History
The Young Gods left Earth with the Celestials and settled with them in a spaceship of epic proportions, supposedly "massing no less than an entire planetary system". The Celestials hired two alien warriors, Junipur and Katos, to train the Young Gods. Each teacher took responsibility of half the team, training them in their respective style of combat strategy. Junipur trained Brightsword, Daydreamer, Highnote, Mindsinger, Sea Witch, and Splice. Junipur trained them in favoring an aggressive offense in combat, while Katos taught his own team mostly defensive strategies.
The two sub-groups of Young Gods regularly fought against each other in training sessions. The High Evolutionary infiltrated the spaceship of the Celestials to observe one of these training sessions. During the session, Junipur voiced instructions to her students. She instructed them to avoid the attacks of their opponents and shift to counter-attacking. Daydreamer revealed the presence of the High Evolutionary in their training grounds, causing the intruder to leave in haste. Both Daydreamer and Varua had glimpses of the thoughts of the intruder, thoughts supposedly involving violence and death. His thoughts were actually plans for the Evolutionary War.
Both Junipur and Katos realized that the intruders plans would lead to an evolutionary genocide for Humanity. But they reached entirely different conclusions on how to deal with situation. Junipur thought it was an opportunity for their students to rise to the occasion and fulfill their role as protectors. In her view, having to protect humanity from its own, inherently evil, nature. Katos favored a non-interference rule, letting humanity decide its destiny on its own. The argument temporarily ended with Junipur and her students teleporting away, followith the High Evolutionary.
While her students fought against the forces of the Evolutionary, Junipur silently observed. Katos and his own students soon followed them, determined to stop them from interfering with the Evolutionary's plans. While the two groups of Young Gods fought each other, the teachers resumed their argument. Katos insisted that humanity must be free (of divine interference), though Junipur argued that in this case freedom equaled death.
Junipur spotted Daydreamer ready to ambush Calculus. If successful the ambush would take out the tactician of Katos' team, and Junipur approved of this idea. She was surprised, however, when Daydreamer unintentionally drove her opponent to insanity. Junipur was herself genuinely anguished by the situation, though she attempted to comfort the guilt-ridden Daydreamer.
The situation convinced all Young Gods to cease fighting and tend to their own. Mindsinger voiced the new decision of Junipur's students, that they would not protect humanity at the cost of hurting their own fellow Gods. Juniper voiced her disapproval of this way of thinking, but still agreed to stand down and leave with everyone else. She warned her students that they will discuss the matter in their next class session.[1]
Both Junipur and Katos concluded that their students have god-like powers, but are still too human in mentality to act like proper gods. The Sea Witch woke up screaming from a horrifying nightmare. Daydreamer and Varua soon found out that their teammates' mindscape had been invaded by a malevolent entity. They concluded that it was a manifestation of an earlier foe of the team, a renegade god from one of the Earth's old pantheons. The Celestials sensed the anguish of Sea Witch, and alerted Junipur and Katos concerning the situation. When the two teachers entered their students' private quarters, they were informed of this emerging foe.
Though the Celestials had previously forbidden the Young Gods from seeking their foe on Earth, Brightsword was determined to act. He informed his teachers that he was willing to disobey the decision of the Celestials. Junipur pointed that she taught him to be bold, but his advocacy of open rebellion against "the masters' will" was not what she expected. Junipur informed her students that the Celestials were willing to grant them an audience. They would get a chance to convince them to give permission to act against the renegade god. But she warned them that attracting the attention of the Celestials could have unforeseen consequences. "For what the Celestials notice, they judge. And what they judge to be imperfect, they destroy."[2]
Prior to the agreed audience, Junipur gave instructions to her students. Telling them that they should make a good impression, by taking care of their words and standing tall and proud as gods. Junipur formally introduced the Young Gods (as a group) to the Celestial Lords, while Katos explained that the youths were concerned about a perceived crisis on their home planet. The Celestials took a while to decide, but then send Junipur and Katos to inform their students that permission to act on Earth was granted to them. But with a deadline of three days.[3]
Junipur did not follow her students on Earth, and her subsequent activities are unknown.Attributes
Abilities
Notes
- The character is called "Junipur" in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8 and "Juniper" in Marvel Comics Presents #101. The inconsistency in naming has not been clarified.
See Also
- 3 appearance(s) of Junipur (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) of Junipur (Earth-616)
- 2 image(s) of Junipur (Earth-616)