Mantis

Mantis is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Don Heck, the character first appeared in The Avengers #112 (June 1973). Mantis has been depicted as a member of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, as the bride of Kang the Conqueror, and as the mother of Sequoia. Pom Klementieff portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Creation In an interview Englehart commented on the character's creation: "I wanted someone to shake up the Avengers, so I came up with a femme fatale, but right after I did, I also came up with the Avengers-Defenders Clash, and I needed to use my femme as a solid team player, not a disrupter. I found that interesting – a character I'd created for a purpose who now had no purpose, and as a young writer exploring my parameters, I started letting her tell her own story – meaning, every issue I'd tell my overall Avengers story, with my various character developments, and things then would happen that she had to react to. Those reactions – or what I conceived her reactions to be – revealed her character for me, step-by-step, as the worlds I was definitely creating grew bigger and bigger, and in that way the femme fatale became the Celestial Madonna." Publication history Mantis first appeared in The Avengers #112 (June 1973), drawn by Don Heck and created by writer Steve Englehart, beginning the "Celestial Madonna" saga. After leaving Marvel Comics, Englehart carried Mantis's tale through three other companies before returning to Marvel, moving from Marvel to DC to Eclipse to Image and finally back to Marvel again.