Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)

Anansi
Name	Kwaku Anansi
Aliases	A. Nancy, The Spider-God, Ananasi, The Spider, Nanzi (Lesser Antilles name), Great Weaver, the First Spider-Man
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	West African Gods, Council of Godheads, Spider-Totems
Relatives	Parents: Buluku (father) Gaea (mother) Siblings: Lusa (brother) Mawu (sister) Ghekre (paternal half-brother) Kibuka (paternal half-brother) Thor (maternal half-brother) Spouses: Unnamed spouse Other Relatives: Avlekete, Ezili (nieces) Eschu, Legba, Ogun, Damballah, Sagbata (nephews) Numerous others
Marital Status	Married
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	5′10″ (1.78 m), Variable
Weight	250 lbs (113.4 kg), Variable
Eyes	Irises: Brown
Hair	Black
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Vodū
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Lake Bosumtwi (modern-day Ghana)
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	Orun
Occupation	God of wisdom, trickery and culture
Education	Extensively self-educated
Base of Operations	Orun
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr.
First	Thor #398 (August, 1988) (Unnamed) Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #48 (December, 2002) (Identified)
First	Thor #398 (August, 1988) (Unnamed) Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #48 (December, 2002) (Identified)

I am the Great Spider! Weaver of Stories. Of Legend. Of Myth and Song! Mine is a host that expands worlds and realities and universes! A reverberation of a string plucked on my web, no matter how distant, always finds its way back to me. Do you understand, my champion? My Spider-Man?

—Anansi[source]

The primordial Trickster God of West African Myth who is widely believed to be the "first" Spider-Man in history. Kwaku Anansi is an extra-dimensional entity who oversees the Web of Life and Destiny, which acts as a model of the entire Multiverse and enables travel between realities. He also operates as the patron deity of the Spider-Totems, who he sees as his scions after they inherited the power he bequeathed to achieve enlightenment.

History

Early Life

According to Ezekiel Sims and the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, Anansi was the first Spider-Man, using his spider-powers to traverse Africa and see all there was to see. Desiring further enlightenment, Anansi struck a bargain with the sky god Nyame, offering his eternal service in return for enlightenment and vanished from the mortal world, his power and knowledge transmitted into spiders everywhere across a Great Web.

Modern Age

He continued his service to his father in to the modern era, Anansi stood alongside Nyambe, both bearing witness to the primal scream of the Enchantress mourning the death of Heimdall.

Anansi's temple in Ghana was used by Spider-Man to defeat the totemic wasp entity Shathra, and was later the site of a duel between Ezekiel Sims and Peter Parker in order to appease the totemic spider deity called the Gatekeeper.

Council of Godheads

Anansi attended the Council of Godheads gathered by Athena to prepare a team of godly champions to confront the Skrull Gods. However, he did not provide any champions from amongst his own ranks and openly doubted Athena's intentions, suggesting that the homeless Olympian gods might have designs upon their realms while left unprotected.

Anansi participated in a Council of Godheads meeting to talk about Athena's mortal champion Amadeus Cho. He was with the Council when Vali Halfling threatened them to rule over reality as soon as he had reached omniscience. Anansi asked Balder who this Asgardian upstart was and learned that Vali was one of Loki's children.

Spider-Island

One day Anansi, disguised as pest specialist A. Nancy, visited the bar & grill that Hercules worked at. They talked for awhile -- about Nancy's blind dog Coltrane and his job. Without revealing his true name Nancy even told Herc about how Anansi once tricked Nyambe into telling Anansi all his stories.

Hercules later helped Nancy to sneak into Arachne's apartment so he could steal Arachne's Tapestry. Once outside Nancy was attacked by Elektra, who immediately stole the tapestry, but spared Nancy's life even though Baba Yaga told her to kill him.

Legion of X

Later, Anansi (or a fragment thereof) was among several gods across many pantheons used by the Arakkii Mutant Ora Serrata to fabricate Tumult, the Trickster Chimaera.

Webs of Wakanda

After Miles Morales was unwittingly turned into a Vampire during the events of Blood Hunt, Black Panther smuggled the young Spider-Man into Wakanda to seek an audience with the Goddess Bast in the hope that she could cure the wallcrawler like she did for him. Unfortunately for the two heroes, Bast was incensed by Miles' presence within her domain as he was already claimed as the herald and champion of her "most loathsome" sibling. Anansi would then suddenly emerge behind Miles to confirm his sister's statement and express an earnest desire to cure the Spider-Man of Varnae's growing corruption. But in order to do so, he must subject Miles to a trial: to provide him with a "good story" in return for purging his vampiric affliction.

Believing that all good tales are best started with conflict, Anansi teleported Miles and T'Challa to an arena to face one another as their respective patron Gods spectated.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Vodū Physiology: Anansi possesses the conventional attributes of the African gods.

• Superhuman Strength: Anansi can lift 25 tons.
• Organic Webbing: Anansi can spin spider-like webs and skillfully swing from them.
• Shapeshifting: He can also tap into and manipulate ambient magical energies for a variety of effects, including shapeshifting. He usually shift either partially or completely into a spider.
• Power Negation: Anansi can negate certain powers pertaining to specific Spider-Totems.
• Invisibility: Anansi can make himself invisible to the eyes of ordinary people, except for his chosen herald.
• Teleportation: Anansi can use his mystical webs to teleport people from one place to another instantly.
• Movements Impairment: Anansi can mentally stop the movements of others and make it difficult for them to move.

Notes

• Anansi is also the name of the arachnoid race that was part of the Originators, group of species that inhabited Wakanda before humans and was expelled by humans and Gods of Wakanda. Apparently there is no relationship between Kwaku Anansi and that race, though he was revered in Wakanda.
• In Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #28, Anansi and Bast refer to each other as siblings. It is unclear whether this statement is real, as Bast was described as the granddaughter of Gaea (given the name Neith) and Anansi as the son of Gaea (given the name Asase Ya).

Trivia

• Anansi is named after and partially based on the trickster character from West African Akan mythology Ansansi/Ananse, who is often depicted as a spider.
• The Uzuri Tribe appeared to adhere Anansi as the Shadow King used his likeness to infiltrate the tribe.

See Also

• 22 appearance(s) of Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 4 minor appearance(s) of Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 7 mention(s) of Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 4 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 16 image(s) of Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 6 quotation(s) by or about Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)
• 2 item(s) used/owned by Kwaku Anansi (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Kwaku Anansi on Wikipedia.org
• Anansi at the Guide to the Mythological Universe
• Anansi at the Appendix to the Marvel Universe
• Ananse Story: Step into the World of Anansi the Spider