Zeus

The Greek god Zeus (天帝ゼウス, Tentei Zeusu, tentei meaning "Sovereign of the Heavens") is one of the deities expected to be featured in the near future, in the universe of the Manga Saint Seiya. Although the character has remained in development for a long time, he was created by Kurumada based on the mythologic persona of the same name.

In Kurumada's mythos, Zeus has been described as the Sovereign of Heavens, and father of Athena. In Next Dimension official sequel of the manga Saint Seiya, it is revealed that Zeus lives on Mount Olympus, and it is stronger than his two brothers Poseidon and Hades.

Kurumada had planned to make Zeus appear in the fourth act of his manga, but he was forced to put the manga in hiatus in 1991 after the Hades arc due to a decrease in popularity, delaying the publishing of the Heaven Chapter until the time was ripe. A new chance to publish it came in 2004 when Kurumada decided to publish the Heaven Chapter in anime format instead of a manga written and drawn by him, and it was given a start with the Saint Seiya Tenkaihen Josou Overture movie.

Masami Kurumada has spoken about Zeus in interviews about his future plans, but he hasn't revealed much since the Heaven Chapter of his manga is still in development. Although Zeus has never made an appearance physically in Kurumada's manga, he has been mentioned or referred to in several occasions.

Appearances in the Saint Seiya universe
Masami Kurumada's early conceptual sketch for Zeus, the Sovereign of the Heavens. Zeus has had a limited participation in the Saint Seiya universe to date, which is virtually reduced to referrals by name, both in the manga and the anime adaptation. He is first mentioned in vol.1 of Kurumada's manga, as the father of Athena, who sprung out of Zeus' head in full battle armor, in the same way as she did in Greek mythology. He is mentioned again by Gold Saint Gemini Saga in further volumes of the manga, who schemed to seize Athena's Niké Staff to overthrow Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon to take over their realms and conquer Earth, becoming the supreme ruler of all realms. Zeus is then mentioned by the god of sleep Hypnos in vol.28 of the manga, who refers to him as the ruler of the Olympian Gods.

Zeus is last mentioned in the short introductory manga for the Tenkaihen Josou Overture movie, authored by Masami Kurumada. In it, Eagle Marin's brother, Icaros Touma, receives an order to descend to Earth to kill Athena's Saints as divine retribution. Touma asks then who has issued such order, wondering if it has come from Zeus, the Sovereign of Heavens himself.

Kurumada also revealed an early concept sketch for Zeus he drew, and that was published in the Saint Seiya Encyclopedia. This sketch, included in this article, is the only existing sample of the possible appearance that Kurumada will give to Zeus if he appears officially.

In Chapter 79 of the Episode G: Assassin spinoff, Zeus reveals that Aiolia is his true host, his second legitimate body that was born only to serve as his receptacle, unlike Shun that Hades chose erroneously as host, Aiolia is the true receptacle of Zeus, just as Alone is of Hades. He takes control of Leo Aiolia and confronts a heavily injured Sagittarius Aiolos. Aiolia briefly regains control over his body in a way similar to how Andromeda Shun did during the Hades Arc – it is during this time that he strikes himself through the chest and asks Aiolos to kill him before Zeus can regain control. Zeus' exact motivations for attacking Aiolos and possibly other characters are not yet clear.

In Lost Canvas, Zeus is quoted by Enceladus during his resurrection inside Mount Etna before his fight against Taurus Rasgado and Cor Tauri, where the giant expresses that he will free the Clan of the Giants imprisoned by the king of the gods and Athena in order to start a new Gigantomachia. The king of the gods turns to be mentioned when Shion as the Pope, narrates to Taurus Teneo about Gigantomaquia.