Medusa possesses a long, thick head of hair, every strand of which has greater tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and shear resistance than an iron wire of the same thickness, as well as the psychokinetic ability to animate her hair for a number of feats. Her hair, approximately 6 feet in length while relaxed, can elongate to almost twice its normal length with only about a 25% loss of overall tensile strength. One strand of hair, 2-feet long, can support 6.4 pounds, a list-sized lock of hair can support about 750 pounds and her whole head of hair can lift about 3,200 pounds. A portion of her hair must be used to anchor the rest at these greater weights, so that more than her scalp/skull is used as a brace. A psionic field permeates her hair-cells, causing mutual attraction across the gaps between strands. Through concentration, she can psionically move her hair in any manner imaginable. Although she has no nerve endings in her hair, she can "feel" sensations on all parts of her hair by a form of mental feedback from her psionic field.

The actual Medusa was killed by Death, the most dreaded Horseman of the High Lord Apocalypse. This Medusa was concieved and bred on the genetic template of the dead Inhuman royal family using the Terrigen Mists. While En Sabah Nur was recovering from severe wounds suffered during an encounter with the X-Men, Death plotted to take the throne from En Sabah Nur. When he turned over the Terrigen Mists to Apocalypse, Death claimed control of the Horseman while Apocalypse was still at rest. While on his perch on Apocalypse's Celestial Ship, he encountered the very same X-Men who En Sabah Nur was unable to defeat and, along with his army of Inhumans, Medusa included, was able to emerge victorious.

When Nightcrawler began delivering multi-teleportational body blows to Black Bolt, Medusa snagged him with her hair, suffocating the elf to the point where he could not concentrate to teleport out. Medusa nearly killed him, but was interrupted by Sabretooth who came to aid his helpless teammate. Death's plans to usurp Apocalypse's power were thwarted when Cyclops aided Blink in the rescue of the X-Men and the destruction of Ship. Medusa, Death, and the rest of the Inhumans were killed when Sunfire's powers flared out of control and incinerated Ship.