Midas (New Earth)

King Midas
Mainstream Universe‎, 1986‎-2011‎
Gallery
Real Name	Midas
Main Alias	King Midas
Affiliation	possibly ally of Ahriman, Baal, Mixcoatl and Morrigan
Base Of Operations	Tartarus
Status
Alignment	Bad
Identity	Secret Identity
Citizenship	Greek
Marital Status	Widowed
Occupation	King · Arch-Demon
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Eyes	Yellow
Hair	Gold
Skin	Gold
Origin
Universe	New Earth
Creators	Mark Schultz · Yvel Guichet · Kevin Sharpe
First Appearance	Superman: The Man of Steel #126 (July, 2002)

King Midas was the ruler of Phrygeia in Ancient Greece.

History

One day as he sat counting his wealth he saw an old man asleep under a tree. He saw that it was Silenus from the court of Dionysus, god of wine. Midas was cunning and treated Silenus like a king for ten days before taking him back to Dionysus. Dionysus was grateful for the care lavished on his old servant and told King Midas that he would grant any wish that he made. Midas asked that anything he touched would be turned to gold. Dionysus granted his wish but warned him about his greed. Midas was very happy. He touched a tree and it turned to gold. He touched the walls of his palace and it turned to gold. He touched his horse, then his servant, his food and finally his children, everything turned to gold.

He appeared in the Metropolis harbor and made a nuisance of himself transforming all he came in contact with into gold. Superman appeared to confront him, but Midas was actually mystically removed from Metropolis by the Hindu demon Ahriman posing as a mortal man named Mr. Malik.

Ahriman tells Superman that King Midas is actually an Arch-Demon from a lower pit of Tartarus, and has been his indentured familiar for several centuries.It is possible that Midas was used as a distraction by Ahriman and his unholy cabal of underworld-gods to gain the trust of Superman.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Molecular Reconstruction: Midas has the mystical power to turn anything he touches into gold. He can control every portion of himself even in a liquid state.
• Superhuman Strength
• Immortality

Notes

• This character or object is an adaptation of Midas, 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

• 2 Appearances of Midas (New Earth)
• 1 Images featuring Midas (New Earth)
• Quotations by or about Midas (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Midas (New Earth)

Footnotes

Superman Villain(s) This character has been primarily an enemy of Superman in any of his various incarnations, or members of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Villains category."