatpan
Known Relatives: Danel (father), Paghat (sister)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
last seen aboard the V-Battalion's Vanguard ship;
formerly Marduk's base aboard an abandoned oil refinery in the Black Sea
First Appearance: Epic of Aqhat (circa 1350 BC);
Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (March, 2002)
Powers/Abilities: Aqhat is a highly skilled warrior, considered an equal by Citizen V (John Watkins III), although Watkins consistently defeated him. He is an expert archer and apparently has enhanced human strength and agility, at least.
A cognizant regenerative, upon dying, he is apparently reincarnated while retaining his powers and memory, although the details of such transfers are unrevealed.
He carries a mystical bow with which he can fire energy arrows that fatally wounded a target while causing black energy to crackle out of a victim, coalescing into smoky images, which showed the victim's sins, plucked from his or her mind.
Height: Unrevealed (he appeared similar in height to the 6'2" Citizen V/John Watkins III, so most likely somewhere around 6' tall)
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Solid red (sometimes glowing red)
Hair: Unrevealed (he is not seen without his head garb)
History:
(Canaanite myth history) <circa 1350 BC or before, perhaps in Ugarit (what is now Syria)> - Danel, a sage and king of
the Haranamites, had no son until the god El,
in response to Danel’s many prayers and offerings, finally granted him a child,
whom Danel named Aqhat. Some time later Danel offered hospitality to the divine
craftsman Kothar, who in return gave Aqhat one of his marvelous bows.
That bow, however, had been intended for the goddess Anath (El's daughter), who became outraged
that it had been given to a mortal. Anath made Aqhat a variety of tempting
offers, including herself, in exchange for the bow, but Aqhat rejected all of
them. Anath then plotted to kill Aqhat, luring him to a hunting party where
she, disguised as a falcon, carried her henchman, Yatpan, in a sack and dropped him on Aqhat. Yatpan killed
Aqhat and snatched the bow, which he later carelessly dropped into the sea (see comments for greater detail).
Meanwhile, because of the blood shed in violence, a famine
came over the land, leading Aqhat’s sister and father to discover the crime and
to set about avenging it. This apparently led to seasonal barrenness during the dry summer months.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#3 (fb) - BTS / Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica) - Aqhat was apparently apotheosized (elevated to godhood), apparently serially reincarnated while retaining his powers and memory.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1-4 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, the Annunaki god Marduk joined up with Aqhat and the Akua/Oceanic god Whiro (posing as Papahanau-Moku; see comments) and formed an organization known as the Everlasting, gathering life energy into the Genesis Well to restore godly power the Asgardian thunder god Thor Odinson had stripped from Marduk circa 980 AD.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb)) - Circa 1953, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as the V-Battalion's Citizen V (Paulette Brazee) attempted to bring in former Nazi scientist Johann Weimer, Aqhat fired an energy arrow, and Weimer saw the incoming arrow and at least apparently pushed Citizen V out of the way, taking it in into his own back. As Weimer died, black energy crackled out of him, coalescing into smoky images, plucked from his mind of the atrocities he committed in the name of science while serving the Third Reich.
Glimpsing the archer above, Citizen V shot Aqhat, causing him to
drop to the ground. Standing over the dying Aqhat, she demanded to know
who he was in various languages, but he laughed and coughed, noting
that not even death could stop the Everlasting.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - Aqhat was presumably reincarnated.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - The V-Battalion spent two years studying the bow to determine the nature of the black-energy arrows. They determined that the bow could only be fired due to the unique properties of its wielder, Aqhat.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - As Aqhat and the bow were associated from mythology (see comments), the V-Battalion's leader, Roger Aubrey, turned the bow over to an Israeli museum where it remained.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2 (fb) - BTS) - Circa 1971, the V Battalion learn of Marduk's connection to the Everlasting from Amahl Farouk.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#3) <1981>- In Zurich, Switzerland, after Marduk (in his human guise as museum curator (or something similar) Zoltan Nestor (see comments)), met with Roger Aubrey (who was seeking information on Marduk), Marduk told Aqhat and "Papa" that Roger Aubrey knew enough about their plans to be concerned but not enough to be a threat. Aqhat and Marduk also mocked each other's fashion sense.
Nestor then shared with them his plans to send Aubrey off on a wild-goose chase that would yield years of freedom from discovery. In addition, Marduk/Nestor had also also shaken hands with Aubrey, and thus gained power over his life.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#3 (fb) - BTS) - As Nestor Zoltan (see comments), Marduk took over Oracle, INC, which had been sold by Namor the Sub-Mariner to Stark-Fujikawa (at which point Jim Hammond quit the company).
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - Three weeks before the main story, the Israeli museum reported the theft of Aqhat's bow.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1-3 (fb) - BTS) - Using Oracle's resources, Marduk funded and supplied weaponry to the anti-national terrorist group U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., led by Flag-Smasher.
Marduk planned to use all of the souls slain in the battles with U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. to fuel the Genesis Well, from which he hoped to regain his full power.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - When U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. began ramping up their activies in several unstable countries, the V-Battalion reasoned that they were being helped.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1-2 (fb) - BTS) - At the same time, Aqhat and other agents of Marduk captured the Chinese mutant hero Collective Man. Using the technology of the Everlasting and/or Oracle, they enhanced and altered his powers such that he actually drained the life force from his Chinese fellows, sending the entire nation into a comatose state which approached death.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - Aqhat was sent to Bosnia-Herzegovina to ensure an arms shipment to U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, while seeking to determine who was supplying U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. and to scuttle their cache, Citizen V (John Watkins III, Paulette' s grandson, his activities monitored by the V-Battalion's Penance Council via his visor-cam) identified the hi-tech weaponry as the work of Oracle, Inc., after which he destroyed the arms.
This led to a confrontation with Aqhat. After some battle, Citizen V gained an advantage over the similarly-skilled Aqhat, holding his fallen form at swordpoint.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1) - When Citzen V remarked how familiar Aqhat's bow was familiar, Aqhat rolled out of the way and back to his feet, noting that had he met as skilled and unctious opponent as him, he would have remembered. After some further combat, Citizen V slashed Aqhat's left arm and then asked if he would prefer to chat or be perforated some more, but Aqhat asked what there was to say, as V was there to sabotage an arms shipment that Aqhat was there to ensure.
Citizen V next asked whether Aqhat worked for Oracle, and when Aqhat
questioned why any of this interested him, V noted that the one with
the open wound was expected to answer the questions. In reply, Aqhat
shouted, "You will die for this! If not in this lifetime, then my
next!" "Papa" (seen only as a rush of energy) then swiftly picked up Aqhat, disrupting the Penance
Council's monitoring and escaping with him faster than either the
V-Battalion's Vanguard ship or Citizen V's V-Battalion could
follow/pursue. 
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 - BTS) - Roger Aubrey noted that while this was not the same man Paulette Brazee had encountered in 1953, he noted that only Aqhat's unique properties could utilize the bow. Considering Aqhat's comments, Citizen V speculated that Aqhat may be reincarnated. Aubrey wondered who rescued Aqhat, why Oracle was helping U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M., and what Oracle stood to gain from such an alliance.
Another member of the V-Battalion subsequently reported that the parties who had taken Aqhat had stopped in Beijing. When the Vanguard ship arrived there, they found all the people there were collapsed on the ground. Citizen V mistakenly assumed them to be dead and speculated that everyone in China was similarly affected.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2 - BTS) - The V-Battalion's Steam Team determined that whatever had put the people of China into a sleep-like state was connected to an energy flow ending at the location to which Aqhat had been traced. They subsequently discovered that the Chinese people's life force was being drained and channeled elsewhere.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2) - As the Steam Team's reading of the army depot outside of the city spiked, they detected that Ahqat was on the move, seconds before Aqhat fled the building and the monstrous and giant Collective Man tore through the roof.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2 - BTS) - Aubrey dispatched two hawkflight squads as well as Goldfire, Nuklo, and Topspin, with Goldfire swiftly perishing against the Collective Man's power.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2) - Citizen V tracked down and confronted Aqhat, and the two again fought evenly. When Vradec reported incoming energy mirroring what had transported Aqhat from Bosnia, the prepared Citizen V diverted the energy, causing what appeared to be Papahanau-Moku (see comments) to crash into the wall before abruptly flying away again.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2 - BTS) - While the Steam Team recovered the equipment used to exacerbate the Collective Man's powers, it was too damaged to reverse the process; they brought it back to the Vanguard for study.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2) - On his back, at swordpoint, and bleeding, Aqhat shared that the purpose of the life-draining was for "Death. Massive, poetically silent death!...so that the Genesis Well might live!"
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2 - BTS) - As Aubrey considered pulling the plug on the Collective Man's power source, Citizen V countered that such an act would fuel the so-called Genesis Well as Aqhat planned.
Protected by his cloak's gravimetric field, Citizen V slashed the bloated-with-power Collective Man, causing him to explode like a ruptured ballooon.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2) - Aqhat noted that the Genesis Well was sated...for today...
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#3 (fb) - BTS) - Aqhat was taken aboard the Vanguard and studied by their scientists, who learned that he was a cognizant regenerative, reincarnating in new bodies and retaining his power as he did.
(Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#3) - Roger Aubrey and Jim Hammond (the android Human Torch) looked in on the scientists examining Aqhat, noting his alliance with Marduk and their plot involving the Genesis Well.
Comments: Created by Ilmilku as part of ancient West Semitic legend;
adapted to the Marvel Universe by Fabian
Nicieza, Lewis LaRosa, and Jim Royal.
Papahanau-Moku had previously been defined as an aspect/incarnation of
the Elder Earth goddess Gaea. The Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica: Akua entry reveals that the Papahanau-Moku in this story was actually the shapeshifting Akua god of evil, Whiro.
The Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica: Marduk entry defined Aqhat as a demi-god.
In Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1, Aqhat's bow is given to a museum in Israel as Aqhat and the bow were allegedly part of Hebrew mythology (per the V-Battalion's records). Aqhat is actually from Canaanite myth (see below), preceding Hebrew religion/myth, but there's certainly some overlap in terms of concepts and characters.
Marduk's human alias was "Zoltan Nestor" when he met Roger Aubrey in 1981, but he was "Nestor Zoltan" when named as the human alias of Marduk in modern times and as the one who was named Oracle Inc's CEO. One or the other may have been in error, or he could have used both names, perhaps to disguise how he was not aging over 30+ years.
It 's complex, but my understanding is that El is another name for Dagon (aka Enlil and Ellil). See Dagon's profile for comments and conjecture.
Aqhat has some half-visible stats in a profile on the V-Battalion's database, noting:
3.2 SUPR?
AGIL - presumably meant to say superhuman (or supra-normal?) agility
2.5 SUPR?
STREN - presumably meant to say superhuman (or supra-normal?) strength
1.5 SUPRA? - the third feature is not defined
MORE MYTH HISTORY!
From brittanica.com (which is the source of the myth-history above)
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aqhat-Epic
Aqhat Epic, ancient West Semitic legend probably concerned with the cause of the annual summer drought in the eastern Mediterranean.
All of the regions of
the ancient Middle East schematized the blessing of good years and the threat
of bad years in terms of seven-year cycles. A Mesopotamian text illustrating
this is the Gilgamesh epic (8:101–113), in which the slaying of
the hero Gilgamesh would initiate seven lean years. At Ugarit the slaying of the hero Aqhat evokes a curse depriving the land of rain
and dew for seven (or, climactically, eight) years. The seven lean and seven
fat years in the biblical story of Joseph in Egypt reflect the same system.
One of these is
mythological and recounts the career of the god Baal, which seems to coincide with the yearly cycle of
vegetation on earth. As was usual with the death of gods in the ancient
Mediterranean world, Baal’s end brings about a drought that ceases only with
his resurrection. Another fragment, about a hero named Aqhat, is perhaps a transposition of this myth of Baal to the human level. Just as the
death of Baal is avenged on his slayer by Baal’s sister Anath, so is the murder
of Aqhat, which also causes a drought, revenged by his sister Paghat. Since the
end of the poem is missing, however, it is not known whether Paghat, like
Anath, succeeds in bringing her brother back to life.
Another group of gods
play important subordinate roles in the myths. The sun goddess, Shapash, “Light of the Gods,” helps Anath in her
retrieval of the dead Baal and intervenes in the final conflict between Baal
and Mot. The craftsman god, known as both Kothar (“Skilled”) and Khasis (“Clever”), makes the
weapons with which Baal disposes of Yamm and builds the palace for Baal. He is
the source of Aqhat’s bow, coveted by Anath. The Kathirat are goddesses of
marriage and pregnancy, who appear before the conception of Aqhat and in a brief myth about the marriage of Yarikh (“Moon”) and
his Mesopotamian consort Nikkal. Shahar and Shalim are the gods of dawn and
dusk, whose conception and birth are recounted in a liturgical myth.
From Wikipedia:
The Tale
of Aqhat or Epic
of Aqhat is
a Canaanite myth from Ugarit, an
ancient city in what is now Syria. It is one of the three longest texts to have been found
at Ugarit, the other two being the Legend of Keret and
the Baal Cycle. It
dates to approximately 1350 BC.
While the
complete tale has not been preserved, there remain of it, according to David Wright,
"approximately 650 poetic lines", with the bulk of its content
concerning "ritual performances or their contexts". The
remains of the story are found on three clay tablets, missing the beginning and
end of the story. These
tablets were discovered in 1930 and 1931.
The Tale of
Aqhat was recorded at Ugarit by the high priest Ilmilku, who was also the
author of the Legend of Keret and the Baal Cycle. The
three primary characters of the Tale are a man named Danel, his son Aqhat, and
his daughter Paghat.
First tablet
Danel is described as a "righteous ruler" (Davies) or
"probably a king" (Curtis), providing justice to widows and orphans. Danel begins the story without
a son, although missing material from the beginning of the story makes it
unclear whether Danel has lost children, or whether he simply has not had a son
yet. On six successive days, Danel
makes offerings at a temple, requesting a son. On the seventh, the god Baal asks
the high god El to provide
Danel a son, to which El agrees.
Danel's prayers to the gods are answered with the birth of
Aqhat. The grateful Danel holds a
feast to which he invited the Kotharat, female divinities associated with
childbearing.
A gap appears in the text. After it, Danel is
given a bow by the god Kothar-wa-Khasis, who is grateful to Danel for
providing him hospitality. According to Fontenrose, the
bow is given to Danel when Aqhat is still an "infant," while, as Wright reads the tale,
after Aqhat has "grown up."
After a missing portion of text, the story resumes as Aqhat,
described by Louden as "now a young man", is celebrating a feast at
which various deities are in attendance.
Aqhat, who now has the bow, is offered a reward by the
goddess Anat if he will give it to her. Anat offers Aqhat first gold
and silver, but he refuses. She then offers him
immortality, but he refuses again. As she makes her offers, she
uses language that likely implies an offer of a sexual nature as well. His refusal is disrespectful:
he tells her to go get a bow of her own from Kothar-wa-Hasis, and says that
women have no business with such weapons. He insists that immortality is
impossible: all humans must die. Anat, outraged, leaves to
speak to the high god El.
Second tablet
Anat complains to El, according to Wright
"apparently to receive his permission to punish Aqhat." El's initial response, if he
gives one, is not readable due to the damaged nature of the tablet, but Anat's
tone turns from an initial one of respect to violent threats against El. Reluctantly, El grants Anat
leave to do as she wishes.
Anat then has Aqhat killed. The character who personally
kills Aqhat is Yatpan, described by Vrezen and van der Woude as "one of
Anat's warriors", but by Pitard simply as
"one of her devotees". Yatpan, magically transformed
into an eagle, attacks Aqhat.
Third tablet
Aqhat dies, and Anat eulogizes him, expressing regret for his
death. Although the text at this
point is fragmentary, it indicates that his bow has been broken in the
incident, and Anat expresses her anguish over the loss of the bow as well, in
even stronger terms. She also laments that, due to
the murder, crops will soon begin to fail.
Meanwhile, Danel, who does not realize his son is dead,
continues going about his judicial duties in the city gate. His daughter Paghat notices
that a drought has begun, and that birds of prey are circling their home. She feels deep sadness.
At this point the text contains language about Danel's clothes
being torn, indicating either that Paghat has torn Danel's clothing or that
Danel has torn his own clothing in mourning over the drought. The text has Danel praying for
rain, followed by several lines about a drought lasting seven years, which are
difficult to interpret. Danel goes out to the fields,
expressing his wishes for the crops to grow and expressing hope that his son
Aqhat will harvest them, indicating that he does not
yet realize Aqhat has died.
Two young men then appear and inform Danel and Paghat
that Aqhat has been killed by Anat. Seeing vultures overhead Danel,
calls out to Baal, asking Baal to bring down the vultures so that he can cut
them open to search for his son's remains. Baal complies, but Danel finds
no remains. Danel sees the father of the
vultures, and again has Baal bring the father of the vultures down for
inspection. Again, no remains are found. Finally, Danel calls upon Baal
to bring down the mother of the vultures, in which he finds bone and fat from
Aqhat. Danel buries the remains he
has found along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.
The unjust death of Aqhat causes a years-long drought to occur.
Aqhat's sister Paghat takes it upon herself to seek revenge by killing Yatpan.
This profile was completed 7/28/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Aqhat should be distinguished from:
 (Canaanite myth history) <circa 1350 BC or before, perhaps in Ugarit (what is now Syria)> - In return for Danel's hospitality, the divine craftsman Kothar gifted Danel's son Aqhat with one of his marvelous bows. That bow, however, had been intended for the goddess Anath (El's daughter), who became outraged that it had been given to a mortal. Anath made Aqhat a variety of tempting offers, including herself, in exchange for the bow, but Aqhat rejected all of them. Anath then plotted to kill Aqhat, luring him to a hunting party where she, disguised as a falcon, carried her henchman, Yatpan, in a sack and dropped him on Aqhat. Yatpan killed Aqhat and snatched the bow, which he later carelessly dropped into the sea (see comments for greater detail). (Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb)) - Circa 1953, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aqhat fired an energy arrow in the back. As Weimer died, black energy crackled out of him, coalescing into smoky images, plucked from his mind of the atrocities he committed in the name of science while serving the third Reich. Citizen Z apparently shot and killed Aqhat. (Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - The V-Battalion spent two years studying the bow to determine the nature of the black-energy arrows. They determined that the bow could only be fired due to the unique properties of its wielder, Aqhat. (Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - As Aqhat and the bow were associated from mythology (see comments), the V-Battalion's leader, Roger Aubrey, turned the bow over to an Israeli museum where it remained. (Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - Three weeks before the main story, the Israeli museum reported the theft of Aqhat's bow. (Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (fb) - BTS) - In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Citizen V (John Watkins III) battled Aqhat, eventually disarming him of his bow. (Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1) - "Papa" (secretly Whiro; seen only as a rush of energy) then swiftly picked up Aqhat and escaped with him, although leaving behind his bow. --Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (1 (fb), 1 |
  Aqhat carries a mystical bow with which he can fire energy arrows that fatally struck a target while causing black energy to crackle out of a victim, coalescing into
smoky images, which showed the victim's sins, plucked from his or her mind. --Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting#1 |
Appearances:
Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#1 (March, 2002) - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Lewis LaRosa (pencils), Jim Royal (inks), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#2 (May, 2002) - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Lewis LaRosa (pencils), Scott Koblish, Jim Royal
& Udon Studios (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#3 (June, 2002) - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Lewis LaRosa (pencils), Udon Studios (inks), Tom
Brevoort (editor)
Citizen V and the V Battalion: The Everlasting#4 (July, 2002) - Fabian
Nicieza (writer), Jose Kleber de Moura Jr. (pencils), Udon Studios
(inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica (2009) - Anthony Flamini
(head writer, coordinator), Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Paul Cornell
(consulting writers), Kevin Sharpe (The Apu entry art), Jeff Youngquist
(editor)
First posted: 09/12/2021
Last updated: 09/10/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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