Avengers Spotlight #35
Call Me Whatshisname
Since leaving the Avengers, Gilgamesh has fully recovered from his illness and is now working hard restoring the Eternals’ city of Olympia.[1] Seeing Gilgamesh back on his feet, Sprite decides to play a prank on him, annoying the great warrior who cannot understand why the impish Sprite is always playing jokes. Sprite tells Gilgamesh that he needs to learn to lighten up and enjoy the fact that his health has returned to him. Sprite then convinces Gilgamesh to take a trip into the outside world and relax.
Sprite then leads Gilgamesh to Paris, where they disguise themselves as mortals in order to enjoy what France has to offer. When they arrive in the city they happen upon a robbery in progress and Gilgamesh quickly deals with the crooks. However, this all transpires in front of a famous French actor named Jean-Paul Beltootho, whom the media mistakes as the hero. This angers Sprite, who is fed up of people always attributing Gilgamesh’s heroic actions to others.[2][3] Gilgamesh tells Sprite to let it go since he has gotten use to others taking credit for his work, and figures that it is his lot in life.
Going for a walk, Gilgamesh misses the old days when his time was spend slaying dragons. Suddenly, the ancient B’Gon the Sorcerer arrives with his armies of dragons to finally get revenge against Gilgamesh for defeating him centuries earlier. Gilgamesh leaps into action and fights off B’Gon and his army of dragons. With the battle turning against him, B’Gon uses his magic to transform into a humanoid dragon to fight the Eternal directly. However, Gilgamesh proves more powerful than an entire army of dragons and fights them off. Admitting defeat, B’Gon and his dragons teleport away, with the evil sorcerer vowing to come back again to cause the immortal torment or defeat when next they meet.
The battle has drawn out the French media who want to interview their savior. In order to help Gilgamesh get proper credit, Sprite disguises himself as Captain America and makes a point to sell the fact that Gilgamesh was the individual solely responsible for their salvation.
The following morning, Gilgamesh gets the international edition of the Daily Bugle, which accuses Gilgamesh as being responsible for the dragon attack, not preventing it. This makes the Eternal furious at first, but Sprite points out that despite the distorted truth, they the mortals at least remember that he was involved. This makes Gilgamesh happy and he decides that he and Sprite should travel the world and see what adventures it has to offer them.
Recurring Characters
Gilgamesh, Sprite,
Continuity Notes
Gilgamesh had joined Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers #300. However, he later fell ill during their battle with the Lava Men in issues #305-307. The Avengers then brought him back to Olympia for treatment, and prevented it from being destroyed by Blastaar. Following the battle, Gilgamesh recovered and discovered that his sudden illness was because he spent too much time away from his homeland and quit the team in order to recover. See Avengers #308-310.
Many of the Eternals have names derived by pre-existing gods. Part of this was due to a pact between the Eternals and the gods of Olympus, as explained in the Thena profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #9. This has often caused many Eternals of being mistaken for the gods they were named after them by earlier civilizations.
In the case of Gilgamesh, he has been mistaken for Hercules in the past. A particularly sore spot is regarding the 12 Labours of Hercules, particularly who actually cleaned the Augean Stables. Hercules stated in Thor #291 that it was Gilgamesh who cleaned the stables, and will later take full credit himself in Avengers Annual #23. However, the Hercules profiles Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 clarifies the matter. While Hercules was shoveling out all the horse shit, Gilgamesh happened by and caused floodwater to wash it all away more efficiently, so technically both of them were responsible.
