Serpent (comics)

Serpent
The Serpent breaks Captain America's shield in Fear Itself #5 (October 2011). Art by Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Fear Itself #1 (April 2011)
Created by	Stuart Immonen Matt Fraction
In-story information
Full name	Cul Borson
Species	Asgardian
Place of origin	Asgard
Team affiliations	Worthy
Notable aliases	God of Fear
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina and durability Healing factor Shapeshifting Magic manipulation Longevity Ability to eat fear

Serpent (Cul Borson) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Usually depicted as a foe of Odin and Thor, the Serpent has also come into conflict with the Avengers. He is the brother of Odin, therefore the uncle of Thor, Loki and Angela. He is known as the Norse God of Fear.

Publication history

Serpent first appeared in Fear Itself #1 (June 2011), and was created by Stuart Immonen and Matt Fraction.

Fictional character biography

Cul Borson is an enigmatic being who claims that he is the true All-Father of Asgard and not his brother Odin. After being injured upon falling off a peak, Cul crawled into the nearby Giants camp and slaughtered them leaving a message stating "Gods do not live in the sky. We live on the Earth. And you do so at our pleasure." Following the death of his father Bor, Cul became the new All-Father and promised to keep his younger brothers Odin, Vili, and Ve as his trusted council. However, Cul did not stick to his word and used his Draumar to spread fear all over the Nine Realms. Cul's brothers worked to stop the beasts that Cul released on Aesheim, but Cul confronted them telling them to go home and allow him to rule. When Odin later confronted Cul, he deemed himself the Serpent as Odin fought him. As Odin was unable to kill Serpent, he sealed him away in an underwater prison and kept his existence a secret.^[1]

Thousands of years later during the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Serpent was freed from his underwater prison by Red Skull's daughter Sin who possesses the Hammer of Skadi. Upon emerging as an old man, Serpent prepared Skadi's forces and calls the Hammers of the Worthy which he sends to Earth so that whoever acquires them would help him cause fear and chaos across the globe. This causes some characters on Earth to become his Worthy. Juggernaut becomes Kuurth: Breaker of Stone, Hulk becomes Nul: Breaker of Worlds, Attuma becomes Nerkodd: Breaker of Oceans, Titania becomes Skirn: Breaker of Men, Grey Gargoyle becomes Mokk: Breaker of Faith, Absorbing Man becomes Greithoth: Breaker of Wills, and Thing becomes Angrir: Breaker of Souls.^[2] As the Worthy wreaked havoc across the globe, Serpent rejuvenated himself with the collected fears and assumed a younger state in addition to his staff assuming the shape of a hammer. Afterwards, Serpent started forming the Dark Asgard in Antarctica with a 1,000-eyed creature acting as his Heimdall. Upon tracing the Serpent's location, Thor started to head to Dark Asgard as the 1,000-eyed creature alerted Serpent of this. Serpent dispatched his forces to greet Thor after which the Serpent revealed to Thor that a prophecy stated that it was indeed Serpent who Thor slays and dies as a result, not the Midgard Serpent. Further revealing relation to Odin as his brother and Thor as his nephew, Serpent tried to convince Thor to join him in his cause which Thor promptly refused. This forces Serpent to teleport Thor away to where two of his Worthy (Nul: Breaker of Worlds and Angrir: Breaker of Souls) were waiting to battle the Thunderer.^[1] Serpent later teleported himself to where Skadi was fighting the Avengers. During his battle with the Avengers, Serpent managed to push them back and intercept Captain America's shield attack where he managed to break it with his fists. Serpent then raised his hammer and obliterated it in a devastating attack before teleporting away.^[3] In an attempt to destroy Odin and his followers, Serpent and his followers headed to Broxton, Oklahoma in order to use Heimdall's Observatory to travel to Asgard.^[4] After Thor was healed and returned from Asgard, Serpent switched to a giant serpent form and battled his nephew while the Avengers fought the Worthy with the weapons that Iron Man made in Asgard's workshops. At the end, Thor slew his uncle with Odinsword (revealed to be Ragnarok) and died in the arms of Odin thus fulfilling the prophecy.^[5] Following Thor's funeral, Odin took Serpent's corpse to Asgard, cast out the other Asgardians, and locked himself alone with the body until the end of time while blaming himself for not preventing Thor's death.

During the 2014 "Original Sin" storyline, Serpent was revived by Odin as he is contacted by Loki.^[6]

Serpent later repented his sins, was pardoned by Odin as a reformed God, and was made Royal Inquisitor and Minister of Justice.^[7] Serpent's first task as the Royal Inquisitor is to retrieve Mjolnir from the female Thor. While using the Destroyer armor, Serpent confronted her as she was about to take action against Malekith the Accursed and Minotaur.^[8] Serpent managed to briefly reclaim Mjolnir until Thor managed to call it back to her. Thor continued her fight against Serpent until she received aid from Thor Odinson, Freya, and an army of women that Thor Odinson suspected of being the female Thor.^[9] After a fierce battle, Freya convinced Odin to call off Serpent's mission by mocking him.^[10]

Powers and abilities

Serpent possesses the known abilities of the Asgardians which are superior due to him being the son of Bor. He possesses superhuman strength (which is enough to shatter Captain America's shield with his bare hands), speed, agility, stamina and durability, a healing factor, longevity, shape-shifting, and magic manipulation. Serpent can also eat fear in order to empower himself.

Genealogy

In other media

Serpent appears in the 2012 social-network game Marvel: Avengers Alliance. He appears in Season Two where he is speculated to be the mastermind behind the Circle of Eight.

References

External links

• Serpent at Marvel Wiki
• Serpent at Comic Vine