Atarah was a Chronicom leader who sought to prevent the destruction of the race's planet by using the same time travel methods as S.H.I.E.L.D.. In this endeavor, she captured Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons so that they would work for her and find a way, but they eventually escaped. Atarah intended to use what she had seen of their shared memories to keep working on time travel, but she ended up betrayed by Malachi, who murdered her and took over leadership of the Chronicoms.
Biography
Relationship with Enoch
Atarah had a relationship with fellow Chronicom Enoch, which eventually reached a certain level of intimacy as they somewhat became the equivalent of lovers in a Chronicom perspective. However, her relationship with Enoch eventually worsened, to the point that Enoch considered that Atarah deeply disliked him.[1]
Destruction of Chronyca-2
Atarah was one of the many Chronicoms present on Chronyca-2 by the time the Shrike sent by Izel invaded the planet. She and other Chronicoms debated over how they should handle this unexpected outburst, but due to not knowing its origin, they failed to find a solution before it was too late for the planet. As a result, Chronyca-2 was entirely set ablaze, but Atarah along with several other Chronicoms, was able to survive. She then led a battle of resistance against the Confederacy who had come to plunder the remnants of the Chronicom homeworld, and her victory enabled the Chronicoms to commandeer several spaceships, including a Confederate Destroyer Ship which Atarah turned into her mobile base of operations.[1]
Search for Enoch
Atarah came to learn that S.H.I.E.L.D. had traveled through time in order to avert a cataclysmic event which had been foreseen by Robin Hinton and taken to the attention of the Chronicom Enoch. As a result, Atarah began looking for Enoch and his S.H.I.E.L.D. friends, dispatching the Chronicom Hunter Malachi to find them. Eventually, Atarah was able to intercept Enoch and his friends as they left the planet of Kitson. She boarded the Zephyr One and ordered Enoch and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to be brought onto her own spaceship.
Atarah then explained to Enoch,Jemma Simmons and Quake that Chronyca-2 had been destroyed and that she wanted S.H.I.E.L.D. to reveal their means of time travel, so that the Chronicoms could replicate it in order to save their home planet. Since she did not get satisfactory answers, Atarah revealed that she also held S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Leo Fitz in custody in another spaceship, threatening to take him away if S.H.I.E.L.D. did not cooperate.
Atarah then argued with Enoch, who wanted to protect Fitz's life. She blatantly explained that the life of one S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, be it Enoch's best friend, could not outweigh the lives of the Chronicoms who had perished in the destruction of Chronyca-2. She also shared her thought that Enoch had changed due to his time spent with Humans, and that he had grown too soft. Since Enoch refused to collaborate, Atar ordered Malachi to kill Fitz to prompt Simmons and Quake to give answers.
Atarah was thus told about the Isochronus Cyclotron and the White Monolith used by S.H.I.E.L.D. to time travel, but refused to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. could not replicate the process. However, when told that Fitz could possibly figure it out, Atarah asked Enoch what would motivate Fitz to collaborate with the Chronicoms. As Enoch told her that Fitz would do anything to keep Simmons out of harm's way, Atarah ordered her people to seize Simmons.
As a result, Atarah was violently attacked by Quake, who attempted to escape with Simmons, as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Piper and Davis. However, Atarah and Malachi were able to find them before they escaped, and Simmons eventually agreed to remain with the Chronicoms to work with Fitz. Atarah thus had Malachi take her while she allowed the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to leave.[1]
FitzSimmons' Memories
- "The only solution for you is to find a solution for us."
- ―Atarah to Jemma Simmons[src]
Atarah narrates the Destruction of Chronyca-2
Atarah had Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons put into a Cerebral Fusion Machine, which she accessed as well. Since Fitz had not heard her story about the Destruction of Chronyca-2, Atarah repeated it as well as her plan to save Chronyca-2 by returning into the past using the same method than S.H.I.E.L.D.. When told by Fitz that time travel was impossible due to its violation of the laws of physics, Atarah retorted that Simmons claimed otherwise.
Atarah then explained that the Cerebral Fusion Machine would enable Fitz and Simmons to create anything they imagined as well as to access all their memories, while everything happening in the machine would also be visible by her. Atarah admitted that the process was potentially dangerous, and underlined that Fitz and Simmons would never be able to escape unless they find the solution she demanded.
Atarah briefly left the simulation, but returned as she felt that Fitz and Simmons were not progressing. She was blamed by Fitz since Simmons had regressed into a child version of herself, but Atarah reminded him that this could be her way of looking for a solution. Once again, Atarah admitted that the use of the machine was dangerous, but that it was necessary, and pressured Fitz into working harder.
Once she was out of the simulation, Atarah was confronted by Enoch, who feared the damage that the machine could cause to Fitz and Simmons, but Atarah dismissed his concerns, stating that the survival was at stake. Since Enoch insisted, especially as Fitz's and Simmons' minds were in conflict, leading to possible brain damage, Atarah had him restrained by two guards, and threatened to have him dismantled.
Atarah is incapacitated by Enoch
Once Fitz and Simmons had gotten rid of their respective dark selves, Atarah returned into the machine. She informed Fitz and Simmons that only five minutes had passed, and was told that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents refused to work on time travel due to the dangers it posed. Since they declared themselves ready to be imprisoned together, Atarah warned them that they would not be together, but she then brutally fainted due to Enoch having activated her remote override command.[2]
Betrayed by Malachi
Despite the betrayal of Enoch and the escape of Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons from the Chronicoms, Atarah was still bent on using the same time travel methods as S.H.I.E.L.D. used in order to save her world. However, her loyal enforcer Malachi argued the they should instead take over a new planet for the Chronicoms and establish Chronyca-3. Atarah stated her conviction that it was not necessary as her plan had no flaw, only for Malachi to reply that her obsession with tampering with the universe was the flaw. Before she could react, Atarah was thus betrayed and murdered by the Chronicom Hunters, with Malachi taking leadership of the Chronicoms.[3]
Personality
As a Chronicom, Atarah did not display a wide range of emotions, and was instead entirely focused on her mission. Her only concern after the Destruction of Chronyca-2 was to find a way to restore Chronyca-2 to its former state by using Time Travel methods. To that end, Atarah was willing to employ any means at her disposal, even if it meant harming a few lives on the way, as she claimed that the fate of the entire race of the Chronicoms far outweighed the well-being of some individuals. As such, she was willing to risk brain damage on Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons as long as they provided her with answers, and threatened to have Enoch dismantled if he interfered. Just like Malachi, Atarah saw Enoch's concerns for his human friends as a weakness.
Atarah's obsession for traveling into the past to save Chronyca-2 utlimately turned out to be the source of her demise. Utterly convinced that her plan had no flaw, she failed to see that she actually wanted to tamper with the laws of the universe, which was exactly what the Chronicoms were supposed to avoid, although it should be noted that she wanted to prevent an extinction-level event. However, she also failed to see that some of her fellow Chronicoms would challenge her position of leader, and was eventually betrayed and killed by Malachi because of her blinding obsession not to reconsider her plans.
Powers and Abilities
- Chronicom Physiology: As a Chronicom, Atarah was a synthetic being and naturally possessed physical capabilities beyond any normal human being.
- Compressability: Like all Chronicoms, Atarah was mostly made out of plastic alloy and contains no internal organs, which allowed her to easily squeeze through and compress herself through tight spots and difficult places.
- Enhanced Durability: Atarah possessed a certain degree of superhuman durability, which allowed her to recover quickly from Quake's vibrational shockwave in a matter of moments.
- Longevity: Like all Chronicoms, Atarah possessed a much longer lifespan, as she was Enoch's mentor before he came to Earth, with Enoch himself being aged over 32,000 years ago.
Relationships
Enemies
- Izel †
- Shrike †
- Confederacy
- S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Enoch - Former Disciple and Former Lover
- Chronicom Hunters - Former Subordinates
Gallery
Trivia
- Atarah is a Hebrew word meaning "crown". It was also the name of the wife of tribe leader Jerahmeel in the Old Testament.
Behind the Scenes
- Bethany Levy was a stunt double for Sherri Saum in the role of Atarah.