Hera (Earth-616)

Hera is the daughter of Cronus, god of earth, and his wife, Rhea. Cronus and Rhea were of a race of extra-dimensional beings known as the Titans, off-spring of the sky-god Ouranus and the primeval earth-goddess Gaea, who ruled most of Ancient Greece and were worshipped as gods by mortal man. (Ouranus and Cronus are not to be confused with the Eternals Uranos and Chronos, the latter of whom is also known as Kronos). Cronus overthrew his father's rule by fatally wounding him. The dying Ouranus prophesied that Cronus would likewise be overthrown by one of his own children. As a result, upon the birth of each of his children, Cronus had the child imprisoned in Tartarus, the most dismal section of the underworld known as Hades. The off-spring he sent there were Vesta, Pluto, Neptune, Hera and Demeter. (Later, legends erroneously claimed that Cronus had had actually swallowed his children and that they remained alive inside him until released by Zeus.)

Appalled at the treatment of her children, Rhea conspired with Gaea to overthrow Cronus. Gaea instructed Rhea to conceal her next pregnancy from Cronus. Rhea's youngest son, Zeus, freed Hera and her siblings from Tartarus and lead the Cyclopes, Hecatocheiroi and a few Titans not loyal to Cronus against his father in a ten-year war to claim Olympus. Still a relatively young goddess, Hera was sheltered by the Titaness Tethys while Cronus and his allies fought Zeus. Cronus was eventually defeated and Zeus claimed Olympus for himself.
Assuming his role as ruler of Olympus, Zeus courted Hera to be his next wife despite being married several times before. He soon managed to enchant her by stirring up a great thunderstorm and then taking the form of a distressed cuckoo weathered over by the storm. Hera took pity on the cuckoo and gave it shelter as Zeus revealed himself to her. At their wedding, Gaea gave Hera the Garden of the Hesperides as a gift.

As wife of Zeus, Hera became queen of Olympus, and gave birth to the gods Ares and Hephaestus among several daughters named Eileithyia, Bellona and Hebe. Not wanting to be reminded of Zeus's other wives or having any other children to eclipse that of her sons, she exiled many of Zeus's other wives from Olympus. She drove Metis away to Libya where she was protected by Triton, son of Neptune, and sent a great serpent called Python to pursue Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis. Maia conceived Hermes in a cave. Impersonating Beroe, the nurse of Theban princess Semele, Hera tricked Semele into having Zeus reveal his godly powers to her, an act that resulted in her demise. Most of Hera's hatred was levied upon Hercules, Zeus's son by Alcmene, a princess of Thebes in the Thirteenth Century.

Despite her anger toward Hercules, Hera protected the Thessalian prince Jason who gathered the Argonauts in a quest for the Golden Fleece. When Hercules became a god, Hera tried to reconcile with him by offering her youngest daughter, Hebe, to him as a bride.
Indirectly responsible for the Trojan War, Hera competed against Athena and Venus for a golden apple inscribed "To the Fairest" which was tossed by Discord at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. They decided to allow Zeus to resolve the matter of who best deserved the apple, but instead of getting involved, Zeus allowed the exiled Trojan prince Paris to make the decision. He granted the apple to Venus for the love of Helen, a Spartan princess, another daughter of Zeus. Angered, Hera and Athena supported the Greeks against Troy and enlisted Poseidon's help to imprison Zeus when he forbade them from manipulating the course of the war. Freed by Briareus, one of the Hecatocheiroi, Zeus punished Hera for her insolence by hanging her from Olympus by her wrists for a time.

During the Roman Empire, Hera was worshipped under the name Juno. She tried to dissuade Zeus from allowing worship of the Olympian Gods to cease under an edict from the Third Host of the Celestials. Along with the queens of the other pantheons of earth, Hera looked for human beings that could pose as examples of the true potential of human beings. In 1919, she and Frigga, wife of Odin, chieftain of the Asgardian Gods, discovered Mark Cadmon living on the streets of Chicago, Illinois and saw his true untapped potential. They placed him among a group of other young adults who became known as the Young Gods, and when the Fourth Host of the Celestials occurred, Gaea produced the Young Gods to the Celestials as what the human race could attain if allowed to exist. The Celestials accepted the Young Gods as prime examples of humanity and departed Earth taking the Young Gods with them.

In recent years, Hera has continued to make as much trouble for Hercules as possible. She sided with the Avengers when Zeus held them accountable for the injuries Hercules sustained by the Masters of Evil, but she later posed as a mortal woman named Augustine Jones and challenged her son Ares to a contest to see who gave Hercules the most sorrow. Zeus became aware of her sadistic game and once more confined her to Olympus.

After the seeming destruction of the Asgardian gods, Hera then reached back into history to the days of Ancient Greece and restored to life King Eurystheus of Mycenae, who had sent Hercules on his original legendary Twelve Labors. Since the deaths of the Asgardians, Zeus had formed a mortal conglomerate on Earth with the other Olympians in the roles of stockholders. Hera bequeathed that Hercules was becoming an embarrassment in the public eye so she formulated a new modern Twelve Labors for Hercules to go through expecting him to further embarrass himself with Eurystheus pulling the strings.

Hercules, however, finished all the new labors and returned Eurystheus to death. Hera meanwhile distanced herself from these events and returned to Olympus on her own without any indication of her involvement.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Hera possesses the conventional attibutes of the Olympian gods. However, some of these powers are more developed than those of the majority of her race.

Superhuman Speed: Hera is capable of running and moving that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Stamina: Hera's superhuman musculature generates almost no fatigue toxins during physical activity, granting her nearly limitless superhuman stamina in all physical activities.

Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Hera's bodily tissues are about 3 times as dense as the tissue of a human being, which contributes somewhat to her superhuman strength and weight.

Superhuman Durability: Hera's body is considerably harder and more resistant to injury than the body of a human being, or most other Olympians for that matter. Hera can withstand high caliber bullets, falls from great heights, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining physical injury.

Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite her high resistance to injury, Hera, like all Olympians, can be injured. However, her metabolism enables her to recover with superhuman levels of speed and efficiency. Most injuries can heal within a matter of hours. However, she cannot regenerate missing limbs or organs without outside magical assistance.

Immortality: Like all Olympians, Hera is functionally immortal in the sense that she is immune to the effects of aging and has not aged since reaching adulthood. Hera is also immune to all known Earthly diseases and infections.

Energy Manipulation: Apparently, Hera possesses the ability to manipulate vast amounts of energy. She typically uses these abilities for simple feats common to the Olympians such as changing her shape or teleporting herself across great distances or dimensions. She can, presumably, channel energy for destructive purposes as well.

Abilities

Hera is a fair hand to hand combatant. Though she has had little experience and no formal training, her natural Olympian physical capabilities make her a formidable combatant against most foes. She is also a cunning strategist and manipulator.

Strength level

Hera possesses the normal level of superhuman strength for an Olympian female and can lift about 25 tons.

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: None known.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

No special notes.

Trivia

No trivia.

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Links and References

Hera at the Guide to the Mythological Universe