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Religion: N.A. 
Name: Alephs
Other Names: Gardeners
Classification:
supporting characters
group
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Avengers (vol. 5) #2 (Feb. 2013): "We Were Avengers"
First Appearance (Additional Details): (Aleph, a single unit) Avengers (vol. 5) #1 (Feb. 2013): "Avengers World"; (Alephs as a group) Avengers (vol. 5) #2 (Feb. 2013): "We Were Avengers"
Creators: Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opeña
Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes
Number of Appearances: 1
Worked for: The Builders
Note: robots sent by the Builders to purge unfit worlds of life
When the Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye) went to Mars to investigate the source of a "creation bomb" that caused massive devastation in two cities on Earth, they encountered three immensely powerful beings: aliens Abyss and Ex Nihilo and a robot called Aleph. These beings captured these Avengers.
Ex Nihilo told the captive Avengers about the "true beginning" of the universe (at least the beginning he believes to be true). In his account, it was revealed that Aleph (the companion of Ex Nihilo and Abyss) was just one of numerous Alephs - apparently identical robots of the same type. Ex Nihilo's told the Avengers: "This is the true beginning... At the dawn of everything were the Builders. They were the first race, the oldest living things in the Cosmos. They were a perfect people--and for a great while they worshiped the Goddess, the Mother-Maker herself, The Universe. Eventually, they grew beyond this--abandoning the old ways of reverence for the new path of relevance. As expansion and evolution occurred, the Builders creatd aggressive systems to direct, shape and control the very structure of space and time. The first of these systems were Gardeners-- Alephs sent out into the wild to purge species unfit, and unsuitable, for their new universe."
Ex Nihilo's account of the beginnings of the universe continued: "For hundreds of years, our Aleph razed world after world--all of which he deemed unfit for progress. Until one day, he encountered a species he considered worthy of preservation. He found them worthy of evolution. Then the Gardner released the Garden he had carried with him for all that time. No two seeds an Aleph carries are the same. The Builders, in al their wisdom, knew that creation was chaos and fully embraced this inconstant constant. This Aleph--our Aleph--yielded myself, Ex Nihilo, and my sister, Abyss. And from that day forward, whenever we hear the call of a living, wild world, we either break it, or attempt to transform the base species we find there into magnificent, more transcendent, creatures. And that is what I would do for your Earth. What I would do for you It could be a great story of creation."
Avengers (vol. 5) #2 (Feb. 2013): "We Were Avengers" (1-panel cameo)
Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
- http://marvel.wikia.com/Avengers_Vol_5_2