—Geoffrey Wilder[source]We will offer your life and your soul, as we do a maiden from Imperio every year. To our masters. The Gibborim. You will die so the world can live.
The Gibborim are six-fingered mystical giant deities who supposedly predate the Old Testament[9] in the Bible.[6]
History
Origin[]
Their progenitor was known as the Holy Father.[1] The Gibborim may be connected to the Nephilim[9] (an offspring of Lilith).
One of the Gibborim was among the Elder Gods of Limbo[8][14][15] (also known as the N'Garai.[16] They are stated to have lived on Earth when it was a "peaceable utopia",[9] and ruled the world before the Great Flood.[17] They had the single-minded goal to wipe the Earth clean of all humanity[9] because of what they did to Earth.[18][1]
The Pride[]
Tired of humanity destroying the Earth, the Gibborim called together six couples to act as their servants. In exchange for an annual sacrifice of a pure, unwilling human soul, the Gibborim would grant wealth, power, and influence to the group for twenty-five years with a chance of gaining eternal life. The couples agreed and formed the Pride. For nearly twenty-five years, the Gibborim provided the Pride with wealth and powers, allowing them to rule the criminal underworld of Los Angeles.[9] Doctor Strange stated that the Gibborim's prophecy and promises were lies and that the Gibborim served no cause but their own greed.[19]
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Geoffrey Wilder in service of the Gibborim
Every year, The Pride gathered at the Wilder residence, using the excuse of an "annual charity fundraiser", while in reality, they would perform the "Rite of Blood", a ritual sacrifice of an innocent young female victim; the spirit of the victim would then be fed to the Gibborim in the "Rite of Thunder". The Gibborim's power faded over time, and they came to dwell in a "realm of slumber", the very same dimension they fled to after the Pride fell until they moved underwater to mystically summon the six couples who would comprise the core foundation of their covert group.[9]
After Janet Stein became pregnant during their third year as the Pride, the six couples agreed to end its struggle against one another. Each couple would instead ensure their child would receive one of the six places in the coming paradise, so The Pride's legacy could go on. Unbeknownst to the rest of The Pride, the alien Deans and the mutant Hayes had made a deal; to murder the rest of The Pride and take the six tickets in paradise for themselves and their daughters, Karolina Dean and Molly Hayes. After seventeen years in, the Rite of Thunder was interrupted by the children of the Pride. In response, the Gibborim killed all the members of the Pride in the final explosion.[10]
House of M[]
During the House of M reality warp by the Chthon-powered Scarlet Witch restructured Earth-616 in accordance to the heart's desires of its inhabitants. The Pride ruled over not merely Los Angeles, but all of southern California.[20] The Gibborim was thus likely revived from the void in this reality.
Limbo and Hell[]
Without the power of the human souls the Pride provided, the Gibborim were banished to Limbo. A time-displaced Geoffrey Wilder made contact with them upon being placed in the present day. They asked him to bring them a sacrificial soul in order for them to raise Alex and Catherine Wilder from the dead.[6] Later, Chase Stein contacted them, seeking to strike a deal to raise Gertrude Yorkes from the dead in exchange for an innocent soul. Chase attempted to offer himself but ultimately failed, since the soul had to be unwilling. Without a soul to nourish them, the Gibborim ended up fading to a dimension of nothingness, merely white space which was seemingly Hell according to Alex, who had been sent there after death.[7]
_battling_the_Elder_Gods_from_X-Infernus_Vol_1_1_001.jpg){kind=link}
Witchfire summoning the Elder Gods in Limbo
A Gibborim was later summoned by Witchfire along with the other Elder Gods to battle the X-Men, when she completed a Bloodstone Amulet with all the Bloodstones necessary. They were then banished as Magik and Pixie used their respective Soulsword and Souldagger to separate the Bloodstones from the Amulet.[8]
In possession of the Bloodstones and the Amulet, and intending to crush the demons of Limbo, Project Purgatory leader General Charles J. Ulysses had the demons to gather around his base as they wished to retrieve those weapons, for them to be in one place as he crushed them. He had Toko to assemble the Amulet, summoning the Elder Gods[21] (seemingly including the Gibborim), but they made their way to Earth through Portal Epsilon instead.[21]
Alternate Realities[]
Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)[]
_and_Magistrate_(Earth-199999)_from_Marvel%27s_Runaways_Season_2_4_001.png){kind=link}
Magistrate and Karolina Dean
The Gibborim are an extremely long-lived alien species made of light, similar to Majesdanians; however, unlike Majesdanians, the Gibborim possess and take over human hosts in order to survive in Earth's environment.[22] They are from a planet also called Gibborim, a very old, highly advanced alien civilization. Even when humans were still in the Stone Age, the Gibborim had already mastered space travel and built shape-changing starships with biomorphic shells. At some point, a Gibborim official known as the Magistrate and his family were exiled by their own people and forced to leave their homeworld on a starship. Their ship was piloted by Xavin, a member of the Xartan military who was allied with them. The ship crashed on Earth, its bulk buried deep underneath what would eventually become Los Angeles. Almost all of the Gibborim passengers were trapped beneath the surface. Only the Magistrate escaped. Over the next millennia, he operated on Earth using human bodies as disposable "shells", slowly working toward freeing his family.
Magistrate's Ship
Centuries later, the Magistrate possessed a man named Jonah and effectively stole his life, gradually erasing Jonah's original mind. Under this identity, he helped found the Church of Gibborim, a religion built around worship of his species and a vague "prophecy" of salvation. A comic-accurate statue of a Gibborim appears at the Church's Crater. Jonah approached a group of ambitious humans and gave them wealth, tech, and influence. These families formed the PRIDE organization, secretly working for Jonah in return for his "gifts". While in human form, the Magistrate/Jonah also had a relationship with Leslie Dean, leader of the Church of Gibborim. Their union created Karolina Dean, a Gibborim-human hybrid who can manifest light powers naturally without needing to possess a host body. Later, Leslie becomes pregnant with another hybrid, Elle.
Magistrate and his family trying to escape Earth
Powers and Abilities
Powers
The Gibborim generating flames
The Gibborim are immensely powerful beings and have demonstrated or have claimed to have the following abilities:
- Teleportation: The Gibborim can teleport individuals from various locations.[9]
- Magic: The Gibborim can dispel the dark spell and can create enchanted rings and tomes with powerful functions.[9][23][19]
- Power Bestowal: The Gibborim augmented and enhanced the powers and abilities of the Pride. They also claim to be able ta grant eternal life to mortals.[9]
- Pyrokinesis: The Gibborim can generate fire.[10]
- Resurrection: The Gibborim claim to be capable of resurrecting mortals, even after they passed into the Great Beyond,[6][24] whereas death gods and even some cosmic beings that are capable of obliterating entire worlds cannot, though they apparently require an innocent soul to do so. The Gibborim are capable of restructuring the entire world and eliminating the entire human race.[9]
Weaknesses
Habitat
Population
Biology[]
_and_Magistrate_(Earth-199999)_from_Marvel%27s_Runaways_Season_1_10_001.png){kind=link}
Magistrate and Karolina using their powers against eachother.
On Earth-199999, Gibborim are pure light beings, luminous, multi-colored energy forms. On Earth, they must possess human bodies to survive the atmosphere and interact physically. Possession alters the host's DNA, which is how the healing serum and later Healing Algorithm work. Prolonged use of Gibborim powers burns out a host body; the only way to keep the host alive is by using energy-conversion technology (Dematerialization Box) to "refuel" or regenerate. While possessing humans, Gibborim can reproduce with humans, creating hybrids like Karolina and Elle. These hybrids have stable physical bodies of their own can use light-based powers without harming themselves don't need to possess anyone to survive.
_from_Marvels_Runaways_Season_2_5_001.png){kind=link}
Karolina meets her brother
Miscellaneous
Type of Government
Level of Technology
Gibborim's healing algorithm pods
On Earth-199999, the Gibborim civilization is centuries/millennia ahead: biomorphic starships, matter-to-energy conversion, advanced regeneration, neural simulations, and dense data artifacts like the Abstract.
- Biomorphic starships: The Gibborim mastered space travel long before human civilization. Their ships are described as shape-changing vessels with biomorphic shells, able to survive crashing into a planet and lying dormant for millennia beneath the crust. Jonah's crashed ship under LA is so massive and energetic that attempting to free it causes earthquakes and potentially apocalyptic damage to the region.
- The Abstract: The Abstract is a book in the Gibborim language that contains vast scientific knowledge. Jonah gives it to the Wilder family for use in PRIDE's rituals, but it also becomes a technical reference for Victor Stein. Using translated passages from the Abstract, Victor designs the Dematerialization Box and advances other forms of energy research.
- Dematerialization Box: The Dematerialization Box (a.k.a. Energy Conversion Pod) is based on Gibborim tech but built by Victor. It can convert living flesh into pure energy, use that energy to regenerate a failing host body (as with Jonah), and act as a stasis / life support pod, keeping Victor alive after a fatal injury.
- Healing Algorithm: Jonah provides the Steins with a Healing Algorithm, a process or formula that uses Gibborim-altered DNA and energy manipulation to heal Victor's brain damage and prolong his life. The side effect is that Victor himself becomes "alien-tainted", making him a viable host later and a target for alien inhibitors. In season 3, the Magistrate's family uses Gibborim tech to place Chase, Karolina, and Janet into stasis pods, where their minds inhabit a shared simulated reality referred to as "the algorithm". Inside that simulation, they can alter and reshape their world with their desires, which hints at sophisticated neural interface and reality-editing tech, essentially a full-sensory virtual environment sustained by Gibborim systems.
Representatives
Notes
- The Gibborim are considered as elder gods,[3][4] and one was seen among the Elder Gods of Limbo.[8][14][15]
- The Gibborim's personal nature and origins are largely unknown, though, due to Alex's statements to them in the blank-white void-like "Hell", it is hinted they are religious, if extremely misguided, servants of their Holy Father.[1]
_and_Kei_Kawade_(Earth-616)_from_Monsters_Unleashed_Vol_3_6_001.jpg){kind=link}
Elsa Bloodstone mentioning that she hunted "Gibborim Marauders" in her youth
- Elsa Bloodstone stated that, when she was young, she slayed "Gibborim Marauders".[25] No further explanation on the exact nature of those creatures, whether they are Gibborim themselves, or merely their servants was given.
Trivia
- "Gibborim" is the Hebrew word for "heroes". This was stated by Nico Minoru.[9]
See Also
- 62 appearance(s) of Gibborim
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Gibborim
- 7 minor appearance(s) of Gibborim
- 24 mention(s) of Gibborim
- 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Gibborim
- 1 invocation(s) of Gibborim
- 40 image(s) of Gibborim
- 13 victim(s) killed by Gibborim
- 11 representative(s) of Gibborim
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Runaways (Vol. 2) #24
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #22
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #14
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Runaways (Vol. 5) #16
- ↑ Marvel's Runaways S3E09
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Runaways (Vol. 2) #16
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Runaways (Vol. 2) #20–24
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 X-Infernus #4
- ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 Runaways #13
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Runaways #17
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #20
- ↑ All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #8 ; N'Garai's profile
- ↑ Dark Reign Files #1 ; The Pride's profile
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 New Mutants (Vol. 3) #20–21
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #14 ; Gibborim's profile
- ↑ X of Swords Handbook #1 ; Magik's profile
- ↑ Iron Man: Legacy #10
- ↑ Runaways #14
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Iron Man: Legacy #11
- ↑ House of M: Avengers #4
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 New Mutants (Vol. 3) #20
- ↑ Marvel's Runaways S2E13
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #18
- ↑ Runaways (Vol. 2) #20–21
- ↑ Monsters Unleashed (Vol. 3) #6