Elsa Bloodstone

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Elsa Bloodstone
Elsa Bloodstone from Bloodstone #1, art by Michael Lopez.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Bloodstone #1, (Dec. 2001)
Created by	Dan Abnett (writer) Andy Lanning (writer) Michael Lopez (artist)
In story information
Alter ego	Elsa Bloodstone
Species	Unknown
Team affiliations	Nextwave
Abilities	Superhuman strength, Accelerated healing factor, Immunity to vampire bites, Skilled fighter

Elsa Bloodstone is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She first appears in Marvel's Bloodstone mini-series of 2001 written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.

As she is a young, female monster-hunter there are potential similarities with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although when asked about this the authors said "neither of us have seen an episode of Buffy all the way through! I know we're missing out on some great TV but we've determined to steer clear of Buffy at least while we're doing Bloodstone."^[1]

Contents 1 Publication history 2 Fictional character biography 2.1 Bloodstone 2.2 Nextwave 3 Mainstream contradictions 4 Powers, abilities and equipment 5 Other versions 5.1 Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas 5.2 Marvel Zombies 6 Bibliography 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Publication history

Elsa appeared as the lead character in the Bloodstone miniseries and later appeared as a team member in the Nextwave series.

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] Bloodstone

Beautiful and feisty Elsa Bloodstone is the daughter of famous monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone. Following her parents' breakup when she was two years old, Elsa accompanied her mother across Europe. Despite never knowing her father, Elsa remained curious about him. Though ignorant of her father's career, she was plagued by dreams about vampires and other creatures of the night. Shortly after Elsa's 18th birthday, Ulysses died and left his Boston home (the Bloodstone House) to Elsa and her pregnant mother, along with all of its contents, accumulated during his millennia of adventures. Arriving in Boston, Elsa encountered several unique individuals affiliated with her father: Charles Barnabus, a pureblood vampire lawyer and executor of the estate; the clerk Mr. Dluga, his teenage son Tomas and his vampire-hating grandfather Papa Dluga; and Adam, the caretaker of the house. Actually the Frankenstein Monster, Adam helped indoctrinate Elsa into her true heritage, offering her the mystic Bloodstone Choker which bonded with and empowered Elsa. Adam also gave her other items from her father's collection, including a mystic lamp that contained a captured djinn ("genie") and served as an early-warning detection system, glowing whenever a mystical threat was active in the world. Using the lamp, Elsa encountered Dracula in Bosnia and later helped the Living Mummy defeat the resurrected Egyptian necromancer Rakses. Elsa then became embroiled in a Nosferati vampire plot to infect Dracula, Barnabus and other pureblood vampires with a virus, turning them into an eternal source of nourishment for the Nosferati. Elsa confronted Nosferatu himself, her Bloodstone Choker destroying the vampire when he tried to bite her. After those events, Elsa and her mother had elected to remain at Bloodstone House, turning it into a curiosity shop run by her mother while Elsa continues exploring the family vocation of monster hunting in between college classes.

[edit] Nextwave

Elsa elected to suspend her college studies upon being recruited by Dirk Anger of H.A.T.E. to fight Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction (UWMD) alongside Monica Rambeau, Tabitha Smith, Aaron Stack, and The Captain (Nextwave). Shortly after this recruiting Elsa and her teammates found H.A.T.E to be funded by the Beyond Corporation, which is in fact a terrorist organization. Using the stolen Marketing Plan of the Beyond Corporation, the Nextwave squad traveled across the country destroying hidden UWMDs which included Fin Fang Foom, Mindless Ones, and Forbush Man (although many of these may have been a type of clone, as the Beyond Corporation has shown ability to grow its own foot soldiers and super-beings).

After the apparent destruction of the creative power behind the Beyond Corporation, Elsa and the rest of Nextwave team then joined up as part of Iron Man and the government's Fifty States Initiative. Elsa has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear to have signed the Superhuman Registration Act and become part of the the Initiative.^[2].

[edit] Mainstream contradictions

In Nextwave, Elsa states she comes from "a line of near-immortal monster hunters", and has been trained since infancy by her father, Ulysses Bloodstone and an android nanny called 'Hate Mother' to fight supernatural evils. However, in Bloodstone, Elsa states that she had no prior training and had not seen her father since she was a toddler, and did not have any memories of him at all. The contradictions between Elsa's past as related in Bloodstone and her past as related in the Nextwave has given rise to speculation about whether the Nextwave stories should be seen as occurring in the main Marvel continuity or not.^[3] In contradiction to these earlier statements, recent Marvel publications such as Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Civil War: Battle Damage Report (February 2007) seem to portray Nextwave's activities as occurring in the mainstream Marvel continuity. However, Nextwave's entry in Civil War: Battle Damage Report states: "Recent intelligence suggests some or all Nextwave members unknowingly had their memories and/or personalities altered by their new employers (H.A.T.E.)". The Nextwave entry in Civil War: Battle Damage Report may be evidence of an editorial decision to include the Nextwave team in the main Marvel continuity in a way that provides a plot device to explain away inconsistencies caused by the previous editorial position that Nextwave was set in an alternate universe.

[edit] Powers, abilities and equipment

Elsa has exhibited superhuman strength, speed, durability and endurance, and a regenerative ability. She appears to possess all of the abilities her father once had. In addition, She has demonstrated immunity to vampire bites (her blood will destroy a vampire if consumed and the original Bloodgem fragment itself is anathema to vampires).

In the Bloodstone series, Elsa claimed that she had inherited at least some of the Bloodgem power genetically, but it has also been shown that her powers of strength and invulnerability were bestowed upon her by the Bloodgem fragment she wears on a choker, although she does not appear to be wearing it in Nextwave #8 flashbacks to her childhood training sessions. She has also been portrayed as an expert marksman.

She has been shown to use a removable Bloodgem on a choker as well as a number of artifacts gathered by her father, including a lamp which contained a genie whom Ulysses had enslaved years ago, which served as an early warning system, lighting up during times of supernatural crisis, and transporting him to said crisis. In Nextwave, she carries a guitar case with a false cover, containing two Uzis and a rifle.

[edit] Other versions

[edit] Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas

Elsa is set to appear in the Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas mini-series.

[edit] Marvel Zombies

Elsa Bloodstone along side the other members of Nextwave show up "in a purely superfluous cameo" in the third issue of the Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness to save Ash from a zombified Power Pack, before being "humiliatingly and ruthlessly dispatched off-panel" moments later.

[edit] Bibliography

• Bloodstone #1-4 (2001-2002)
• Nextwave #1-12 (2006)
• Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness #3 (2007)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Marvel Comics - Marvel Universe: Elsa Bloodstone
• Mini-series details