Dolos (Earth-616)

Together with his twin sister Apate, Dolos was the third spawn of Nyx, the Olympian goddess of the night, born after Hypnos and his twin sister. Nyx and her family were outcasts among the Olympians, and she manifested Dolos and Apate as echoes of her frustration. Dolos symbolized trickery, and Apate was deceit.

Tensions between Nyx and her offspring, and the Olympians escalated into a war. The combined strength of the Olympians defeated Nyx and her children, and Zeus split the matriarch's soul into three Night Shards. Afterward, Nyx and her family were cast out into a prison of darkness, sealed by a spell that ensured their imprisonment for as long as the Sun shone upon the Earth. Out of her hatred, Nyx manifested her fourth child, Oizys.^[4]

Dolos and his family remained chained to their prison of darkness until the Modern Age. During a conflict between two Elders of the Universe, the Grandmaster and the Challenger, the Earth was briefly removed from its orbit around the Sun. With the spell of imprisonment broken, Nyx rallied her children against the Olympians. Believing the gods, the mortals and the universe itself to have all been spoiled after an eternity of mistreatment, Nyx set out to recreate the universe to her image, returning everything to a state of empty and pure darkness.^[4] When Nyx and her children arrived on Olympus, they slaughtered all the gods present in the scene, including Zeus, whose mind Nyx probed for the whereabouts of the Night Shards.^[5]

Nyx dispatched Dolos and Apate to Omnipotence City, where The Night That Was was located. A group of Avengers had become aware of Nyx's return, and a portion of the team, Hercules, Scarlet Witch, Spectrum and Vision, were sent to Omnipotence City to intercept the twins. Scarlet Witch had been enchanted by Nyx to see through her eyes, so when she located the Night Shard with Lord Librarian, Dolos and Apate arrived to take the shard for themselves. Dolos released his fog for cover while Apate used her daggers to temporarily turn Hercules against the other heroes.^[3] The Avengers managed to fight back against Dolos and Apate, but were subdued by Nyx when she arrived to claim the shard herself.^[4] When Nyx sensed Hypnos' death at the hands of the Hulk, she lashed out in anger against Hercules and Vision.^[1] However, Spectrum had used her powers to turn herself into a holographic shell that disguised Vision and Hercules as the twins and vice versa, so when Nyx tried to kill the two heroes with a burst of shadow energy that turned them into ashes, she accidentally murdered Dolos and Apate instead.^[6]

Nyx eventually returned to life, and soon revived her children as well. Hercules, Thor, and Loki sought them out, and the twins tried to subdue Loki with illusions. Loki easily saw through the illusions, however, and tricked Apate into cutting Dolos' throat.^[2]

Illusions: Dolos is capable of conjuring a blue sand-like substance. This powder can be used to create clouds of shimmering blue fog that is hard to see through. When struck in the eyes with it, it can overwhelm a person's sense with illusions.^[5]

• The following is the original description for Dolos written by Avengers No Road Home writers Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub for Joshua James Shaw, the designer of Nyx and her children: "[Apate] is the deceiver and [Dolos] is the believer--so one represents malevolent lies and one represents ignorant lies. (...) Dolos is a wiry man, Apate's twin. He has an equally piercing gaze but always with a wicked smile on his face. He's constantly delighted with his own cleverness. He also has short hair, and beneath his eyes are blue decorative markings. His clothing is a mirror image of his sister's in terms of style and cut, but his half-cloak (hanging off the opposite shoulder) is dusky blue. When his hands emerge from beneath he usually has a luminescent blue sand-like substance in his hands. This powder can be used to create clouds of shimmering blue fog that's hard to see through or, when struck in the eyes with it, it can overwhelm person's senses so they can't tell what's real and what's an illusion."^[5]