History Main / Medusa

* MarvelUniverse used to feature a supervillain/superhero named [[http://marvel.wikia.com/Medusalith_Amaquelin_(Earth-616) Medusa]]. Her superpower was [[PrehensileHair long hair that could be used as tentacles to grab people]]. She was in the Comicbook/FantasticFour for a while. She was eventually PutOnABus to go and live in space with her fellow [[TheInhumans Inhumans]], and mostly appears in Marvel Cosmic books these days.

* Medusa is the AlphaBitch for Athena in the children book series,"Goddess Girls"

* In the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' setting ''{{TabletopGame/Eberron}}'', Medusae have a unique culture largely based around avoiding looking someone in the eyes--they're not immune to the petrifying gaze of other medusae, so its kind of the only choice. They were created by the [[CosmicHorror daelkyr]], but broke free when the [[SealedEvilInACan creatures were sealed away]]. Oh, and there are explicitly males as well--where do you think all the baby medusae come from?

* ''KingsQuestIIIToHeirIsHuman'' features a Medusa antagonist in the desert. The hero needs a mirror to defeat her. He also needs to face away from her, or else he's petrified instantly. If he has the mirror and the player types "use mirror" fast enough, the Medusa will see herself and be turned to stone. If he doesn't have it, or doesn't use it quickly enough, she will catch up and force him to look at her.

* Medusa heads are a recurring enemy in the ''{{Castlevania}}'' games. Many games of the series have her appear as a SnakePerson. Two games have her appear as a gigantic head instead. For some reason.

* Medusa is a boss in ''NetHack''.

* The title character from ''ModestMedusa'' is a harmless medusa child.
* While Medusa herself has not appeared in ''WapsiSquare'', her sister Euryale has, and she gives an amusing re-interpretation of the legend. Medusa's form was always that way; it was not a curse or anything, and the petrification was under conscious control. The deal with Poseidon in Athena's temple was consensual, and Athena put a price on Medusa's head as a result. Then, Medusa fell in love with this Perseus guy, so they conspired to fake her death at his hands and lived the rest of their lives selling statues.

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* In one episode of ''SwampThing'', Swampy and Dr. Arcane both encounter Medusa in the form of a beautiful woman - that is, she's only beautiful as long as she keeps her sunglasses on. When she takes them off we see glowing eyes and part of a monstrous face. She can't petrify Swamp Thing, as he isn't made of flesh, but she can (somehow) turn him into dry bark. Arcane is a scientist to the core about the whole thing; in one scene she partially petrifies him, and he spends the entire time clinically describing the sensation of his soft tissues being turned to stone.

In almost all versions, Medusa is fully humanoid and AlwaysFemale. In some versions, her hair-snakes are poisonous. In others, they are not literal snakes but rather hair that supernaturally behaves as if it were made of living snakes. When a version contain a male Medusa, it's usually some [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] with some other name.

* ''RingsOfMedusa'' does not feature any character with any traits of the mythological Medusa. While "Medusa" is the main villain, she never comes into play herself, and she doesn't have any traits beyond being evil, in a strictly ProtagonistCenteredMorality sense of the word.

* In ''CastleCrashers'', Medusa appears as a level boss. Snakes jump from her hair and attack the player, and she has an attack that can turn players to stone. [[spoiler: When she's defeated, Medusa herself is turned to stone.]]

In almost all versions, Medusa is fully humanoid and AlwaysFemale. In some versions, her hair-snakes are poisonous. In others, they are not literal snakes but rather hair that supernaturally behaves as if it were made of living snakes. When a version contain a male Medusa, it's usually some SpearCounterpart with some other name.

* Medusa from ''SoulEater'' is a witch with a pronounced snake theme (including having magical snakes stored in her body and a snake-like "vector arrow" attack). Even though she still looks "human" she still [[AnimalMotifs strongly resembles a snake]].
* ''[=~Rosario+Vampire~=]'' has Hitomi Ishigami, a MadArtist who turns unsuspecting people to stone for her private collection. Her snake hair bites people and the venom slowly petrifies them.

* Gary Larson did a ''FarSide'' cartoon captioned "Medusa Starts Her Day" featuring one of his dowdy, bespectacled women showering, wearing a shower-cap through which a snake has poked its head.
** Another ''Far Side'' cartoon has Medusa growing up (her snake hair becoming GirlishPigtails, braids, beehive...).
* MarvelUniverse used to feature a supervillain/superhero named Medusa. Her superpower was long hair that could be used as tentacles to grab people. She was in the Comicbook/FantasticFour for a while. She was eventually PutOnABus to go and live in space with her fellow Inhumans, and mostly appears in Marvel Cosmic books these days.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{He-Man and the Masters of the Universe}}'' featured a male medusa-like character with snakes popping out of his eyes rather than hair. The main power, turning people to stone, was the same.

* In issue four of ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' which featured the Silver Age return of Captain America, Cap encounters an alien who turned the other Avengers to stone with a special ray. The alien had been stranded on Earth for thousands of years living in a cave and Cap surmised that the alien's wild hair, made him look like a woman in the shadows and was the basis for the myth about Medusa. Cap got the alien to change the Avengers back and helped him leave Earth and return home. The alien would turn out to belong to the D'Bari, whose planet was later destroyed when the [[TheDarkPhoenixSaga Dark Phoenix]] caused their sun to go nova.

* ''ClashOfTheTitans'' was a bit unusual in that its Medusa was not humanoid. Instead, she was a huge snake with a somewhat humanoid torso on it. The original even added a rattlesnake tail, [[HellIsThatNoise so she didn't even appear on the screen to scare people]]. Both versions turn her into an [[ColdSniper expert archer]] - with added sociopathy in the remake, where she [[GigglingVillain laughs]] as she either shoots or petrifies people. In the original film, Medusa was cursed by ''Aphrodite'', for being a willing sexual participant in her temple. Aphrodite then cursed her into her monstrous form out of jealousy. Additionally, in the original film, she was scaly and monstrous all over, while in the remake she was rather beautiful [[GameFace except when she petrified people]].

* ''[[PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Jackson]]'' faces Medusa (or [[spoiler: Aunty Em, as she's called]]) as one of the monsters he battles in PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians (both the film and the book). And she is played by UmaThurman too.

* In Dante's ''[[DivineComedy Inferno]]'', Dante and his guide Virgil are initially barred from entering Lower Hell at the Gate of Dis in Circle Six. Those at the gate threaten to bring out Medusa to turn Dante to stone; Virgil, not trusting Dante to keep his own eyes closed, covers Dante's eyes with his own hands while they wait for divine aid to come to let them pass through.

* A gorgon joins the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork in the {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''. She wears sunglasses to avoid turning people to stone when she shouldn't. (In an earlier book, Vimes is very pissed off about citizens interfering with his job by [[FantasticRacism demanding certain kinds of people not be let into the Watch]] and he says that at this point he'd hire a gorgon. [[BrickJoke Guess what]].)
* Medusa is TheLibby for Athena in the children book series,"Goddess Girls"

* in ''LandOfTheLost'' episode "Meddie," a version of Medusa, appears as a beautiful young woman at first, before her hideous true form is revealed.

* In ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries,'' there is a race known as the Medusans. Their appearance is a madness-inducing BrownNote for most humanoid races. They're not bad guys.
* In one episode of ''SwampThing'', Swampy and Dr. Arcane both encounter Medusa in the form of a beautiful woman - that is, she's only beautiful as long as she keeps her sunglasses on. When she takes them off we see glowing eyes an part of a monstrous face. She can't petrify Swamp Thing, as he isn't made of flesh, but she can (somehow) turn him into dry bark. Arcane is a scientist to the core about the whole thing; in one scene she partially petrifies him, and he spends the entire time clinically describing the sensation of his soft tissues being turned to stone.

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'' editions 3 and 3.5, Medusa is an AlwaysFemale species with a humanoid body but serpent skin. See page illustration. Petrifying Gaze attack as well as poison bites from the hair snakes come with the package. It is mentioned that Medusas can procreate with any humanoid species, the offspring normally becomes Medusas. There is no official cure for the petrification, but advanced magic can do the job.

* In ''DungeonsAndDragons'' fourth edition, Medusas are a species in the usual sense, with both males and females. The female are the classic medusa, pretty much the same as in the previous edition except that she can now un-petrify her victims by applying a drop of her own blood. The males have different powers. Having male medusas with different powers have existed in DungeonsAndDragons before, but this is the first time the concept made it into a core book.

* In the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' setting "ScarredLands", the Medusae species was created by the titan Mormo. In this setting, pretty much everything was created by the Titans, including the Gods. Two centuries ago, the Gods rose up against them in what came to be known as the Titanswar or The Divine War. The Medusae was initially an important force at the titan's side, but they switched side to serve the Gods — particularly the neutral evil goddess Belsameth.
* In the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' setting ''{{Eberron}}'', Medusae have a unique culture largely based around avoiding looking someone in the eyes--they're not immune to the petrifying gaze of other medusae, so its kind of the only choice. They were created by the [[CosmicHorror daelkyr]], but broke free when the [[SealedEvilInACan creatures were sealed away]]. Oh, and there are explicitly males as well--where do you think all the baby medusae come from?

* ''KingsQuestIII'' features a Medusa antagonist in the desert. The hero needs a mirror to defeat her. He also needs to face away from her, or else he's petrified instantly. If he has the mirror and the player types "use mirror" fast enough, the Medusa will see herself and be turned to stone. If he doesn't have it, or doesn't use it quickly enough, she will catch up and force him to look at her.
* ''{{Heroes of Might and Magic}} III'' and ''IV'' had Medusas as minions of the Dungeon faction.
* Medusa heads are a recurring enemy in the ''{{Castlevania}}'' games. Many games of the series have her appear as as a SnakePerson. Two games have her appear as a gigantic head instead. For some reason.
* ''FateStayNight'' features the actual Medusa (or, more precisely, her Heroic Spirit, i.e. superpowered ghost) as the Servant [[spoiler:Rider]]. While her eyes still turn people into stone, her "snake hair" is explained to be an negative exaggeration of her [[RapunzelHair really long and luxurious hair]].

** She is also a mid-level boss in ''FinalFantasyMysticQuest''.

* Regular enemies in ''GodOfWar''.

* The game ''Rings of Medusa'' does not feature any character with any traits of the mythological Medusa. While "Medusa" is the main villain, she never comes into play herself, and she doesn't have any traits beyond being evil, in a strictly ProtagonistCenteredMorality sense of the word.
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' games with medusas as monsters include ''Curse of the Azure Bonds'', ''Gateway to the Savage Frontier'', ''Pool of Radiance'', ''Pools of Darkness'', ''NeverwinterNights'' and ''Secret of the Silver Blades''
* The ''AdventuresOfLolo'' games have a bust of Medusa as an enemy. It paralyzes and kills Lolo if he steps into its line of sight. The only way to get past the busts is to block their line of sight with an egg or Emerald Framer.

* Medusa is the BigBad in ''KidIcarus'' and ''KidIcarusUprising''.

* Medusa is the boss form of the Gorgon enemy in ''DesktopDungeons''.

* One of the girls in ''EerieCuties'' has snakes for hair, but is actually a Melusine.
* ''Webcomic/OrderOfTheStick'' has been known to throw in Medusas in the background, so far without ever being part of the plot. There is one standing in line for the ladies' bathroom in the first dungeon the [=PCs=] explore.
* One of the current plot arcs in ''IrregularWebcomic'' concerns Medusa.
* ''TheWotch'' has Scott, who perennially is petrified (and transgendered). On one occasion, this happened when his girlfriend was temporarily changed into a Medusa and looked at him, after ''he'd'' been turned into a female elf. They both got better.

* One of the ''{{Oglaf}}'' strips featured a man who survived a Medusa encounter by being distracted her breasts. In the end it is implied that he got more than a RagingStiffie...
* Turns [[TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella Wonderella]] to stone in one strip -- but she's a CardCarryingVillain at worst, can be nullified by the simple expedient of wearing sunglasses, and quite apologetically explains that the power to turn people into stone isn't under her control.

* Played with in The ''PowerpuffGirls''. The show had Sedusa - a character with tentacle-like hair (wasn't snakes but definitely had a life of its own) whose specialty was to, yes, seduce men.
* ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' has Steve Irwin fighting against a Medusa. The fight ends with a ShoutOut to the ending of the original ''ClashOfTheTitans''.
* The episode of ''{{The Fairly OddParents}}'' where Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda visit ancient Greece and go to a party at Mt. Olympus features Medusa as a party-crasher.

* Medusa appears in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' thanks to WonderWoman connecting the Greek pantheon to this show. Batman and Zatanna have to be blindfolded in order to meet her - and she sounds like she was raised in New York.

* ''RobotWars'' once had a robot called Medusa 2000; the design spec called for a flail at the back, to look rather like snake hair. Unfortunately, the weapon idea fell through, so all that was left was the name and the picture on the top of the robot, which never was shown clearly on TV.

->''My garden's full of pretty men, who couldn't stay away...''
--> -- Heather Dale, ''Medusa''

* Medusa appears as a lower-level boss in ''FinalFantasyIII''.

* ''{{He-Man and the Masters of the Universe}}'' featured a male medusa-like character with snakes popping out of his eyes rather than hair. The main power, turning people to stone, was the same.

* Medusa is TheLibby for Athena in "Goddess Girls", a children book for females.

Originally a character in ClassicalMythology, Medusa has taken a life of her own, and now exists in all kinds of fantasy — sometimes as a person, [[AKindOfOne sometimes as an entire species]]. Medusa's main characteristics are snakes for hair and that people turn to stone just by seeing her face. Oh, and [[LogicBomb don't look]] at the illustration!

** A slightly difference version of this origin is that they were ''still'' beautiful, but they couldn't be looked at without the lookee turning to stone, making their beauty pointless.
* A slightly difference version of the second origin is that Medusa was willingly seduced by Poseidon rather than raped.

* ''CelebrityDeathmatch'' has Steve Irwin fighting against a Medusa. The fight ends with a ShoutOut to the ending of the original ''ClashOfTheTitans''.

* ''TheOrderOfTheStick'' has been known to throw in Medusas in the background, so far without ever being part of the plot. There is one standing in line for the ladies' bathroom in the first dungeon the [=PCs=] explore.

* PiersAnthony's {{Xanth}} book ''The Source of Magic'' has a Gorgon with snakes for hair. Any man who looks at her face is turned to stone. She is treated sympathetically since she does not want to do this and is forced to live alone; later she marries the Good Magician Humphrey after he fixes her problem by turning her face invisible.

The other origin is that Medusa was a normal human until she got raped by Poseidon. As a human, Medusa was a priestess of Athena -- who required her priestess to remain virgins. In some versions of this Origin, Medusa actively sought refuge from Poseidon in Athena's temple. In either case [[JerkassGods Athena did nothing to stop the rape, choosing instead to punish Medusa for being violated by turning her into her new hideous form]].

* In issue four of ''TheAvengers'' which featured the Silver Age return of Captain America, Cap encounters an alien who turned the other Avengers to stone with a special ray. The alien had been stranded on Earth for thousands of years living in a cave and Cap surmised that the alien's wild hair, made him look like a woman in the shadows and was the basis for the myth about Medusa. Cap got the alien to change the Avengers back and helped him leave Earth and return home. The alien would turn out to belong to the D'Bari, whose planet was later destroyed when the [[TheDarkPhoenixSaga Dark Phoenix]] caused their sun to go nova.

* ''ClashOfTheTitans'' was a bit unusual in that its Medusa was not humanoid. Instead, she was a huge snake with a somewhat humanoid torso on it. The original even added a rattlesnake tail, [[HellIsThatNoise so she didn't even appear on the screen to scare people]]. Both versions turn her into an [[ColdSniper expert archer]] - with added sociopathy in the remake, where she [[GigglingVillain laughs]] as she either shoots or petrifies people. In the original film, Medusa was cursed by ''Aphrodite'', for being a willing sexual participant in her temple. Aphrodite then cursed her into her monstrous form out of jealousy.