Titans of Myth (comics)
Titans of Myth | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | The New Teen Titans #11 (September 1981) |
Created by | Marv Wolfman George Pérez |
Characteristics | |
Pantheon | Greco-Roman |
The Titans of Myth are mythological deities who appear in the Teen Titans and Wonder Woman comic book series by DC Comics.[1]
History
Pre-Crisis
The
It is explained that
Thousands of years had passed; the Titaness Thia had escaped, and a freed Hyperion had sought a new mate in Wonder Girl. Zeus and the Olympian Gods are joined against the avenging elder Titans by the rest of the Teen Titans, Donna's adopted mother
ultimately convince Cronus that mankind must have free will to chart his own destiny, and not be controlled by the gods. Wonder Girl is released from her spell and the Titans of Myth return to Tartarus to forge a new life for themselves there.Sometime later, Thia resurfaces, intent to conquer Olympus. It is also revealed that Thia is the mother of Lilith Clay, a former member of the Teen Titans who possesses psychic powers. Fearing reprisals from her fellow Titans, Thia sets the Giants of Myth against them. Despite the assistance of the Teen Titans, Iapetus, Crius, and Tethys are all killed before Hyperion sacrifices his life to destroy his mad wife Thia. Zeus invites the surviving Titans to stay on Olympus and live in peace; the offer is accepted.
Titan Seeds
DC Comics introduced the
In the new timeline, when the Olympian Gods had overthrown the elder Titans, Kronos had been mistakenly believed destroyed, and the rest of the Titans of Myth are banished from Earth into the farthest reaches of space. Lacking the power to even attempt to return to Earth, the Titans transform a nearby moon into "New Cronus" and begin to guide the primitive race on the nearby planet Synriannaq. Being the only Titan without a spouse, Rhea mates many times with these primitives; the resulting demigods make war on the planet. After 3,000 years pass, the Titans abandon all hope of guiding that world. These gods are still driven to bequeath their power to sentients; to this end, Rhea sacrifices herself and sends her own energy out into the universe. Her power falls upon several worlds and "seeds" a child from each. Each of these children is plucked from certain death and taken to New Cronus, where they are bestowed with superhuman powers. At age 13, the Seeds had been returned to their home planets with no memory of their time with the Titans. Upon adulthood, they would be called to return, more powerful, and as gods, to New Cronus.
It is revealed that a young Donna had been rescued by Rhea from a fire, and that she and Sparta had been two of the 12 Titan Seeds, named after ancient Greek cities. While Donna, called "Troy", had grown up without memories of her time with the Titans, Sparta had shaken Mnemosyne's amnesia, and the knowledge had eventually driven her mad. She had conquered Synriannaq; unable to defeat the Titans of Myth themselves, she had begun killing her fellows Seeds to "collect" their powers. The Titan Phoebe escapes and makes her way to Earth in search of Donna. With Donna's memories restored, a weakened Phoebe dies. Donna's fellow Titans evade Sparta's assassins and use Sparta's "travelspheres" to return to New Cronus. Xanthi of Ozyron and Athyns of Karakkan are the only other Seeds still left alive. Xanthi dies in the battle against Sparta; with the help of Donna's ally Raven, Sparta is contained, and the full powers of the Titans of Myth are restored. Their plan all along had been to use their Seeds' growing power to add to their own and break Zeus' curse; they do, and vow never again to interfere with sentient lives. The Titans of Myth take a vegetative Sparta into their care. Donna receives several gifts: a pendant of Cronus, from Coeus; an armored metal from Thia and Hyperion; earrings from Iapetus and Themis; a bracelet that had belonged to Phoebe; a cloth of the firmament, from Mnemosyne and Crius; a mystic net from Oceanus and Tethys; and the name, Troia, from Rhea. The Titans themselves departed for parts unknown. Donna changes her pseudonym from "Wonder Girl" to "Troia" and adopts a new costume incorporating the mystical gifts from the Titans of Myth.[6]
War of the Gods
During a great battle between the Olympians and the sorceress
Children of Cronus
Though the Titans have remained true to their quest, their brother Cronus grew bitter during his imprisonment. He eventually cultivated a cult of believers to fuel his powers. His true goal was to possess all the power of the God Wave on Earth. To do this, he would have to defeat and destroy all the deities on Earth. He began by releasing the remainder of his progeny from his belly (those who had not been regurgitated at the time of Zeus' triumph). These were:
- Arch, god of strategy
- Disdain, goddess of emotion and vanity
- Harrier/Warrior, god of swift death
- Oblivion, god of memory
- Slaughter, skilled killer
- Titan, his own monstrous sibling (omnipresent)
Another key to their success was the creation of a champion. As his children had created and empowered Princess Diana of
This upheaval soon moved Zeus to form an alliance with the other pantheons. Indeed, Zeus soon appeared to Superman with several allies under the banner of I.D.C.A.P. (Interfaith Deity Council of Active Polytheistics).[12]
The Return of Donna Troy
Donna Troy's role in
This was not without casualties, however. Sparta (who was restored to full mental health and stripped of the bulk of her power) had been made an officer in the Titans of Myth's royal military. She was sacrificed by the Titans of Myth in an attempt to lay siege to the planet, Minosyss, which housed a Sun-Eater factory miles beneath its surface. But Sparta's death had inadvertently helped trigger Donna's memory restoration. Athyns had also reappeared by this time, and aided the heroes and the Mynossian resistance in battling the Titans of Myth. It was then that Hyperion, the Titan of the Sun, revealed Donna's true origins to her and ordered her to open a passageway into another reality by means of a dimensional nexus that once served as a gateway to the Multiverse itself, within the Sun-Eater factory's core, which turned out to be the Titans of Myth's real target.
Donna did so, but fearing they would simply continue with their power-mad ambitions, she banished most of them (Oceanus, Tethys, Crius, Mnemosyne, Iapetus and Themis), into Tartarus. However, Hyperion and his wife, Thia, were warned of the deception at the last moment by Iapetus. Enraged, they turned on Donna, intending to kill her for the betrayal, but Coeus activated the Sun-Eater to save her and
References
- ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
- ^ The New Teen Titans #11 (September 1981)
- ^ The New Teen Titans #12 (October 1981)
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1 (February 1987)
- ^ The New Titans #50-54 (December 1988-March 1989)
- ^ The New Titans #55 (June 1989)
- ^ War of the Gods #1-4; Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #58-60
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #130-133
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #139
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #140-141
- ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #150
- ^ Superman: The Man of Steel #127