Brother Blood
Brother Blood is the name of two fictional comic book characters in the DC Universe. The first Brother Blood debuted in New Teen Titans vol. 1 #21 (1982), and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.[1]
Fictional character biography
First Blood
The first Brother Blood encountered by the Titans was the eighth to bear the title. Seven hundred years earlier, a priest in the fictional nation of Zandia named Brother Sebastian killed another priest to gain possession of what he believed to be Christ's prayer shawl. The shawl gave him invulnerability and reduced his aging, but the priest he killed cursed him to be slain by his son before his hundredth birthday. Upon doing so, his son became the second Brother Blood. He, in turn was killed by his son, and this continued for seven centuries.[1]
The eighth Brother Blood was, seemingly, the first who wished to extend the Church of Blood beyond Zandia. He wanted the Church to be a world power. The Church of Blood began operating in America, and the Titans were called to investigate when an ex-girlfriend of Cyborg attempted to escape this cult. Because of the Church of Blood's influence, the Titans found moving against him difficult, especially when public opinion was turned against them by a reporter who was a member of the Church.
Brother Blood brainwashed Nightwing, and attempted to take control of Raven's power. It was the latter who defeated him, as his mind was seemingly destroyed (Vol. 2 Issue 31). His wife, Mother Mayhem, later gave birth to a girl, suggesting the curse was over.
Second Blood
Some time later, in Outsiders (vol. 3), Brother Blood returned to villainy.[2] However, shortly after recreating his cult, he was killed by a young boy, Sebastian, claiming to be the new Brother Blood.[3] This version reappeared in Teen Titans vol. 3.
This teenaged Brother Blood seemingly based all his decisions on advice from Mother Mayhem, but this was actually a female cultist chosen at random and killed if the advice was not what he wanted to hear. He also exhibited vampiric abilities.
He revealed that the Cult of Blood was based on the worship of Trigon the Terrible. It was for this reason that the new Bride of Blood was to be Raven. The Titans were able to save Raven, but the Church of Blood continued. Brother Blood later appeared in Teen Titans #30, where he claimed an undead Lilith Clay to be his mother. He also summoned the first Hawk and Dove, Phantasm, Kole, and Aquagirl from the dead to be his own Teen Titans. Brother Blood was stopped by Kid Eternity and sent to the eighth level of Hell, but not before he summoned the past Brother Bloods, all of which took out their anger and hatred on Sebastian.{{Issue|date=\ In the aftermath of the "Reign In Hell" miniseries, Blood, now an adult, escaped from his incarceration, and was opposed by Kid Eternity. The fight between the two brought them to Titans Tower, where Blood fought the Titans. After draining Red Devil's powers, Blood realised that he had tainted himself with Neron's influence, and fled the battle. He was later seen approaching an unknown woman, looking to make her his new Mother .[4]
Some time later, the Secret Six were hired to infiltrate one of Blood's cults and rescue a wealthy teenager who had been forced into the group against his will. After the team's cover was blown, they proceeded to kill a number of the church's members and ultimately destroy their compound.[5]
Powers and abilities
The first Blood is a formidable opponent who is backed by a massive number of fanatical followers. He is an expert manipulator who feeds off of the faith of his members. He ages at a much slower rate than normal humans. Brother Blood is immune to Raven's soul-self due to his shawl's powers.
The second Blood's powers work similar to those of a vampire: he gains strength from blood, and can take on the abilities of anyone whose blood he has sampled. Like the first Blood, he is backed by a massive number of fanatical followers.
Other versions
Flashpoint
In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Brother Blood is mentioned by his former Jason Todd that he is developing drug lord.[6]
In other media
Television
- Brother Blood appears in the Teen Titans animated series, voiced by John DiMaggio, as the main antagonist of Season 3. In the show, Brother Blood is the charismatic - and sadistic - Headmaster of the H.I.V.E. Academy. Though he has a few comical moments, he's considerably more fiendish than most of the other villains in the series, except for Slade and Trigon. His powers are very different from his comic book incarnation, he is a powerful psychic who mind controls his students to keep them under his thrall. Blood is shown using his psychic powers for a variety of other purposes as well, such as producing deadly force bolts, teleportation, energy shields, telekinesis, or altering perception. He also claims to have a photographic memory. In his first appearance, he displayed the ability to make Cyborg believe he transformed Cyborg's metal hand into flesh, though this only fooled the organic side of his brain; Cyborg's mechanical sensors saw through the trick. In addition, Blood displays formidable fighting skills. Because Cyborg was immune to his mind control, Blood developed something of a rivalry with him, even though he easily defeated Cyborg in most of their fights since he knew all of his weakspots. Brother Blood's first appearance in the episode "Deception" in which a disguised Cyborg is spying on the H.I.V.E. Blood is aware of his true identity and offers to make him human if he serves him. In the end Cyborg shows that he is immune to Blood's mind control because half of his brain is mechanical, and destroys the entire H.I.V.E. Academy thanks to a power upgrade provided by Blood. However, the H.I.V.E had downloaded Cyborg's blueprints when the latter hacked into the H.I.V.E computers, allowing Brother Blood to know Cyborg's weaknesses; in the episode "Wavelength", Brother Blood has utilized Cyborg's sonic cannon schematics to build a massive underwater sonic resonator strong enough to wipe out Jump City (the Titans' home base in the TV continuity). Although the plot is foiled and Cyborg's blueprints are taken back, Brother Blood later reveals that he possesses a photographic memory, thus, he remembers every detail of the blueprints. Brother Blood's final appearance, except for the two part episode Titans Together in which he appears in the background, is in the two-part episode "Titans East"; he takes control over the minds of Aqualad, Bumblebee, Más y Menos, and Speedy and has them re-build the Titans East tower into his new headquarters. Blood also converts himself into a cyborg to enhance his mental abilities and plans to turn the Titans East into cyborgs as well so he can control them completely. Brother Blood confronts Cyborg in a final fight. Even though Blood smashes both of his arms and legs, he is ultimately defeated by Cyborg when the hero reveals that it is actually his human spirit that enables him to defy Blood's control. He also manages to tap into Blood's mental powers, repairing the damage the villain had inflicted on him in their fight. Producer/writer David Slack stated saying: "In the end, we tried to make him the anti-Slade. Where Slade hides in the shadows, Brother Blood loves the spotlight. Slade always has some ulterior motive, Brother Blood will tell you what he's planning right away. So there's some contrast there. [...]We weren't even sure we'd get to use that name. I think what was important that we kept was that he was the leader of a cult. We kept that role and drew inspiration from cult leaders we read about. They are very charming seeming people. From that, we gave him this sort of 'power of temptation' - this ability to control people's perceptions. And the power of persuasion. We didn't get too deep into the character from the comics, because so much of it was so outside of what we'd be able to do. He's definitely one where we've strayed more." [7]
Video games
- Brother Blood appears in DC Universe Online. Brother Blood and his cult attempt to bring Trigon to Earth by raising the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins. Brother Blood is defeated by the players and the Sentinels of Magic. He is served by Clerics, Minions of Envy, Minions of Gluttony, Minions of Greed, Minions of Lust, Minions of Sloth, Minions of Wrath, Paladins, Priests, an Exarch of Gluttony, and an Exarch of Wrath.
References
- ^ a b Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Brother Blood", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, London: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 62, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5
- ^ Outsiders (vol. 3) #4 (November 2003)
- ^ Outsiders (vol. 3) #6 (January 2004)
- ^ Teen Titans (vol. 3) #67
- ^ Secret Six (vol. 3) #19
- ^ Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint #2 (July 2011)
- ^ Teen Titans: Characters
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