Athena

> "She's coming."
> "'She'? Who is 'she'?"
>
> Lilly and Ludwig Dieter, *Army of the Dead*

**Athena** was the queen of the zombie horde in Las Vegas. She was portrayed by Athena Perample in *Army of the Dead* and will appear again in *Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas*.

## Biography

In life, Athena was a Cirque du Soleil performer. She was bitten by Zeus, and became an alpha zombie. She eventually became his queen and controlled the Las Vegas Strip with him.

### Götterdämmerung heist

> "Hey, gorgeous."
>
> Martin, *Army of the Dead*

When the Las Vengeance team made their way into the city, she heard their gunfire and approached to find an offering to the Las Vegas horde. She accepted it and took it to The Olympus for Zeus. Later, hearing more gunshots, she found Martin and Lilly. They pinned her down, and Martin proceeded to decapitate her. He put her still-active head in a bag and carried her along the rest of the mission. Meanwhile, Zeus heard her screams and investigated, finding her body in the street. He took her body back to The Olympus and tore into her torso, revealing that she had been with child.

Concerned with the ethics of removing a zombie head from quarantine, Lilly secretly switched the contents of Martin's bag with a money counting machine. The head now in her possession, when Zeus tracked down the surviving members of the mission she put a gun to Athena's head to give Scott Ward and Marianne Peters the chance to fly away in the rescue helicopter. Staying behind, and attacked by Zeus, Lilly used the last of her strength to throw Athena's head off of the roof of Bly's Casino where it disintegrated into the cement below.

### Legacy

Left behind in her womb after her decapitation, Athena's body held a second-generation zombie fetus. Zeus removed the fetus, which seemingly died in his hands.

## Abilities

* **Zombie physiology**: As a zombie, Athena's intelligence wasn't at the level of living humans', however as an alpha, her intelligence was more akin to an intelligent animal than a mindless beast, and her body was strengthened and resistant to physical trauma, making her a much greater threat than a typical shambler.
	+ **Infection manipulation**: As a zombie, Athena's bite could convert living humans into zombies.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Las Vegas horde
	+ Zeus - love interest
	+ Alpha General - partner
	+ Burt Cummings - offering turned ally

### Enemies

* Martin - decapitator
* Lilly - killer

## Gallery

Concept art by Alan VillanuevaOn the cover of *Prosthetics* issue 22
## Trivia

* While she's credited as "Alpha Queen" in the film credits, Zack Snyder refers to her as "Athena" when speaking about the character, and the soundtrack also refers to her as "Athena."
	+ "Athena" is the name of both the character and the actor who plays her. Coincidentally, the name very much suits the name of her king, Zeus. The Olympian Zeus created Athena from his forehead, similarly to how zombie Zeus effectively created Athena by biting a human.
* According to Martin, Athena's head is worth $2 billion. This likely applies to any single alpha's intact head.
* Athena appeared on a poster in the *Teen Titans Go!* episode, "365!". Zack Snyder guest starred in the episode as himself, and the poster hung in his office.

## References

1. ↑ The zombie queen is given a proper name in the *Army of the Dead (Music From the Netflix Film)* track listings, with the track "Zeus and Athena" naming her alongside Zeus.
Shay Hatten, Zack Snyder, Joby Harold (writers) & Zack Snyder (director) (May 14, 2021). *Army of the Dead*.