My whole life, I did whatever Ego wanted, and then I did whatever the Guardians wanted. I need to go out and discover what I want. 
- —Mantis[src]
History
Origins[]
Mantis was a daughter of the shapeshifting Celestial entity Ego, who seized upon her potential and brought her back with him to raise her and make use of her empathic talent. With only Ego to learn from she grew up learning language, but understanding almost nothing of social interaction. Aside from Ego, the only other sentient beings she ever knew were his many offspring, all of whom were killed shortly after their arrival, and the rogue faction of Ravagers that occasionally brought the children to Ego.[1][2]
Betraying Ego[]
This situation changed when another one of Ego's offspring, a man known as Peter Quill, arrived with his crew mates Drax and Gamora. Mantis struck up a friendship with Drax, and it was through this interaction that she began to comprehend familial attachments. Her fear of what would befall them all once Ego pulled Peter completely into his influence led Mantis to try and warn Drax of the impending danger, but it wasn't until Gamora uncovered part of the truth herself that Mantis was finally able to explain the threat that Ego represented.
Siding with the Guardians of the Galaxy against her mentor, Mantis proved to be an instrumental part of their attack strategy, using her empathic ability to briefly put Ego to sleep at a critical moment, but she missed the end of the conflict when she was knocked unconscious by a piece of falling debris. Drax carried her to safety, and having survived she was later able to join the Guardians on their travels through the galaxy.[2]
War with Thanos[]
In 2023, the Avengers traveled in time and went to the past to get the Infinity Stones, after this, Hulk snapped his fingers to bring all the Blip victims back to life, and Mantis is revived. She, Star-Lord, Drax and Spider-Man were teleported by Doctor Strange from Titan to the place where the New Avengers Facility was destroyed and helped the Avengers in the final battle against Thanos.
After Iron Man sacrifices himself to use the Infinity Stones and eliminate Thanos and his army, the Guardians of the Galaxy come back together and Thor joins the team [4].
Saving Rocket's Life[]
Examining Rocket in the med bay
Attributes
Powers
- Empathy: Mantis can sense the deepest feelings of another sentient being by touching them. Her sensory acuity is enough to determine the identity of a third person loved by the one she is reading. A side effect of of this power is that she tends to experience others' extreme moods herself, reflecting their happiness and their pain.
- Emotion Manipulation: Mantis has a rudimentary ability to manipulate the emotional state of any person she is in physical contact with. She used this power to manipulate the emotions of Kevin Bacon and several OrgoCorp enemies.
- Sleep Manipulation: Mantis can induce a deep sleep in anyone she is in physical contact with. She has primarily used this on humanoid life forms, and has also applied it on Ego via his human avatar and directly via his internal structure. Mantis can also wake others, as she did with Thor on the Benatar while he was knocked out.
- Memory Erasure: Mantis managed to erase Drax's memories of his argument with Nebula.
- Superhuman Strength: Mantis is able to leap multiple feet in the air and was easily capable of kicking several enemies at great distances in the Orgoscope and the Arête Laboratories.
- Superhuman Durability: Despite her appearance, Mantis is quite durable, as shown when she falls from the quadrant, and lands almost flawlessly, and the debris that hit her merely knocked her unconscious. Mantis survived a headbutt from Thanos, falling onto her neck from great heights and the energy beams of Abilisks.
- Superhuman Agility: Mantis was shown to be extremely agile when pursuing Kevin Bacon, able to jump from wall to wall in his house.
- Superhuman Stamina: Mantis has more stamina than an average human, being able to jump repeatedly without getting tired.
Abilities
- Expert Martial Artist: During the Battle of Earth, Mantis proved to be a very efficient fighter when she defeated several members of Thanos' army using both her powers and unarmed combat skills. She was later shown to be capable of effectively beating multiple Earth police officers in hand-to-hand combat. During the mission to save the Star Children, Mantis defeated many enemies using martial arts attacks and superhuman acrobatic moves.
- Expert Marksman: Mantis has used several alien firearms in her missions with the other Guardians. She used a machine gun in the battle of Indigarr and a pistol to shoot Thor's goats.
- Expert Pilot: Mantis is a skilled pilot, able to pilot the Bowie without problems.
Notes
See Also
- 10 appearance(s) of Mantis (Earth-199999)
- 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Mantis (Earth-199999)
- 4 minor appearance(s) of Mantis (Earth-199999)
- 1 mention(s) of Mantis (Earth-199999)
- 64 image(s) of Mantis (Earth-199999)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Mantis (Earth-199999)
Links and References
- Mantis (Earth-199999) on the
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