Set was spawned by the Demiurge approximately 3 billions ago. He is the brother of Chthon, Gaea and Oshtur as well of the other Elder Gods. As the greedy and gluttonous serpent-god that he is, Set, the Great Destroyer spawned Sligguth and Damballah to aid him in his quest for total domination. Set also brought the first death to the planet when he killed and devoured his brother Hyppus. He also came to realize that he could further increase his own power by absorbing the life energies of his dead brother. And so came start of the horrific slaughter of Gods in the planet and slowly all the Elder Gods have degenerated into demons save for one, Gaea, the Goddess of the Earth.
In order to put a stop to the horror and save the innocent life growing on Earth, Gaea called for the Demiurge and mated with it, which gave rise to the birth of Atum, the God of the Sun. Atum started to destroy all the demons but he too slowly degenerated into one and became the Demogorge, the God-Eater. Soon after, only Chthon, Set and his spawns were left of the demonic Elder Gods. Chthon, sensing that their efforts were futile, casted a spell that enabled his to escape to another dimension. Set saw what his brother had done and replicated his spell. Set, like his brother created a dimension near to Earth so that he can still influence things on the planet.
After millions of years of imprisonment, Set discovered that he can absorb the life energies of dinosaurs which suffered violent deaths. This allowed him to amaze considerable power. Gaea, the only Elder God left permitted to dwell on Earth, decided that the dinosaurs are evolutionary dead ends and chose the mammals as next dominant species. This infuriated Set and he ordered the dinosaurs to kill all the mammals. Gaea then intervened and dared Set to face her. The serpent-god once more appeared in a physical form and it was then that Gaea realized that she cannot fight him alone so she called for the aid of his son Atum.
Atum once again became the Demogorge and he and Set fought. Their fight ultimately caused the deaths of the dinosaurs, and it caused Set to weaken and was eventually defeated and sent packing to his other dimension. Set’s lost again the Demogorge broke the serpent-god’s influence of Earth and it prevented him in returning without aid.
Since then, Set waited for the time when he can return to Earth once more. To aid him in his quest, he created the Serpent Men and the Serpent Crown. Set has caused great trouble since the Hyborean Age till the present time, but the plans of his return has been foiled many times by Earth’s heroes and even by Arishem the Judge back during the time of The First Celestial Host.
Powers
Set is a being of immensely vast mystical powers. Like other mystical deities, Set can empower his followers with his horrific mystical might. The most notable of his loyal subjects was the powerful Stygian sorcerer Thoth-Amon, archenemy to Conan of Cimmeria.
Set can also grant powers to those who wears the Serpent Crown, as well as the wearer falling under Set’s control and influence. There exist many Serpent Crowns in many different alternate realities, and all of these crowns are mystically connected to Set, which is revealed to be capable of influencing things in a multiversal scale.
Set is also known for his insatiable appetite. The serpent-god demands frequent human sacrifices. Like his brother Chthon’s rivalry with their sister Oshtur, Set likewise share the same with his other sister Gaea, as it was stated, Gaea nourishes while Set consumes. Also, while within his native dimension, for some unknown reason, Set looks utterly disgusting, its as if his normal body has been turned inside out, with his bodily organs outwardly visible.
The Serpent’s Sea also known as “The Coils of Set” reflects the power of the serpent-god. During its peak when Set’s sorcerers and serpent men ruled the Earth, the Serpent’s Sea was practically impossible to cross. Now, after Set’s many recent defeats have cause the Serpent’s Sea to recede considerably.
While manifesting outside his realm, Set is depicted as a large seven-headed serpent. Likewise, his devoted followers know him by seven names. The Seven Names of the Serpent have also became connected to the Seven Deadly Sins with each of Set’s heads possessing a specific deadly sin.
- Set – Wrath
- Apep – Greed
- Ophion – Sloth
- Tiamat – Lust
- Lotan – Gluttony
- Leviathan – Envy
- Apocalypse – Pride
Set is one of the most powerful demons to have ever existed, possessing power that greatly dwarfs most known Gods and deities in their prime. He seems to be more powerful than his sister Gaea, as he was once capable of imprisoning her to prevent her interference in his return to Earth. However he was defeated by two of his sister’s sons, Atum and Thor.
So great is Set’s power that even the combined might of the Sorcerer Supreme and the Cosmic Cube, which has the power to alter the very fabric of reality, is unable to permanently destroy the Elder Demon, only to briefly exorcise his influence on Earth Dimension.
Set was believed by many to be unique to the Multiverse much like Shuma-Gorath and The Living Tribunal, who have no other counterparts in all of Creation. However, this belief has long since been proven false by the existence of at least two other versions of The Serpent God.
Alternate Realities
Earth-915
On Earth-915, featured in What If #25, Atum refused to release the power of the Demogorge on Set, forcing Thor and his allies to try and stop the monstrous Elder God on his own turf alone.
Following the tragic deaths of Doctor Strange and The Thing and Quasar’s disappearance, Thor realized that the only way to win would be to bring Set to Earth and continue the battle there. But upon doing so, Set’s power increased exponentially and one by one Earth’s heroes and villains began to fall.
Soon Humanity itself came under Set’s control thanks to a special drug put in various water supplies that transformed those who imbibed it into mindless humanoid snakes.
But despite having pretty much established dominion over Earth, Set was still met with opposition in the form of Thor, Rachel Summers, Doctor Doom, The Hulk, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Cloak and Aquarian, all of whom had been unaffected by the drug.
The team, which was split into two groups, set out to overthrow Set once and for all as well as kill his seven brides in order to avert the birth of his children.
Thor, Doom and Phoenix faced the Elder God directly but soon found themselves overwhelmed by Set’s awesome might. Doom, was the first of Thor’s group to fall at the hand of Set’s mystical might.
His death sent Rachel into a fit of rage, who channeled that rage towards killing Set by unleashing the full might of The Phoenix Force.
However, this turned out to be a grave mistake, as Set had grown far too powerful for even The Phoenix Force to contend with and was helpless to stop him from devouring it and the power it wielded.
The process was temporarily interrupted by the explosion of one of Set’s heads caused by Thor calling Mjolnir, which Set had consumed prior to Doom’s death, back to him.
In his rage, Set unleashed from his six remaining heads the full extent of his ever-growing might combined with the power he had acquired from his consumption of The Phoenix Force and reduced Thor to an fleshless corpse bound to the molten remains of Mjolnir.
But, before Set could go about devouring Thor’s remains, his sister Gaia used what little power she still held to bring her son’s corpse to her domain.
Before Set could concern himself with this matter any further, he came under attack by The Silver Surfer, whose speed and agility gave him a far greater edge over Set than most. But after blowing off another of Set’s heads, the Surfer was flung clear across the city by a blast of energy from the Elder God’s remaining five heads.
A mere second later, the greatest threat to Set’s reign made itself known in the form of Quasar, who had merged his Quantum Bands with The Enigma Force to become the ultimate Captain Universe.
Quasar, using The Eye of Agamotto he retrieved from Doctor Strange’s remains, opened a portal to the dimension within the Eye and sealed both himself and Set within, where they would spend the rest of eternity and beyond fighting one another.
While traveling across The Multiverse, Earth-616’s Quasar caught a glimpse of his Earth-915 counterpart clashing with Set, who had managed to grow back the two heads he had lost in his fights with Thor and The Silver Surfer.
Earth-9997 (Earth X)
The Set of this reality lived a life nearly identical to that of his Earth-616 counterpart.