Meryet Karim (Earth-616)

Thousands of years ago, Anath Na Mut an Egyptian magician in the service of Pharaoh Ramses II lost a battle against Moses and was punished by being exiled from Egypt. Living as a nomad in the desert, he stumbled upon the ancient temple of Ka, where he discovered a mystical gem, the legendary Ka Stone. Placing it on his forehead, he was transformed into the immortal being who would become known as the Sphinx.^[2] Dazed by the powerful energies surging through his body, the magician collapsed. He was found and nursed back to health by a lonely outcast woman.^[3]

This woman, whose name is not recorded, fell in love with Sphinx, but he could not return her love and walked out of her life. For the rest of her days, she sought and dreamed of him. She finally died of old age, lonely and bitter, only to reawaken in the body of an Egyptian boy from a wealthy family. In this life, she became an architect and scholar, and in her researches, she located the lost temple of Ka. She deciphered the cryptic parchments found in the temple, and uncovered many of the Ka Stone's secrets. Finally she died, but was reborn again, once more a woman, this time of noble birth. In her third life, she would marry the Pharaoh. With her wisdom and memories intact, she deduced that she had the power of perpetual reincarnation due to having absorbed some of the Ka Stone's energies when she tended the Sphinx. Seeking to increase her link with the stone to reunite herself with her loved one, she arranged for her body to be entombed with the Scepter of Ka, an artifact from the temple which would attune her with the energies of the stone still worn by the Sphinx.^[3]

Over the centuries, she plotted, living scores of lives and accumulating many fortunes. Finally, in the latter half of the twentieth century, she was reborn in the body of Meryet Karim, another Egyptian woman, just as the Sphinx showed himself again. She made plans for their reunion, but before she could meet the Sphinx once more, her dreams were shattered. Her loved one, tiring of immortality, had come into conflict with Nova, then with Galactus himself, and been destroyed.^[3][1]

But she was not defeated. Using her personal fortune, she built up a sizable organization of devoted followers. She and her underlings then journeyed to her eons-old tomb in the Temple of Ka. Wielding both modern technology and the ancient power of the Ka Scepter, she used its jewel to gather the Ka-stone energies that had been scattered through the Earth's atmosphere with the defeat of the Sphinx.^[4] She succeeded in imbuing herself with the power of the Sphinx, but in her eagerness, she was overwhelmed by the mighty energies coursing through her body. Without conscious thought she used these energies to twist reality itself, altering the world's history to the way she wished it had always been, creating a cosmic lie.^[3]

In this new reality, the Sphinx had not left her counterpart those millennia ago in Egypt. Instead, he had returned her love and they had lived happily together for millennia as immortals, making sure that Egyptian culture dominated the world until the twentieth century. Egypt even colonized America, which became known as the United States of Assyria. In this false reality, the Sphinx eventually tired of life, passing on his great powers to his consort, but leaving a mystic cat infused with his love as a keepsake for her.^[5]

However, reality was not so easily changed. Two beings existed who were connected with the Ka Stone: Sayge, a mystical embodiment of Truth who had been companion and nemesis of the original Sphinx, and Richard Ryder, the man called Nova. They could subconsciously sense the basic "wrongness" of the altered timeline. With the help of a mutant rebellion who opposed the Egyptian hegemony, Nova and Sayge were able to pierce the self-deception of Sphinx II. Unable to maintain the truth of her own created reality when confronted with it, Sphinx II's own self-deception was shattered, and this returned the Earth to normal.^[6]

The second Sphinx survived her defeat, but was bitter and heartbroken at the loss of her perfect world.^[7] What she didn't know was that her reassembling of the Ka stone led to Anath Na Mut also being reincarnated into a new body.^[8][9]

Upon find there was someone wielding his power, Anath-Na Mut invited Meryet to meet him. Clouded by her feelings, Meryet walked into Anath's trap and he drained half of her powers. He promptly exiled the New Warriors throughout time and returned to Egypt, where he was confronted by Karim again. She tried to find good in him once more, but he tricked her and absorbed the remainder of her power. After this, she returned to New York, where she met with a new team of New Warriors to help them defeat the Sphinx and bring their teammates back. After the old New Warriors returned, the Sayge appeared and showed the Sphinx the hopelessness of his life. Finally making the right decision, he accepted Karim's love and the two merged into a more peaceful composite Sphinx.^[10]

This new composite Sphinx later killed a clone who was thought to be Speedball to save the timeline.^[11]

When the Sphinx was next seen, he was no longer with Meryet and was back to his old ways.^[12]

The Sphinx's powers stem from her exposure to the mystic energies of the Ka Stone.

• Reincarnation: Any time she dies, the Sphinx is reincarnated into the youthful body of another person with the full knowledge of her prior lives.^[13]

Later, merging herself with the original Sphinx's energies from the Ka Scepter, she gained nearly omnipotent power:

• Reality Warping^[14]
• Invulnerability^{[citation needed]}
• Energy Absorption: She can absorb energy and channel it for strength and additional power.^{[citation needed]}
• Energy Projection: She can project any type of energy from her eyes.^{[citation needed]}
• Size Increase: She can grow to fantastic heights.^[14]
• Teleportation^{[citation needed]}
• Telepathy: She can read minds at a distance.^{[citation needed]}

• Accumulated Knowledge: Karim possesses the accumulated knowledge of several thousands of years of experiences.^[13]