In Ozma of Oz (1907) Dorothy and her party are caught in a storm at sea; Dorothy is washed ashore into the uncharted country of Ev inside a chicken coop and finds Billina, who was originally named 'Bill' because no one could tell whether she was a hen or a rooster. Dorothy insists on the feminine form and Billina accompanies Dorothy to Oz, eventually settling in the Emerald City.
Baum's prose describes Billina as a hen, repeatedly called a 'yellow hen' in the Ozma of Oz text. Adaptations vary in depiction—she is represented by an animatronic/puppet in the 1985/1986 Return to Oz film and is depicted as red in at least one animated series—while Baum's original text emphasizes a domesticated hen's appearance.
Billina speaks in a sharp, talkative voice and displays a spunky, sassy temperament; she functions as Dorothy's animal companion and conversational interlocutor. Within the fictional rules of Ozma of Oz, eggs are dangerous to the Nome King and his kind, and Billina's laying of an egg contributes directly to the Nome King's defeat. Beyond speech, social agency, and ordinary hen behavior (laying eggs, hatching chicks), Baum's texts do not ascribe supernatural powers to her.
Weaknesses
- othernormal domestic vulnerabilities of a hen (no canonical mystical weaknesses)
Wards
None recorded.
3-D Man
3-D Man is a Marvel Comics superhero identity associated with a 1950s-era origin in which the body of Chuck Chandler can materialize in three-dimensional existence when activated by his brother Hal via a pair of glasses. The mantle was later assumed by Delroy Garrett (formerly Triathlon) in modern continuity.
5 Ronin
5 Ronin is a 2011 Marvel Comics five-issue limited series that reimagines five Marvel superhero archetypes as rōnin (masterless samurai) in a fictionalized post‑Sekigahara feudal Japan. The work places Wolverine, Hulk, Punisher, Psylocke, and Deadpool analogues into period roles to explore displacement, revenge, and identity in an era of political upheaval.
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
An Elvish hymn in Sindarin addressed to Elbereth (Varda) from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. Presented in The Lord of the Rings and later musical and dramatic adaptations, the hymn functions as devotional poetic language that evokes Elvish reverence for the star-kindler rather than an independent supernatural agent.
A.R.G.U.S.
A.R.G.U.S. is a fictional clandestine United States government agency in the DC Comics universe that investigates, contains, and manages superhuman, meta-human, and supernatural incidents and assets. Introduced in The New 52 continuity, it functions as an institutional actor providing intelligence, logistical support, covert task forces (notably Task Force X / the Suicide Squad), and a dedicated magic division across comics and media adaptations.
Abin Sur
Abin Sur is a fictional extraterrestrial Green Lantern from the planet Ungara in DC Comics. A former history professor turned Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814, he discovered and investigated a prophecy tied to the "Blackest Night," died wounded on Earth and chose Hal Jordan as his ring-successor, and was later reanimated as a Black Lantern in the Blackest Night storyline.
Absolute Green Lantern (tradition)
A modern comic-book reinterpretation in DC's Absolute Universe in which a giant green lantern-shaped vessel appears above Evergreen, Nevada, generates an impenetrable green dome, judges townspeople and sends the judged into the Lantern to await further adjudication in OA (Omega‑Alpha). The story reframes Green Lantern mythos as cosmic/religious horror with an "Enlightenment Spectrum" of flames (Qard, Rao, Sur, Aur) stewarded by Oans such as Abin Sur.
Absorbing Man
A fictional Marvel Comics character (Carl "Crusher" Creel) whose body acquires the physical properties of materials or energies he touches. Debuting in Journey into Mystery #114 (March 1965), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he is presented as a mortal supervillain/occasional antihero who challenges heroes such as Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man, and the Avengers.
Ace West
Ace West (Wallace Daniel "Ace" West) is a contemporary American comic-book character in DC Comics continuity, a young speedster who channels the metaphysical Speed Force and occupies legacy-hero roles such as Kid Flash and Ace. Introduced in New 52-era stories as a biracial reinterpretation of Wally West and later retconned in DC Rebirth as a distinct Wallace West, son of Daniel West (Reverse-Flash), he appears across present-day and alternate/future timelines and participates in team and sacrifice narratives tied to the Speed Force.
Acheron
Acheron is a mythological river of the Ancient Greek Underworld, portrayed in classical literature as a boundary or entrance to Hades across which the dead are conveyed. It is also a real river in Epirus whose landscape and nearby cult sites (notably a Necromanteion) were mapped onto the literary river; later Western authors use Acheron metonymically for Hell or the infernal realm.
Achilles and Patroclus
A central heroic dyad in the Homeric Trojan War tradition: two mortal Greek warriors whose close bond—portrayed as deep companionship in the Iliad—drives key events of the epic when Patroclus' death provokes Achilles' rage, return to battle, and the slaying of Hector.
Acoetes
Acoetes is a proper name applied to multiple mortal figures in classical Greco‑Roman mythic narratives. Most famously, an Acoetes is a fisherman who recognizes and testifies to the divinity of Bacchus/Dionysus and recounts how blasphemous sailors were transformed into dolphins; other bearers of the name appear as a Trojan genealogical figure (father of Laocoön), an aged former squire of Evander, and a frightened soldier in Statius' Thebaid.
Adam X the X-Treme
A fictional Shi'ar–human mutant hybrid from Marvel Comics, created in the 1990s X-Men milieu. Portrayed as a genetically engineered offspring tying the Summers mutant bloodline to Shi'ar royalty, he appears in Earth- and Shi'ar-centered storylines and exhibits both Shi'ar physiology and a mutant heat/blood ability.
Community Record
- [1]Ozma of Oz (text). L. Frank Baum, Ozma of Oz, Project Gutenberg editionliterary
- [2]Billina (Wikipedia). Wikipedia article 'Billina'wiki
- [3]Return to Oz (film and related archive materials). Return to Oz (film/adaptation) materials and archives noting puppet/animatronic portrayalother
- [4]Ozma of Oz — page-by-page reproduction. Page-by-page reproduction of Ozma of Ozliterary