Sphinx (Marvel Comics)
The Sphinx is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
The male version of Sphinx first appeared in Nova #6 and was created by Marv Wolfman and Sal Buscema.The female version of Sphinx first appeared in The New Warriors #4 and was created by Fabian Nicieza.
Fictional character biography
Anath-Na Mut
Anath-Na Mut is a chief wizard in the court of Ramesses II in ancient Egypt. Defeated in a magic duel by the prophet Moses, Anath-Na was exiled into the desert for his failure. The title Nova recounts in a flashback of how Anath-Na discovered the mystic Ka Stone, which grants him immortality and superhuman powers. Under the alias Sphinx, Anath-Na wanders Earth for a thousand years, but becomes bored of his immortal life. After learning about the origins of Richard Rider, aliens from planet Xandar, and their sentient machine, Sphinx theorizes that he can use Xandar's Living Computer to finally die.In a Fantastic Four Annual, Sphinx empowers a pawn known as Thraxon to help subdue the Inhumans. He utilizes ruler Black Bolt's electron energy to amplify a scanning device and read all the minds in everyone for knowledge of how Sphinx could finally die. The Fantastic Four defeat Thraxon and in a final confrontation, Black Bolt blasts him into deep space. Sphinx reappears in the Nova series, taking mental control of Nova, along with his temporary allies, they travel back to Xandar and join a war against the invading Skrulls.
Once on Xandar, Sphinx takes advantage of the war to absorb knowledge from its planet-size computer. Evolving into a god, Sphinx decides to destroy Earth. Knowing that he is outmatched, Mister Fantastic contacts the cosmic entity Galactus and presents a proposal — if he stops Sphinx, then Mister Fantastic will release him from his vow to never devour Earth. He accepts and, when the group finds Galactus a new herald, they travel to Earth again. After Galactus defeats Sphinx, he crushes the Ka Stone and sends Anath-Na back in time to ancient Egypt. Anath-Na is trapped in a time loop, forcing him to constantly relive his life up to this point.
Anath-Na relives his life several times due to a chronal flaw, until he meets his past self. The two build a machine to reconstruct the Ka Stone. After hypnotizing his past self so that he will not remember their meeting, Anath-Na enters suspended animation. He awakens after Galactus departs and begins to rebuild the Ka Stone. The Thing battles Sphinx into a standstill, destroys his machine, and leaves him with an incomplete Ka Stone. The Puppet Master forces Sphinx to crush the Ka Stone; as a result Anath-Na immediately ages 5,000 years before turning into dust.