Occupation: Goddess of mercy and compassion, former princess

Legal Status: Citizen of Ancient China

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of Kwannon except as a mythological character.

Other Aliases: Guan-Yin, Kuan-Yin (Chinese names), Koyasu-Kwannon, Kannon (Buddhist names), "Kwannon-of-easy-birth," "Lady giver of children,"

Place of Birth: Unrevealed

Marital Status: Single

Known Relatives: Miao Chuang Yen (father, deceased), Pao-Ying (mother, deceased), Mao-Yen, Mao-yin (sisters, deceased)

Group Affiliations: The Gods of China, The Gods of Japan

Base of Operations: Fragrant Mountain on Putuo Island, China

First Appearance: Wolverine II #31

History: Miao Shang was the third daughter of the Chinese Ruler Miao Chuang Yen. As an adult, she chose to enter a religious order to devote her life to propriety, but her father threatened her with a penalty of death of she did not revise her decision and remain devoted to her role as a princess. Hearing of this choice forced upon her, Yen Lo Wang, the Chinese god of the dead, appeared in the court of her father in the guise of a nobleman from another domain and rescued Miao Shan, taking her to be his wife in Feng-Tu, the Chinese underworld. 

With the elixir of p'an-t'ao from the peaches of immortality, Yen Lo Wang transformed Miao Shang into a goddess under the name Guan Yin. While she lived with him as his guest, Yen Lo Wang was distressed that she was turning the underworld into a paradise. As a goddess of mercy, Guan Yin removed the chains from prisoners, denied the poison in the venom of snakes, deprived lightning of the power to do harm and became capable of curing illness. Yen Lo Wang returned her to Earth, giving her Fragrant Mountain on the island of Putuo in the Eastern Sea where she rescued sailors lost at sea. When she received news that her father had fallen sick and was near death, she returned to him and served him a broth that restored him to full health. Afterward, Emperor Miao Zhong encouraged worship of his daughter as the goddess Guan Yin in China.

As a goddess, worship of Guan Yin was carried to Japan where she became known as Kwannon. She was loved beyond over all deities because she postponed her own bliss to show compassion over others. In the Seventh Century, she convinced the mother of Tang Seng at the mercy of her enemies to toss her son to the waves. The infant Tang Seng later washed up on Jin Shan, the Buddhist island of gold where he was raised by monks and grew up to be the monk, Xuan Zang. On Putuo, Kwannon often shared her home and played hostess to Tin-Hau, the goddess of oceans and fresh waters. In Buddhism, Kwannon was identified as the female form of Avalokitesvara, the Buddhist name of Vishnu. 

Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 310 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

Strength Level: Kwannon possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) 25 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Kwannon possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Xian or Chinese gods. Like all of the Xian, she is extremely long-lived, but she is not immortal like the Olympian gods. She has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. She is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If she were somehow wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Yu-Huang, Izanagi or for a number of Eastern gods of equal power working together to revive her. Kwannon also possesses superhuman strength and her immortal metabolism provides her with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Xian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Chinese gods.)

Kwannon also possesses incredible mastery in the mystical arts including the ability to affect probability and to heal the sick. She can cast spells to affect the potency of matter, such as robbing poison of its lethality and lightening the power to do harm. She can cure mortals of illness, hear the thoughts of her worshippers through prayer, teleport herself in a puff of mist and invoke power upon those who know how to call upon her. Her full power is unrevealed, but it seems her power is only detrimental when it is in the interest of another individual than herself.

Comments: Kwannon has not yet appeared in the Marvel or DC Comics.

Clarifications: Kwannon (Guan Yi) is not to be confused with:

• Guan Ti, Chinese god of war, @ Wolverine II #31

Last updated: 06/26/12