Abraham Whistler
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Abraham Whistler is a fictional character from the Marvel Comics universe. He is a vampire hunter and mentor to Blade. Screenwriter David Goyer created him for the 1998 movie Blade (played by Kris Kristofferson), but appeared on screen first in a 1996 episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series voiced by Malcolm McDowell. He appeared in the comic books after the cartoon and movies, and in 2006 appeared in the Blade: The Series television show.
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[edit] Movie history
In the first film it is revealed that Whistler lost his wife and two daughters to an attack by a vampire who had arrived at their home posing as a drifter. Whistler was beaten and tortured, being forced to choose which one of his family died first. These events shaped his hatred of vampires and his mission to destroy as many as he could. Whistler is a weapons expert and master of several martial arts, having a part in creating many of Blade's weapons. When he discovered a thirteen year old Blade on the streets preying on the homeless, he took him under his wing. Realising that he was half human and lacked the vampires normal weaknesses with the exception of their thirst, he developed a serum to supress the vampiric lust for blood.
Deacon Frost, an ambitious vampire whom Whistler and Blade had been tracking, located their base and attacked Whistler, infecting him with vampirism. After informing Blade of Frost's plan to resurrect an ancient vampire god, Blade puts his gun into Whistler's hand, Whistler demanding that he walks away. Whistler seemingly commits suicide, although this is not seen on camera, just the gunshot is heard.
It is revealed in the second film that Whistler was kidnapped by another gang of vampires before he was able to commit suicide and taken to the Czech Republic. Killing all but one of the vampires responsible for his imprisonment Blade frees him, taking him to Prague and injecting him with the "cure". Later in the film it is Whistler who discovers the true origin of the "reaper" virus. Whistler is nearly beaten and killed by a member of the vampire Bloodpack named Chupa (Played by Matt Schulze ), but manages to spray him with reaper pheremones, attracting the reapers which then feed on Chupa. Whistler is nearly killed by the leader, Reinhardt (Played by Ron Perlman ), but beats the vampire unconscious. Blade then kills Reinhardt before the film ends.
In the third film, Blade is framed for the murder of several humans (who were in fact familiars being used as bait). Blade, now in the public eye and wanted by the FBI, is hunted down. In a raid on their new hideout, Whistler sets the self destruct mechanism and seemingly dies in an explosion. He is not seen or heard of afterwards (although Drake took the form of Whistler when he attached the Nightstalkers).
Whistler fathered a daughter out of wedlock or before marriage. This daughter was Abigail Whistler who eventually tracked down her natural father and asked to be trained as a vampire hunter. Whistler trained her, although he trained her separately from Blade who was totally unaware that Whistler had any protegees other than himself. Whistler also set Abigail up as the leader of one of the many Nightstalker units he had secretly founded. It is assumed that these units were set up because one man (or half-vampire) is not enough to destroy an entire species. Also, since Blade is not immortal (he will eventually die from old age), Whistler did not want the war to die with him.
[edit] Blade: The Series history
In Blade: The Series, which takes place after Blade: Trinity, the writers go into Whistler's background a little more. In the episode "Sacrifice", we learn that Whistler got his trademark limp from a young Blade, who escaped his father's house and broke Whistler's leg in an attempt to get away from him. Blade's father called Whistler in at the urging of a helpful policeman, and Whistler tested him to learn that he was not a regular vampire. He asked Blade's father to give him the boy to use as a weapon against vampires, but Blade ran away before a decision was made. After Blade joined and turned a street gang called the "Bad Bloods", Whistler found him and ashed several members of the gang before taking Blade under his wing.
[edit] Whistler's place in comics continuity
Abraham Whistler's place in the traditional Marvel Comics continuity is uncertain as he was created specifically for the movies. Also, the comics have established Jamal Afari as Blade's childhood tutor who eventually became a vampire himself forcing Blade to kill him.
Whistler may be loosely based on "Bible John" Carik, a character appearing in Marvel's 1994-1995 Blade series. Bible John, while not exactly a mentor to the already seasoned Blade, did serve as an advisor as well as a source of exotic weapons and information on vampire lore. Bible John also had the same long- haired, disshevelled appearance as Whistler as portrayed by Kris Kristofferson, with the exception of being covered head to toe with crucifix tattoos.
[edit] Note
Although Whistler's first media appearance is the Spider-Man animated series in 1996, he was created by David Goyer, writer of the 1998 film and the writers of the cartoon used the character for their own use [1].
