List of DC Comics characters: N

Nabu is a fictional character in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, Nabu is loosely based on the eponymous ancient Mesopotamian patron god.

Shortly after the formation of the universe, two elemental forces were born: the Lords of Order and the Lords of Chaos. As the two emerged, both forces struggle for supremacy over the other. The Lords of Order manifest as the first sentience race in the universe as disembodied magical beings, in which included Nabu. As a Lord of Order, he was one of the first beings to contribute to the creation of the universe.[3]

Eventually assigned to the mortal world of Earth, he adopted a human form and descended to Earth from Cilia, and became Nabu the Wise, an advisor to the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. He served as a court magician for various Egyptian pharaohs including Khufu and Ramses. During his time with Ramses, Nabu tried to warn the pharaoh and subsequently his son against persecuting the escaping Jews, led by Moses. One night, Nabu was visited by the Specter, who warned that every firstborn Egyptian child would be killed by him except for Hebrew slaves. This horrified the magician and he prepared to fight the Specter with all of his powers but was defeated despite his preparations. The humiliated mystic returned to the pharaoh who had lost his son and, in despair, agreed to free the Hebrew slaves, but then decided to send his army to kill them to annoy God. Despite his plans, the Pharaoh was killed when the Specter brought the Red Sea crashing into the Egyptian army after Moses and the Israelites had crossed.[3] Nabu became the guardian of several powerful talismans, in 2578 BC, when Egypt had fallen under the rule of the Vandal Savage, who had assumed the identity of Pharaoh Khafre. Around this time, Bonnie Baxter of the Masters of Time had come from the 20th century, where Khafre's guards threw her into a prison cell. Nabu appeared before her and led her to safety with his magic and asked for her help in overthrowing the immortal Khafre. He intended to combine magic with the science of the time traveler where she gave him her communicator. By combining the pair, he created the Blue Beetle of Khaji-Da, which Bonnie used to overthrow the pharaoh who was wrapped in bandages to contain him, as his immortality would cause him to rise again.[4] The Beetle was lost for 4,500 years before being rediscovered in the 20th century by archaeologist Dan Garrett, who became the first Blue Beetle. During the Theban dynasty, Nabu the Wise served as an advisor to Prince Khufu Kha-taar, where he served with his ally Teth-Adam. One day, they witnessed a Thanagarian spacecraft crashed and they headed to catch up, they arrived at the scene of the dying pilots where Nabu conjured a spell to translate their alien language that spoke of imminent danger in the far future after this they died. From the ship, they discovered the existence of Nth Metal, which Khufu forged into weapons for his use, and Nabu tried to prepare them, as it was determined that the prince and his fiancee had a role to play in this conflict. During this time, they encountered a traveler who could travel at high speeds and gave him a war glove forged from portions of the Nth Metal called the "Claw of Horus", which they predicted would be instrumental in a battle of thousands of years in the world.

In 1920, archaeologist Sven Nelson and his son Kent go on an expedition to the Valley of Ur. While exploring a temple discovered by his father, Kent opens the tomb of Nabu the Wise and revives him from suspended animation, accidentally releasing a poisonous gas which kills Sven. Nabu takes pity on Kent and teaches him the skills of a sorcerer over the next twenty years before giving him a mystical helmet, amulet, and cloak. In 1940, Kent meets Inza Cramer and Wotan in Alexandria, Egypt on his way back to America. After arriving back in the United States, Kent begins a career fighting crime and supernatural evil as the sorcerer and superhero Doctor Fate and sets up a base in a tower in Salem, Massachusetts. Due to Nabu occasionally possessing him, he converted to half of the helm to regain control but at the cost of halving the power. After Kent's death, Nabu chooses Eric Strauss and his stepmother Linda to be the next Doctor Fate, with Eric and Linda having to merge into one being in order to become Fate.[5] Nabu goes on to possess Kent's corpse in order to personally advise them.[5] The three of them are soon joined by a friendly demon called Petey and lawyer Jack C. Small.[6] Eric is killed on Apokolips during a battle with Desaad, forcing Linda to become Doctor Fate on her own.[7] Linda is killed soon afterwards by the Lords of Chaos. Despite their grim fates, Eric and Linda's souls are reincarnated in the bodies of Eugene and Wendy DiBellia while Nabu reincarnates in Eugene and Wendy's unborn child.[8]

Eventually, Nabu came into conflict with the Spectre when he began hunting down and killing other Lords of Chaos and Order. In Infinite Crisis, Alexander Luthor, Jr. revealed that he had sent Superboy-Prime to recover the black diamond and that the Psycho-Pirate delivered it to Loring on Alex's orders and had Eclipso-Loring manipulated the Spectre by convincing him magic was an abomination to God and into breaking down magic into it's more raw energy form, in which doing so killed the Lords of Chaos and Order in the process. In doing so, Alexander could use them for his own ends. After killing other Lords of Order including the Wizard Shazam, Nabu was the last one to face him. Nabu put up a valiant fight against the Spectre but knew he would lose this battle and instead, opted to fight at a level for the Presence to take notice. Fatally injured but ultimately stopping the Spectre. Nabu, in his final act, passed his Helm of Fate to Detective Chimp and tasked him to find one worthy of the mantle. With his death, the 9th Age of Magic had ended and the 10th Age of Magic begun.

In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe and a new version of Nabu appeared. Nabu had the appearance of a legless entity with an elderly appearance and a more peaceful personality. He was a Lord of Order and said to be a wise servant of Thoth. Residing in the Helm of Fate, he would team up with Kent Nelson as Doctor Fate and later Khalid Nassour.

In Futures End, John Constantine is able to set a trap for Nabu, who had been summoning countless people to try to be consumed by the helmet. John made a deal with a demon to summon the god Anubis to judge Nabu. He was found guilty of caring only for himself and killed, with the demon now trapped within the Helmet of Destiny.

Nereus is the ruler of Xebel who first appeared in Aquaman (vol. 7) #19 as part of The New 52 reboot and was created by Geoff Johns and Paul Pelletier.

In his early life, Nereus started out as a Xebel military chief to King Ryus and was to be betrothed to the king's daughter Mera. Before the wedding could begin, Nereus and Mera were tasked to kill the King of Atlantis as part of their revenge for their imprisonment in the Bermuda Triangle.[9]

When King Ryus died and Mera fell in love with Aquaman, Nereus was sworn in as the new King of Xebel. Some years later, Mera returned to Xebel, where Nereus discovered that Mera did not kill Aquaman. When Nereus tried to kill Mera, the enemy in ice that pursued Mera appeared and froze all of Xebel.[10] The frozen enemy introduced himself as Atlan the First King of Atlantis, who had awakened from his slumber and wanted his kingdoms back. Nereus swore his allegiance to the Dead King Atlan.[10] When Aquaman arrived, he and Mera fled from Xebel when Nereus and his men pursued them. Nereus led his forces into invading Atlantis, where Mera was captured.[11]

Some months later, Nereus was tasked by Atlan to find the other four Atlantean kingdoms where the Trench, the first one that was found, was. After Atlan was defeated, Nereus found the Ocean Master in Louisiana and told him that he knows where the other four Atlantean kingdoms are.[12]