MARDUK

Real Name: Merodach (Marduk is the Greek spelling)

Occupation: Mesopotamian god of wisdom, Patron god of Ancient Babylon, former chieftain of the Mesopotamian gods

Legal Status: Citizen of Ancient Sumeria and Babylon; possible citizen of Celestial Dilmun

Identity: The general of Earth is unaware of Marduk’s existence except as a mythological character.

Other Aliases: (possible aliases) Marduk Kurios, Nestor Zoltan, Satan, The Adversary, The Devil, Black Halo, Miles Gourney, Trachos, et al.

Place of Birth: Babylon (now part of modern Iraq)

Marital Status: Separated

Known Relatives: Ea (father), Damkina (mother), Anu (uncle), Asherah, Mami, Eriskegal (aunts), Zarpandit (wife), Nebo (son), Nisaba, Nanshe, Nina (sisters), Ninsar, Uttu (half-sisters), Enkimdu, Enbilulu, Asnan, Asarlubi (half-brothers), Enlil, Hadad, Ninurta, Martu, Nusku, Nergal, Gibil, Kinyras (cousins), Victoria Wingate (alleged second wife, possibly), Daimon Hellstrom (alledged son), Satana Hellstrom (alleged daughter), Patsy Walker-Hellstrom (alleged daughter-in-law), Anshar (grandfather, possibly deceased), Kishar (grandmother, alias Ki, possibly deceased), Gaea (ancestor, alias Ninhursag/Tiamat),

Group Affiliations: The Gods of Mesopotamia, (possibly) The Everlasting

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: (name only) Strange Tales I #150, (possible) Hellstorm #16

History: Marduk is a member of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Anunnaki, who were worshipped as gods during the Ancient Sumerian and Babylonian Empires. Marduk was the son of Ea, who was worshipped as the god of water, and his wife, Damkina, the plant-goddess. In ancient times, the Mesopotamian gods once lived on earth with their worshippers and many of the elder gods lived in positions of power posing as mortal rulers. Anu, elder brother of Ea, was the undisputed king of the gods since he had overthrown Alalu, one of the children of the ancient primeval sea-goddess, Tiamat. (Tiamat could actually be the Sumerian form of Gaea, the ancestor of all the gods of Earth, but this is unconfirmed.) Marduk was a close friend with the sons of Anu, particularly with Enlil and Hadad, joining them in numerous adventures against threats to the gods and earth. Marduk even helped Enlil slay Apsu, one of the ancestors of the Mesopotamian gods, who had outlived his worship.

When his worship began to overshadow that of his father, Enlil overthrew Anu as ruler of the gods and took the name Dagon in order to claim the worship rites of the older forgotten deity. His mortal descendants inherited rule of the Sumerian Empire under his power. His brother, Hadad, who supported their father as ruler, opposed Enlil and eventually deposed him with the help of Ea, but when Hadad departed Earth for the last time, Ea supported Marduk to take the throne. Marduk either slew or drove Tiamat from Sumeria. (Whether or not Gaea was actually Tiamat is questionable. Gaea later traveled to Greece, ruled by the Titans, the ancestors of the Olympian gods.) After Dagon was forced from rule, the Sumerian Empire collapsed and was replaced by the Babylonian gods who declared Marduk their patron god. Marduk’s mortal descendants dominated the Babylonian throne and hierarchy.

The Assyrians, who revered the war-god Nergal as their patron god, however, sought to overthrow the Babylonian Empire, but they never achieved the power of the previous two empires and were constantly being invaded by invading tribes from other lands. Worship of the Mesopotamian gods began to wane under the religion of Judaism. The Early Jewish Church had erroneously denounced all the Mesopotamian gods as demons in the face of their own scriptures. Since departing Earth, Anu had created the other-dimensional realm of Celestial Dilmun as a home for the Mesopotamian gods who departed Earth. The gods who entered Dilmun became known as the Igigi, while the gods bound to earth and the underworld remained as the Anunnaki. In rewriting the old Sumerian stories into their texts, the Jews might have assigned angelic traits to the former gods as members of the Elohim or archangels in order to mask their original forms. 

Marduk and many of the Anunnaki were respected by the invading Greeks, who brought the rites of their native Olympian gods with them, but many of the Anunnaki did not respect the Olympian gods and tensions remained between then until modern times. Increasing Hebrew and Islamic influences and even the Early Christian Church replaced the rites of the Anunnaki and the Olympians on Earth. Worship of Marduk even reached as far away as Rome at one time, but he never had quite the prominence he had under the Babylonian Empire. Priests of Marduk once protected the sacred Book of the Vishanti, leaving it in the protection of a griffin. In the Twentieth Century, the sorcerer Kaluu tossed the book back in time to when it was protected by the griffin, but Doctor Strange and his mentor, The Ancient One, traveled back to retrieve it, mystically leaving behind its historical counterpart to exist through history.

According to some accounts, several of the Anunnaki reverted into demonic entities while in search of new worshippers. Whether this is what happened to Marduk is unrevealed. Around 980 AD, shortly before the Third Host of the Celestials, a being claiming to be Marduk invaded Asgard, home of the Asgardian Gods, and attempted to cause Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods, in order that he could drain off the life-forces of the Asgardians in order to increase his own weakening powers. Marduk was attacked by Thor, who often defended Asgard to threats to it, and left him badly weakened. Marduk departed to regather his strength and over several years began forming a group of followers known as the Everlasting. Based in a location near Zurich, Switzerland, Marduk allied himself with Aqht, one of his mortal descendants returned to life, and Whiro, the Polynesian god of the dead.

At some point, Marduk or another entity using that name, took the form of a mortal man named Marduk Kurios and seduced a woman named Veronica Wingate, later taking her as his wife. This Marduk seems to have been demonic; his children, Daimon and Satana Hellstrom had several demonic traits. Veronica fled from him upon discovering his true nature and took Daimon with her to raise on her own. Satana grew up to be a succubus, while Daimon used his paranormal powers as the Son of Satan and later dethroned this Marduk as ruler of hell, become known as Hellstorm as a result. Whether this Marduk is the same Marduk of the Everlasting is unrevealed.

Marduk of the Everlasting eventually took the name Zoltan Nestor and seized control of Oracle, Inc. created by Namor the Submariner and later sold to Stark-Fujikawa in Japan. The V-Battalion meanwhile became aware of it from Amahl Farouk and sought out for information about it from Nestor unaware of his connection to it. He provided them with a bit of misinformation to distract them from his group for a while, but in the meantime Marduk placed his mark on Roger Aubrey, Mighty Destroyer of V Battalion, thereby gaining control of his life. Turning up a notch in his plans, Marduk funded and supplied weaponry to the anti-national terrorist group ULTIMATUM led by the Flag-Smasher with the intention to use the life energies of souls slain in the battles with ULTIMATUM to furl the Genesis Well, which would grant him full power over the earth. He captured and manipulated the mutant known as the Collective Man to drain the life from his Chinese allies. As a result, nearly the entire nation briefly fell into a comatose state. Citizen V had to slay the Collective Man to reverse that threat and convinced Flag-Smasher to abandon his current plan in exchange for sovereignty of the nation of Rumekistan to help him defeat Marduk. Infuriated by this change in his plans, Marduk stole the life of Roger Aubrey and added it to the Well within which Marduk could not be killed. Unfortunately, Marduk could not leave the well to fight Citizen V. As Aubrey and the captive spirits in the well rallied against Marduk, Citizen V destroyed the well whose energies then flooded both Marduk and Aubrey with power. While the energies restored Aubrey to life, Marduk was ripped apart by them unable to control them. However, it is unknown if this was the true Marduk or if any essence of this Marduk still exists or if this is the final destruction of him.

Height: 6' O"
Weight: 345 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Strength Level: Marduk possessed superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) 30 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Marduk possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Mesopotamian Gods. Like all of the Annunaki, he is extremely long-lived, but he is not immortal like the Olympian gods. He has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any known conventional means. He is immune to all known terrestrial diseases and is invulnerable to conventional injury. If 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 Anu, Ea or a number of gods of equal power working together to revive him. Marduk does have some superhuman strength and his own Anunnaki metabolism gives him far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Anunnaki flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Mesopotamian Gods.)

As a god, Marduk had the ability to tap into and manipulate mystical energies, primarily to change his form, move between dimensions such as from Earth to Celestial Dilmun and to cast spells and augment physical objects with mystical attributes. He had some form of clairvoyance and could read the history of people and objects around him. His level of expertise was above most of the Mesopotamian gods with the obvious exception of gods like Anu, Ea and Enlil.

Marduk the demon has all the conventional attributes of a demon, primarily being reliant on having to absorb the life-energies (“souls”) of living things in order to exist. Possibly on par with Mephisto and Mikaboshi, his mystical powers enable him tap into and manipulate dark energies, enabling him to take and steal life energies, but only with those with which he has come within direct contact. He can also move and travel between dimensions such as the Earth and the underworld known as Hell. He can change his form as when he takes on a demonic state with three heads capable of breathing flame. He seems quite more powerful in this realm than when he is on Earth.

Marduk of the Everlasting seems to be almost entirely human without any known superhuman powers except while he stands in the Genesis Well. In the Well, he is powered by the life forces of the people in the well, attaining god-like power, strength, endurance, stamina and resistance to injury; however, he is subjective to injury and even death if he removes himself from it. The waters of it can heal him of any injury by siphoning energies from life forces contained with it. Some of his agents designed equipment to enable him to manipulate others and drain energies through other means.

Transportation/Pets: Marduk, the demonic father of Daimon Hellstrom, sometimes rides a storm-chariot driven by Slayer, Pitiless, Racer and Flyer, four poison-toothed, tireless demonic steeds.

Comments: This bio pretty much covers Marduk and his multiple appearances in the Marvel Universe; it is unrevealed if all these appearances are meant to be one entity or a variety of beings. Marduk has not been observed in the DC Universe.

In Sumerian myth, Ninhursag is the Sumer-Assyrian name of the mother-goddess, identified with Kishar (Ki), mother of Anu and Ea,  Asherah, Queen of the gods; Mami, goddess of fertility and Damkina, goddess of plants and wife of Ea. In the Marvel Universe, it’s the Sumerian name of Gaea.

Thanks to Jeff Christensen and Michael Hoskins of the Appendix to the Marvel Universe for all of Marduk’s reported Marvel appearances.

Clarifications: Marduk is possibly not to be confused with:

 

Last updated: 03/21/08

 

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