CHTHON: Page 4 of 4

BIOGRAPHY - Page 4

Chthon made new plans to gather the Cornerstones of Creation for his benefit, the four items representing the power of the four surviving Elder Gods. He targeted a minor sorcerer named Ian McNee, a skilled adept who nevertheless sailed under the radar of the higher powers due to his arrogance and failed attempts at challenging Stephen Strange. Casting McNee into the Serpent's Sea of Set, Chthon appeared to the mage in the guise of Oshtur and offered him salvation in exchange for a quest. The beleaguered Ian of course agreed, and "Oshtur" explained how the forces of magic were out of balance. To correct this, Ian McNee must collect the four Cornerstones of Creation to restore the mind of Heka-Nut, and with it the mystical balance.

His ego sufficiently stroked, Ian McNee began his quest with a knight's determination. He solved the riddles of Ammut in order to retrieve the Sword of Bone, Oshtur's contribution to the Cornerstones. Morgan le Fay, former priestess of Gaea before falling to the Darkhold, knew the location of the Ebon Rose. McNee's style and audacity won her favor, allowing him to claim Gaea's Rose. At the shrine of Set, Ian turned the Serpent God's priestesses Llyra and Nagala against each other, letting him make off with the Serpent Crown. And the final Cornerstone, a page from the Darkhold, was provided by Marie LeVeau.

Despite his successes, McNee was canny enough to recognize the holes in Oshtur's story. When he cast the spell to restore Heka-Nut's mind, Chthon appeared in his true guise and attempted to impose Heka-Nut on Ian's body, creating a new vassal. With secret aid from Llyra, Morgan le Fay and Ashake, however, Ian was prepared to resist Chthon. Heka-Nut was freed from Chthon's influence and moved on peacefully, while Ian used the Cornerstones to cast a spell banishing Chthon back into the Flickering Realms. Although he was defeated, Chthon laughed as he disappeared, for among the Cornerstones was the Darkhold, and by using it that meant McNee's soul was his to one day claim. [Mystic Arcana #1-4]

When Demogorge was killed in battle with the Skrull gods, Chthon saw an opportunity to reject the eons old pact which banned him from Earth. Working through Modred yet again, Chthon unleashed a chaos cascade on the globe from the Darque Holde, a cavern at the base of Wundagore. With the Knights of Wundagore as a sacrifice and Pietro Maximoff as an unwitting pawn, Modred arranged to remove Quicksilver's soul and imbue the evil of Chthon in its place. The circumstances of this spell did not require a mystically inclined vessel like Pietro's sister Wanda, but merely any child born of Wundagore in the light of Chthon's power. The essence of the Darkhold was pumped into Pietro's body, while Quicksilver's own soul was drawn into the book. In this manner, Chthon was reborn on Earth.

In the body of Quicksilver, Chthon was opposed by a new group of Avengers, gathered in secret by Loki while in the guise of the Scarlet Witch. Because the full immensity of Chthon still rested in Wundagore, Iron Man put Hercules and others to work destroying the mountain itself. It was Hank Pym who truly recognized the limitations Chthon's mortal body gave him, however. Pym scrambled the speech center of Pietro's human brain, giving Chthon a form of aphasia, leaving him unable to speak the mystical words of power that channeled his magic. By removing Quicksilver's soul from the Darkhold, the Book of Chthon then held a vacuum which automatically refilled itself by drawing Chthon's essence out of Pietro's body and back into the book. The chaos cascade ended, and Chthon was once more bound to book and mountain alone while in the Earth dimension. [Mighty Avengers (1st series) #21-23]

Another group of Darkholders believed they could raise Chthon from the Flickering Realms through the prophecy of "the Red Slayer" found in the Darkhold. Under the proper rituals, at the proper alter, the Red Slayer must spill blood and Chthon would rise. Believing the Red Slayer was Cletus Kasady, the symbiotic serial killer known as Carnage, Barry Gleason of the Darkholders worked with the FBI and their Anti-Carnage Task Force to set a trap to capture the madman at Gleason's abandoned mine. The entire exercise was a deception to get Kasady to the Chthonic alter underneath the mine.

The Darkholders believed they must shed the Red Slayer's blood to enact the ritual, but Carnage correctly recognized the Darkhold meant for him to shed the blood of others. When Kasady's blood mixed with the Darkhold, he became supernaturally empowered and turned on the Darkholders, possessing many of them with the new power of his symbiote. However, the Anti-Carnage Task Force (including Toxin and Man-Wolf) interrupted Carnage before he could achieve greater power and collapsed the mine entirely. [Carnage (2nd series) #1-5]

Carnage pursued Gleason and killed him to reclaim the Darkhold. Needing another alter to tap the same power he had before, Carnage hunted down Brother Gregori of the Darkholders and the Chthonic Brotherhood. Gregori directed Carnage to a temple on an island near Indonesia. [Carnage (2nd series) #6-10] On the island, Kasady encountered the Broodlings of Chthon, demon-human hybrids born of raped sailors, and finally made his way to the altar. Directed by the whisperings of the book, Carnage slaughtered the Broodlings at the altar and read the summoning ritual that brought Chthon back into this world. [Carnage (2nd series) #11-15]

Emerging as a giant from within the island mountains, Chthon consumed what remained of his broodlings and discarded Carnage now that Kasady had served his purpose. Seeds had been planted for Chthon's defeat, however. Carnage's attempt to possess a girl named Jubulile van Scotter with his symbiote had failed, leaving her with a supernatural link to Carnage's mind and, through it, Chthon's. She absorbed other symbiotes Carnage had created in order to empower herself with a purified version of the symbiote relationship. Victoria Montesi had joined the Anti-Carnage Task Force, and knew how to use a spell from the Darkhold to amplify Jubulile and her symbiote's ability to conduct psychic energy. With the Darkhold enhancing her abilities, Jubulile absorbed massive amounts of psychic energy from everyone on the island, directing it at Chthon as a blast of spiritual purity. As it has in the past, the purity of the human soul was too much for Chthon to bear, and he once again retreated into the Flickering Realms. [Carnage (2nd series) #16]

When the forces of Hydra lay claim to America, their Madame Hydra was an immensely powerful sorceress named Elisa Sinclair. As one of several pre-planned counter-measures against the heroes, Elisa made a pact with Chthon and arranged for him (or his Other) to possess and control the Scarlet Witch. Much like years ago on Wundagore, the full immenseness of Chthon presumably did not enter Wanda's body, but merely a corrupting influence that allowed Chthon to act through her. Chthon agreed to guide Wanda on behalf of Hydra in exchange for this boon, for he also appreciated the chaos Hydra was unleashing on the world.

The corrupt Wanda rejoined the Avengers team, which was acting in Hydra's interests. It also amused her to renew a relationship with the Vision, who was also being controlled by Hydra using a computer virus. The Scarlet Witch was a terrifying presence on the battlefield and in down time for all who encountered her. When the final battle against Hydra came, Doctor Strange conducted an exorcism that succeeded in expelling the taint of Chthon from Wanda's soul yet again. [Secret Empire #1-9, Avengers (6th series) #10]

Numerous successes over the years in driving off Chthon has normalized his rise to the heroes of Earth, even made them cocky. Iron Man once referred to Chthon as "just a realty-warper." But Chthon is patient. And Chthon is eternal. He rested for eons before Morgan le Fay gave him a foothold on Earth in the sixth century. He waited for centuries until Gregor Russoff first released him from Wundagore. He paused for mere decades until Wanda Maximoff came of age. Chthon has breached the Earth realm more times in the last decade than he has in all recorded history. And Chthon only has to win... once.