Eros (Olympian) (Earth-616)

Cupid is a member of the Olympian gods worshipped by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. He was born the son of Hephaestus Aetnaeus, the smith-god and Venus, the love-goddess called Aphrodite. Raised predominantly by his mother, he was groomed into being his mother's ally in affairs of the heart, especially in schemes that benefited herself. He fired the arrow which caused Helen of Troy to fall in love with Venus' young ward, the Trojan Prince Paris, but he did balk at forcing the Phoenician princess Psyche to fall in love with a mortal beyond her dignity. Psyche's beauty had caused mortal men to turn away from worship of Venus, whose temples fell into ruin. Venus sent Cupid to Earth to punish her by making her fall in love with an undeserving wretch. Scratching himself on one of his own arrows, he fell in love with Psyche himself and spirited her off to live in secrecy with her. Cupid was stripped of his godhood for a while for disobeying Aphrodite, but after Psyche proved her worthiness by outsmarting Venus and earning her right to be a goddess, Cupid and Psyche lived happily for the rest of her brief mortal life.^[1]

In recent years, Cupid encountered the Avengers as they came to Venus for assistance against Zeus, who blamed them for Hercules' severe injuries at the hands of Baron Helmut Zemo's Masters of Evil. Cupid tried to keep them away, but was tossed aside. Shortly thereafter, Ares used the Amulet of Amuk to control and manipulate Venus to convinced Cupid that the Avenger Mockingbird was the reincarnation of his wife Psyche. Cupid attempted to force Mockingbird to remember him, and battled and defeated the Avengers West Coast when they opposed him. Eventually, with the aid of Hercules, the Avengers stopped Cupid, and convinced him of the error of his ways. They traveled to Mt. Olympus, where they stopped Venus and Zeus from falling prey to Ares' plot. Cupid gave Hawkeye one of his magic arrows as a token of himself, to the finest archer he had ever seen.^[1]

In order to prove to his mother that he had not lost his matchmaking skills, Cupid was charged with finding a suitable mate for the time-traveling warrior Mahkizmo. Under the watchful eyes of his Uncle Dionysus, Cupid tried to match the warrior with Jennifer Walters, The She-Hulk, but Mahkizmo interceded the arrow and abducted Walters to the future. The Thing and Wyatt Wingfoot followed and learned that Mahkizmo was planning to kill off the women of the Twentieth Century, and stopped his plans. Cupid removed the arrow after seeing how much damage it had caused.^[3]

Cupid possesses the conventional attributes of the Olympian gods:

• Superhuman Strength: Like all Olympians, Cupid is superhumanly strong. His physical strength, however, is somewhat inferior to that of the average Olympian male as he can only lift about 25 tons whereas the average Olympian make can lift about 30 tons.
• Superhuman Speed: Cupid can run and move at speeds superior to those of the finest human athlete.
• Superhuman Stamina: Cupid's musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a human being. He can physically exert himself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him.
• Superhumanly Dense Tissue: All of Cupid's bodily tissues have about 3 times the density as the tissues of a human body, contributing somewhat to his superhuman strength and weight.
• Superhuman Durability: Cupid's body, like that of all Olympians, is much harder and more resistant to injury than that of a human. He can withstand powerful impact forces, falls from great heights, and exposure to temperature and pressure extremes without sustaining physical injury.
• Superhuman Agility: Cupid's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athlete.
• Superhuman Reflexes: Cupid's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are superior to those of the finest human athlete.
• Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his superior physical durability, Cupid can sustain injury like all Olympians. However, Cupid's godly life force allows him to rapidly regenerate damaged tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than a human being. However, he is unable to regenerate missing limbs, organs, or brain cells without the assistance of powerful magical aid.
• Immortality: Like all Olympians, Cupid is functionally immortal. He is immune to the degenerative effects of aging and hasn't aged since reaching adulthood. He is also immune to the effects of all known Earthly diseases and infections.
• Flight: Cupid can sprout a pair of large, angel-like wings from his back and can fly unassisted through the air. The maximum speed with which he can fly, however, is unknown.
• Teleportation: Like all other members of his race, Cupid's body has the potential to manipulate great amounts of energy, though this ability is not very developed in his case. It is known that Cupid can teleport across great distances, even dimensions.

Cupid, like all Olympians, has had some training and experience in both armed and unarmed combat. However, he rarely gets involved in combat situations. He also has extensive archery skills in shooting love arrows.

Ambrosia Consumption: Despite his immortality, Cupid still needs to consume the Olympian Ambrosia to remain deathless and virtue otherwise he will start to age or even die by turning to dust.^[4]

Cupid possesses a number of arrows that have been enchanted by his mother. Those that are hit with the arrows attain great affection for the first person they see. These arrows can also affect other gods, but they are more resistant to their effects than humans. Cupid himself can fall prey to these arrows.