Nightmare (Marvel Comics)
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Nightmare is a fictional character, a supernatural being who has appeared in many Marvel Comics stories, most commonly as one of Doctor Strange's major enemies.
[edit] History
He is the evil ruler of a 'dream dimension', where tormented humans are brought during their sleep, and that he roams on his black unicorn, Dreamstalker (possibly a mare, and thus a pun on his name: Night Mare.) He appears as a chalk-white man with wild, green hair, and wearing a green bodysuit and a ragged cape.
The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in Strange Tales #110 (July, 1963), the very same issue where the Master of the Mystic Arts first appeared.
Nightmare is a demon from the dimension Everinnye, like his "cousin", the Dweller-in-Darkness. Nightmare is dependent on the human race's need to dream. Without this ability, Nightmare would cease to exist, but humanity would go insane. At one point Strange and Nightmare had to join forces to prevent that from happening (in Doctor Strange (vol.2) # 53).
He did run afoul of Spider-Man, Captain America, Ghost Rider, and the Hulk on different occasions.
Nightmare once joined the Fear Lords, a group of supernatural creatures who fed on fear, to attack Dr. Strange together. But their plans were undone when D'spayre tricked him into competing with the Dweller-in-Darkness over who could frighten humanity more. (Dr. Strange vol.3 #40)
Nightmare is the father of the Dreamqueen, a similar but lesser being who rules her own "dream dimension".
Nightmare's realm is NOT part of The Mindscape, but the Sleepwalkers are aware of him and consider him an enemy.
Because Sleepwalkers do not have to sleep, Nightmare has never been able to affect or dominate them. He sought to do this through the hero Sleepwalker. He sent Sleepy (as he is called by his fans) back to The Mindscape with a monitor that would allow Sleepwalker to see that Nightmare was keeping up his end of the deal (not harming the human). In reality he intended Sleepy to witness the torment he planned to unleash on Sleepwalker's human "host," therefore driving Sleepy mad, and giving him some semblance of influence over the Sleepwalkers and the Mindscape. Sleepy was not fooled and sacrificed his return home for just one human's good night's sleep.
Neil Gaiman's famous version of the DC comics character The Sandman, draws inspiration from Nightmare, though Gaiman's Sandman is a mostly benevolent entity, unlike Nightmare. Note also that during the period of Sandman's popularity, Marvel had Nightmare star in a mini-series with a similar style (Nightmare: A Killer of a Love Story).
[edit] Ultimate Nightmare
In Ultimate Spider-Man, Nightmare appeared as a demon who entered Doctor Strange's mind and plagued it with nightmares. When Spider-Man entered the building Nightmare moved to Spider-Man's mind and plagued him with nightmares. Doctor Strange eventually entered Spider-Man's mind via a spell and vanquished the demon Nightmare. Nightmare can shape shift into different forms based on the victim's memories. His main appearance was as a half-rotted, grey corpse.
