MANABOZHO

Real Name: Manabozho

Occupation: Ruler of the Anasazi, God of Sky and Heaven

Legal Status: Citizen of Shipolo

Identity: The general populace of earth is unaware of Manabozho except as a figure from Native American legend. He is well known to his worshippers.

Other Aliases: Great Spirit, Minabozho (Chippewa), Messou (Montagnais), Minabush (Menominee), Nanaboojoo (Potawatomi), Gluscap (Micmac), Yoskeha (Iroquois), Nanabusch (Delaware), Olelbis (Wintun), Torngasau (Inuit), Ioskeha (Onondoga), Tshohanoai (Navaho), Glooscap (Mandan), Aba (Choctaw), Apoyan Tachu (Zuni), Tulugaak (Eskimo), Isakakate (Crow), Wisa'ka (Commanche), Mudjekewis ("West Wind," Anishinaabe name),

Place of Birth: Unrevealed, possibly Shipolo

Marital Status: Married

Known Relatives: Gaoh (father), Awenhai (mother, deceased), Chibiabos, Wabasso, Coyote (brothers), Onatah (wife), Hino, Hotamintanio, Owayodota, Tawa (sons), Pawa, Omamama (daughters), Hiawatha (son by Wewonah), Amitolane, Glendenwitha (daughters in law), Bitsitsi, Watsusi, Kowwituma (grandsons), Whope (granddaughter), Cirape (nephew), Chahuru, Kineun (uncles), Raven, Sedna (cousin), Gitche Manitou (great-grandfather), Gaea (great-grandmother, alias Nokomis)

Group Affiliation: The Gods of North America, The Council Elite

Base of Operations: Shipolo

First Appearance: (unidentified) Thor I#300, (identified) Infinity Gauntlet #2

History: Manabozho is the youngest son of the wind-god Gaoh and his wife, Awenhai, the earth goddess, members of an other-dimensional race of beings known as the Anasazi, who were worshipped as gods by the Native American tribes of North America. According to myth, he and his brother, Nhenebush, later called Coyote, were enemies before they were even born and even fought in the womb. Their animosity for each other was so great that their mother could not survive their birth and she died as a result. Unwilling to accept Manabozho as his brother, Coyote blamed him for her death and chided him for being the result of her death. Feeling dishonored, Manabozho fled to Earth where he found comfort in his great-grandmother Gaea in her role as Nokomis. She comforted him in a cave on earth and showed him great reverence for the world and heavens around him. He also developed compassion for mortal men and stole fire from heaven to help keep them warm. He taught them to not be afraid of night and how to create and pass on their culture to their descendants. Imparting on them the benefits of culture and knowledge, Manabozho also learned that Coyote in his role as the trickster was responsible for creating several of the misfortunes and discord which mortal man faced and took it upon himself to protect them from the evil of his maligned brother.

While living on earth, Manabozho discovered the goddess Nowutset, daughter of the spider-goddess, Susstinnako, and accepted her as his bride. They had two children, Tawa and Pawa, who became gods of the sun and moon, respectively. Gitche Manitou, the Great Spirit of the Anasazi, had a prophecy that their son would be a great leader for mortal man and they became parents of Atse Hastin, the divine ancestor of the mortals of earth.   

Manabozho's elder brothers, Chibiabos and Wabasso often visited him on earth and took tales of his accomplishments back to heaven. Manabozho gave Chibiabos the title of god of night and Wabasso the god of dawn so that even in his absence, mortal man would know there was nothing to be afraid of in his absence. While on Earth, however, Chibiabos was abducted by spirits known as the Anamaqkiu and taken to the underworld to be their leader. Manabozho went to rescue him and killed two of the Anamaqkiu, but Chibiabos stayed behind to safely receive the spirits of mortals who died. The Anamaqkiu, however, sent a great flood to Earth from the underworld that threatened to cover the earth. Up till now, the Anasazi protected the children of Aste Hastin and his children in an other-dimensional part of the underworld free from Coyote’s treachery.  As this world was destroyed, Manabozho rushed ahead and saved all of mankind and the animals of earth on a great tree that he kept floating on the waters. The tree eventually came to rest on a mountain and rested there as the waters eventually receded. Realizing that the waters had receded, Manabozho climbed higher to make sure that had receded far enough, but instead of coming back down, he was allowed to ascend into heaven where he was received by Gitche Manitou. Measured by his deeds, Manabozho succeeded Gitche Manitou and replaced him as Ruler of the Anasazi. The mortals who Manabozho had saved meanwhile populated the earth and spread stories of him among all the tribes of earth.

Manabozho meanwhile sought a suitable bride to rule by his side. Nowutset, however, refused to be separated from earth. Manabozho, meanwhile, discovered that Coyote had abducted the goddess Onatah and took her to the underworld in order to force her to marry him. Manabozho invaded the underworld to rescue her by becoming as bright as the heavens and illuminating the darkness enough to locate Onatah. Grateful to Manabozho, Onatah became his wife and gave him several children.

From Shipolo, Manabozho ruled over the Anasazi who became worshipped as the gods of the mortal tribes of North America. Around 1000 AD, Vikings and Norseman landed on parts of Greenland and declared it for Odin and the Asgardian gods whom they worshipped. This conflict led to a brief skirmish between the Asgardians and the Anasazi. The Asgardians backed off from invading North America, but Manabozho and Odin, Ruler of the Asgardian Gods, formed an alliance to defend earth from danger posed by the alien Celestials. Manabozho and Odin then met with the heads of the other races of gods who were or had been worshipped on Earth to discuss the Celestial's possible threat to Earth. The Celestials had threatened to seal off the inter-dimensional portals with each of the godly realms with earth unless the gods made a pledge to stop interfering with mortal affairs. As a result of this pledge, the Anasazi had to lesson their contact with earth, and Manabozho also made a vow to Odin to donate the life energies required to revive the Asgardians slain against the Fourth Host of the Celestials. When Thor came to Shipolo for the life energies required to revive the Asgardians slain in battle by the Celestials, Manabozho provided him the life energies to restore the Asgardians. The Celestial’s Fourth Host decided to spare earth from destruction and left the planet.

Despite this vow, the Native Americans of earth continued worshipping their gods long after the worship of the Asgardian gods and much of the other gods of earth no longer sought active worship. The Native Americans particularly called out to their gods for guidance as more Europeans began arriving seeking to share lands with the native tribes of North America. Manabozho and the Anasazi as well as their worshippers called these invaders and their descendants “white men” because they arrived in ships with white sails, not so coincidentally because they lacked the more tanned or bronze skin of the Native Americans. In the late Nineteenth Century, Manabozho appeared before the Comanche brave known as Flaming Star and inspired him to find the "glowing dust from the heavens," actually the luminescent dust of a meteorite, and to use it on a costume for a future hero he foresaw would protect both Native Americans and the descendants of the Europeans. The man who would first don this costume was a lawyer named Carter Slade, who called himself the Ghost Rider.

Several years later, Manabozho was curious about another being other than Slade who also called himself the Ghost Rider. This being was the mortal stunt person named Johnny Blaze who shared his body with a demonic entity named Zarathos. Manabozho brought this Ghost Rider back in time with the help of a human mystic named Spotted Doe who believed this Ghost Rider to be a malevolent demon. Manabozho sent agents to fight this Ghost Rider and eventually felled Ghost Rider with his magical axe, forcing him to return to the form of Johnny Blaze. Manabozho was preparing to spear the helpless John Blaze when the criminal Tarantula and his men grabbed Spotted Doe. As Blaze went to Spotted Doe’s defense, Manabozho realized he was wrong among this Ghost Rider’s motivations and restored him back to his proper place in time.

Manabozho was summoned in recent years to protect the sacred lands of his worshippers from white men who threatened to destroy a dam and in order to loot a town with scuba gear. Destroying the dam would be a threat to the sacred lands. Johnny Blaze as the Ghost Rider once again unwittingly fought against Manabozho believing him to be involved in the plot, but Manabozho nailed Ghost Rider with a spirit arrow, forcing him back to human form. Neither Ghost Rider nor Manabozho was able to stop the dam from blowing up. However, Blaze was sent back in time to his Nineteenth Century experience with Manabozho, and was returned moments before the dam was destroyed. Returned in time to stop the explosion, Ghost Rider stopped the terrorists and saved the sacred lands.

Due to his alliance with the other god-kings of earth, Manabozho became a member of the Council Elite, which comprised the rulers of the other gods of earth dedicated to defending Earth from future threats to it. On Odin's request, Manabozho sent Tawa from among his pantheon to battle Demogorge and years later reunited with the other sky-gods to discuss the potential  threat of Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet. Manabozho was briefly stranded in Asgard as a shift in the space/time continuum created by Thanos ripped their realms apart from Earth's Celestial Axis, but Thanos was finally defeated by the collective heroes of earth subsequently restored their worlds to normal.

Height: 6’ 7”
Weight: 475 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

Strength Level: Manabozho possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) 95 tons under optimal conditions.

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

Manabozho also has exceptional mystical power above any other Anasazi god, equal to Odin, Zeus and the Elders of the Universe. He can tap into and manipulate the energies of the orenda, the sum total of positive and natural energies of the universe for effects resembling magic. He can move and levitate matter, control the forces of weather, such as creating storm and manipulating the wind in order to fly or levitate himself. In 1811, he even briefly reversed the Mississippi River to create Reelfoot Lake. He can create such forces of storm to decimate a large valley. He can also create dimensional barriers to cross between time and space, or or to travel from Shipolo to earth. He can propel and manipulate mystical energies to conjure shields or lightning-like bolts or to enable himself to glow as bright as a small sun, such as when he traveled into the underworld. His mystic rapport with earth is great enough that all the animals of earth from bears to squirrels acknowledge his reverence. He has exceptional senses on a nearly omniscient level allowing him to perceive disturbances on a cosmic scale. He can also shapeshift between humanoid, animal and energy forms as in ancient times when he appeared as various animal forms or by appearing through sunbeams passing between the branches of a tree. He can also project and speak through his image molded from clouds or stellar matter, such as the Aurora Borealis to the Inuits.  

Manabozho also has exceptional physical endurance against harm. He can appear underwater for long periods of time and still breathe even without air present or exist on the highest land formation of earth where the temperature, elevation or lack of oxygen would otherwise be fatal to human beings.

Weaponry: Manabozho sometimes wields a mystical axe with which he can channel his energies through and cleave through  time thus enabling him to reach from past to the future and vie versa. He is also equipped with a dagger composed of metal similar or identical to Olympian adamantine or Asgardian uru and a bow and arrow. His bows are enchanted to never miss a target.

Pets: Manabozho employs a number of bird-like agents called Thunderbirds. Resembling large eagles or birds of prey, these birds are infallible and follow his orders without error. It is not known as to how many of them exist, but a few of them have been identified, such as Skyamsen, Oshadagea (given to Hino), Hoita, Aidee and Tlanuwa,  He has also been known to command flying serpents called the Piasa, resembling prehistoric pterodactyls, such as Hokhokw, Hobomokko (slain by the second Ghost Rider) and Kelok, who was killed by Coyote for slaying Wekwek, the falcon-spirit.

Base of Operations: Manabozho rules and presides in the other-dimensional realm known as Shipolo which includes a number of smaller lands and regions including, but not limited to Alignak (home of the sun-god), Aningan (home of the moon-goddess), Maski (home of the war-god), Seana (the land of the dead) and Adlivun (an underwater realm ruled by Sedna). The main landmass of Shipolo resembles a large land mass resembling an asteroid suspended in an other-dimensional void that experiences periods of daylight and nighttime and which is preserved by undefined forces which keep the boundaries of this realm from eroding. Visitors to this realm experience a phenomenon where this world seems to extend into infinity without discernible end. Shipolo is connected to Earth by a bridge of light called Ekutsihimmiyu similar to the Asgardian Bifrost. The underworld of Seana is adjacent through the cave called Sipapu named for a similar cave on earth. This underworld is native to a number of beings, demons and evil spirits ranging from Anamaqkui, the spirits of the dead, and cannibalistic demons known as the Anaye. Shipolo is also populated by variously named dragons, fairy-like beings called the Jagoh and sentient animal spirits, such as Luk (grizzly), Wekwek (falcon), Yawpa (hummingbird), Tsiskagili (crawfish), Uktena (elk), Dakwa (salmon), Aniwye (skunk) and a man-ape typically called Sasquatch (not to be confused with the Canadian hero by that name).

Comments: Manitou's history is an amalgamation of Algonquin, Iroquois, Micmac and Chippewa myths adapted in a likely Marvel scenario. Anasazi is also an old Native American term meaning "ancient ones." The gods of the Native Americans were also known as the Manitou (Algonquin), Orenda (Iroquois), The Kachina (Pueblo-Zuni), Innua (Eskimo-Tlingit), Yei (Navaho) and Heyoka (Dakota).

Updated: 10/27/2013

Back to Main Page