KEKU
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Real Name: Keku
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Heliopolis) god
Occupation: God of darkness and chaos
Group Membership: Heliopolitan/Hermopolitan gods/Ogdoad
Affiliations: Chthon;
formerly Heka-Nut
Enemies: Ashake, Magik (Illyana Rasputin)
Known Relatives: Gaea (aka Neith, grandmother), Demiurge (grandfather, aka Nun);
Chthon, Hyppus, Set (great-uncles), Issus, Oshtur (great-aunts);
Ammon Ra (aka Atum, Amun, Demogorge; father);
Thoth (uncle);
Bast, Hathor-Sekhmet (brothers-sisters), Huh, Shu, Sobek (brothers); Bes, Khonshu (half-brothers);
Amaunet, Hauhet, Kauket, Naunet, Tefnut (sisters);
Nut (niece), Geb (nephew);
Osiris, Seth (grandnephews);
Isis, Nepthys (grandnieces);
Anubis, Horus (great-grand-nephews);
extensive family via Gaea...
Aliases: Kuk, Kek
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Hermopolis (aka “Khmun,” near modern-day el-Ashmunein, Egypt)
First Appearance: Mystic Arcana#1 (Magik) (August, 2007)
Powers/Abilities: Keku has unrevealed powers associated with darkness and chaos. He is extremely long-lived and presumably possesses other abilities typical of gods, such as superhuman strength and durability.
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Unrevealed
History:
(Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica: Heliopolitans / Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#14: Heliopolitans) -
As Ammon Ra, Atum ruled the Ogdoad, the
Egyptian gods’ first incarnation, with Thoth serving as his arbitrator
and grand vizier. The Ogdoad’s membership allegedly included four sets
of gods & goddesses: Ammon Ra (Atum, aka Amun) & Amaunet (air
goddess), Huh & Hauhet (representing infinite space and visible
matter), Keku (aka Kuk) & Kauket (representing darkness), Nun
(Demiurge) & Naunet (water goddess). While myth states the Ogdoad
spawned Ra and Thoth (the Ogdoad’s senior appearance causing this
misconception) and created Earth, Amaunet, Hauhet, Hu, Kauket, Keku and
Naunet are believed to be Ra’s spawn.
As Ra’s first creations, the Ogdoad may have been imperfect and aged more rapidly than the virtually immortal Ra and Thoth. The Ogdoad ruled from the Earth city Hermopolis (aka “Khmun,” near modern-day el-Ashmunein, Egypt), and became known to mortals as the Hermopolitan gods.
Many of the
Ogdoad eventually perished under unrevealed circumstances, and Keku
fell under the Elder God Chthon’s dark influence.
(Mystic Arcana#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Keku (god of darkness and chaos and an agent of the Elder God Chthon) fanned the flames of Heka-Nut’s envy and pride, until almost everything good in the sorcerer burned away. Keku eventually tempted and broke Heka-Nut, bending him to Chthon’s service
(Mystic Arcana#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - As foresight/precognition was not her specialty, Ashake created the First Tarot (although she didn't call it that),
painting images on flat cards made of bone, which helped her understand
the influences/patterns that shaped their lives. Amongst the
forces/powers she accessed via the Tarot were Nu, of the primordial
waters; Amun, who rules air and the invisible; Hauhet, whose influence
was space and visible matters; and Keku, whose domain was darkness and
chaos.
(Mystic Arcana#1/2) - After the time-traveling Magik (Illyana Rasputin) disrupted Heka-Nut's power and shattered his mind with her Soulsword, Heka-Nut wandered off, noting his failure and begging Keku for mercy.
(Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook trade paperback (2008)'s Where Are They Now? section on Dr. Glitternight / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#3: Dr. Glitternight entry) - Heka-Nut’s scarred shell was returned to the canopic jar in the 11th century BC, and its dark mystical energies served as a beacon to those of alien being “Glitternight,” who was bound to the shell. Over millennia, the composite being became Dr. Glitternight.
Comments: Created by unidentified parties;
adapted to Marvel by David Sexton and Louise Simonson.
I asked <Louise> to
include Kek or Kuk or Keku because he was part of the Ogdoad of
Hermopolis. These were four pairs of primordial Gods that I sort of
equated with the four
Elder Gods of Marvel Mythology. Nun and Naunet represented the primeval
waters
(SET); Heh and Hauhet represented eternity (GAEA); Kuk and Kuaket
represented
darkness (CHTHON); and Amun and Amunet represented air (or that which
is
hidden) (OSHTUR). The gods differ from one source to another. So Kek
was a
manifestation of Chthon, and that is what corrupted Heka-Nut.
--David Sexton
Courtesy of https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/
Kuk (Kek or Keku) was one of the eight primordial elements in the Ogdoad creation myth. He represented darkness in combination with his female aspect Kuaket (which is simply the female form of his name). As with the other three male elements, Kuk was depicted as a frog, or as a frog-headed man.
Kuk represented darkness, obscurity, and night. This darkness was the chaotic darkness which existed before the creation of the world. Although he was a god of the darkness, he was also associated with the dawn and given the epithet, the “bringer-in of the light”.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Keku should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Mystic Arcana#1 (Magik) (August, 2007) - first and third story (McNee) - David Sexton (writer), Eric Nguyen (artist), Nathan Cosby (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)
second story (Magik) - Louise
Simonson (writer), Steve Scott (penciler), Kris Justice (inker), Nathan
Cosby (assistant editor), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica: Heliopolitans (July, 2009) - Anthony Flamini
(head writer, coordinator), Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Paul Cornell
(consulting writers), Kevin Sharpe (Heliopolitans entry art), Jeff Youngquist
(editor)
Official
Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#14 (June, 2010) - Jeff Christiansen & Mike
Fichera (head writers/coordinators),
Markus Raymond & Mike O'Sullivan (writers, coordination assistants) Stuart Vandal, Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Madison Carter,
Kevin Garcia, Gabriel Shechter, Jacob Rougemont, Rob London, Rich
Green, Chris Biggs, David Wiltfong, Jeph York, Mark O'English, &
Mike Gagnon (writers), Kevin Sharpe (Heliopolis entry art)., Mark D. Beazley
(editor, special projects), John Denning (associate editor), Alex
Starbuck (assistant editor). Jeff Youngquist &
Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
First posted: 10/03/2021
Last updated: 10/03/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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