Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is an enigmatic figure entrenched in Western Christian culture, his true origins lost to the annals of time. Conjecture swirls regarding Santa's origins, including his potential mutant status.[1][4] Legends intermingle, portraying Santa as the embodiment of generosity, delivering gifts on Christmas Eve with the aid of Christmas elves crafting toys in his North Pole workshop and his iconic fleet of flying reindeer.
Depicted as a robust, genial man with a flowing white beard, Santa sports his iconic red coat, white fur-trimmed attire, and a sack filled with presents for children. People continue to speculate about Santa's mystical abilities, intrigued by his agelessness and annual worldwide gift-giving spree, making his true nature an enduring mystery.
History
Legend[]
Santa Claus was a legendary figure who is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on Christmas. Unknown to the people on Earth, Santa Claus was given being because of humanity's belief in the deeds of three different characters in history. These three people, whom belief in together created the true magical being of Santa Claus, are who the people of Earth think Santa Claus actually is or originated from.[1]
Legendary Figure: Saint Nicholas[]
One theory of Earth people is that Santa Claus' origin came from a 4th-century man named Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was born near the coast of modern-day Turkey, and became the bishop of Myra in his life. Many miracles were attributed to him, and he was known to to be very kind, to be very generous, and to have a great love of children. Some of his miracles include appearing to Emperor Constantine in a dream once to save three wrongly accused soldiers from execution, and restoring three beheaded children of sailors back to life. The most famous story told of the bishop Nicholas is how he attempted to give money anonymously to a family of daughters whose father could not pay their dowries for them to get married. He tried tossing a bags of gold into their house on the nights the girls were to get married, and it is said that on the third night he dropped the bag through the chimney, where it landed in a stocking hanging out to dry. Despite Nicholas' wishes, word of his good deeds spread, and eventually whenever anyone received an unexpected gift, they began thanking Nicholas as custom. After Nicholas' death, a church was built in dedication of him.[1]
Hundreds of years later, after Myra's end, the Russian Emperor Vladimir decided to make Bishop Nicholas the patron saint of Russia after visiting Constantinople and hearing all the wonderful stories of him. These stories eventually spread to the Laplands, to the people of the reindeer sleds. In the Netherlands, the name Sint Nicolaas was contracted into Sinterklaas, which inspired the name Santa Claus. The day before the anniversary of Nicholas' death, December 5th, became a time of giving, which eventually became linked to Christmas, the December 25th Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.[1]
Legendary: Odin[]
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Odin the Gift-Bringer
Other sources believe the origin of Santa Claus was simply inspired by the all-father of the Asgard (the realm of the gods), Odin after a special night where he saved a village's Midwinter's feast from not happening. Hundreds of years ago, an Asgardian Troll named Grylak the Greater was attempting to blackmail Odin to give him control of Asgard, threatening to destroy it with a giant asteroid otherwise. At the same time on Earth, a fisherman named Sigurd was sailing home to his village's Midwinter's feast, but was caught in a storm that blotted out the stars and stopped Sigurd from being able to navigate home. Sigurd's wife, Sia, prayed to Odin to help her husband. In answer, Odin commanded his son, Thor, to not attack Grylak but to first gather some of Asgard's finest wines, linens, and foods. Afterward, killing two birds with one stone, Odin ordered Thor to hurl his magic hammer, Mjolnir, at the Troll's asteroid; destroying it in a blinding flash of light that appeared as a bright star in the sky to Sigurd and his crew on Earth, allowing them to navigate home.
Later that night at Sigurd's village, his wife Sia heard a strange sound that caused her to rush to the hearth and find an unknown man (Odin) wearing furs and holding a huge bundle. The man vanished in a flash of light, leaving behind the goods collected by Thor, and at that same moment Sigurd returned home. Sigurd and Sia looked outside to see Odin, in furs, riding a sleigh driven by two flying rams and crying "A good Midwinter to all! And to all a good life!"[4][1]
Possible Origin: British Elders[]
Another theory is that the origin of Santa Claus comes from pre-medieval Britain. It is said that there was a custom among tribes for the community elder to dress up in furs as a character called "Old Winter", and go from dwelling to dwelling delivering food and drink. It was thought that if someone was hospitable to Old Winter, the winter season to be kind to them. This tradition survived for many, many, years, and after the introduction of Christianity, Old Winter began to be known as "Old Christmas", "Old Father Christmas", and eventually just "Father Christmas".[1]
The Generation of Santa Claus[]
When humanity's belief in the three listed legends mixed together with spiritual energy, the true magical being known as Santa Claus was created. This being was the physical manifestation of giving, as that was the common aspect among all the fables believed in. After being generated into existence, Santa initially set up his base of operations in Finland's eastern frontier, at a city called Korvatunturi. He rode a horse around and began delivering gifts to people on Christmas morning. Later, he took a wife and they moved to the North Pole where they established a workshop. Santa then brought together a workforce of elves to create toys throughout the year in preparation for each Christmas. The majority of these elves were descended from the Light Elves of Alfheim, one of the Ten Realms.
Santa also had an evil counterpart, the wicked demon known as Krampus, who once a year he went to the earthly realm to punish the bad children by feeding on their souls, in contrary to Santa. Santa eventually fought the demon and banished him, causing the knowledge of Krampus to become nothing more than a myth.[5]
In December, 1943, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had Santa Claus captured to destroy the U.S.A.'s morale, but U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt sent Sgt. Nick Fury, Captain America (Steve Rogers), and Bucky (James Barnes) to rescue him.[6] On Christmas Day 1954, Santa Claus, posing as a wealthy man, instructed Smith City garage attendant Sammy Glenn, an intelligent man who had never made good on his abilities, to watch his car and luggage for six hours. On impulse, Glenn "borrowed" the car and a suit and entered an executive club, where he met an attractive woman and received a job offer. Stunned by his good fortune, Glenn returned the car to its owner not realizing that the man was Santa Claus.[7] That same year, Santa had a run-in with an unidentified burglar.[8] The following Christmas, Santa (keeping his identity anonymous) chastised wealthy miser Oliver Gombul for his selfish ways; but Santa was pleased when Gombul vowed to become a better man after the young Ned Evans, son of one of Gombul's employees, gave him a present - the first Gombul had ever received.[9]
S.H.I.E.L.D.[]
In more recent years, on Christmas Eve, Santa saved New York City from the Hate-Monger (a clone of Hitler) when his sleigh - seen only as an unidentified flying object - soared through the air at unprecedented speed, distracting one of the Hate-Monger's pilots, who crashed into the Hate-Monger's nuclear bomb.[10]
X-Men[]
Years later, on another December 24th, Cerebro, the mutant-detecting computer of the X-Men, detected "the most powerful mutant ever registered" in New York's Rockefeller Center. This being was also detected by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Unus the Untouchable, the Blob, the Toad, and Mastermind) who sought it out, resulting in a skirmish with the X-Men. This ended when Santa briefly transformed the Brotherhood into inanimate toys, teleported the X-Men away, erased both groups' memories of his involvement, and then gifted the city with snowfall, the first white Christmas in years.[4][1]
Howard the Duck[]
Affected by the new reality of the ever-changing world, Santa at least once attempted to modernize. He took to wearing a smaller beard, using a more lavish fake beard on Christmas. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals then forced Santa to rebuild his sleigh so that it ran on its own power, not from being pulled by the reindeer. Claus initially used steam until an oil company representative (possibly from the Roxxon Oil Company) convinced him to switch over to high-octane fuel. Caught up in this trend, Santa opened up a nuclear power plant and gas station at the North Pole. The plan was actually controlled, however, by Greedy Killerwatt, who had been a "jumper" (worker hired to enter "hot" areas of nuclear plants to do various tasks) mutated into a form resembling a light bulb. Santa took in a convict named Pinball Lizard, after conferring with his parole officer, as director of his Fun N' Games department. However, Pinball Lizard fell in with Greedy Killerwatt, who used his powers to change Pinball into a lizard-like being, as well as mutating many of Santa's elves into trolls. Attempting to destroy Santa Claus by putting an insufficient amount of gas in his sleigh so he would crash, Pinball took over the workshop and forced elves who did not become trolls to construct mass-produced, shoddy toys while Santa went on his rounds.Killerwatt intended to take over Christmas in revenge against society for his mutation. Santa crashed in Cleveland, where he encountered Howard the Duck. Discovering that he was out of fuel, Santa realized that since gas rationing was in effect, he could not get enough fuel to return to the Arctic. However, Howard, who worked at the "To Hack and Back" taxi company at the time, offered to let Claus use their pumps. Howard filled the tank, and he and the young Carol Starkowitz (daughter of Claude Starkowitz, designer of the "Iron Duck" armor) went to the North Pole with Claus. Mrs. Claus told them of Pinball Lizard's rebellion, and Santa, Howard, Carol, the loyal elves, toys animated by elf magic, and a gun-toting elf named Sunquist (originally from Florida) drove off Pinball Lizard and his trolls, who escaped via dirigible. However, the nuclear power plant still threatened to "melt down" through the center of the earth until it reached Antarctica, thus destroying the world. Pinball Lizard rendezvoused with Killerwatt, who dispatched mutated seals, polar bears, penguins, and whales against Howard the Duck and his compatriots, who were joined by Chief Ollakook of a local tribe. Howard and Carol sidestepped the mutated animals to find Pinball Lizard, whom Howard speared in the tail. Sunquist shot Killerwatt in the head, and Killerwatt's injury undid his mutations, returning Pinball Lizard and the others to normal. Santa promised to shut down the nuclear power plant, swearing to convert the toy shop to solar power, and to power his sleigh with organic fuels, as Sunquist had recommended all along.[11]
A criminal scam artist, working as a mall Santa, asked children where they lived so he could deliver their presents. He then appeared at their windows dressed as Santa, duping the children to letting him in, after which he would loot their house. Spider-Man (Peter Parker) eventually encountered the thief, who fled to the roof, where the real Santa Claus, angry at this misuse of his identity, scared the thief into giving up crime before Spider-Man arrived.[12]
She-Hulk[]
For a time, Santa used his knowledge of who was naughty and who was nice to become the world's greatest detective as "Nick St. Christopher". In this role he aided the She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) in locating evidence for a murder investigation. Entranced by the She-Hulk, St. Christopher made a pass at her, but then Mrs. Claus arrived to corral him and to punish She-Hulk by filling her office with reindeer droppings. Before departing, St. Christopher gave She-Hulk a present, telling her to use it on Christmas for something special.[3] When she was later trapped in She-Hulk form, she opened the present, which allowed her to temporarily return to her human form to celebrate a normal Christmas evening with her father, Morris Walters.[13]Santa Doom[]
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At a later Christmas, Santa Claus traveled to Latveria to give a present to Doctor Doom, who was a nice guy sometimes. However, Doom had laid a vice-based intruder trap and Santa was captured, with his neck being trapped. The old guy suffered from injuries which would take several weeks to heal. Doom laid him in a bed in his castle but, when Santa asked Doom to replace him for Christmas, Doom was reluctant. In an attempt to convince Doom, Santa offered Doom any present that Doom's heart would really wish, and Doom agreed. The reindeers helped him get the trick, and Doom disguised himself with Santa's clothes and a fake beard, becoming Santa Doom.
Doom's trip was eventful, with him fighting the Fantastic Four and several members of the Avengers; but the innocence of a big-eyed, teddy bear-holding girl stopped the fight and the heroes agreed to help the sham Santa giving the gifts. The girl apparently presented Santa Doom with his teddy bear.
Weeks later, when Santa recovered his health and was ready to return to the North Pole, Doom forebodingly farewelled him as a future foe, but Santa kept his good attitude. He offered to give Doom the promised present but, secretly holding his new teddy bear, Doom simply said that such a promise had already been delivered. Santa, confused, left in his sleigh.[14]
Doctor Octopus[]
At a later point, Santa's workshop was raided and conquered by super-villain Doc Octopus. Somehow, Octopus managed to capture Santa (although Octopus was unable to directly attack Santa; he may have tricked Santa or something) and then chained the elfs. Octopus forced the elfs to prepare booby-trapped toys which would attack the good boys and girls receiving them. One of these toys, a tentacled, threatening Darbie doll, happened to end in the hands of Cassie Lang, daughter of Scott Lang—who was in turn the super-hero Ant-Man. The doll attacked Cassie, she asked Scott for help, Scott smashed the toy and then he followed the track to the North Pole. Once there, the Ant Man discovered Octopus' scheme and fought him. The Ant Man shrank himself and Octopus, and used toy soldiers to his advantage.
Meanwhile, Santa managed to escape and stopped the fight. Octopus, unable to attack Santa, surrendered and was captured by Rudolph. Santa used his magic (?) powers to un-do Octopus' doings to the workshop and to revert the Ant Man's shrinkage, and shook the Ant Man's hand. Octopus promised to be a good boy and all-seeing Santa saw that he was being sincere—although the Ant Man was reluctant to believe his foe. Octopus helped Santa with his sleigh and, once this was done, Santa offered a lift to both Octopus and the Ant Man. To give them space, he had to use his powers again.[15]
Another year, demoralized by mankind's lack of faith and belief, Santa sold his entire franchise to the terrorists of Hydra. Around the same time, Howard the Duck had been drafted by his partner, Beverly Switzler, to act as a mall Santa (a.k.a. Santa's helper) at the Mondo Mega Mall after the regular helper had been injured in an escalator accident. One of Santa's elves recruited a number of other Santa's helpers - including Howard the Duck, Vito Claus, Bubba Clause, Santa Clara, Claus Tse-Tung, Sanity Claus and Willy Lumpkin Claus - to prevent Hydra from ruining Christmas. Ultimately Howard and the recently orphaned Dionysus Finster, who had latched onto Howard as the mall Santa and accompanied him to the North Pole, convinced Santa to renege on his deal with Hydra, and the various Santa's helpers joined forces with Santa and the elves to drive off the Commando Corps of Hydra Accountants.[16]
Great Lakes X-Men[]
One Christmas, Santa aided the young mutant team Generation X against the youth-abducting Nanny and Orphan Maker.[17] Another year, the Doorman (DeMarr David), who had recently been drafted as the Avatar of Oblivion, encountered Santa and asked him for a Christmas miracle for his dad: "Some toy he'd always longed for ever since he was a kid, something to teach him the true meaning of Christmas and help forge a bond between father and son?" Unfortunately, as Christmas Eve was Santa's busiest time of year, he didn't have time to help out Doorman, though later he was able to join Doorman and his teammates (then the GLX/Great Lakes X-Men) on their Christmas celebration.[18]
Captain Marvel[]
When Santa Claus disguised himself as a homeless man, he was captured alongside Captain Marvel by Grace Valentine and Toxie Doxie. They intended to use him as guinea pig, not knowing he was Santa, but Carol was able to break free which prompted Santa to reveal himself and help Carol in defeating the two villainesses who were then imprisoned by Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S..[19]
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Santa after letting himself go
Tinsel's Swindle[]
Due to Santa's lack of expertise in business practices, one of his elves named Tinsel came along and organized the North Pole's operations. After becoming greedy, Tinsel attempted to convince Santa to bring outsiders to help cut the costs, but he refused since money was never his motivation and he couldn't bring himself to sell off to a corporation. In retaliation, Tinsel spread lies about Santa to the other elves, causing them to turn against him and abandon the North Pole. With operations in his factory shutting down, Santa let himself go and became manic. With his home dilapidated, Ms. Claus could barely stand her husband's presence.
When Christmas came and no presents were delivered, a group of indignant kids assembled to hire Deadpool to kill Santa. Deadpool traveled to the North Pole and confronted Santa. Following an arduous battle, the mercenary managed to subdue Santa, but couldn't bring himself to kill him. After Ms. Claus explained the reason for Santa's predicament, Deadpool decided to instead track down Tinsel to Roxxon Toys, where he was subjecting the other elves to corporate abuse. After Deadpool killed Tinsel, the other elves gladly returned to the North Pole. Although Santa regained his composure, since he still needed to clean himself up and regain his lost weight, Deadpool convinced him to let him borrow his sleigh and go around delivering presents seized from Roxxon Toys.[20]Attributes
 |
Powers
He commands a sleigh pulled by a number of magic flying reindeer - including Blitzen (a.k.a. Blixem & Blixen), Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Donner (a.k.a. Dunder & Donder), Prancer, Rudolph, and Vixen - who magically enable him to travel across the planet, stopping at most houses along the way, in a single night. His magical sack - actually a tesseract serving as a portal to a sort of storage dimension - holds enough presents to supply the entire world in one trip. At each home, he travels down the chimney (or the closest alternative where chimneys are lacking) and deposits presents for good boys and girls, but leaves only a lump of coal for the naughty. He frequently will consume cookies and milk left for him before departing on to the next house. His reindeer Rudolph's nose gives off a bright red glow that enables Santa to see and navigate through the worst blizzards, fogs, or other conditions of poor visibility. Santa briefly used a gasoline-powered sleigh, and he has also at least once empowered a pack of huskies to pull his sleigh.[21][1]
Santa is served by a number of magical elves, who construct the toys he gives out. Though some have differing origins, the elves are descended from the Light Elves of Asgard's Alfheim,[1] and they are resistant to aging and conventional disease. The elf Sunquist, in particular, is solar-powered and can animate toys and rearrange matter. In addition, Sunquist is a member of E.L.F., the Elf Labor Federation, which protects elves - an exploited minority - so that they might offer their services only to the extent that they did not cause humanity to become unduly reliant on elfkind. In addition, across America and other places, regular men (and women) serve as Santa's helpers, meeting with children, learning what they want for Christmas, and passing this information on to Santa himself.[21][1]By shaking his belly, Santa can undo a disaster in his workshop and revert the effects of the Pym Particles. By touching his nose and winkling jollily, he can shrink his bag so that he can carry two passengers in his sleigh. Santa's powers also include knowing whether a specific person has been good or bad, and whether that person is awake or sleeping.[15]
Santa knows that he is a comic-book character and he can break the fourth wall to wish the reader a merry Christmas.[15]Abilities
Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Notes
- Given that Santa Claus was the "most powerful mutant ever registered" by Cerebro,[4][1] there is a possibility that Santa is an Omega Level Mutant.
- An agreeable person, Santa tends to call everyone by their first time, even Dr. Doom.[14] He is easily recognizable by his familiar speech "Ho ho ho,"[14] but a number of children were tricked by a false Santa when Doctor Doom disguised as him.[14]
See Also
- 35 appearance(s) of Santa Claus (Earth-616)
- 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Santa Claus (Earth-616)
- 14 minor appearance(s) of Santa Claus (Earth-616)
- 92 mention(s) of Santa Claus (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Santa Claus (Earth-616)
- 32 image(s) of Santa Claus (Earth-616)
- 2 quotation(s) by or about Santa Claus (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.47 1.48 1.49 1.50 1.51 1.52 1.53 Marvel Holiday Special #2006 ; Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Santa Claus
- ↑ King in Black: Iron Man/Doom #1
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sensational She-Hulk #8
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Marvel Holiday Special #1991
- ↑ Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual #1
- ↑ Marvel Age #109
- ↑ Strange Tales #34
- ↑ Journey Into Unknown Worlds #34
- ↑ Strange Tales of the Unusual #2
- ↑ Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #10
- ↑ Howard the Duck (Vol. 2) #3
- ↑ Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #112
- ↑ Sensational She-Hulk #36
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 What The--?! #10
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 What The--?! #16
- ↑ Howard the Duck Holiday Special #1
- ↑ Generation X Holiday Special #1
- ↑ GLX-Mas Special #1
- ↑ Captain Marvel (Vol. 8) #11
- ↑ Deadpool (Vol. 7) #7
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #10
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 10