Demons in The Marvel Universe - Elder Gods

The Elder Gods are the forerunners to the modern gods and Demons of Earth.

Chthon began devoting itself to the study and manipulation of mystical energies, becoming Earth's first master of black magic.

Gaea came into being and was the “Protector of the Emerging Life” that began in the Seas.

Set, the “God of the Dead” spawned a number of offspring (e.g. “Sligguth” and “Damballah”).

Oshtur was the goddess of the stars and left Earth early on before the fall of the Elder Gods. She mothered Agamotto, and first Sorcerer Supreme; she is the third member of the mystical Vishanti.

Realizing he could increase his own power by consuming the energy of his fellow “demons,” Set became the first being on Earth to kill another. By consuming the life energies of a fellow Elder God, Set started down the path of degeneracy. Other Elder Gods quickly began following Set's example, killing each other to for each other's power. The more they consumed, the more they hungered for power, and with more power, the hunger becomes insatiable.

Many became corrupt and began warring to satisfy the thirst for power, the victor feeding off the others. After millions of years, all the Elders except for Gaea had degenerated to less than their Godhood, becoming evil.

Gaea began fearing that the Elders' warring with each other would destroy the evolving life on the planet. Gaea mated with a reincarnation of Demiurge and gave birth to Atum, who became dedicated to eradicating his Forefathers.

Foreseeing the threat Atum was to his existence, Chthon inscribed all the mystical knowledge he had learned through millennia of evil onto a parchment to be his touchstone within the Earth dimension, the Darkhold.

Atum indeed became a threat to the Elder Gods, as he began destroying them for their evil and degradation, absorbing their energies into himself. The energies he absorbed caused him to undergo a metamorphosis into the form of “Demogorge,” the God-Eater.

Many of the Elders fell to Atum and those who weren't destroyed, fled to other dimensions:

Chthon, sensing the end was near, cast a spell which allowed him an escape into another dimension before the Demogorge could slay him. Before he left, Chthon left the parchment containing his mystical knowledge in this dimension.

Set, witnessing what Chthon had done, replicated the spell allowing him and his offspring to escape. Gaea was the only original Elder God permitted to exist on the planet, and she infused her godly essence into the Earth and into all living things - ultimately becoming “Mother Earth”.

The Demogorge released the energies he had absorbed, reverting back to the form of Atum. He then took residence within Earth's Sun.

Over millennia, the energies that Demogorge had released when he reverted back into Atum eventually manifested into a number of different beings:

(Note: whether the original founders/creators of Earth's pantheons were fathered by Atum is speculative, as is whether or not Atum is the creator of Earth's pantheons. Similarly, Gaea was said to be the mother of “Ouranus.”)

• Nun
• Ouranus
• Buri, Father to a number of different pantheons of “New Gods.”

To fuel his own powers, the Elder God Set, from his pocket dimension, began drawing psychic energy from the dinosaurs, the dominant life forms of Earth. Eventually Set's continued feeding on the dinosaurs helped bring about significant drops in their population.

Gaea knew the dinosaurs were at an evolutionary dead end and allowed Set to continue his feeding knowing that he was quickly depleting his main supply of energy. Set, aware that Gaea was allowing the extinction of the dinosaurs, became infuriated and commanded the dinosaurs to seek out and kill all mammals (which Gaea had selected as Earth’s dominant species over the dinosaurs).

Gaea sensed Set's command over the dinosaurs and summoned the Elder God. Set appeared on Earth in the shape of a giant serpent, the first time in this form, and attacked Gaea. She summoned her son Atum to protect her. Atum (in his form of Demogorge) engaged Set in battle and destroyed his head.

However, Set was not killed and two heads grew back. Set and Atum battled for years. Many disasters befell the Earth during this time, some caused by the titanic struggle (which brought about the extinction of the dinosaurs in the Marvel Universe).

The mammals were sheltered from the devastation by Gaea. Eventually Set, drained of power, was forced to withdraw from the Earth dimension. By this time, Set had grown seven heads to replace the ones destroyed in battle. With his power all but exhausted, Set could no longer journey to the Earth dimension without aid. Demogorge reverted back to Atum and returned to his dwelling place in the sun.

Nisanti are a race of god-like beings appearing in Marvel's Runaways series, and also appearing in Runaways creator Brian Vaughn's series, The Hood.