FOMORIANS

Other Names: Fomore, Fomorians
Membership: Balor, Cethlann, Dulb, Elathan, Indech, Tethra, Bres
First appearance: Avengers (1st series) #225
Last appearance (as a team): Avengers (1st series) #226

Before

• The origins of the Fomor are unclear. One account is that they are magical, a race birthed by the personification of the earth, the goddess Gaia, in her Fomorian guise of “Domnu,” with a king named Conaad from Otherworld's subterranean Dark Realm.
• In 2300 BC, the Fomorians left Otherworld and traveled to Earth, settling on the “Island of the Tower of Glass,” now known as Tory Island, located just off the coast of Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.
• The worshipers of the Fomorians in Ireland were called the Fir Bolg, “men of bags” in Gaeilge.
• In 1896 BC, the Fomorians and the Fir Bolg were supplanted on the island of Ireland by other beings from Otherworld named the Tuatha De Danaan. It is unclear if the Fomor or the Tuatha are the same species or offshoots of each other.
• The two groups battled for some time but, despite this, there were intermarriages and children born. One such secret union was between the Fomorian sky god Elathan and the patron goddess of Ireland, Eriu. The union produced the hybrid Bres “the handsome.” Bres was raised by his mother and was initially unaware of his heritage.
• When Nuada, the head of the Tuatha, died, his nephew Bres was chosen to succeed him.
• Bres was a very unpopular ruler and his reign of the Tuatha lasted a mere seven years before he was ousted. Finding out about his origins from his mother, he journeyed to his father's home and convinced the Fomorians to declare war on the Tuatha.
• The war was a crushing defeat for the Fomorians and they were forced to retreat back to the Dark Realm in Otherworld. [Thor and the Mighty Hercules: Encyclopedia Mytholica #1]
• Back in Otherworld, Elathan imprisoned his rival Balor through unspecified means.
• Around the 12th Century, the returning Fomorians had managed to conquer the majority of Otherworld but were unable to breach the walls of Avalon, thanks to the efforts of the druid, Amergin. On the advice of the Black Knight (Dane Whitman) and in collaboration with his descendant, Dr. Druid, he summoned a team of Avengers to the 12th Century to defend Avalon. [Avengers (1st series) #225-226]

Chronology

Thanks to the scrying powers of Elathan, the Fomor war council observed Amergin summon the Avengers to the past. Elathan was not worried about the Avengers appearance, seeing his side as superior to these heroes. Cethlann questioned his leadership and thought they lacked insufficient power to challenge Amergin and the Avengers. It was put to a vote and all other members of the Fomor agreed with Elathan's plan to attack. Cethlann argued that they should release her husband Balor, as with his added power the battle would surely be in their favor. She received no support from the other members of the Fomor. Elathan's son Bres advised that his second sight had foretold their victory (a lie, as revealed later). With the war council in agreement, Elathan transported them to Amergin's tower. Using his weather manipulating abilities, he shattered the top of building, bringing the battle to the Avengers, Amergin, and the Black Knight. Several players would use the distraction of the battle to their benefit. Bres snuck into the tower and used the gateway that transported the Avengers to the past to travel to the future. Amergin used his magic to construct a weapon called the Evil eye of Avalon, which he hoped to use to siphon the power of the Fomor and use it against them. Cethlann also took this opportunity to free her husband Balor from captivity. The two most powerful Avengers present, Thor and She-Hulk, immediately engaged Balor but both appeared to be vaporized by his optic blast. As this happened, Bres appeared in the future in Avengers mansion with a unconscious Dr. Druid and Iron Man. [Avengers (1st series) #225]

Bres intended to kill Dr Druid, whose magicks were responsible for maintaining the Avengers presence in the past when She-Hulk and Thor appeared next to him. Balor's blast had disrupted the spell that had brought them to the past and returned them to the present. Figuring out Bres' vulnerability to metal, She-Hulk hurled the unconscious Iron Man at him, knocking Bres out. With the presence of Balor, the remaining Avengers were easily overwhelmed by the Fomor and forced to retreat. Elathan decided to try and take advantage of Balor's sudden freedom and attempted to convince him flght alongside the other Fomor against Amergin and Avengers. Seducing Balor with the prospect of conquering Earth, he agreed to the alliance despite the two gods fraught history and Balor's own wife, Cethlann warnings that Elathan was not to be trusted.

As the Fomor breached the walls of Avalon, Amergin appeared brandishing the Evil Eye. He tricked Balor into attacking and charging up the weapon. While Amergin and Balor battled, the remaining Avengers appeared and distracted the other Fomor long enough for Amergin to drain most of Balor's power. Distracted by Elathan, Amergin lost his grip of the weapon and Balor took it and started to rub it against his eye, hoping to return his powers. Touching the source of its power forced the weapon to interact and it appeared to incinerate Balor. The shock wave from the blast also killed Amergin. The remaining Avengers made the decision to retreat back to the future through the gateway but were pursued by the Fomor, who also tried to access the gate. The Black Knight, brandishing the evil eye, held the line so his allies could escape activating the weapon, destroying the gate and presumably killing the remaining members of the Fomor war council. [Avengers (1st series) #226]

After

• Elathan, Cethlann, Tethra, Dulb and Indech may have been slain by the energies released by the Black Knight at the end of Avengers (1st series) #225 as none have been seen again. This the last time a formalized team of Fomor appeared.
• Following his capture, Bres was imprisoned by Project: P.E.G.A.S.U.S. He was bound in an apparatus that flooded his body with ions, rendering him powerless. Following a series of power failures, Bres' powers returned and he disabled the machine, the immortal merely pretending to remain a prisoner. Using his telepathic abilities to manipulate and corrupt the staff and prisoners in the facility, he killed the super villain Solarr and several members of staff. He had targeted a powerful child named Bobby Wright, who was in the facility. When superhero Iron Fist was investigating the disturbances at the Project, Bres enticed the boy to kill him on the promise that Bres would reunite him with his (fictional) mother. Bres' manipulation of Bobby failed and he was summarily defeated by Iron Fist. Presumably, he was returned to captivity at Project: P.E.G.A.S.U.S.  [Power Man and Iron Fist (1st series) #113] Note: Bobby Wright was actually an identity assumed by an amnesiac Super-Skrull.
• Fomorian druids summoned a troll to attack the village of the Celtic god, Leir. In the assault, all the buildings in the town were destroyed, though no villagers were killed. The troll was easily defeated by the returning sea god. There had been prior conflicts, including a cattle raid between the feuding people. Leir eventually tracked down the village of the Fomorians, observing that it was as peaceful as his own village. While he lay in wait, Leir and his allies were discovered and a battle broke out. The battle was ended when Leir's older brother, Dagda, arrived and brought a plague of insects on the assembled Fomorians. While the Fomorian's were no match for Dagda, Leir and their men, Dagda decided that no Fomorian should be killed, as they had not killed any of their own in the earlier raid. Unlike the other Fomorians seen to date, these ones were all completely humanoid in appearance. They may have been denizens of Otherworld, who worshiped the Fomorian gods and were not Fomorian themselves. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #30]
• In the modern day, the sorceress Morgan Le Fay recovered the evil eye of Avalon and used it's magicks to reconstitute Balor to use him as a weapon against her enemies, the Black Knight, Dr. Strange and Valkyrie. Balor resurrection was short lived, as he was shattered by the magicks of the sorcerer supreme with an incantation that was in theory used to prevent him from ever being brought back again. [Black Knight (2nd series) #3]
• A group of unnamed Fomors allied with Morgan Le Fay during her efforts to secure the powerful weapon the “Twilight Sword.” They fought a group of Avengers in equatorial Africa. [Avengers (3rd series) #1]
• Somehow, Balor was reformed as a protection spirit for a gateway in a megalithic tomb, located in the Burren in Co Clare by the demon Satana. The tomb was disturbed by the Thunderbolts, who fought Balor. His spirit was dissipated when one of the Bolts, Ghost, managed to enter the gateway, reasoning that once the gateway was breached there was no need for the protection spirit to remain. [Thunderbolts (1st series) #163.1]

Membership

Note: All Fomorians had the following the base abilities. Immunity to disease, resistance to injuries, self-healing, resurrection of fallen peers (may need to be done jointly), immortality, flesh roughly three times denser than average human, superior strength to lift between 25-35 tons.

They appeared to have a weakness to "iron/metal” and more unusually hatred of high frequencies.

Balor (God of the Sun)

Additional powers: Most powerful of the Fomor, giant cyclops with unclear level of strength, extremely powerful destructive optic blasts that can disrupt magic spells.

Notes:

• Married to Cethlann.
• Other members of the Fomor implied that Balor was essentially a “berserker” but when he appeared he didn't see any less “erudite” than the other members of the team. 
• Great grandfather of the Celtic demigod Cuchulain through his daughter Ethniu.

Elathan (God of the Sky)

Additional powers: Elathan displayed the ability to control the weather (summon snow/hail, wind, lightning), manipulate the earth, drain energy from a magical target, energy blasts, scrying and mass teleportation.
Notes:

• Father of Bres.
• Called himself “Master of Tempests.”
• Elathan claimed that no one had ever hit him before Thor in the 12th Century.
• According to Cethlann he was the “nominal” leader of the Fomor.
• Elathan was likely stronger than the average member of his race as swathed away She-Hulk when they fought. She Hulk was said to press approximately 75 tons at this point in her history. [Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9]

Bres (God of the Mischief)

Additional powers: Bres displayed concussive blasts, shape-shifting,precognition, mind control, astral projection and sorcery powerful enough to manipulate Thor's hammer Mjolnir.

Notes:

• Son of Elathan.
• Bres' considered the Fomor, demonic.
• During his first appearance. the druid Amergin referenced Bres' mother as being a mortal but this was disputed by Thor and the Mighty Hercules: Encyclopedia Mytholica #1 and his mother was listed as the patron goddess of Ireland, Eriu in line with character from actual Celtic mythology. This makes Bres' somewhat of a hybrid between the Fomor and the Tuatha Dé Danaan.
• Bres was also physically strong enough to battle Thor in hand to hand combat and hold his own, so he may have had strength upwards of lifting 95 tons, as per the earliest handbook entry for Thor. [Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10]
   

Cethlann (Goddess of Prophecy)

Additional powers: None shown, given her title she likely had some ability to see the future.

Notes:

• Married to Balor.
• Despite being labeled the goddess of Prophecy in Thor and the Mighty Hercules: Encyclopedia Mytholica #1, unusually Cethlann displayed no prophetic powers.
• All other members of the Fomor appeared to have an intense hatred of Cethlann because she was female and had a loyalty to her husband.
• She Hulk claimed that Cethlann was as strong as her, so she likely had greater strength than the average Fomor as at the time of publishing She Hulk could press approximately 75 tons. [Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9]

Dulb (God of the Weaponry)

Additional powers: Dulb wields a magical weapon (presumably of his own creation) the Tathlum balls, the balls had a homing feature and upon hitting their target they would explode and emit an energy blast.

Indech (God of the Earth)

Additional powers: Indech was an amorphous creature who could reshape his body at will. The consistency of body appeared to be sticky as Cethlann got stuck in him after being thrown at him by Captain America.

Tethra (God of the Sea)

Additional powers: Aquatic appearance and gills, presumably body adapted to existing under the sea.