Medusa is a minor character in the Disney Park attraction The Haunted Mansion, which appears in Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World in Florida, Tokyo Disneyland, and Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris, as well as Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland. Despite only a scaring/attacking actual attraction, the character serves as a more prominent antagonist in the Haunted Mansion miniseries of the 2016 comic book series Disney Kingdoms by Marvel Comics.
History[]
Past[]
According to ancient Grecian myth, Medusa was a human woman who defiled the temple of the Goddess Athena. As punishment, she was transformed into a hideous monster who was so frightening and ugly, she would turn whoever gazed upon her face to turn to stone. She remained a dangerous monster until the day she was decapitated and killed by the demigod Perseus, who was acting on the orders of King Polydectes. Her severed head retained its power to petrify living beings and Perseus would use it as a weapon several times, notably against the sea monster Cetus in order to rescue the princess Andromeda (in the film adaptations, it is used against the Kraken instead).
The Haunted Mansion[]
In the attraction, Medusa is one of the ghosts possessing one of the Changing Portraits. It shows her, in her beautiful human form, standing in a Grecian courtyard. Whenever lightning strikes, it illuminates the portrait, revealing her as her true gorgon self, hissing evilly.
The whole 6 slide images (Edmond Kohn's version) show the transformation from a beautiful young girl (slide 1) into a Gorgon, starting with an orange and yellow snakes, which appear from the top of her head (slide 2), and then down to her shoulders (slide 3); during this transformation, Medusa opens her mouth with her sharp teeth and one of her eyes becomes bigger than another eye. For the last three slides (4, 5 and 6) the Gorgon and the Grecian courtyard start to ruin image by image. The Gorgon turns into a green stone figure, and the courtyard turns to damaged with many holes and cracks.
Mystic Manor[]
In Mystic Manor, a mosaic portrait of Medusa is brought to life by the magic Music Box. When guests pass by, it looks like her normal human self, but then will change into a growling, hissing gorgon form with red eyes that will attempt to attack.
Disney Kingdoms[]
In the Disney Kingdoms comic, Medusa and the other Changing Portrait ghouls serve the evil Captain, who has trapped all the ghosts in the mansion and is working to get all the ghosts to ally with him. She and the other Changing Portrait ghosts awaken when protagonist Danny Crowe arrives, and they all immediately try to kill him. They chase him through the mansion until they are scared off by Madame Leota. She presumably flees back into her portrait, leaving everyone alone until the Captain is destroyed.
Gallery[]
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