History
Hypnos was the first spawn of Nyx, the Olympian goddess of the night. An outcast among the Olympians, Nyx longed for the peaceful slumber in the darkness before creation. When she noticed that her fellow gods found happiness in the children they bore, she tried to emulate them. Three nights after dreaming of the stillness of her lost slumber, she gave birth of Hypnos.
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Hypnos' birth
Like his mother, Hypnos failed to find a place among the rest of the Olympians, remaining stoic and loyal to Nyx. Hypnos was eventually joined by two more siblings, the twins Apate and Dolos. Tensions between Nyx and her offspring, and the Olympians escalated into a war. The combined strength of the Olympians defeated Nyx and her children, and Zeus split the matriarch's soul into three Night Shards. Afterward, Nyx and her family were cast out into a prison of darkness, sealed by a spell that ensured their imprisonment for as long as the Sun shone upon the Earth. Out of her hatred, Nyx manifested Hypno's third sibling, Oizys.[3]
Hypnos and his family remained chained to their prison of darkness until the Modern Age. During a conflict between two Elders of the Universe, the Grandmaster and the Challenger, the Earth was briefly removed from its orbit around the Sun. With the spell of imprisonment broken, Nyx rallied her children against the Olympians. Believing the gods, the mortals and the universe itself to have all been spoiled after an eternity of mistreatment, Nyx set out to recreate the universe to her image, returning everything to a state of empty and pure darkness.[3] When Nyx and her children arrived on Olympus, they slaughtered all the gods present in the scene, including Zeus, whose mind Nyx probed for the whereabouts of the Night Shards.[4]
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Hypnos and the rest of his family
Nyx dispatched Hypnos to Nightmare's Realm, where The Night That May Yet Be was located, and he besieged Nightmare's castle with an army of the manifestations of sleeping people. However, a group of Avengers had become aware of Nyx's return, and a portion of the team, the Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, and Hawkeye, were sent to Nightmare's Realm to intercept Hypnos.[5] Hypnos squirreled away into Nightmare's castle while the heroes confronted his army and managed to obtain The Night That May Yet Be, but he was hunted down by the Hulk. After defeating Hypnos, the Hulk broke his neck and claimed the Night Shard for himself.[2]
Nyx eventually came back to life, and resurrected her children. Hypnos ambushed Hercules when he, Thor, and Loki sought them out and was struck by a thrown Oizys. He was cast into the Land Without Suns, but returned to Earth to be Nyx's informant when she chose to stay there.[6]Attributes
Powers
Sleep Inducement: Hypnos possesses the ability to release from his hands a dust which induces sleep.[4]
Command over Sleepers: When Hypnos attacked Nightmare's Realm, he commanded an army of sleepers, the slumbering manifestations of people who were sleeping in the real world.[3]Notes
- The following is the original description for Hypnos written by Avengers No Road Home writers Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub for Joshua James Shaw, the designer of Nyx and her children: "Hypnos is noble, upstanding, a general-type. He's also an ends-justify-the-means type--he'll willingly follow his mother in whatever she wants to do and believe it's right because she said it. He's also the sleep of reason--the sleep people are in before they get "woke" to the reality of things. He knows he's good, therefore what he does is good and his family is also good. He's unquestioning. Hypnos appears to be a strong Greek warlord, but his armor is black sections rimmed with silver accents instead of the red and gold or earth tones we'd expect. His helm has an ornate cover over his eyes so we cannot see them (and we never will), making his mouth a bit more creepy. He wields a pair of classic Xiphos-style Grecian blades that not only cut their opponent but also sap their strength and clarity."[4]
Trivia
- Hypnos is, out of Nyx and her children, the character with the most noticeable influence from ancient Greek clothing, armor, and sculpture. His winged head is a direct translation and amalgamation of a few ancient stone and metal sculptures of the Greek god Hypnos from antiquity.[5]
- The front of Hypnos' belt is a simplified abstraction of a Greek sun and moon eclipse motif.[5]
See Also
- 7 appearance(s) of Hypnos (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Hypnos (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Hypnos (Earth-616)
- 24 image(s) of Hypnos (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by Hypnos (Earth-616)