EREBUSEREBUS
Official Name: Erebus
Continent: Inapplicable
Population: Ever-changing
Capital City: Inapplicable
Government: Absolute monarchy
Major Languages: Various
Monetary Unit: Stygian
Casino chips, gems, gold
Major Resources: Souls
National Defense: Hordes serving Pluto
(Hades)
International Relations: Erebus is connected
to the Earth realm via the
Stygian Casino but anyone deceased could theoretically pass through
Erebus, either before returning to life or before passing on into their
own respective afterlife realm.
Extraterrestrial Relations: Theoretically any deceased being, terrestrial or
extraterrestrial, could pass through Erebus upon death.
Places of Interest: The
Stygian Casino, the River Styx
Domestic Super Humans: Charon
(Though he is not native to Erebus, he does periodically reside there
while waiting to ferry the dead across the River Styx)
Non-Human Population: Charon
Prominent Citizens: Charon, Pluto
(Hades)
Superhuman Residents: Charon. Many
deceased superhumans have passed through Erebus and even stayed for a
time but no one permanently resides there.
Domestic Crime: Hercules and Amadeus Cho once
cheated the
Stygian Casino and made off with as many Stygian
Casino chips as they could hold.
International Crime: None
Location: The Hades region of the Olympus
dimension
First Appearance: (in a Marvel Comic,
mentioned) Thor I#353 (March, 1985);
(fully seen) Incredible Hercules I#129 (July, 2009)
History:
(Greek myth / Incredible Hercules I#129 (fb) - BTS) - Erebus was a
region at the entrance of the Hades realm within the Olympus dimension
in which souls neither living or dead pass through.
(Incredible Hercules I#129 (fb) - BTS) - Many souls who believed they had unfinished business in life or ached for a chance to be reborn remained within the Erebus region, never crossing over to their respective afterlives. After Hades ruler Pluto established the Stygian Casino as the Earthly entrance into his realm, many deceased souls stayed in the Stygian Casino, constantly gambling for a chance to be selected for resurrection and many more winning that others might have expected.
(Thor I#353 - BTS) - While battling the demons of
Muspelheim on Earth, the Olympian demigod Hercules thought how the
demons were as numerous and troublesome as the hordes of Erebus.
(Incredible Hercules I#129) - Hercules and Amadeus
Cho entered the Stygian Casino via its Atlantic City, New Jersey
entrance and were led into the main part of the Casino residing in
Erebus on their quest to retrieve Olympian god Zeus from the Hades
realm. Passing by numerous deceased superhumans gambling for
resurrection, Hercules and Amadeus exited the Casino into Erebus
proper, where they met Charon, ferryman of the dead. When Charon
demanded ten thousand Casino chips as payment for Hercules' debt,
Hercules and Amadeus returned to the Stygian Casino, ultimately
stealing as many chips as they could hold after a fight broke out. They
then ran back to Charon, who reluctantly agreed to take them to the
Tartarus region of Hades.
(Marvel Comics Presents III#3 /3 (fb) - BTS) -
Existing in a half-life state, the sorcerer Doctor
Druid learned of an immortality spell in the Darkhold
that required the heart of a spider and figured the hero Spider-Man
would suffice, Druid cast a sleep spell invoking the Erebus region to
place Spider-Man in a deep dream-state, where Druid hoped he would be
killed by the equally-sleeping former wrestler "Crusher" Hogan.
(Marvel Comics Presents III#3 /3 - BTS) - Learning of
the casting of an Erebus sleep spell, sorcerer Doctor Voodoo sent his
astral form into Spider-Man's dream to inform the hero of what was
transpiring.
Comments: Fully adapted into Marvel Comics by
Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Ryan Stegman and Terry Pallot.
Charon and the River Styx appear in Captain America Comics I#74 and we DO see Captain America (Jeff Mace) land in an afterlife realm before boarding Charon's boat on the River Styx. At first I assumed this area to be an unidentified Erebus but the more I think about it, it could be any afterlife realm, given that the Hell realm that Charon takes Captain America to does not appear to be Hades. It seems likely that the River Styx crosses through the various Hell realms including Erebus and many others. With that in mind, we have no way of knowing if the area Captain America lands in is Erebus or some other afterlife realm. Therefore, I'm choosing to not include as an unidentified appearance of Erebus.
Was Erebus seen but not identified
(or mentioned) in any Marvel stories that involved the Hades realm? If
you know of one, please tell me! I'd love to update this profile with
more appearances!
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Erebus region has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Incredible Hercules I#129, p9, pan2 (Erebus, main image)
Incredible Hercules I#129, p18, pan4 (Hercules & Amadeus running
out of Erebus' Stygian Casino towards Charon)
Appearances:
Thor I#353 (March, 1985) - Walter Simonson (writer, art), Mark
Gruenwald (editor)
Incredible Hercules I#129 (July, 2009) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente
(writers), Ryan Stegman (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Mark Paniccia
(editor)
Marvel Comics Presents III#3 (May, 2019) - "Heart of a Spider" story -
James Monroe Iglehart (writer), Ray-Anthony Height (pencils, inks),
Nate Lovett (inks), Chris Robinson (editor)
First Posted: 10/25/2024
Last updated: 10/25/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this
stuff,
you should check out the real thing!
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