Mantis Fact — November 1, 2026

Today's Fact

Checked against independent sources — the issues are cited below.

MANTIS SECRETLY JUMPED TO DC COMICS — AS THE GREEN-SKINNED 'WILLOW,' SHE HELPED THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, THEN LEFT TO GIVE BIRTH!

The Featured Fact

When writer Steve Englehart left Marvel for DC in the 1970s, he took his signature creation with him — quietly. In Justice League of America Vol. 1 #142 (1977), the League meets a green-skinned woman named Willow who calls herself “this one,” speaks of mating with a creature from the stars, and refuses to name where she came from: “This one has come from a place she must not name, to reach a place no man must know.”

Every clue pointed one way. Willow was Mantis — same third-person speech, same Celestial Madonna destiny, now visibly green years before Marvel's own Mantis turned green on the page. Englehart has said a fan at San Diego Comic-Con asked whether leaving Marvel meant Mantis would never appear again, and he decided on the spot to make sure she would; DC editor Julius Schwartz let the gambit run.

Willow stayed for two issues and departed to give birth to the prophesied Celestial Messiah — the same pregnancy Marvel's storyline had set up. Englehart kept carrying the saga onward under other names, as Lorelei in Eclipse Comics' Scorpio Rose #2, before Mantis finally returned to Marvel under her own name. No other Marvel heroine has a chapter of her story legally hiding inside a rival publisher's flagship title.

Why It's Obscure

Marvel owned the character. Her creator simply changed her name, painted her green, and walked her into the Justice League's book.

1973

Born at Marvel — Englehart and Don Heck create Mantis in Avengers Vol. 1 #112, and her Celestial Madonna saga becomes his signature storyline.

1977

Enter Willow — Justice League of America #142 introduces the green-skinned Willow, who calls herself “this one” and will not say where she came from.

Two issues

Gone to give birth — Willow leaves the League to deliver the Celestial Messiah, continuing the exact plot Marvel readers last saw her in.

After DC

Lorelei, then home — The saga continues as Lorelei in Scorpio Rose #2 at Eclipse before Mantis returns to Marvel under her real name.

Gallery

Comic art of Mantis and the figures named in today's fact.

Mantis green-skinned comic art with antennae visible — **Green, as Willow was**Mantis in her green-skinned form with her antennae plainly showing — the look Englehart gave Willow at DC years before Marvel's Mantis wore it herself.

Mantis close-up comic art antenna visible — **This one, up close**A close study of Mantis from official Marvel art, antenna at her brow — the heroine whose story quietly continued inside a rival publisher's pages.

Sources

Every claim above checks out against at least two of these independent sources.

Bullpen Bulletins

Mantis (Marvel Comics) — WikipediaThe publication history documents Englehart carrying Mantis through other companies: as Willow in Justice League of America #142, complete with her “this one” speech and departure to give birth, and as Lorelei in Scorpio Rose #2.
How Mantis Left Marvel to Join DC Without Fans Noticing — ScreenRantScreenRant recounts the Comic-Con conversation that prompted Englehart, the 1977 JLA #142 appearance under the name Willow, and the name-and-silence workaround that kept Marvel's ownership at bay.