Helen Gable

Origin

Helen Gable was a member of a division of AIM that sought to utilize Asgardian abilities and weaponry for their own use. She and her team went to Niffleheim in the region of Muspelheim, of the realm of Asgard, in order to make a deal with the Fenris Wolf. AIM would free the Wolf, if he would allow them to study him in order to grant Asgardian abilities to regular humans. The Fenris Wolf agreed, and Helen Gable became one of the 300 test subjects for the project. Herself included, only three people managed to survive the experimentation. The other two survivors were unfortunately killed when the Fenris Wolf went on a rampage and slaughtered the AIM base, leaving Helen Gable as the only remaining Asgardian/human hybrid.

With amazing new powers and abilities, Helen is able to fight directly with the Asgardian warrior trio the Warriors Three. The strength to lift and throw Volstagg, and the durability to bear though Fandral’s attacks. She succumbs to an armed attack by Hogun however and is restrained. With a moments respite, Helen is able to converse with the Asgardians and a truce is called. After deciding to travel with the Warriors Three and aid them, slowly but surely, Helen finds herself with close friends. Having her normal life tipped upside down, she embraces the new warriors spirit she has found haven stirred within, and has even taken a new, Asgardian name, Skadihr. Also she holds a sense of responsibility in stopping Fenris Wolf, who is now in possession of a powerful AIM created bomb.

Creation

Helen Gable is a Marvel comic book character and was created by writer Bill Willingham and artist Neil Edwards. The character first appeared in the opening issue of the 2011 Warriors Three mini series. The character is also often referred to as Skadihr.

Character Evolution

A supporting character within the Warriors Three first mini series, the character of Skadihr has not had much opportunity to develop, however with a relatively important role with the mini series she did appear in she did see her development from a mortal woman to a demi god of sorts, friends and honorary member of the Warriors Three and hero and defender of Asgard.

Major Story Arcs

Warriors Three

Working as a member of AIM, Helen Gable, went from being a mild mannered and intelligent AIM scientist, to being fused with the blood of the mighty beast Fenris, turning into a hybrid Asgardian. AIM itself had been working on weaponized Asgardian beasts and has struck a deal with the gargantuan Wolf Fenris. Helen was left as the sole survivor however when the Fenris beast, after learning new abilities, slaughtered those who had sough a deal with him after freeing him. Encountering the Asgardian warriors, the Warriors Three, Helen’s instincts take over and she engages them in battle, and to their surprise, she proves a worthy adversary. Yet they manage to subdue her, and calmer heads prevail. She explains to the Asgardian warriors that she was a member of AIM, a department that had acquired and made a deal with the Fenris wolf, with even more ambitious plans to weaponize the more feral denizens of the worlds of Asgard. With differences resolved Helen joins the Warriors trio and they plan to stop Fenris. Helen comes to grow close with the warriors, and a bonding experience of sorts is had, after much conversation, travel, and mead. Helen is giving an Asgardian name, Skadihr, and an Asgardian weapon.

Eventually catching up with the Fenris wolf, who now has the ability to shape shift, Helen experiences a massive midair explosion, which sends her, Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun spiraling towards the Earth. Surviving the fall, Helen staggers until aided by the Warriors Three. In the search again for Fenris, Skadihr is key in discerning the disguised wolf, and joins in battle against it with her fellow warriors. After some quick thinking, the quartet are able to trap the cunning wolf, with an even more cunning plan. Supposedly some time in the future, Helen/Skadihr opts to live in Asgard with her new found comrades.

Powers and Abilities

As a human, Helen Gable was a rather accomplished member of AIM, and had a fairly extensive knowledge of Asgardian lore. She was, and remains a competent mechanic as well, being able to fix up a broken airship. When she was infused with Asgardian DNA, Helen Gable gained the basic abilities of an Asgardian, and while she did not become as powerful as a true Asgardian, she was made considerably stronger and tougher than virtually any human could be. Her strength is augmented, her agility, her speed, her senses, and her durability. likewise. She was able to lift Volstagg with one arm, and throw him. She can survive medium to large explosions and survive falls from great heights.

Hogun also later gave Helen the Narangan Blade, a powerful Asgardian sword, that previously belonged to the well regarded and heroic Vö, for her to wield.