| ZEUS | BIOGRAPHY |
PERSONAL DATA
Aliases: Zevs; Jupiter; Jove
Occupation: Greek god of the sky, lightning and thunder; Skyfather; Ruler of the Olympian Gods
Status: Active
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Cronus (father); Rhea (mother, deceased); Hera (sister, wife); Hestia (sister); Demeter (sister); Hades (brother, deceased); Poseidon (brother); Persephone (daughter); the Muses (daughters); Hebe (daughter); Hephaestus; Ares (son); Ilythia (daughter); Phoebus Apollo (son); Artemis (daughter); Hermes (son); Pallas Athena (daughter); Dionysos (son), Herakles (son); Perseus (son); Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) (daughter); numerous other offspring throughout the years
Base of Operation: Olympus
Group Affiliation(s): Olympian Gods; Quintessence; I.D.C.A.P.
Gender: Male
Hair: White (formerly brown)
First Appearance: (historical): Action Comics #267 (August 1960)
(canonical): Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #1 (February 1987)
OVERVIEW
Zeus is the ruler of the Gods of Olympus in ancient Greek mythology, and is a frequent associate – and sometimes enemy – of Wonder Woman. He is also one of the gods that lends his power to the Marvel Family, and is one of the five members of the ever-observing Quintessence. He has also encountered the young mage Tim Hunter. For about 3,000 years, the Greek and Roman versions of the Olympians (including Zeus/Jupiter) were separate entities. They were only recently merged again.
HISTORY
Zeus is the ruler ("skyfather") of the Gods of Olympus in ancient Greek and Roman mythology. He has special powers over thunder and lightning and rules the heavens, while his brothers Poseidon and Hades became masters over the sea and the land of the dead, respectively, after killing their father Cronus.
The Olympian Gods are actually the second, or third generation of Greek gods, depending on how you count. First came the primordial gods: Gaea, the Earth, who begat Uranus, the sky, who also became her mate. Together, they begat monsters and the Titans of Myth, the first humanoid gods. The Titan's leader Cronus killed his own father, and dreading the fate that had befallen Cronus, he swallowed his own children as soon as his wife Rhea gave birth to them. However, Rhea managed to save her youngest son Zeus, who would later return as an avenger. Zeus sent his first wife Metis to free his siblings, by seducing Cronus and poisoning his wine so that he vomited up his sons Poseidon and Hades (and presumably also other humanoid siblings), who had grown to maturity within Cronus' belly. The three brothers banded together to end their father's tyranny, and finally, it was a magic arrow (or bolt) fired by Zeus that killed Cronus. The brothers made pact in which they divided up creation between them and buried the scroll within the twisted remains of Cronus.
Together with their human siblings, who had also been freed from Cronus' belly, the Olympians, as this new generation of gods called themselves, made war on all the Titans – not only the twelve Titans of Myth, but also on their older siblings, the monsterous offspring of Gaea and Uranus, and banished most of them from the Earthly realm.
This mythological account may well be true, and is not necessarily contradicted by the theory that the gods of Earth were mortals transfigured and evolved by the energy of the GodWave that hit the planet about 35,000 years ago.
Zeus came to rule Olympus, the gods' impressive home, originally situated on top of the Greek Mount Olympus, but later placed in a dimension of its own. He married his sister Hera, but that did not stop him from having numerous affairs and children with mortals, gods and titans, much to Hera's dismay. Their marriage has been both passionate and stormy over the millennia, to say the least. Nevertheless, Hera has stayed faithfully by his side. With Hera, Zeus has Hephaestus and Ares, but he is also the father of other Olympian gods such as Phoebus Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Pallas Athena, Dionysos and Perspephone. With mortal women, he begat legendary demigods such as Herakles/Hecules, Perseus and Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark).
Some 15,000 years ago, the young schemer Uxas from Apokolips visited Earth. He sought out the ancestors of the Romans on the Italian peninsula, and accted as a missionary, telling them Greek myths and encouraging the people to start worshipping the Olympian gods. And with the growth of the Roman empire and the alluring power of its worship, the Olympian gods created Roman avatars of themselves in order to better attend to their worshippers. Zeus was worshipped under the name Jove or Jupiter, but soon it became evident that these avatars had developed into separate entities with their own local traits. This was Uxas plan all along, to weaken the Olympian gods by splitting the gods and their powers into two halves. As Darkseid, he would millennia later try to exploit this weakness.
Zeus has always been very much involved in the affairs of mortals, especially so in the last few thousand years B.C. After the advent of Christianity, the Olympian gods found their worshippers dwindling in numbers and withdrew from mortal affairs. Zeus and his fellow gods are still among the most powerful of the gods of myth, sustained by the worship of the Amazons of Themyscira and their popularity in Western culture and literature.
In modern times, Zeus has once again become interested in the world of mortals.The main reason for this is probably the rise of superheroes, modern-day "demigods", and especially the Amazon champion Wonder Woman. Over the years, Zeus has been quite ambivalent about Wonder Woman; sometimes being sexually attracted to her, other times having fatherly feelings for her; sometimes acting as her benefactor, other times as her enemy. What is clear is that Wonder Woman's unwavering faith and trust has saved the gods from the machinations of the evil war god Ares more than once.
At a time when the gods had sequestered themselves away for a conference, the evil New God Darkseid, assaulted Olympus, only to find it empty, save for Hermes, Wonder Woman and Superman. Such a victory held no meaning for Darkseid, who soon left. When Zeus and the rest of the gods returned, they decided to undertake a cosmic migration. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades made a new pact, destroyed Olympus and forged New Olympus in another dimension. They left, seemingly forever.
In destroying their old home, the Olympian gods unwittingly also destroyed the home of the Roman Gods, which seemed to be linked to Olympus. Some months later, the Olympians found themselves under attack from the Roman Gods and reconnected with the mortal world in order to seek the help of Wonder Woman and her allies. At this time, many of the gods of Earth were under the control of the sorceress Circe, who conspired with Hecate to bring about a "War of the Gods". After dealing with Circe, the Greek Gods made peace with the Roman Gods and decided to stay in touch with the mortal world.
During the crisis event known as "Genesis", Zeus and Jove (of the Roman Gods) were ambushed by Ares, god of war, and as a direct effect of this they omnce again merged into one being, thereby undoing the rift caused by Uxas millennia ago. Eventually, with a few exceptions, most Olympian gods merged with their Roman counterparts, which seemed to strengthen and redefine the gods. Some of the younger gods seemed to adapt to the modern world of man, and alter their functions and appearances, which brought about a sudden power-shift.
Athena, goddess of wisdom, deposed of her father Zeus and took over as ruler of the gods. During these events, her ally Ares also killed Hades and took over as ruler of the underworld. Shortly thereafter, the gods once again sequestered themselves away from the mortal world, this time together with the Amazons. During their exile, the Olympian Gods were captured by Darkseid and imprisoned on Apokolips, while Darkseid's minions took on the gods' names and forms in order to manipulate their followers. The Olypinans were finally freed by superhumans from Earth, and were saved and brought back to Earth by a mysterious space-faring pantheon of gods called the Ichor. Athena had been injured during their escape, and Zeus took back his title as ruler.
Zeus soon set about creating all-male counterparts to the Amazon race and selecting a new champion, Achilles.
POWERS AND WEAPONS
Zeus is immortal or near immortal, having lived for thousands of years. However, he has displayed signs of aging such as his hair turning white.
As a god of thunder and lightning, Zeus has the ability to control elements and especially lightning. He seems to be able to generate or harness lightning on his own, but mostly, he controls it through his Scepter of Lightning, both a regal symbol and a weapon forged by the blacksmith god Hephaestus.
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of Zeus in chronological order click here