Origin
Billions of years ago, Gaea, together with her siblings Set, Chthon and Oshtur were created from the Demiurge the manifestation of life potential of the planet Earth. She and her brother Chthon were among the Gods who inhabited the land masses of the planet while Set dwelt in the seas and Oshtur roamed the skies. When her ravenous brother Set started a frenzy of horrific murders that were soon imitated by the other Elder Gods, Gaea was the only one to remain peaceful and saved herself from degenerating into a demon. In order to protect the innocent life growing on Earth, Gaea called for the Demiurge and mated with it. Their union spawned Atum, the Sun God who would later become the Demogorge. The Demogorge had slain almost all the elder demons of the Earth except for Chthon and Set who managed to escape to other dimensions. Gaea was the only Elder Goddess left, and she infused her life essence with all living creatures that were to come from Earth. Gaea is the creator of the Ebon Rose, a powerful magical artifact not dissimilar to Set’s Serpent Crown, Chthon’s Darkhold, and Oshtur’s Sword of the Bone.
Creation
Gaea made her first appearance in Doctor Strange vol 2, published in February of June 1975. She is a Marvel Comic character and she was created by writer Steve Englehart and penciled by comic book artist Gene Colan. Marvel’s Gaea, is loosely based on the Gaia of the Greek mythos.
Character Evolution
The ever-present mother of Earth has around 5 billion years of history and character evolution. Only parts of her long life have been revealed, often with millions of years between each appearance. Gaea’s origin is explored in Thor Annual #10 published in 1982. Issue shows how she emerged from the chaos void, and her fierce rivalry with her brother Set. Gaea mainly appears as a supporting character in Marvel comics, and does not have her own series. She has made appearances in Giant-Size Avengers Issue #4, Iron Man Annual Issue #10, among many more.
Major Story Arcs
Early Years
After her son Atum consumed all the Elder Gods, he left Earth and became one with the sun, leaving Gaea the sole remaining Elder God on Earth. She infused her divine essence into all living beings on Earth and dedicated herself to guiding the newly emerging life. As millions of years passed, Gaea learned that the dinosaurs were evolutionary dead ends and chose the side of mammals as the next dominant species on Earth. This infuriated the serpent-god Set who has a special affinity to the dinosaurs, as they had been a great source of power for him. Set ordered the dinosaurs to kill all the mammals, but Gaea interceded and engaged her brother Set in combat. She soon realized that she had underestimated Set and invoked her son Atum to aid her in her fight. Atum would again become the Demogorge, and his battle with Set would ultimately predicate the extinction of the dinosaurs. Although the battle was lengthy, the Demogorge eventually proved victorious and exiled Set to an alternate dimension, effectively estranging him from Earth without external aid.
Celestials
When the powerful race of cosmic beings known as the Celestials visited Earth, Gaea gave off a star-like light to beacon a wondering tribe of humans to accept the gifts the Celestials brought them. Set’s Serpent Men also availed themselves to the Celestials but were ultimately denied. The Celestials began their experiments on humans, creating the Eternals and Deviants as well as creating the the x-genome granting potential superhuman mutations further down the evolutionary lineage.
A New Generation of Gods – Asgard/Greek
Several thousand years ago, upon the appearance of the second generation of gods, Gaea, under different personae and names, mated with them thus becoming the “Mother Goddess” of several mythologies. Among them Odin, the Sky-Father and Lord of Asgard, coupled with Gaea who, upon meeting him, appeared in her most voluptuous form using the the name Jord, in order to spawn a child of great strength and power; the product of their union was Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder. Many Asgardians continue to recognize Gaea as Jord.
To the Olympians, Gaea, with Ouranus, birthed the Cyclopses, Centmanes and,Titans. Ouranus, however, was not fond of some of his offspring and imprisoned the Cyclopses and Centimanes in Tartarus. This displeased Gaea who loved all her Children equally and she inspired the Ouranus-favored Titans to rise up against Ouranus and free their bretheren from imprisonment. The Titans, specifically her grandson Chronos, succeeded in overthrowing Ouranus; however with new power and position came arrogance, and Chronos saw no reason to release his siblings, the Cyclopses or Centimanes. Gaea warned Chronos that his actions, and their consequences, could inspire his children to in turn overthrow him. Chronos responded by discarding and sealing his own children into Tartarus, in hopes of avoiding such a fate. To counter these actions, Gaea absconded with Zues, child of of Chronos, so that he might grow and, in time, overthrow Chronos. When he matured to a reasonable age and level of power, Zeus did exactly that with the assistance of his immediate siblings, whom he freed from imprisonment in Chronus’ own body, and the Cyclopses and Centimanes whom he’d freed from Tarturus.
Mesopotamian Gods the Annunaki
To the Annunaki, the Mesopotamian gods, Gaea is alternately known as Ninhursag or Ki. It was through pairing with Anu that she gave rise to the Annunaki.
Dormammu
Gaea appeared in the Doctor Strange title as a captive of the demon Dormammu. She called out to Clea, the desciple and lover of Stephen Strange, to free her. While still imprisoned, she noted Scarlet Witch and Vision successfully fleeing from Dormammu’s realm, and rejoiced at their accomplishment. Later, Doctor Strange transfered a great deal of power to Clea to allow her to set Gaea free. Once freed, Gaea was quick to banish Dormammu back to the Dark Dimension.
Chaos War
Gaea was seen slain by her oldest enemy, the embodiment of darkness and chaos from which she originally sprang. Before her ultimate defeat, however, she was able to show Hercules how to command the god-power within him, but in doing so she “freed” him from everything that made him who he once had been.
The All Mother Jord
Gaea has more recently bees seen as having adopted a role as one member of an Asgardian triumvirate, known as the All-Mother, alongside the goddesses Freyja and Idunn. As part of this group of All-Mothers, she blackmailed Loki into being their spy and errand runner. Gaea is also the handler of one of the seven puppies from the Garm and Hel-Wolf litter.
Physical Characteristics
Height: Varies
Weight: Varies
Eyes: Varies
Hair: Varies
Powers and Abilities
Gaea, as an Elder Goddess, is a being of vast mystical powers of an undefined nature. Being the Earth-Mother, Herself, Gaea can draw upon the energies of all living beings on the planet, since all of these living beings share part of her life essence. She is capable of creating virtually any affect she desires. While in any of her humanoid forms, Gaea possesses incalculable physical strength, speed, durability, and stamina far exceeding those of any terrestrial other being.
Weather Control
Gaea can command the forces of Nature, such as storms, tides and volcanic activity. Gaea’s control over Nature is theoretically absolute, as she is the embodiment of all life on Earth.
Healing
Gaea has shown to be able to heal living things, both botanical and animal, including human. She does this by channeling her life energy into the affected being, restoring full health. Also, by channeling her energies into living beings, she can cause them to grow in size and power.
Telekinesis
Gaea is able to affect the external environment with her will alone. She can lift any object she desires with just a thought; she was able to lift Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, this manner without difficulty, even though such a feat is impossible for other beings to wield through non-mechanical means.
Power Granting
Like other mystical deities, Gaea can bestow her great powers to sorcerers who invoke her, such as Doctor Strange, Clea and Morgan Le Fay.
Shapeshifting
When Gaea manifests to lesser beings, she usually employs a humanoid form. Her most common form is of a young woman with black hair and blue eyes; although as Jord, the Earth Goddess is blonde, the form in which she had appeared to Odin. It has been suggested that she appears in the form of whatever race or ethnicity of the beholder and that in an ethnically diverse group, she may appear in the form of the ethnic image associated with each individual, even simultaneously.