Mercury

MERCURY

Real Name: Mercury

Class: God (Gods of Rome)

Occupation: God of messengers, thieves and medicine

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Skyland, Sphere of the Gods, Earth 2

First Appearance: Earth 2 #1 (July, 2012)

Powers: Like all Olympian Gods Mercury was immortal and possessed superhuman strength and durability. Mercury could travel at superspeeds, and was an expert in medicine, wielding the healing Caduceus.

History: (Earth 2 #1) - Darkseid invaded Earth 2 and brought war to the world which lasted years. He clashed with the Wonders of the World, led by Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, but they ended up being locked in a bloody stalemate. Wonder Woman prayed to the gods to fight by her side. Batman met with Wonder Woman and Superman, telling them he’d come up with a way to repel Darkseid’s invasion. Batman had figured out that the beacon towers set up by Darkseid powered the Parademons and gave them marching orders, but each time the Wonders of the World managed to destroy a tower its transmissions simply rolled over to other towers, and any destroyed towers were quickly replaced by new ones sent in via boom tube. Batman developed a chip with a virus program that would shut down a tower, and when it’s transmission rolled over the virus would spread to all the other beacon towers. The Wonders went to work, with Batman making his way to a tower while Superman and Wonder Woman held off the armies of Parademons guarding it. In the midst of the battle the god Mercury visited Wonder Woman, telling her her prayers had been answers, and that the Olympian Gods waged war against Darkseid’s armies, although many of the gods had already fallen in battle. He promised they would not retreat, and Minerva had directed him to give Wonder Woman a message. He said man had long believed in gods, but because of Wonder Woman the gods now believed in man, and refused to further explain his cryptic message before leaving. Steppenwolf got the drop on Wonder Woman, stabbing her in the back, killing her. Parademons swarmed Superman, attaching an explosive device to the back of his head, killing him. Batman managed load the virus into the beacon tower, but knew the tower’s self-defense system would cause it to explode. He had no choice but to sacrifice himself. The war was over, and Darkseid was forced to withdraw. Five years later a great threat to the world imperiled Earth 2, capturing Mercury. Mercury used the last of his power and life force to escape and crashed from the sky into a field, and met young Jay Garrick, telling him that the world needed a hero.

(Earth 2 #2) - Mercury got annoyed that Jay kept peppering him questions and asking if he needed to be taken to the hospital. Mercury curtly told him that he was dying and the world would need new Wonders to rise up and save the planet. Jay tried to persuade him that he was a loser and a nobody, and he should pick someone else to be a hero, but Mercury was having none of it. Mercury passed off the last of his power to Jay before dying, transforming him into the Flash.

Comments: Adapted to comics by James Robinson & Nicola Scott.

Mercury was part of the Roman pantheon of gods. For more information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(mythology).