Contents
History
Origins
Amaterasu is a member of an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Amatsu-Kami ("Heavenly Ones") who were worshipped as gods by the Ancient Ainu and Japanese people in Eastern Asia. She is one of a trinity of gods at a large hierarchy of deities along with Susanoo, the storm-god, and Tsukuyomi, the moon-god.[1]
Amaterasu
Third Host
In 1000 AD, the Third Host of the Celestials occurred, during which the aliens informed they would return 1,000 years later to judge Earth's right to continue existing. While the pantheons prepared for war, Gaea planned a peaceful solution to the problem with many goddesses, among them Amaterasu.
For the next thousand years, they searched for humans representing mankind's highest ideals, to be offered to the Celestials as an offering. The goddesses placed the candidates in suspended animation, with their superhuman potential, the legacy of the First Host, awakened.[3]
Modern Times
In modern times, the mutant adventurer Wolverine referred to Japan as “the Land of Amaterasu.”[4]
Chaos War
Amaterasu vs. Mikaboshi
Amaterasu represented the Amatsu-Kami in the Council of Godheads after Mikaboshi and his army of enslaved alien deities attacked Earth. Although the Asgardian representative Balder wanted to rush into battle against Mikaboshi in order assist the Earth realm, Amaterasu instead sealed off the Council’s throne room in order to safeguard the various pantheons and their respective divine realms from an attack by Mikaboshi. However, the Olympian god Hercules inadvertently enabled Mikaboshi to enter the throne room when he brought the body of his fallen father Zeus (then under Mikaboshi’s influence) to the Council of Godheads’ hidden extradimensional realm, allowing Mikaboshi’s army to attack all of the god realms in rapid succession. When Mikaboshi attacked the Amatsu-Kami’s home realm of Ama, Amaterasu led her fellow Shinto gods (including Inari, Ame-No-Mi-Kumari, Bishamon, Kaminari, and Hotei) in a valiant counterattack which ultimately failed. A triumphant Mikaboshi killed most of the Amatsu-Kami and brought their bodies under his control.[5]
Amaterasu under Mikaboshi's control
Now under the control of Mikaboshi, Amaterasu and her fellow Amastu-Kami (including Inari, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi) lured the "God Squad" (an alliance consisting of Silver Surfer, Venus, Sersi, Daimon Hellstrom, and Bast) to their home of Takamagahara (the Plain of High Heaven) within the realm of Ama and presented them with a plan to defeat Mikaboshi by imprisoning him within Yomi. However, once the God Squad were led to the temple within Takamagahara that contained the sealed gateway to Yomi, Amaterasu and the Amatsu-Kami revealed that they were under Mikaboshi’s control and turned on the God Squad, although they were eventually defeated.[6]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Amaterasu possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Amatsu-Kami.[1]
Amaterasu also possesses extraordinary powers to tap into and manipulate mystical energies for a number of effects, mostly in conjuring great heat and light on the level of a small sun.[6]
See Also
- 3 appearance(s) of Amaterasu (Earth-616)
- 4 mention(s) of Amaterasu (Earth-616)
- 1 image(s) of Amaterasu (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Amaterasu (Earth-616)
