THE PANTHEON
Membership: Achilles, Agamemnon, Ajax, Andromeda,
Atalanta, Cassiopeia, Delphi, Hector, Hulk, Jason, Paris, Perseus, Prometheus,
Ulysses, Ulysses
They also had a number of human agents, including: Boyajian,
Johnston, & Meyer
Field agents: Arabian Knight (Abdul Qamar)
Purpose: To observe the world looking for potential disasters and then avert those disasters
Affiliations: Suzy Berengetti, Elamron, Henry Peter Gyrich, Susan Jacobson, Rick Jones,
Cary St. Lawrence, Doc Samson, Silver
Surfer, the Starjammers, Thor (Red Norvell), Thunderbolt
(Luis), Turbo (Musashi), the
Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg), X-Factor
Unknown relation to Warzone
Enemies: Agamemnon, Abomination, Achilles, Armageddon, Barrier,
Blacklash,
Drachiss, Igor
Drenkov, Farnoq
Dahn, Frost,
Gestalt, Gladiator (Kallark), Justin Hammer, the
Hoarfen, the Leader,
Lunatic Legion, Madman, Oracle, the People's Protectorate, Piecemeal,
Gretta Rabin, Redeemer, Ringer,
the Riot Squad, Rock, Skreamer, Siingard, Striker, Trauma (Trow-Mah), Troyjans, the U-Foes (Ironclad, Vapor, Vector,
X-Ray), Wild One, Yeti
formerly
Lazarus (Todd
Hunter), X-Factor
Base of Operations: The Mount, a mountain sized base in the Nevada Desert.
Abilities/Resources: The Pantheon's influence and reach is very wide. They have operatives stationed all over the world, as well as underground bases all over the world. They have countless people in their employ, from soldiers, to scientists, to doctors, and facilities all over Europe and North America, and probably many other places as well. Their main base is inside a large mountain in the Nevada Desert called the Mount. The Mount has its own science facilities that are far ahead of modern science. They have a large armament, an airstrip with many planes, their own farming and food production. Though they have many soldiers, their main operatives are the core members, offspring of Agamemnon himself, and thus they are all an extended family. Each of these individuals has been touched by godhood, and has enhanced durability and strength, a healing factor, and usually a power that is uniquely their own (see comments).
First Appearance: Incredible Hulk II#368 (April, 1990)
History: (Incredible Hulk II#401 (fb)) - Agamemnon was born Vali Halfling, the offspring of a human and an Asgardian god many thousands of years ago. As such, he was virtually immortal.
(Incredible Hulk II#401 (fb)) - However, Agamemnon's immortality kicked in when he was a teenager, and he never physically grew past sixteen.
(Incredible Hulk II#416 /424 (fb)) - Agamemnon realized that each of his offspring would retain less and less of his power in their genetic structure in subsequent generations, and after a few generations, there would be no godliness in them at all. To this end he made a deal with the alien empire known as the Troyjan. He promised the Troyjan to give them any one of his descendants at any time in the future in exchange for their aid in genetic manipulation, allowing him to pass on considerable parts of his godhood to all his offspring. They would try to take him up on his promise thousands of years later.
(Incredible Hulk II#422 (fb)) - Agamemnon spent a considerable amount of time in Asgard many millennia ago, making allies of the frost giant Siingard and his army, as well as the death goddess Hela. His exact actions in Asgard, the length of their duration, and what his relationship was to the Asgardians still remains unclear.
(Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Hulk 2004) - Over the centuries, Agamemnon built a massive organization called the Pantheon. The core members were his offspring, each of whom was gifted with some special powers as their inheritance from him. They built a gigantic base in the Nevada desert called the Mount. The Mount was turned into a self-sufficient community, housing hundreds if not thousands of inhabitants, growing its own food, having its own medical and science facilities far ahead of the rest of the world. They employed operatives all over the world, and had several bases all over the world. Though they remained secret, their resources and power grew unbelievably over the years. Over the centuries, Agamemnon's offspring were born and died, each serving with the Pantheon for a time. Agamemnon did not want the Pantheon members to know that he was physically a boy of 16, so he built himself a room in the core of the Mount and communicated with the Pantheon members only as a holographic image of a very old man. The Pantheon members all thought this was his real appearance, not knowing that this ancient looking hologram was a mere facade. The Pantheon's stated purpose was to observe the world, looking for potential disasters, and then take steps to avert them.
(Incredible Hulk II#425 (fb)) - Every single Pantheon member who died had his or her corpse stored underneath the Mount where it was cybernetically enhanced. Agamemnon kept all of the deceased bodies of all of his offspring stored there as the Endless Knights as a failsafe. Should he ever need to destroy his own creation, he would summon the Endless Knights to destroy the Mount. Once summoned they would never stop -- and could not be unsummoned -- by any means except his death.
(Incredible Hulk II#401 (fb)) - Every fifty years or so, Agamemnon would leave the mount to live among humanity. During that time, he would generally procreate, creating new members later to be recruited to the Pantheon. The Pantheon members never even knew he left, but this practice continued for many centuries.
(Incredible Hulk II#386 (fb)) - Achilles, an offspring of Agamemnon, was in the Holocaust as a young boy, surviving only because of his invulnerability.
(Incredible Hulk II#401 (fb)) - Agamemnon left the Mount for a time to live among humanity during World War Two. During this time he recruited Achilles to the Pantheon. Later, he faked his own death and returned to the Mount.
(Incredible Hulk II#407/2, 408/2) - On September 30, 1955 in Detroit, a young man named Walter Charles was one of Agamemnon's descendants, although he himself did not know it. He was part of a gang, and after an arrest, Achilles and Ulysses rescued him from Jail and brought him into the Pantheon.
(Incredible Hulk II#409/2) - By 1959, Walter Charles had made no name for himself at the Pantheon, and had been a big disappointment to everyone. He showed no talent and no ambition and was filling the position of janitor in the halls of the Mount. Ulysses and Achilles stood looking at him, and Ulysses admitted that he had no talents and should have been let go from the Pantheon. However, just as they were walking away, the Pantheon members Perseus and Jason began heckling Charles. Charles snapped, gravely injuring Jason's eye and attacking Perseus with such ferocity that Ulysses and Achilles both had to hold him back.
(Incredible Hulk II#424 (fb)) - Ulysses had begun questioning Agamemnon's orders and Agamemnon arranged to have him killed. First he asked Jason to kill Ulysses, but Jason refused. Agamemnon told the rest of the Pantheon that Jason was a traitor, and had turned rouge. Jason left the Pantheon and went into hiding, waiting for an opportunity to get his revenge on Agamemnon. Agamemnon then asked Achilles to kill Ulysses, and Achilles agreed.
(Incredible Hulk II#410/2, 411/2, 412/2) - By August, 1965, Walter Charles had proven himself to be at least of moderate skill as a warrior, and he accompanied Ulysses to Watte, California to try to suppress a race riot and recruit a member of the Pantheon bloodline. They managed to obtain the child they were looking for after his adoptive parents were killed in the riot. However, the two of them had an almost impossible time defending themselves and the boy from countless rioters, and just when it looked like their situation could not get any worse, Achilles used a special gun to kill Ulysses from far away, just as Charles and the child were rescued by a Pantheon ship. The child would go on to become a member of the Pantheon called Paris. Paris would always resent Charles for what he saw as playing a part in the death of his parents. After the funeral of Ulysses, Agamemnon chose Walter Charles to bear his sword and shield, and Walter Charles became the new Ulysses.
Shortly afterward, the precognitive Pantheon member Andromeda, gave birth to a baby girl named Delphi.
(Incredible Hulk II#394 (fb)) - The Troyjan known as Trauma, planning to make good on the promise that Agamemnon would give the Troyjan emperor any one of his descendants, fell in love with the Pantheon member called Atalanta and wanted her as a wife. To this end he approached her, often violently, many times over an unknown amount of years. She always managed to escape him, never knowing his motivation for attacking her.
(Incredible Hulk II#401 (fb)) - Thirty years ago Hector was recruited to the Pantheon.
(Incredible Hulk II#407 (fb)) - Eventually, Perseus retired from the Pantheon, and settled in Scotland where he ran a hotel. His daughter, Cassiopeia, left the Pantheon for unknown reasons, and he seemed to have lost touch with her.
(Incredible Hulk II#425 (fb)) - (CHRONOLOGY UNCERTAIN) At some point and time, the Pantheon created a cyborg project in the members of Warzone. Agamemnon used that cyborg technology to augment the Endless Knights. The exact purpose and activities of the Warzone project were never revealed.
(Incredible Hulk II#382 (fb)) - The Pantheon rescued many burn victims from the war-torn dictator-ruled country of Trans-Sabal and brought them to the Mount of medical care.
(Incredible Hulk II#368) - Prometheus was given the assignment to find the Hulk and bring him to the Mount in order to recruit him as a member. Prometheus got into a high tech car belonging to the Pantheon and set off.
(Incredible Hulk II#372) - Prometheus tracked Bruce Banner to Connecticut, where he had gone to find his wife. After zooming unhindered through the heavy traffic, causing several accidents, Prometheus finally spotted Bruce Banner and deployed a net which enveloped him. However, to Prometheus's surprise, Banner broke out of the net and transformed into the savage Hulk. Prometheus, in the specialized car, engaged the Hulk in battle, but all of his strategies, from electrified wires to simply ramming the Hulk, failed. Hulk picked up the car and threw it away as far as he could. Prometheus retreated, reporting to the Mount that they would need the whole Pantheon to bring in the Hulk.
(Incredible Hulk II#376) - Back at the Mount, Prometheus briefed the rest of the Pantheon on his encounter with the Hulk, and explained to them that they had fit his vehicle with appropriate means to take down the gray Hulk, but that the unexpected reemergence of the savage Hulk had foiled their plan. Agamemnon asked Prometheus if he had any recommendations, to which Prometheus responded that he believed they should do all they could to recruit the Hulk, because with him on their side, they would be unstoppable.
(Incredible Hulk II#379) - A Pantheon team consisting of
Atalanta, Ajax, Ulysses, Achilles, Prometheus, and Hector were sent to recruit
the Hulk. They found him celebrating at a bar (he had just undergone a
successful merger of his personalities and was now intelligent and always in an
even large
Hulk form: "the Professor" persona). Hector, Ulysses, and Atalanta entered the bar and joined the Hulk at
his table while the others waited outside, Prometheus once again in his
specialized vehicle. They started to preach the philosophy of the Pantheon to
him. Unfortunately for the Pantheon, Rick Jones became aware that Hulk was being
watched and rushed to warn him. Prometheus tripped Rick Jones with a wire, but
his task had been accomplished, and before Ulysses, Hector, and Atalanta could
state their purpose and try to recruit Hulk peacefully, he began to leave the
bar to check on Rick. The Pantheon members tried to stop him from leaving, going
so far as holding onto his arms to try to hold him back. Hulk responded by
brushing them off, but when the Hulk pushed Atalanta off of him, Ajax, a super strong
but mentally challenged member of the Pantheon who was infatuated with her, became
enraged and attacked the Hulk. The rest of the Pantheon soon joined the fight. Hulk fought all of them, and held his own, and even managed to
make Achilles -- who had been completely invulnerable since he was born -- bleed
through the nose. Eventually, the Hulk pretended to be defeated, allowing
himself to be taken prisoner in order to see what the Pantheon would do with him
and discern their purpose.
(Incredible Hulk II#381) - The Pantheon loaded Hulk onto one of their airships and set off for the Mount, their captive in tow. On the way, Ajax trash talked the Hulk, who was still pretending to be unconscious. After a very rough landing at the Mount caused by a practical joke by the Pantheon member Paris, the Hulk revealed that he was indeed fully conscious and renewed his fight against the Pantheon members inside the Mount. The Hulk stood against the entire Pantheon until Agamemnon, in holographic form, stopped the fight and greeted the Hulk. Agamemnon showed the Hulk around the Mount, explained the purpose of the Pantheon, and offered the Hulk a place with them, asking the Hulk to join the Pantheon as a member. Agamemnon showed the Hulk images of the destruction he had caused in the past, and explained that joining the Pantheon would be an excellent way to make up for past misdeeds and do some good for the world.
(Incredible Hulk II#382) - The Hulk took some time to explore the Mount and consider the offer. Meanwhile, Atalanta and Hector were helping Achilles test his invulnerability. Achilles stood in a chamber bombarded by poisonous gas until the Hulk walked into the observation room to watch the test, and Achilles suddenly lost his invulnerability. Hulk quickly rescued Achilles from the gas, and it became apparent that it was the Hulk's gamma radiation that made Achilles vulnerable.
Later on, as the Hulk continued to wander around the Mount, he came upon Paris and Ulysses, who were in the middle of an argument with Ulysses yelling at Paris for putting the entire team unnecessarily in danger. Ulysses saw Hulk and started lecturing him for breaking a wall while rescuing Achilles. Hulk, in his frustration, pressed Ulysses against a wall until he calmed down. Paris then started walking with the Hulk and explained to him that all the Pantheon members were extended family. The conversation was cut short when Ajax, still mad at the Hulk for pushing Atalanta during the bar fight, attacked the Hulk from behind. A short battle ensued until Atalanta stopped Ajax and explained that the Hulk was their friend now. Ajax, always immediately obedient to Atalanta, promptly embraced the Hulk and called him his best friend. The Hulk continued walking around the Mount with Ulysses. To convince the Hulk further, Ulysses showed him a burn ward in the Mount where several burn victims who were caught in the middle of war were being nursed back to health by the Mount's doctors. Ulysses explained to the Hulk that the Pantheon was planning to take down the corrupt government of the middle-eastern country of Trans-Sabal that was responsible for these innocent victims, and further drove home the fact that the Pantheon does good work, and that the Hulk could do a lot of good by joining them. The Hulk, realizing the truth of Ulysses' words, agreed to join the Pantheon.
Meanwhile, Delphi foresaw violence and killing in the Hulk's near future. (see comments).
(Incredible Hulk II#383) - A Pantheon operative in New York City discovered that the Abomination was active. Ulysses informed the Hulk of the situation. In his first action on behalf of the Pantheon, Hulk left to deal with Abomination.
(Incredible Hulk II#385) - During the Infinity Gauntlet
affair, an entity called Gestalt whipped the populace of New York into a frenzy,
and angry mobs of citizens were running amok, causing much death and
destruction. Ajax and Atalanta fought rioters while the Hulk dealt with Gestalt.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#17/5) - Justin Hammer had tricked a teenager named Luis with super speed into helping him steal plans from an Air Force base, working alongside Barrier, Blacklash, and Ringer. Ulysses and Achilles were sent from the Mount to stop them. They informed Luis of Justin Hammer's villainous intentions and went on to defeat Barrier, Ringer, and Blacklash with his help, although Justin Hammer got away.
(Incredible Hulk II#386-387) - Delphi foresaw that a young boy named Max Meer would grow up to become a terrible dictator and kill millions upon millions of people using his mutant power of mind control (unbeknownst to any of them, Max did not actually have mind control powers, but instead, his friend Gretta Rabin had them, only using Meer as a figure head). Agamemnon sent Achilles to kill this little boy. Max Meer was in Israel with his father, an ambassador to Israel. Achilles found Meer in Israel and attempted to kill him, only to be stopped by the Israeli superhero Sabra. Agamemnon then contacted the Hulk and lied to him, telling him that he had instructed Achilles to bring the boy to the Mount when he had indeed instructed Achilles to kill him. Agamemnon told the Hulk that Achilles had gone rouge by trying to kill the boy. He then asked the Hulk's assistance in bringing both Achilles and Max Meer to the Mount.
The Hulk and Rick Jones went to Tel Aviv to find Achilles and Meer, and happened upon Achilles chasing Meer through the streets. The Hulk chased after Achilles but was stopped by the Israeli superhero Sabra, who assumed he was the one trying to kill Meer. Rick Jones attacked Achilles, trying to prevent him from harming Meer, but before long, both had to retreat from a mob being psychically controlled by Max's companion, Gretta Rabin. Achilles knocked out Rick Jones and continued pursuing Meer until the Hulk and Sabra, who had realized her mistake, confronted him. Achilles explained to them that he was in the Holocaust as a boy and that he was never going to let anything like that happen again, even if it meant killing Max Meer. However, this explanation was also meant as a distraction, as Max Meer was trampled underneath the feet of the psychically angered mob while they talked, being put into a coma.
Hulk escorted Achilles back to the Mount, where Agamemnon assured Hulk that Achilles would be properly punished. However, since he was actually acting on Agamemnon's orders, no punishment was administered, and Agamemnon explained that he given the Hulk and Achilles different missions to test their moral characters.
(Incredible Hulk II#388) - In the war room of the Mount, Hector and Ulysses explained their plan to the Hulk to liberate the nation of Trans-Sabal from its evil dictator, Farnaq Dahn.
(Incredible Hulk II#389) - Paris, on behalf of the Pantheon, sent Hulk and Rick Jones to investigate some disappearances in the Florida Everglades, where they had a run in with the Man-Thing and the Glob.
(Incredible Hulk II#390) - The Pantheon
sent troops and vehicles into Trans-Sabal to aid with the resistance movement
there against their evil dictator, Farnaq Dahn. However, Farnaq Dahn's forces,
being supplied by the United States, were formidable foes, and intense battles
between Pantheon forces and Trans-Sabal forces raged. The Hulk and Ulysses
backed up the Pantheon troops and succeeded in disabling all the enemy vehicles
and Mandroids, handing the Pantheon the victory in that particular battle. Rick
Jones discovered that the Mandroids had been provided to Trans-Sabal by
SHIELD. 
(Incredible Hulk II#391) - Rick Jones told the Hulk that he was on shaky legal ground by invading Trans-Sabal, to which the Hulk responded that the legal ground might be shaky, but Farnaq Dahn was evil and that overthrowing him was the right thing to do. Later on, the Hulk, Ulysses, and Hector went into a planning session on how to demobilize and disable the army of Trans-Sabal. The three of them made plans to cut the enemy's supply line.
The Hulk burrowed underground, emerging feet away from a very large group of Trans-Sabal soldiers and tanks and weaponry, attacking them. Before long, the Pantheon troops joined the fight and another large battle raged on between the Pantheon soldiers and the forces of Trans-Sabal. More of the core Pantheon members, including Ajax and Atalanta, arrived to assist the Pantheon forces, just as X-Factor, under the employment of the United States government, came to assist the forces of Trans-Sabal. The battle had become the Pantheon versus Trans-Sabal and X-Factor.
(X-Factor I#76) - The battle between the Pantheon forces and the united forces of X-Factor and Trans-Sabal's army continued, as Ulysses, Ajax, Atalanta, Prometheus, and Hector fought against the Multiple Man, Quicksilver, Polaris, and Strong Guy of X-Factor. The fighting went back and forth as Ajax engaged Strong Guy, Atalanta engaged Polaris, Prometheus engaged Quicksilver, and Ulysses and Hector engaged the Multiple Man. Eventually Ajax accidentally fell on Atalanta, and then got very upset that she was hurt, took her in his arms, and began to run away from the battle to protect her. With their forces depleted, Ulysses ordered the Pantheon members to fall back.
(Incredible Hulk II#392) - After a very short time out to regroup, the Pantheon again engaged X-Factor and the forces of Trans-Sabal, coming at them full force. The battle between X-Factor and the core Pantheon members seemed to reach a standstill, but the Pantheon soldiers slowly but surely began to break through the lines of the Trans-Sabal army. The battle continued until several of Farnaq Dahn's missiles rose from the ground with innocent people tied to them. Farnaq Dahn ordered the invaders to stand down or he would fire the missiles. To prove he was not kidding, he fired two rockets. The two teams immediately put their differences aside; Polaris stopped the rockets, and Hulk and Quicksilver rescued the hostages before capturing Farnaq Dahn and bringing him before his people. His people revered him as a god and would not move against him, and the Pantheon was left wondering what to do with Farnaq Dahn now that he was essentially captured but his own people were not going make a move against him or remove him from his office. The point became moot when Rick Jones shot and killed Farnaq Dahn.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#20/3 (fb) - BTS) - The Arabian Knight, a field agent for the Pantheon, went into deep cover within Trans-Sabal. He infiltrated the mercenaries of Desert Sword, allowing them to think they were forcing him to work with them by holding hostage his family, but the hostages were really other Pantheon agents.
(Incredible Hulk II#393 (fb)) - On the anniversary of the gamma bomb explosion, the Pantheon helped the Hulk gain some measure of revenge on Igor Drenkov, the soviet spy who had detonated the gamma bomb and was responsible for the Hulk coming into existence. They kidnapped Drenkov from a diplomatic mission to Washington DC and brought him to the site of the gamma bomb test where the Hulk planned to put him through the whole scenario again to see if he would make the same decisions again if he knew the repercussions of his actions.
(Incredible Hulk II#393) - The People's Protectorate, a Russian superhero
team, came to rescue Drenkov, but they were engaged by the Pantheon. Hector took
down the Protectorate's plane. The Pantheon stood face to face with the People's
Protectorate until Fantasma made the Russian superheroes invisible and they
slipped past the Pantheon. Nevertheless, the Pantheon did battle the People's
Protectorate alongside the Hulk as they attempted to rescue Drenkov.
The two teams clashed on relatively even footing, although the Pantheon seemed
to hold an advantage. Eventually the fighting stopped when the Hulk made his way
to Drenkov, who had crawled to ground zero of the gamma bomb explosion and gone
insane.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#18/2 (fb) - BTS) - Delphi sensed great evil associated with the book Spelling Made Easy," an occult text associated with the Wild One and Shanzar.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#18/2) - Ulysses accompanied Delphi to a book-signing for Lucian Aster, author of "Spelling Made Easy.". Delphi touched Aster's hand and sensed his motives, while Aster sensed her abilities and fled via his limo driver, a bat out of Hell. Shortly thereafter, back at the Mount, Paris read from Delphi's text. Agamemnon sensed the evil power too late, and Paris was transformed into a demonic creature that then fled. Ulysses tracked the transformed Paris to an encounter with the Hulk, and found that Marlo Chandler had been similarly transformed. The Hulk grabbed the two flighted creatures while holding a car bumper in the middle of a rainstorm, and a lightning bolt struck them all, turning the two demon-creatures back to normal. Ulysses took Paris back to the Mount.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual #18/3 (fb) - BTS) - Agamemnon received a vision from his future self, warning of Drachiss, a despotic tyrant who would wreak untold havoc five hundred years in the future.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual #18/3) - Agamemnon instructed
Delphi to observe Drachiss, but Drachiss used this connection to escape his
extradimensional prison into the Mount. Drachiss probed Delphi's mind and
overpowered Achilles, which led to the rest of the Pantheon -- Ajax, Atalanta,
Hector, and Ulysses -- battling him; Paris watched from a control booth. Drachiss overpowered them all and prepared
to escape to build a time machine to return to his own time or, failing that, to
conquer this era. Agamemnon telepathically showed Atalanta that only Delphi
could defeat Drachiss, so she awakened Delphi and had her create a portal into
outer space through which Achilles pushed him.
Agamemnon then revealed that he knew Drachiss would escape
through Delphi's portal, but that he had allowed it to happen because Drachiss
was otherwise fated to escape and cause the deaths of millions of innocents in
the future.
(Incredible Hulk II#394) - Atalanta was on her way back to the Mount after a mission when her ship was shot down by the alien Trauma over the Himalayas. He chased after her in his ship, but she managed to knock it out of the sky with one of her arrows. However, the resultant avalanche buried her in snow. Ajax insisted that he be allowed to go rescue her, but Paris explained to him that he was too heavy and slow and would cause an avalanche and they would then have two Pantheon members to rescue. The Hulk was sent by the Mount to rescue her, and together, the two of them defeated Trauma, sending him off a cliff, and the two of them were escorted back to the Mount by Ulysses. Atalanta had sustained frost bite, but because of the quick healing abilities of the Pantheon, she recovered almost immediately.
(Cage I#9) - At the Mount, Delphi warned Achilles and the Hulk of a conflict involving Rhino & Cage in Chicago that could lead to the capture and possibly the death of the world’s outlaw heroes. The Hulk traveled to Chicago to prevent this outcome.
(Cage I#10) - Hulk called Achilles, asking him to track Cage's bank accounts to help locate him.
(Incredible Hulk II#395-396) - When the Hulk's former Las Vegas employer, Mr. Berenghetti, was murdered, Paris, Ulysses, and Hector all accompanied the Hulk to Las Vegas to find his killer and bring him in. They quickly discovered a gangster named Striker was responsible, and he had a superhuman agent in his employ named Frost. After discovering the Punisher was working on the same case, the Pantheon joined forces with him, and together they set up a phony sale of drugs to lure Striker's gang into the waiting arms of the police. The plan succeeded, and after a battle with Frost, Striker was arrested by the police.
(Incredible Hulk II#397-399) - The U-Foes, under the orders of the Leader, invaded the Mount. When they entered, they were opposed by Ajax, and the four villains proceeded to knock Ajax unconscious, and X-Ray injured him with radiation. Ulysses, Hector, Paris, and the Hulk returned to the Mount only to find a huge hole in the side of it where the U-Foes had entered, and the unconscious body of Ajax. The U-Foes didn't waste any time and confronted the Pantheon members, demanding that they relinquish Agamemnon to them. The Pantheon refused, and a fight between the U-Foes and the Pantheon began. Eventually, the Hulk and his Pantheon teammates managed to incapacitate X-Ray and Vapor, but Iron Clad and Vector managed to make it just outside of Agamemnon's room at the center of the Mount, and Vector used his powers to drill a small hole through Agamemnon's barrier and into his sanctum. At this point, the Leader teleported into the Mount along with the villains Rock, Redeemer, and the Riot Squad, and before long a giant battle raged with the Hulk and his fellow Pantheon members fighting against an army of super villains in the depths of the Mount. The battle turned against the villains, but the fight was cut short when Agamemnon ordered the Pantheon to stop fighting and informed them that he had come to an agreement with the Leader. Agamemnon explained that the Leader was at war with the terrorist organization called Hydra, and he had invaded the Mount to request the aid of Agamemnon, and that Agamemnon had agreed. The Pantheon members expressed much doubt at Agamemnon's decision to make a deal with the Leader but eventually submitted to him. The Hulk, however, would not stand for it. The Leader teleported out of the Mount along with his forces, and the Hulk stormed out of the Mount, leaving the Pantheon and Agamemnon behind in a rage.
(Incredible Hulk II#400) - Agamemnon appeared to Betty Banner and asked her assistance on finding the Hulk. She suggested that he might be at the site of the gamma bomb that created him, and Prometheus was dispatched to bring her there. Later on, Agamemnon appeared to the Hulk and told him that he never seriously intended to help the Leader, and he was just promising the Leader the Pantheon's assistance, never actually planning to deliver it. He then told the Hulk where the Leader was so the Hulk could go and end his rivalry with one of his oldest foes.
(Incredible Hulk II#401) - Atalanta and Achilles, who had apparently been attracted to each other for a long time, stopped fighting their urges and spent the night together, not knowing that Paris had seen them.
Agamemnon appeared to the Hulk via a holographic image at his wife's house and requested his presence one last time. Hulk insisted that this was the final meeting between the two, and then he was going to leave the Pantheon. Hulk explained that he really did not know what Agamemnon's priorities were and thus he couldn't take his word for anything, and that there was too little trust for him to remain in the Pantheon. Agamemnon conceded that perhaps he had grown distant from mankind since he lived in such seclusion in the center of the Mount. Agamemnon then confided in the Hulk that every fifty years or so he leaves the Mount and lives among humanity for a time. In the past, the Pantheon never even knew he was gone, but this time, he wanted the Hulk to lead the Pantheon in his absence. The Hulk was highly skeptical of this, so to prove he was being honest, Agamemnon revealed his true form to the Hulk. He shut off his hologram and revealed that physically, he was no more than a teenager. He then restated his request that the Hulk lead the Pantheon so he could leave and live among humanity.
(Incredible Hulk II#402 (fb)) - The Hulk accepted Agamemnon's offer to lead the Pantheon in his absence. All core members of the Pantheon were called to a meeting where Agamemnon told them that he was leaving and that the Hulk would lead in his absence. This enraged Achilles. Ulysses tried to calm Achilles down, but Achilles insulted Ulysses and Ulysses knocked him down. Achilles then stormed off in an angry fit. Agamemnon left the Pantheon, the Hulk as the new leader.
(Incredible Hulk II#405 (fb)) - Ulysses had a mission for the Pantheon in Iraq.
(Incredible Hulk II#405) - The Pantheon members played a game of Poker, and Ulysses lost. As a result he had to let Atalanta shoot an apple from in between his legs. The Hulk started instituting his new policies as leader, requiring everyone to fill out written reports after their missions.
Atalanta and Achilles continued to sleep together, and Ajax, just released from the medical ward after healing from his radiation burns, came running to Atalanta's room and found them in bed together. The slow witted Ajax became livid and attacked Achilles. The attack did not harm the invulnerable Achilles until the Hulk walked into the area, asking what was going on. His vicinity to the Hulk made his invulnerability shut down, and Achilles was promptly knocked out by the super strong Ajax. Ajax prepared to finish off Achilles, and was even about to strike down Atalanta in his blind rage until the Hulk tackled Ajax, sending them both out of the Mount. The Hulk tried his best to calm Ajax down, but Ajax would hear nothing of it and attempted to bring a mountain down on himself to try to end his grief. The Hulk again confronted Ajax and tried to talk sense into him, but Ajax kept thrashing away at the Mountain until it fell. When the dust cleared, the Hulk was hugging Ajax, who was crying like a child until he finally calmed down.
(Incredible Hulk II#406) - The Hulk and Atalanta visited Achilles in his hospital bed where he was recovering from Ajax's attack. Achilles yelled at Hulk to get out, telling him it was all his fault for making him vulnerable. The Hulk asked Atalanta what she was planning to do about her relationship to Achilles now that Ajax was pushed to the edge. She didn't have an answer.
(Spider-Man Drakes Cakes Mini-Comics I#3) - As part of an attempt to deal with Latveria's energy problem, Doctor Doom sent the Juggernaut to get secrets from the Pantheon.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#19 (fb)) - Hector -- who had the job of dealing with the various outfits from which the Pantheon purchased raw materials via dummy corporations -- was supervising a delivery at Hunter Technologies when crates suddenly began flying through the air. The various machine parts assembled into a giant arm that overpowered Hector and told him not to deal with Hunter anymore. It named itself Lazarus before collapsing into its component parts again.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#19) - Hector told the Hulk of his encounter with Lazarus, and the Hulk -- as Mr. Bergen of McCarthy Industries (one of the Pantheon's dummy corporations) -- contacted Jack Cameron, who had secretly murdered Todd Hunter and taken over Hunter Technologies -- and arranged a trap for Lazarus. Ulysses drove a McCarthy truck to act as a target, and Lazarus took the bait, destroying the truck and then overpowering Ulysses. The Hulk confronted Lazarus who got the better of him and left him with Ulysses sword stuck in his leg. When Lazarus (a reborn Todd Hunter) next assaulted Cameron and his traitorous ex-wife, Rosalind Hunter, the Hulk caught up to him, and they fought anew. The Hulk overpowered Lazarus, but Lazarus revealed his origins and slew Cameron. Rosalind agreed to confess her crimes to the police.
(Incredible Hulk II#407-409) - Perseus, long after he retired from the Pantheon, became aware of a monster disturbing the tourists near his inn in Scotland. He called on the Pantheon for assistance and the Hulk came to help. Perseus explained that a monster had been interfering with business and the Hulk left to investigate. It ends up the monster was the cyborg known as Piecemeal, and worse, he was working with the villain called Madman. During a battle with the Madman and Piecemeal, Perseus grabbed his spear and jumped into battle to assist the Hulk. However, he was quickly mortally wounded by Madman. He died in the Hulk's arms, his last request for his daughter to be found and brought back to the Pantheon. He then seemingly disintegrated into dust. The Hulk went on to defeat Piecemeal and Madman on his own.
(Incredible Hulk II#410) - The Hulk formulated a plan to break an old girlfriend and ex-CIA agent, Susan Jacobson, out of jail. Achilles, whose resentment of the Hulk for taking over the Pantheon had grown considerably to the point of aggression, tipped off SHIELD of what the Hulk was planning.
(Incredible Hulk II#410-411) - After attending Perseus' funeral, the Hulk and Ulysses embarked on a mission to break Susan Jacobson out of her Nebraska prison. The two of them invaded the prison while Hector flew overhead waiting to pick them up when they were done. However, Hulk and Ulysses met resistance from SHIELD officers, and soon Hector and other Pantheon members found themselves involved in a massive air fight with SHIELD planes. Eventually, the Hulk managed to escape with Susan Jacobson by bluffing that the Pantheon would blow up the entire prison if they were not allowed to leave peacefully. Susan was then transferred to a Pantheon base in Europe.
(Incredible Hulk II#412) - The Hulk battled the Bi-Beast, who was wearing a jewel he had stolen from the Stranger that was set to explode. The Pantheon agents at the Mount talked the Hulk through it and told him how much time he had left to defeat Bi-Beast before the jewel exploded and took half of Nevada with it. The Hulk defeated Bi-Beast and the Stranger disarmed the jewel.
(Incredible Hulk II#413) - Cassiopeia was brought back to the Mount, as per her father's last wishes. She immediately showed her infectious personality, flirting with Hector, and talking with the Hulk about particle physics.
The Hulk requested that Atalanta stop seeing Achilles because every time Ajax saw them together he threw a fit and destroyed equipment and scared the Mount personnel. Atalanta got very angry at this request and left to think about her options. She wandered into the Nevada desert to ponder, but while there, she was captured by Trauma and brought into his ship, which took off en route for the Troyjan home world. There, Trauma planned on exercising the Troyjan entitlement to claim any one of Agamemnon's descendants by making Atalanta his wife.
(Incredible Hulk II#414) - The Pantheon team consisting of the Hulk, Achilles, Prometheus, Hector, Ulysses, and Cassiopeia took off in their space ship, the Argo to find and rescue Atalanta. The plan was for Prometheus to use his super human tracking power to track the course of the Troyjans all across space until they found them. Meanwhile, aboard Truama's ship, Atalanta had escaped her bonds and was causing much trouble and destroying much of the machinery aboard the ship. She managed to stall the ship enough for the Pantheon to catch up with it. Hector, Ulysses, Cassiopeia, and the Hulk donned space suits and traveled to the outside of Trauma's ship, trying to break in to rescue Atalanta. They succeeded in breaking its hull, but were attacked by Trauma. Prometheus prepared to help them from the Argo, but Achilles, intent on seeing the Hulk killed, knocked out Prometheus, hoping that Trauma would finish the Hulk off. The three Pantheon members managed to make their way inside the ship. The Hulk, however, was left outside when the Troyjan's ship opened up a spatial hole and transported light-years away. The Hulk and the Silver Surfer, who had come to aid the Pantheon, were pulled through the Spatial hole as well.
(Incredible Hulk II#415) - The Pantheon members aboard Trauma's ship were all taken prisoner. First he knocked out Atalanta and then used her as a hostage, coercing the others into surrendering. The Pantheon members were taken before the leader of the Troyjan empire, Armageddon. He and Truama explained to the Pantheon that they were entitled by right to take any one of the Pantheon members. They explained the deal that Agamemnon had made years ago that promised any of Agamemnon's descendants in exchange for them helping Agamemnon develop a way to pass super human traits onto his offspring. They were then placed in a holding cell.
(Incredible Hulk II#416) - Achilles managed to track the Pantheon members to the Troyjan home world and broke them out of their holding cell. The Hulk and the Silver Surfer also made their way to the throne room of the Troyjans. There, a massive battle for Atalanta ensued, the Hulk, Pantheon, Starjammers, and Silver Surfer against Trauma and Armageddon. The battle ended when the Hulk impaled Trauma on his own armor, and Truama's last request was for Atalanta and the Pantheon to go free. Armageddon hesitantly allowed the Pantheon to leave.
(Incredible Hulk II#417) - Ulysses heckled Hector for being gay, which Ulysses was very uncomfortable with. Hector tried to explain that it wasn't his choice, but Ulysses walked away. Later on, both of them attended the bachelor party of Rick Jones.
(Incredible Hulk II#418) - Ulysses, Delphi, Paris, and Hector attended the wedding of Rick Jones. Ulysses saw Hector laughing with the gay hero, Northstar. Luckily for Hector, the Hulk stopped Ulysses from heckling him any further.
(Spider-Man Drakes Cakes Mini Comics Series II#3) - Lunatic Legion member Kona-Lor and her allies Yeti and Skreamer attempted to steal weapons from the Mount. Hulk and the Pantheon members Ulysses and Hector confronted them and when the Hulk didn’t believe Kona-Lor’s story that they needed the weapons to help her planet which was under siege, Kona-Lor ordered her allies to kill the Hulk and the Pantheon members. Ulysses and Hector kept Kona-Lor and Skreamer at bay until the Hulk was ready to knock them out. The aliens were brought back to Hala by Imperial Guardsmen Gladiator and Starbolt.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#20/3 (fb) - BTS) - The Arabian Knight tipped off the Hulk about a plan to ship Muslim soldiers to some hot spot in Europe.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual#20/3) - Achilles and Ajax traveled to Trans-Sabal to meet with the Arabian Knight. Their ship was shot down, but they made it to the contact point, though the Knight was not to be found. Achilles contacted the Hulk who told him to wait five minutes but that it could be a trap. Trans-Sabal's Mandroids arrived and attacked them, but the Arabian Knight arrived and incapacitated the Mandroids. The Knight led Achilles and Ajax to the Muslim forces, but then revealed that he wanted the Pantheon's aid not to stop them, but to reinforce the Muslims who were going to fight the Serbian "Ethnic Cleansing" in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Achilles was outraged at the idea of helping Muslim extremists and attacked the Knight, believing him to be an imposter and refusing to listen to his comparison to the Holocaust. As they argued, allied bombers flew in, devastated the Muslim soldiers, and flew off. With the troops wiped out, the Knight withdrew his request and went to tend to the soldiers. Achilles and Ajax departed, but Achilles realized that the Knight had been correct.
(Marvel comics Presents#166) – In civilian clothes, Pantheon members Achilles, Atalanta, Hector and Ulysses went to Michiko Musashi’s apartment and demanded from her to hand over the Torpedo Suit which was in their mind a potential hazard for the entire planet, but Musashi played dumb. They transformed into armored form, but before they could go after Musashi her boyfriend Michael Jeffries crashed through the door with the Torpedo Suit on. He successfully fought Pantheon and escaped with Michiko into the woods. Pantheon followed them in their airship.
(Marvel Comics Presents#167) – Michiko took the suit from Michael and forced Pantheon to land with a clever flying maneuver. They were surprised that the suit was now handled that much better than before by Michael. They fought Turbo until she had proven that she was capable to keep the armor out of the wrong hands. They assured her that they would keep and eye on her and left.
(Incredible Hulk II#420) - When Jim Wilson, the Hulk's old sidekick, was dying of AIDS, the Hulk brought him to the Mount for their advanced medical treatment. However, they did not have anything sufficient, and although the Hulk considered giving Jim Wilson a transfusion of his own blood, he ultimately decided against it, and Wilson died.
(Incredible Hulk II#421) - Jason, after many years in exile, became aware that Agamemnon was no longer inside the Mount. He took this opportunity to try and gain his revenge on Agamemnon. He tracked Agamemnon to Boston and chased him there, hoping to end his immortal life.
Meanwhile, at the Mount, the Pantheon members had a meeting to decide what to do about Agamemnon. Atalanta insisted that they bring him in and find out exactly what the bargain was that he made with the Troyjans. The general consensus among the Pantheon members, with the notable exception of Achilles, who was still loyal to Agamemnon, decided that they must find Agamemnon and bring him in. The Hulk showed the Pantheon members a picture of Agamemnon's true youthful appearance, which they were all surprised by, as they had always thought he looked ancient as his hologram led them to believe. Delphi told them they could find Agamemnon in Boston, and the Pantheon set out to find him. They did indeed find Agamemnon running from Jason at Fenway Park. The Pantheon members found themselves trying to capture Agamemnon and at the same time fighting Jason. Jason injured Ulysses, but before the conflict could reach its conclusion, Agamemnon used an escape portal to Asgard, accidentally taking the Hulk, Betty Banner, Cassiopeia, Jason, and Hector with him.
(Incredible Hulk II#422) - Upon arriving in Asgard, a misunderstanding with Thor (Red Norvell) and the Warriors Three allowed Agamemnon to escape. The Pantheon explained their situation to the Asgardians, who agreed to help them. Agamemnon ran to his allies, the frost giants, specifically their king, Siingard, for assistance. Later on, when the Pantheon found Agamemnon in the jurisdiction of Siingard, Siingard summoned a giant monster, the Hoarfen to attack them. Hector knocked Agamemnon into the Hulk's arms, and the Hoarfen swallowed both of them.
(Incredible Hulk II#423) - While the Pantheon and the Asgardians continued to fight, the Hulk and Agamemnon fought their way through Hela's kingdom of the dead. Agamemnon pleaded with Hela to let them go, and Hela agreed, as they had some undisclosed association in the distant past. The Hulk and Agamemnon emerged from the belly of the Hoarfen, and the Pantheon captured Agamemnon and brought him back to the Mount.
Delphi foresaw that terrible things would soon happen to the
Pantheon, and rather than stay to witness them, she left without telling
anybody, and joined her mother in an unknown secluded place.
(Incredible Hulk II#424-425) - Agamemnon was placed in a
holding cell until his hearing. Jason approached the Mount and requested to be
heard at the hearing of Agamemnon. Hulk agreed to let him testify against
Agamemnon. Later on, at the hearing, Agamemnon explained that he had indeed made
a deal with the Troyjan thousands of years earlier in exchange for their aid in
genetic manipulation. Atalanta got very upset as this nearly cost her her
freedom, and she grabbed Agamemnon by the collar, and he knocked her out with a
palm thrust. Agamemnon began to ask the Pantheon how they could judge him, that
he built the Pantheon and suffered through more than any of them could have
imagined. Jason then had his say and told the assembled Pantheon that it was
Agamemnon who had ordered the assassination of the previous Ulysses so many decades
ago, and also revealed that Achilles was a traitor, and it had been him that
had killed the previous Ulysses during the Watts riots. Realizing that there was
very little chance for him to gain a victory out of this, the captive Agamemnon
summoned the Endless Knights, the cybernetically enhanced corpses of all
previous Pantheon members thru the centuries, whom he had stored for so long deep
underneath the Mount. Once called, he explained they cannot be unsummoned except
with his death. The Hulk ordered the Mount evacuated of every man, woman, and
child except for the core Pantheon members and some soldiers who remained to fight the Endless
Knights. Before long, the Endless Knights emerged from underneath the Mount, and
a massive battle ensued. Achilles remained loyal to Agamemnon, and released him
from his cell. The gigantic battle between countless Endless Knights and the
Pantheon raged, destroying the Mount. Finally, Atalanta killed Agamemnon by
blowing up his escape ship with her arrows, and the Endless Knights were
deactivated, and Achilles was killed by Ulysses in battle. But the damage had
been done; the Mount had been destroyed, its inhabitants scattered, and Betty
Banner was gravely injured in the conflict, and perhaps worst of all, the Hulk
lost control of himself and reverted into his Savage Hulk persona (while at the
same time reverting to Banner's form). The
Pantheon was in ruins.
(Incredible Hulk II#426 (fb)) - The civilians of the Mount were all relocated to an overseas facility, and the core members were split up. Hector, Cassiopeia, and Prometheus set out on their own, Ulysses set out looking for Delphi, and Ajax and Atalanta were relocated to the overseas facility along with the civilians. Paris took over control of the Pantheon as it began the long rebuilding process.
(Incredible Hulk II#426) - Paris informed the Hulk that he now led the Pantheon, and that next time Hulk met the Pantheon, it would be as enemies.
(Incredible Hulk II#448 (fb)) -The Pantheon members Paris, Ajax, Atalanta, Cassiopeia, Hector, and Jason reunited although Delphi and Ulysses were nowhere to be found. Apparently, the rebuilding process was going smoothly. They decided to become a "democracy," and the other members outvoted Paris, and wanted to offer the Hulk a place with them again.
(Incredible Hulk II#445 (fb)) - During the Onslaught crisis, the Pantheon realized its presence was still needed in North America and began to try to gather a presence in the United States again.
(Incredible Hulk II#444-445) - The Hulk had been traveling with Janis Jones, the great granddaughter of Rick Jones from Earth-9200 (Dystopia). When she came down with a severe fever, Hulk took her to an underground Pantheon safe house to recuperate. Ajax found her there, and the Pantheon helped her to recuperate, giving her an I.V. and hospital bed. They realized that the Hulk must have been the one to have brought her to their facility.
(Incredible Hulk II#446) - After healing, Janis decided to leave the Pantheon base, but they did not want her to leave yet, wanting to know information regarding the Hulk first. Janis was in no mood to accommodate them, and despite the efforts of Atalanta and Ajax, she managed to escape from the Pantheon base.
(Incredible Hulk II#447) - Paris met with Henry Peter Gyrich and offered the United States government the services of the Pantheon. Gyrich was considering the offer when suddenly the Hulk started causing a commotion nearby. Jason was on the scene and pointed his gun at the Hulk, but before he could attack, he was taken out by Janis Jones. During the commotion, Gyrich asked Paris to get the Pantheon involved.
(Incredible Hulk II#448) - The United States government asked
the Pantheon to take down the Hulk. Cassiopeia, Ajax, Jason, Atalanta, and
Hector engaged the Hulk. The Hulk and Janis Jones more than held their own
against the Pantheon until Cassiopeia temporarily blinded all observers of the
fight, allowing the Pantheon to fake killing the Hulk, leaving a fatally wounded
cloned body for the government to find. The Pantheon explained that they were
now a democracy and offered the Hulk a place with them again. He declined rather
emphatically, tearing a hole through the side of their ship.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual 1997 (fb)) - An alien changeling called Elamron that lived life after life in different bodies, always unaware of who it really was, had witnessed the Pantheon alongside the Hulk when they fought the Troyjans. For his next life, he copied some of the Hulk's DNA and posed as Bruce Banner's offspring for its next life.
(Incredible Hulk II Annual 1997) - The Pantheon discovered this changeling and after a DNA test saw that he was a genetic match to Bruce Banner, and thus they assumed that he was indeed Bruce Banner's son. They took him in to protect him from the Hulk's enemies, surmising that if they found him, so could other resourceful individuals. They housed the young alien who had taken the form of "David Banner" in a Pantheon safe house. Hector and Atalanta contacted Doc Samson and brought him in to assist them with the boy, seeing as how he was an expert on the psychology of gamma beings and their mutations.
Unfortunately for them, Gladiator and Oracle of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard were sent to capture the alien for crimes he had committed in a previous life. They invaded the Pantheon safe house and although the Pantheon members tried to defend "David Banner," they were no match for the Gladiator, and as Doc Samson escaped with the alien, Gladiator made short work of all Pantheon members present.
Comments: Created by Peter David, Sam Keith, and Kelly Jones (but Dale Keown designed almost all the Pantheon members in their first appearance)
I want to eventually give individual profiles to most members of the Pantheon, but I don't have my comic collection in college, so I won't be able to do it until winter break. Because they won't be getting their own profiles any time soon I'll run down which Pantheon members have which powers. They all have enhanced strength and healing abilities; they all age slowly. Paris was an empath. Achilles has invulnerability. Hector can fly and has an energy mace. Atalanta has energy arrows. Ajax has class 100 strength but also heals the slowest and has bad vision, and also, if he takes his armor off his spine would snap under his weight. Prometheus has uncanny tracking ability and was born with a disfigured face. Jason seems to be good with guns, Perseus had an energy spear, Cassiopeia could shoot energy blasts and absorb and redirect energy directed at her, Ulysses had an energy sword and shield, and Delphi and Andromeda were precognitive. The Pantheon members exact biological relationships to each other remain somewhat unclear. Ulysses had referred to Paris as his brother, but that could just mean he considered that Pantheon to be a brotherhood of sorts, because Hector also referred to all of them as his brothers and sisters at one point, even though they are not all siblings. However, it is pretty certain that Hector and Prometheus are indeed brothers (as Hector states in issue #392). Also, Delphi is a cousin to Paris and Ulysses, suggesting that they may be siblings after all. Additionally, Achilles is apparently the direct son of Agamemnon. All Pantheon members are part of an extended family.
In the pictures above, the big guy with armor is Ajax, the guy with a mace is Hector, the guy with a beard and/or sword is Ulysses, the woman with black hair +/- a bow and arrow is Atalanta, the guy with long hair and an eye patch is Jason, the girl with white hair is Cassiopeia, the blond guy is Achilles, and the guy with the scarred face is Prometheus. Sorry there are no images of Paris, but just picture Achilles in a suit.
The prophecy of Delphi in issue #382 came true in issue #400.
In Incredible Hulk II#421, there was a tounge-in-cheek joke suggesting that Agamemnon had been Bucky since he was active during World War Two, then disappeared after faking his death, and he looked like Bucky. This is obviously no longer a possibility as it has since been revealed that Bucky's body was recovered and transformed into the Winter Soldier...unless, of course, this is untrue.
In recent issues of New Avengers, Spider-Woman has gone on record as saying that SHIELD has no national allegiance, that it belongs to no country and every country. However, in Incredible Hulk II#390-392 as well as Hulk #410-411, SHIELD pretty clearly operated in America as an American organization since Fury had go betweens with American officials and when they say that the technology in Trans-Sabal had been provided by America it is also clearly stated that it is SHIELD technology. Also, in pretty much every other SHIELD appearance I have it has been clear they worked for America. However, the most damning evidence comes from Brian Bendis himself as his mini-series called Secret War very clearly showed SHIELD working for the United States, even showing Fury taking orders from the United States President. Then the next year, as was convenient to a story, suddenly they serve no nation and every nation. Why am I not surprised? (Bendis fans please forgive me!)
When I was going over the issues I got really nostalgic because those were my first Hulk comics, and now, hundreds of Hulk comics later, they're still some of my very favorites. Peter David is so acclaimed for so many things, for his originality, interesting ideas, great new characters, all that stuff, and its all true, but after rereading his entire Hulk run, from the Las Vegas to the personality merger, Pantheon to the savage Banner to the post-onslaught Hulk, the best thing about his writing to me was his characters. They changed and grew and developed new relationships over the years just like real people, and their changes were believable. This knack for characters is embodied in the issues involving the Pantheon. That's the thing I miss most out of a lot of my favorite characters today is change. He really brought the Hulk to life, made him real, and made everyone feel and share his joy and his pain.
If I had my way, the Pantheon would have its own ongoing series with Ulysses as leader, and I would buy every issue.
These guys have not been seen in almost ten years as of Summer of 2006. I want more Pantheon!!!!! Hey Peter David, you always like to bring back characters you've created, write more Pantheon stories!
I hear you Stunner...Peter David's run
is truly classic. Continuity and characterization are lacking in many of the
current event-driven storylines, and they are sorely missed. The only storyline
that rivals PAD's run on the Hulk? Dreadstar! First half by Starlin...second
half by Peter David!
--Snood
Big thanks to Markus Raymond for the reviews of the Marvel Comics Presents, Elf with a Gun for the Drakes comics appearances, and to Snood for adding three of the Annuals.
Thanks to Loki for providing the main image from the Gamer's Guide to the Marvel Universe 1992 Character Update.
Profile by Stunner
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with
The headquarters of the Pantheon was a mountain-sized base called The Mount. As its name suggests, it was built within an entire mountain, and had its own science facilities that were far ahead of modern science. They had a large armament, an airstrip with many planes, their own farming and food production. More than 1500 people lived in the Mount, families of civilians, soldiers, doctors, and scientists. Agamemnon lived in a secluded room in the core of the Mount. The Mount housed Pantheon activities for an unknown amount of time, and served as the center of the Pantheon's vast worldwide resources. It was destroyed during the battle against the Endless Knights.
--Incredible Hulk II#368 (372, 376, 381-382, 386-389, 394, 397-402, 405-406, 410-414, 417-418, 420-421, 424-425
The Endless Knights were the cybernetically enhanced corpses of every Pantheon member who had died, numbering in the hundreds if not thousands, and were stored underneath the Mount. They maintained a certain level of intelligence -- as evidenced by the fact that the corpse of Perseus recognized his daughter, but at the same time had no control over their actions. They were designed as a failsafe, so if Agamemnon ever needed to destroy his own work, he would summon them from beneath the Mount to bring it down. Once summoned, they could not be called back, and they could only be stopped by Agamemnon's death.
When Agamemnon was put on trial by the Pantheon and he realized that there was no way he could come out on top, he summoned the Endless Knights. The Endless Knights fought the Pantheon in a heated battle. They were eventually deactivated with Agamemnon's death at the hands of Atalanta, but not before they succeeded in destroying the Mount.
--Incredible Hulk II#425
images:
Gamer's Guide to the Marvel Universe 1992 Character Update, p85 (main)
Incredible Hulk II#424 (cover)
Incredible Hulk II#379, page 14 (full page) (Ajax)
Incredible Hulk II#385 page 8, panel 5
Incredible Hulk II#392 page 6, panel 2
Incredible Hulk II#393 page 8 panel 2
Incredible Hulk II#424 page 12, panel 1 (Jason)
Incredible Hulk II#421 page 11, panel 3-6
Incredible Hulk II#448 page 11, full page
Incredible Hulk II#381 pages 18-19 (The Mount)
Incredible Hulk II#425 page 23, panel 5 (The Endless Knights)
Appearances:
Incredible Hulk II#368 (April, 1990) - Peter David (Writer), Sam Keith
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#372 (August, 1990) - Peter David (Writer), Dale Keown
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#376 (December, 1990) - Peter David (Writer), Dale Keown
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#379 (March, 1991) - Peter David (Writer), Dale Keown
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#381-383 (May-July 1991) - Peter David (Writer), Dale
Keown (artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#385 (September, 1991) - Peter David (Writer), Dale Keown
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II Annual#17/5 (1991) - Gary Barnum (Writer), John Stanisci
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#386-393 (October, 1991- May, 1992) - Peter David (Writer), Dale
Keown (artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Cage I#9 (December, 1992) - Marc McLaurin (script), Rurik Tyler (penciler), Joe
Rubinstein (inker), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Cage I#9 (December, 1992) - Marc McLaurin (script), Dwayne Turner (penciler),
Chris Ivy (inker), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Incredible Hulk II Annual#18 (1992) - Peter David (writer), Kevin Maguire
(artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#394-406 (June, 1992 -April, 1993) - Peter David (Writer), Dale
Keown, Dan Juursema, Gary Frank (artists), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Spider-Man Drakes Cakes Series I#3 (1993)
Incredible Hulk II Annual#19 (1993) - Peter David (Writer), Dan Lawlis and Kirk
Jarvinen (artists), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#407-418 (May, 1993 - March, 1994) - Peter David (Writer), Gary
Frank (artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Spider-Man Drakes Cakes Mini Comics Series II#3 (1994)/ Hulk: Pantheon Raid - Eric Fein (writer), Jim Craig (pencils), Dan & David Day (inks), Glenn Herdling (editor)
Incredible Hulk II Annual#20 (1994) - Frank Lovece (Writer), Phil Hugh Felix
(artist)
Marvel Comics Presents#166 -167 (late October - early November, 1994) - Evan Skolnick (writer), Guy Dorian (pencils), John Stokes (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#420-426 (May 1994-December 1994) - Peter David (Writer), Gary
Frank, Darick Robertson, Liam Sharpe (artists), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk II#444-448 (August-December, 1997) - Peter David (Writer), Angel
Medina (artist), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Incredible Hulk Annual 1997 (1997) - Chris Cooper (Writer), Jeff Rebner (artist),
Bobbie Chase (editor)
First Posted: 09/02/2006
Last updated: 01/30/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
