Mantis

From Avenger to cosmic traveler to the legendary Celestial Madonna, Mantis is perhaps one of the most well-traveled characters in the Marvel Universe.

The German/Vietnamese child of Gustav and Lau Brandt, the girl who would become Mantis was given up to the alien Priests of Pama, a sect of the Kree who believed in the "Celestial Madonna", a legendary being who would give birth to the Celestial Messiah, deemed to be "the most important being in the universe." Excelling in her martial arts studies with the Priests, gaining a heightened control over her physiology in the process, Mantis has her memories erased when she becomes an adult and sent back to earth in order to gain life experience.

She refers to herself as "This One".

Traveling the stars once more, Mantis is imprisoned by the Kree, and remains so until the malevolent techno-organic Phalanx, under the command of Ultron, begin their conquest of the Kree Empire. Drafted into Star-Lord's commando unit, Mantis quickly proves herself to be an effective member of the team, freeing the others alongside Gabriel Vargas, the current bearer of the Captain Universe power, after they are captured by the Phalanx. As the conflict reaches its climax, Mantis and the rest of the team attempt to destroy the Phalanx's Babel Spire, but the mission goes horribly awry when Vargas is killed and Star-Lord is captured. Working together with the rest of the team, they manage to free their leader and heavily damage the Spire, only for Mantis to be badly wounded by Ultron in the final act of the conflict.

Mantis, however, survives her close call with Ultron, and now acts as the therapist and councilor to the new Guardians of the Galaxy team, operating from their base at Knowhere alongside Groot and Cosmo.

Mantis always behaved in an assertive manner, feeling confident in herself and her powers. Initially she was somewhat arrogant at times, telling Swordsman that he was "too weak" for her; however, she repented after his death.

As a result of her upbringing at the Temple, she had an idiosyncratic holistic worldview similar to real-life Eastern philosophy and saw herself as a part of a greater whole. For this reason, she always referred to herself in the third person as "this one" and "she" instead of "I".

Powers and Abilities Mantis also known as the Celestial Madonna, and by that title trained by the Priests of Pama, aliens of Kree origin. Intense and vigorous training under the Priests of Pana, Mantis had learned to develop "complete control" over her bodily functions and physiology, which essentially granted enhanced agility, reflexes, speed, strength stamina and higher than usual control over her nervous system blood flow, breathing and respiration. Furthermore she is capable of willing herself to recuperate quickly after being injured.

She has green skin, and green antennae.

Mantis also has extraordinary ability in the martial arts that have been developed and perfected over thousands of years by the Priests of Pama. These fighting methods place particular emphasis on the manipulation of pressure points and nerve endings on the bodies of one's opponents. Thus, by knowing the right areas of the body to strike, Mantis could stun even a being as powerful as Thor even though she herself had no superhuman strength.

To travel in space, Mantis projected her consciousness from her body, allowing her to travel interplanetary distances. She would recreate a body for herself out of the destination planet’s local vegetation. Her fighting skills remained intact, and her empathic abilities were heightened to a superhuman degree and extended to the planet’s flora and biosphere. She could control the vegetation within her vicinity. Mantis also possesses strong telepathic, telekinetic and pyrokinetic abilities.