Affiliations: Avengers (Black Knight (Dane Whitman), Captain America (Steve Rogers), Crystal, Giant-Man (Henry Pym), Hercules, Sersi), Eternals, Fantastic Four, Heroes For Hire, Karkas, Kro, Ransak the Reject, Thena, White Tiger

Enemies: Acolytes, Ajak, Dr. Daniel Damian, Deviants (including Karygmax), Exodus, Ghaur, Gronk, Phobius, Helio, Maelstrom, Weird Sisters

Known Relatives: Thena (mother), Kro (father), Cybele (grandmother), Zuras (grandfather, deceased), Mentor (great-uncle)

Aliases: Dark Angel, Tzabaoth, "the Doublemint twins"

Base of Operations: California

First Appearance: Eternals: The Herod Factor (November, 1991)

Powers: The Ritter twins are able to merge their bodies into a single entity, which can project energy from its eyes, and has superhuman strength and the power of flight.

History: (Eternals: The Herod Factor (fb)) - Donald and Deborah, twins, were conceived by Thena and Kro in Vietnam. When she learned she was pregnant, Thena looked for a solution to save face, and, finding a barren woman named Ms. Ritter, she deposited the children within her womb into her. In the years that followed, Ms. Ritter raised Donald and Deborah as her own, and they both believed themselves to be normal humans.

(Eternals: The Herod Factor) - Thena was forced to reveal the twins' true origins when a creature began murdering sets of twins across the country, searching for the "Chosen Ones", a supposed pair of Eternal-Deviant hybrids. Thena brought the twins to Olympia, but the creature pursued them there, and captured them, bringing them to its master -- Dr. Daniel Damian -- in Peru. There, the twins learned their true origins, and were saved by their true parents.

(Avengers I#370-371) - Joining their father's Delta Network of Deviants wishing to create better lives for their people, the twins were enlisted by him in their identity as Tzabaoth to rescue the Avengers from Ghaur, who was forcing a Uni-Mind with them in Lemuria.

(Fantastic Four Unlimited#10) - On their way to the San Jose University, the twins were intercepted by Kro, who brought them to his home in the Pyramid of the Winds for safety, because agents of the Inhuman-Deviant hybrid Maelstrom were gathering Deviants from above ground to use in reviving him. Unfortunately, they found them in the Pyramid, and brought them to Maelstrom to drain their kinetic energy, but the Eternals and Fantastic Four were able to rescue them.

(Heroes For Hire I#5 (fb)) - Aware that the Celestials were returning to Earth again, Ghaur captured Thena, the twins, and other Eternals in the hopes of creating an "Anti-Mind", with which to destroy the Celestials. Sersi escaped Ghaur, and brought the Heroes For Hire team to Lemuria to save them.

(Heroes For Hire I#6) - Freed by Heroes For Hire, the twins merged into a creature known as "Dark Angel", and destroyed Ghaur's Anti-Mind.

(Heroes For Hire I#7-9) - In the aftermath, Thena decided the twins needed a new haven from Ghaur, and Heroes For Hire member White Tiger suggested Mount Wundagore, her home. However, arriving there, they found that Exodus and the Acolytes had conquered it. Escaping from Exodus' clutches, they returned to America.

(Heroes For Hire I#11) - The twins finally came to New York City, to stay with their mother at Oracle Inc., the headquarters of Heroes For Hire.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, and Mark Texeira.

John Ostrander apparently knew nothing of the Avengers#370-371 story when he wrote his Heroes For Hire adventures, thus resulting in two sets of powers for the Ritters, and two resurrections for Ghaur.

by Prime Eternal

Clarifications: Donald and Deborah Ritter should not be confused with:

• John Ritter, star of Three's Company
• Dark Angel, Shevaun Haldane, Marvel UK superheroine, @ Hell's Angel#1
• Dark Angel, aka Mia Lessing, a former cia agent,allied withfreelance restorations, @ Master of Kung-Fu#107
• Angel of Death, aka Darkangel, empowered Shevaun, guardian of souls who leave the mortal plane thru portal of death, @ Hell's Angel#1

images: (without ads)
Avengers I#370, p17, pan5 (Tzabaoth yellow)

Appearances:
Avengers I#370 (January, 1994) - Glenn Herdling (writer), Geof Isherwood (pencils), Al Milgrom & Tom Yates (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers I#371 (February, 1994) - Glenn Herdling (writer), Mike Gustovich (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Eternals: The Herod Factor (March, 1994) - Roy & Dann Thomas (writers), Mark Texeira (pencils), Bob McLeod, Chris Ivy, Mark McKenna, Ian Akin & Sam DeLaRosa (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Fantastic Four Unlimited#10 (July, 1995) - Roy Thomas (writer), Herb Trimpe (artist), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Heroes for Hire I#5-9 (November, 1997 - March, 1998) - John Ostrander (writer), Pascual Ferry (pencils), Jaime Mendoza (inks), Mark Bernardo & Dan Hosek (editors)
Heroes for Hire I#11 (May, 1998) - John Ostrander (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Mark Bernardo & Dan Hosek (editors)

First Posted: 04/18/2002
Last updated: 02/16/2014

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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