Heliopolitans

Fictional group of gods from Marvel Comics

Heliopolitans are a fictional group of gods, based on Ancient Egyptian deities, appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Characters based on ancient Egyptian deities were first mentioned in Captain America Comics #20 (November 1942), published by Marvel Comics' predecessor Timely Comics, in which Captain America and Bucky investigate the murder of Colonel Fitzpatrick, who was studying the Book of Thoth while stationed in Egypt. The Heliopolitans' first full Golden Age appearance was in the story "The Terror That Creeps" by Stan Lee and Werner Roth, published in Marvel Tales #96 (June 1950), and involves a man that fails to convince the public that the Great Sphinx of Giza is slowly moving to the edge of the desert, where it will be empowered by Set and destroy mankind. The goddess Bast would later make her first appearance (as a totem) with the Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), being called only Panther God, in Black Panther vol. 3 # 21 by Christopher Priest and Sal Velutto, it was revealed that the Panther God is Bast. Many of the other deities, including Horus, Isis and Osiris, were introduced in Thor #239 (September 1975). Khonshu, who became associated with Moon Knight, first appeared in Moon Knight #1 (November 1980). Joseph Muszynski argued in his book Everything I Needed to Know About Life I Learned from Marvel Comics that the introduction of Egyptian deities "excited our tendency to enjoy variety" as the pantheon contained multiple gods and personalities as opposed to the Judeo Christian religions. Ed Strauss contended that Marvel was able to dive into ancient Egyptian religion because it "had long been retired into the realm of mythology" unlike Christianity.

The Heliopolitans were worshipped as deities by the inhabitants of the Nile River Valley from as early as 10,000 BC. According to Heliopolitan legend, the first of these were Gaea (as Neith), the Demiurge (as Nun), and Set (as Apep/Apophis). Neith and Nun sired Atum, the first of the Ogdoad — the old gods. As Neith went about creating mortal life, Set desired to destroy her creations. In turn, Neith called Atum for protection. Atum and Set fought for eons until Atum transformed into the Demogorge and drove Set off. After Set's defeat, Atum begot the Ennead — the new gods, took the name Ra and settled in the sun. The Ennead resided in the ancient city of Heliopolis until their king Osiris placed mortal pharaohs in charge so that the gods could become less involved with human affairs and relocated themselves to the extradimensional realm of Celestial Heliopolis, known to the ancient Egyptians as "Aaru." Bast would eventually become the patron deity of Wakanda, while Sobek and Sekhmet became patrons of lesser influential Wakandan cults. The Heliopolitans had captured a large creature called the Devourer, who later escaped and fought Thor and the Thing. Osiris later empowered Thor to revive Asgardians who were harmed by the Destroyer. The gods of Heliopolis, powerless and calling themselves "Lost Ones", joined Thor and Earth Force in fighting Seth and his forces again, and ultimately regained their powers after the apparent death of Seth. The pages of Moon Knight: City of the Dead reveals that Heliopolitan Taweret assists in the judgement of souls in Duat.

In the pages of "Ultimate Invasion", Maker traveled to Earth 6160 and remade it into his own image. Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu were depicted as the rulers of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Africa. Lord Ra speaks when the Sun is up and Lord Khonshu speaks when the Moon is up as Tony Stark learned from Emmanuel da Costa. Lord Ra and Lord Khonshu also work together under the name of Moon Knight where they soon face oppositions from Black Panther.

The gods Bast and Sekhmet were both mentioned by T'Challa / Black Panther in the 2016 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Captain America: Civil War, with T'Challa explaining, "In my culture, death is not the end. It's more of a stepping off point. You reach out with both hands, and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where you can run forever." Bast is again mentioned in the prologue of the 2018 film Black Panther as having helped the first Black Panther become king of Wakanda, and later appears in person in Thor: Love and Thunder portrayed by Akosia Sabet. Khonshu and Taweret appears in the live action Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Moon Knight, with Khonshu performed by Karim El Hakim and voiced by F. Murray Abraham and Taweret voiced and motion captured by Atonia Salib. Khonshu is an outcast amongst his fellow Egyptian gods for waging a "one god war on perceived injustices", which necessitates him to find and use his avatar, Marc Spector. She is a member of the Council of Godheads and is among it's members that meet with Zeus in Omnipotence City.

Horus appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, voiced by Colin McFarlane. He is found in the Egypt area of Chronopolis and helps Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Thor fight an awakened N'Kantu, the Living Mummy while Captain Marvel works to free Hulk from the quicksand. After Loki is defeated, Horus sees to it that Loki puts right what he has wronged in Egypt.