Species: OlympianIntelligence: 3
Strength: 7
Agility: 4
Speed: 2
Durability: 4
Health/Energy: 4/12
Challenges:
Hedonistic
Likes Being The Center Of Attention
ACTIONS
Close Combat: 1
(Strength or Weapon Modifier)
Journalism: 2
Love Lore: 8 (arts and sciences of physical love, and emotional/sentimental love. Including literary works.)
Mastery Of Magic: 3
Olympian Sorcery: 5
-Invisibility (Herself & Others)
MODIFIERS
Immortality
Invulnerable To Toxins
Olympian, Human Appearance
Toughness: +3
Wealth: 4
EQUIPMENT
The Cestus (Enchanted Girdle): 8
-Love Manipulation (Stones Vs. Intellect. Those affected fall in love with the other target of the girdle's power. Exact effects on a person will vary. Some will become violent and obsessed with the token of their affection, while others will become subservient to their desires.)
-Transform (Inorganic materials only - can transform any weapon/item into an item of peace or love)
-Range: 4
History & Description: Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione, the oak-goddess. On the day of her maturity, Zeus feared that the gods would fight over Aphrodite's hand in marriage because of her unparalleled beauty, and thus he married her off to the smith-god, her half-brother Hephaestus. This union however was much to Aphrodite's disapproval.
As a rather hedonistic goddess, Aphrodite was most displeased to be married to the lame, sooty, hard-working Hephaestus. In turn, Aphrodite had several affairs while wedded to Hephaestus with both gods and mortals. Most notably she cheated on him with Ares, Dionysus, and Hermes. She bore children to all of them except Hephaestus. She also bore Aeneas, the ancestor of the Romans to the mortal Anchises. The latter union was not truly of Aphrodite's own choosing as Zeus forced her to unite with Anchises as punishment for using her powers to join the gods in unions with mortals and then taunting them with that fact. The most famous of Aphrodite's earthly relationships was to the mortal Adonis, one of the most attractive men in ancient Greece whose life was cut short in the prime of his youth. Even though Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, her favorite lover was Ares. To Ares she bore Harmonia and Eros (Cupid) who grew to be his mother's herald as the god of love. To Hermes she bore Hermaphroditus and to Dionysus, Aphrodite bore Priapus - who had huge genitals magically given to him by Hera in disapproval for Aphrodite's promiscuity. Eventually alerted about his wife by the light-god Apollo, Hephaestus caught Aphrodite and Ares together in one of their unions, and to this day Aphrodite and Hephaestus have been estranged.
Aphrodite was indirectly responsible for the Trojan War that took place centuries ago in ancient Greece, @ 1200 BC. In a contest among herself, Hera, and Athena to decide who was the most beautiful goddess of all, the Trojan prince Paris was approached by Hermes to play the role of arbitrator for the three goddesses--each of whom promised him a reward from whomever he chose. Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in all of Greece who at the time was Helen, her half-sister by Zeus. Helen was the Queen of Sparta and wife of King Menelaus. Paris chose Aphrodite, and hence the love-goddess had her son Eros entrance Helen causing her to fall in love with Paris and subsequently leave her husband, her daughter Hermione, and her kingdom for Troy. In response to Helen's abandonment, Menelaus organized several Greek kings and warriors against Troy, including his brother, King Agamemnon; King Ulysses, of Ithaca; and the nigh-invulnerable demigod warrior Achilles.
During the war, the Asgardian god Thor traveled from the future and fought on the side of Troy. He beheld Aphrodite upon the battlefield as she aided Paris, and followed her back to Olympus to confront Zeus and the other Olympians. Later on, she attempted to save her son Aeneas after he was wounded by Diomedes, but Diomedes stabbed her hand with his spear. Thor finally drove Diomedes off. Ultimately, Thor returned to his own time. The war waged for ten years before it reached its conclusion with the destruction of Troy and the escape and subsequent voyage of Aphrodite's son Aeneas and other survivors of Troy from the ravaged city, who eventually founded the Roman peoples with whom her recognition and worship as the goddess called Venus eventually spread.
Psyche's beauty caused mortal men to turn away from worship of Venus, whose temples fell into ruin. Venus sent Cupid to Earth to punish her by making her fall in love with an undeserving wretch. However, Cupid himself fell in love with her and married her. After Psyche proved her worthiness by outsmarting Venus, Cupid and Psyche lived happily for the rest of her brief mortal life.
From her home at Mount Lustre on the planet Venus, Venus came to desire to walk amongst humanity, and so came to earth, minus most of her godly powers. Shortly after descending to Earth in 1948, Venus became employed at Beauty Magazine, working for Whitney Hammond, who didn't believe her claim to be the goddess Venus, but believed it would be good publicity for his magazine.To prove her worth as an editor to Hammond, Venus recruited ten of her handmaidens---including Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, and Salome---to come to Earth as part of a Beauty Magazine project focusing on beautiful women, thus beating the line-up in their rival publication Lovely Lady Magazine.
After weeks as an editor at Beauty Magazine, Venus had won the jealousy of Whitney Hammond's secretary Della Mason; Della misdirected her to visit the western town of Cactus City instead of going on the assignment Whitney gave her. However, Venus's presence in Cactus City created enough publicity for the magazine that Whitney overlooked the error. Venus toured Beauty Magazine's printing plant, where her presence seemingly proved distracting but actually resulted in higher productivity, as her beauty and charm cheered up the employees. Della hired Sam Stout and Willie Weed of the Peerless Private Detective Agency to trail Venus; the two detectives learned of Venus's true nature, but neither Della nor Whitney believed their report.
Venus met movie star Rodney Radiant, the reincarnation of Narcissus; her efforts broke through his self-absorption and helped his relationship with Connie Lane. The sun god Apollo followed Venus to Earth and took the name of "Paul Belvedere" to interact with mortals, but when his visit resulted in the sun's refusal to set, Venus led him back to Olympus and commanded him to remain. Venus brought her servant Juno to Earth to help her encourage Frank Foster to open himself to romance.
Venus attempted to make Whitney Hammond jealous by seeming to court the demigod Sampson. Della Mason started a rumor about Venus's supposed mental instability to have her sent to psychologist Dr. Dingle, but when Dingle met with her, he himself became mentally disturbed by Venus's claims. Hoping to break up Venus's relationship with Whitney, Della arranged for Venus to visit Dr. Saunders, a handsome doctor whose female patients always fell in love with him; however, Saunders fell in love with Venus, only to, like Dr. Dingle, be driven to distraction by Venus's insistence that she be a goddess.
Venus was ordered by Jupiter to return to Olympus, but she claimed that her work on Earth, bringing couples together, was too important; Jupiter gave her one week to find a perfect couple to prove her point. Venus believed that Meg Saunders and her boyfriend Danny met the criteria, but Jupiter sent Apollo and Daphne to Earth under the aliases of "Renee Andre" and "Rona Belladonna" to break up the couple so that Venus would be forced to leave Earth. Venus saw through their efforts and helped Meg and Danny stay together, earning Jupiter's permission to remain on Earth.
Jupiter's jealous daughter Joya was envious of Venus' relationship with the mortal Whitney Hammond. In turn, Joya called for a trial of the gods for Venus, as she accused Venus of being a traitor for consorting with a human. Jupiter sent Mercury to Earth to find Venus, and Mercury brought her and Whitney to Olympus. However, Loki, whom the Olympian gods had banished to the underworld in an earlier trial some time ago, took the opportunity to invade Olympus. To appease Loki, Venus agreed to go with him back to the underworld. However "Venus" was actually a repentant Joya, who had switched appearances with Venus.
Venus helped Rona Flanders of Langston, Ohio, win the heart of womanizer George Huston. Venus was confronted by the Son of Satan, who was in love with her, and attempted to romance her. When she spurned him, he unleashed catastrophes upon the earth, including a flood and typhoon. With the aid of Apollo, Venus was able to undo the flood, and finally halted the typhoon by agreeing to be with the Son of Satan. However, she then called upon Apollo to imprison him, and Apollo sent him flying into space.
Venus' rival Della attempted to remove her from the offices of Beauty Magazine by tricking her to visiting the offices of rival publisher Lovely Lady so that Whitney Hammond would think she had deserted him to become their new editor. However, Venus foiled Della's plot by convincing the Lovely Lady publisher, Paul Banner, into selling his company to Beauty Magazine.
Venus met Randy Dover, who had created a rocket ship with which he intended to travel to the moon with. Dover was smitten with Venus, to the dismay of his girlfriend, Ann Saunders. Venus accompanied Dover to the moon, and saved him from the Luna-Things which dwelt there, but to finally break the spell of love she had unwillingly placed upon him, she caused him to forget that he had ever made it to the moon, and drove him off by appearing to be a gold-digger. He was happily reunited with Ann Saunders.
The petty Far Eastern despot Sultan Khorok had his minion Shabor find Venus for him, as Khork wanted a new woman for his seraglio. Venus allowed herself to be taken in order to investigate Khorok. Khorok, ruler of the oppressed people of Cassarobia, held gladiatorial games, using lions in these death matches. The Olympian gods, including Jupiter and Mercury, for some odd reason could not use their powers in Cassarobia, so they called upon Loki (whose powers could work in Cassarobia) to help Venus. Loki, charmed by Venus, decided to help, and sent his demons to possess Khorok's lions. Khorok had his aides use flame-throwers on the lions, and Venus called upon Thor to save her. Thor appeared and created a storm, ruining the flame-throwers. Afterward, Khorok was deposed.
While traveling on the cruise ship called the Honolulu Queen, Venus sighted a strange island in the ocean. From the island, frog-like humanoids emerged and started attacking the passengers and crew of the Honolulu Queen. Venus went to Neptune and spoke with him. Neptune went with her to the island of the frog-like humanoids. The humanoids revealed that their land was normally upon the bottom of the ocean, but atomic bomb tests by humans had caused it to rise to the top. Neptune stated he would fix things.
Major John Dark, a dishonorably discharged military man, set about creating a juggernaut robot to level cities. Venus asked Jupiter for Mars and Thor's help in stopping the device. Venus confronted Dark and told him to disclose to her his plans. Thor and Mars destroyed the robot, with Dark (repentant after Venus confronted him with the error of his ways) dying trying to save an American flag from the flaming wreckage of his lab.
The Creeping Death, a blob-type monster, went on a rampage, so Venus had Jupiter summon Thor. Thor blasted the Creeping Death so that it sustained an injury setting off a chain reaction causing all the cells in the Creeping Death to die. At a club, Venus and Whitney saw Baron Franz Heinrich, the famous German adventurer. Later, Heinrich attempted to find the Fountain of Youth on the planet Mars. Venus became involved in his odd quest and encountered Azrael, the angel of death.
Venus encountered Jerome Lenz, a man with a magic camera that reduced people whom he photographed into two dimensional images. However, Whitney later stopped by Lenz's studio and took a picture of Lenz, with the camera-reducing Lenz to a two dimensional image. Fortunately, taking a picture with the same camera and the same film restored a person to their normal state. Venus discovered that on the 13th floor of the Graycar Building, there existed stone gargoyles which had been brought to life by Sylvia Corpo. However, one gargoyle named Gara turned on her, and in the course of their clash, they both fell down the building's elevator shaft, and the gargoyle perished on impact.
Venus investigated the disappearances of several people, all of whom were related to recently deceased people. Her investigation led her to a crematorium run by Mr. Natas. Venus, Whitney Hammond, and Della Mason arranged a hoax wherein Venus, supposedly dead, was brought to the crematorium by her "sister" Della and "chauffeur" Whitney; Whitney substituted weights for Venus just prior to her casket's cremation, then departed. After the supposed cremation of Venus, Natas attempted to drug Della in order to cremate her alive, as he had the missing people, but Venus confronted him with knowledge of his actions. The panicky Natas (whose name, as Venus pointed out, was an anagram for "Satan") claimed that his victims weren't supposed to rise until he had sent them to "Hades"; when Venus doubted his supposed identity as "Satan", Natas laughed and threw himself into his own crematorium. Afterwards, the police were unable to find any trace of Natas's ashes, leading Venus and Della to suspect that he was in fact Satan and had returned to Hades.
Venus's co-worker Betty shared her fears that her mother, recently remarried, was losing her mind; Venus accompanied Betty to the home of her mother and stepfather, where she learned that the stepfather was using anesthetic gas and trick rooms to make Betty's mother believe the house was haunted. Venus exposed the man to his own gas, and he was driven out of his basement laboratory by what appeared to be ghosts. Distraught, he accused Venus of using trick ghosts against him, then fell down stairs to his death. Venus and Betty were left to speculate that real ghosts might have driven the man to his death, and Venus prepared to report the death to the police and to have Betty's mother taken to a sanitarium.
Venus investigated the disappearance of magazine cartoonist Jimmy Rogers, who proved to be held captive in his apartment by his own monstrous cartoon creations, which had come to life. With Venus' aid, he created a super-hero ("Hero"), who defeated the monsters, restoring reality to normal for Jimmy. While flying over the Rocky Mountains, Venus' airplane crashed, but miraculously, no one aboard perished. They found a ghost town in the mountains filled with gold, but it was protected by plant-men, who Venus fought off. While leading them out of the mountains, an avalanche killed everyone except Venus herself, who was finally brought to a nearby town, where she learnt that the plane crash had occurred twenty years earlier--and she had not been one of the passengers.
Venus investigated the destruction of several homes along the Atlantic coast by tidal waves and found that Neptunia, daughter of Neptune, was behind them, acting out in anger towards the surface world for her father's seeming death. They clashed, and Neptunia was seemingly killed in the storm. Venus and Whitney did a story on a medium named Igor. Igor constructed a protective circle, and his client Andreas arrived. Andreas revealed that he and his fellow soldiers George, Bill, and Ed had been rivals for the affections of a woman named Mara. Mara stated that she would marry the man among them who lived the longest. Apparently, somehow Andreas lost track of Mara and his friends in the time since. He had Igor summon the ghosts of his friends and Mara. Andreas then revealed that he was a ghost himself.
A messenger delivered a package to Venus, which suddenly began speaking, promising vast power to whoever opened it. Venus sensed that it was evil and so avoided it, but the messenger lacked her strength and tore the package open. From inside the "Box of Doom" emerged a hideous creature which then merged with the messenger. Suddenly filled with power and driven to madness, the messenger chased after Venus. The goddess of love fled, until she saw that the messenger no longer had a reflection. Realizing that he had become a vampire, she staked him through the chest, destroying him.
Knowing that her lover, Whitney, would grow older while she remained eternally young, Venus chose to leave him and return to Mt. Olympus. Their parting was painful, as Whitney never believed she was truly a goddess. In 1952, Venus encountered Jacob Scott, who was secretly the shape-shifting Skrull Velmax.
In the late 1960's, Venus was taken over by the mind-controlling villain the Rumor, who forced her to use her love powers to ensorcel the young people of America. With the aid of the First Line and Thor, Venus was freed from the Rumor's control. In later years, Venus became a professor of humanities at UCLA. Among her students was Namorita, cousin of the Sub-Mariner. Venus was pursued again by Ares, and in the course of their clash, the Sub-Mariner came upon them. Venus disguised herself in her mortal guise as Victoria Nutley Starr to temporarily evade Namor.
When Victoria Starr was reported missing, Namorita convinced Namor to go searching for her, and he found a dolphin which transformed into Venus, who asked him to aid her against Ares. Although Ares transformed into a shark, a squid, and a swordfish, he was no match for Namor in his native element, and was defeated. Venus forced Ares to make peace and depart from the Earth.
Venus was assaulted at UCLA by agents of Pluto, Ares, and Hippolyta, who planned to force her to marry Ares, and Hercules to marry Hippolyta. Ares, Pluto, and Hippolyta were defeated thanks to the intervention of the heroes Iceman, Angel, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider, but the rogue gods went unpunished by Zeus, at Venus' request. Subsequently, Hercules, the Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Angel and Iceman remained together as the super-hero team known as the Champions.
When Zeus took action against the Avengers, believing them to be responsible for injuries Hercules had suffered, Venus came to aid the Avengers, encouraged by the Sub-Mariner. She stood alongside Apollo, Athena, and Hephaestus in an attempt to convince Zeus to hear the Avengers out, but Zeus believed himself betrayed and knocked them all unconscious. Subsequently, he repented his actions and forbade the Olympians from interfering with earthly matters.
Ares used the Amulet of Amuk to control and manipulate Venus. Venus convinced Cupid that the Avenger Mockingbird was the reincarnation of his lover Psyche. Cupid attempted to force Mockingbird to remember him, battled the Avengers West Coast, and defeated the team when they opposed him. Eventually, with the aid of Hercules, the Avengers stopped Cupid, and they convinced him of the error of his ways. They traveled to Mt. Olympus, where they stopped Venus and Zeus from falling prey to Ares' plot.
Venus summoned Cupid to her and asked him to use his arrows on her behalf to make the villain Mahkizmo fall in love. He decided to make him fall in love with the She-Hulk. From Mt. Olympus on Valentine's Day, Venus wondered about her old flame, Whitney Hammond. Another goddess, Joya, informed her of a threat to Earth, which she then went to deal with. The Hanover Computer Dating Service, run by Hedy DeVine and Chili, came across what appeared to be the perfect man as one of their applicants. Chili thought to set herself up with this man, but Venus appeared to warn her away. Disregarding Venus, Chili contacted the applicant, who turned out to be Goom, emissary from Planet X. Goom claimed Chili as his bride and then revealed his plan to mate with many human women to form a generation of Goom-spawn to infiltrate Earth's culture. Venus tried to drive off Goom to no avail, and Goom decided to start his mating ritual with her. Their struggle alerted the silent partner of the company, Whitney Hammond, who wished to fight the monstrous Goom himself. However, Venus then pulled out the Floppy Disk of the Gods, with which she located the perfect match for Goom: Shivoor of Colony World X-IV. Though disappointed to lose all of the Earth hotties, Goom left with Shivoor to begin their plans of universal conquest.
Venus declared her love for Whitney, and she took him to Mt. Olympus to live out his final days in the arms of his eternal soul mate.