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Anubis is the Egyptian god of the dead, a son of Osiris.

Modern Era

The Mummy That Time Forgot

Sensing a great evil afoot, Doctor Fate flies to the Boston Museum of Egyptology. There, the curator, Anderson and a trustee named Doctor Magill open their new exhibit - the tomb of Khalis. The mummy of Khalis springs to life and begins wreaking havoc. Doctor Fate dissolves through the wall and begins fighting him, but he notices that with each passing second, he begins growing weaker, while Khalis appears to be growing more powerful. Khalis explains that his power is derived from the amulet that Fate wears about his neck. Blindsiding Doctor Fate with some fallen debris, Khalis snatches the amulet and makes off into the night.

A battle-weary Doctor Fate returns to his tower and Inza nurses her husband's injuries. In his civilian guise as Kent Nelson, he has little memory of what transpires while he's adventuring as Doctor Fate. Inza grows frustrated with always having to compete against the essence of Fate for her husband's attention. Angrily, she storms off.

Once he's refreshed, Kent Nelson begins researching the history of Khalis. He learns that the mummy was once a priest of Anubis who sought to take control of Egypt with the powers of darkness. It was Anubis who first gave Khalis the amulet which contains such raw power. In 2030 B.C., the Lord of Order, Nabu fought with Khalis and stripped him of the amulet. As punishment for his actions, he had him mummified.

Inza meanwhile, feels guilty for walking out on Kent and decides to help him out. She goes to the museum in search of clues and finds a broken seal from Khalis' sarcophagus. The fragment contains a hieroglyph of Khalis' true name.

Meanwhile, Khalis attacks the city of Boston, transforming it into a likeness of ancient Egypt as a gift to Anubis. Doctor Fate arrives to battle him once again, but he is unsure of how to conquer him. He tries to harness the power of the sun, but Khalis is too strong. Khalis summons Anubis to present his "gift" to him, but Anubis is unimpressed. He doesn't even remember his most devout worshiper. Inza arrives and gives Fate the fragmented seal. In Egyptian culture, knowing an adversaries true name grants one power over him. Fate casts a spell and invokes the name Hetephketi Tefnakhte. The essence of Ammon-Ra, Egyptian god of the sky, works through Fate and Khalis is destroyed. Fate reclaims his amulet.

Season of Mists

Anubis appeared in the Dreaming along with Bast and Bes, and other deities when Morpheus obtained the key to Hell.[1]

War of the Gods

Anubis and other Egyptian gods fought against Dr. Fate (Inza Cramer) during the War of the Gods. [2]

Powers

  • Necromancy; Resurrection: Anubis is the Egyptian god of death and has the power to bring people to life as well as to decide whether to send them to Hell or not.[3]
  • Immortality: By Bast's words, "Gods can't die. We merely fade away." This means that while gods have worshipers, they will not die.[4]
  • Size Alteration: All Egyptian gods can grow in size.[2]

Weaknesses

  • Power Loss: Without followers, Anubis will gradually lose his powers and fade away.[4]


Weapons

  • A Scythe


  • Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-Two era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and no longer apply.
  • In the first appearance of Hawkman, his enemy Hath-Set worshiped a statue of a god named Anubis, but it had a hawk for a head instead of a jackal (Hawkman even dons a hawk-shaped headpiece to appear as this "Hawk-God" Anubis). In Egyptian mythology, the hawk-headed god was Horus; it can be explain that the writer had a lack of knowledge of this. If the god was really Anubis, then his first appearance is in Flash Comics #1 instead of 1st Issue Special #9.
  • This character or object is an adaptation of Anubis, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.

Related

Footnotes


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