| Ulysses Bloodstone | |
|---|---|
Ulysses Bloodstone Promotional Art |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Marvel Presents #1 (Oct. 1975) |
| Created by | Len Wein Marv Wolfman John Warner |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Unrevealed |
| Species | Human (empowered) |
| Team affiliations | Monster Hunters "Avengers" (1959) |
| Notable aliases | Ulysses Bloodstone, Captain Achab, Redstone Kid |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength, immortality |
Ulysses Bloodstone is a fictional character, an immortal monster-hunter in the Marvel Universe.
Contents |
John Warner has explained the development of Ulysses Bloodstone: "Len Wein and Marv Wolfman came up with the spark that would become Bloodstone—the premise of a man who fights monsters—and together he [sic] and I began to develop a series idea to take up ten pages of Where Monsters Dwell." [1] Mike Vosburg was the artist assigned to the first installment, and then Pat Boyette was to do the rest of the series. Warner developed ideas for the ongoing story describing the planned ideas as "grand and epic and sweeping in scope" and "very cosmic and complex."[1] Unfortunately, Where Monsters Dwell was cancelled at the same time as The Living Mummy, another title Warner was working on.
However, he was informed that he'd get the chance to run part of the story in the first two issues of a new title, Marvel Presents. The first two parts were finished and would run in issue one and Warner had to draw everything to a satisfactory close in the second issue. He says "in the first two episodes I had laid the groundwork for this grand sweeping epic ... and all of a sudden I had to tie it off in eighteen pages"[1] This left a lot of story untold and he could only introduce two of the characters he wanted to bring in, Brad Carter and P.D.Q. Warner. Due to the delays Boyette wasn't available for the second issue, which was drawn by Sonny Trinidad.
Most of the rest of the planned stories would appear in the back-up story in The Rampaging Hulk (1977) which led up to Bloodstone's death. This was told in #8, after the feature was replaced in #7 by an unrelated feature, and now written by Steve Gerber rather than Warner. Other parts of his history would be told through flashbacks in titles like Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (1999), and more of the background to his death was filled-in by The Bloodstone Hunt storyline in the regular Captain America comic (1989). His adventures with the Monster Hunters were told in Marvel Universe (1998) and Marvel: The Lost Generation (2000).
In the Hyborian Age, a meteorite landed on Earth in Northern Vanaheim on the European continent, circa 8250 B.C. It was controlled by an entity called the Hellfire Helix, who wanted to take over the world. To that end, it sent its agent, Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn, to get the meteorite and find a host for it. However, a local human hunter/gatherer found the rock, and fought Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn. In the fight, the meteor was smashed, a part of it (also called the Bloodgem) was imbedded in the human's chest, and the explosion killed the human's tribe. The human vowed revenge on Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn. Because of the gem in his chest, he became immortal, and later became known as Ulysses Bloodstone.
Ulysses Bloodstone was one of the most successful mercenaries in the world. His long life allowed him to assemble a vast fortune, which he used to set up a series of outposts, fully staffed and equipped, in various corners of the world. He gained mastery of most of the world's weaponry, and a large portion of the world's martial arts and languages.
Over the next 10,000 years, Bloodstone would travel all over the world, looking for Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn. As a result, by the 20th century he had become immensely wealthy, and could speak most of the world's languages. In his hunt for Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn, he had become a mercenary, adventurer, and soldier-of-fortune, proficient with most of the world's weaponry. Because of Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn's ability to summon monsters, Bloodstone gained a reputation as a monster hunter.
Sometime in the 1930s, he battled Nosferatu and his clan of vampires.[2] In 1933, he gained a sidekick: Fat Cobra, who later became one of the Immortal Weapons.[3] He embarked on a series of adventures with him that took them to the far corners of the globe, traveling to the Savage Land and Monster Island and fighting Mole People and Fin Fang Foom.[3] In the 1950s, he became a member of the Monster Hunters whom he was a part of until they disbanded.[4]
Bloodstone met two future allies, Brad Carter and P.D.Q. Warner,[5] who seek giant humanoid monsters to battle.[6] A fight between Possessor and Bloodstone occurred during this time in which he was able to defeat his foe with the help of the Bloodgem.[6] He battled the giant undersea humanoid monster Goram while seeking another Bloodstone fragment.[7] Goram was subdued by the technology of Bloodstone Island, and then Ulysses Bloodstone fought Killer Shrike.[8] Bloodstone met Iron Man, then battled Goram and his master Centurius.[9][10] Bloodstone then met Ullux'l Kwan Tae Syn on the astral plane.[11] Bloodstone petitioned the United Nations to recognize the sovereignty of Bloodstone Island, and then battled Sharzan the Elemental.[12]
Bloodstone's vendetta against the Hellfire Helix ended when the truth came out: the Hellfire Helix had needed a host, and had chosen Bloodstone. As Bloodstone and Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn had fought, the Helix had assembled a group called "The Conspiracy" to reassemble the meteor and gain control of Bloodstone. Bloodstone battled the Conspiracy, but they defeated him. The life-sustaining gem fragment was surgically removed from his chest by Conspiracy member Dr. Juden Bardham. The Conspiracy thought they would become immortal, but the Helix killed them to reassemble the gem. Bloodstone's body managed to kill the gem-monster Ullux’l Kwan Tae Syn and prevent the Helix from coming to Earth by vanquishing the Hellfire Helix on the astral plane. His body then withered and died.[13]
Bloodstone's skeleton was later revealed to be in the possession of the American Museum of Natural History.[14] The Hellfire Helix was later revealed to have survived, and possessed the corpse of the first Baron Zemo, which disappeared down an inactive volcano in Japan.[15]
The namesake of Ulysses Bloodstone later restored Frankencastle back to the Punisher after a particularly damaging fight with Daken and Wolverine,[16] Castle keeping the Bloodstone for a time before he was convinced to discard it as it was beginning to affect his judgement, causing him to consider shooting those who might commit crimes rather than allowing him to retain his resolve to only kill the guilty.
The daughter of Ulysses, Elsa was the star of her own mini-series, simply titled Bloodstone.
The mystic Bloodstone fragment embedded in Bloodstone's chest emanates magical energy which increases his physical strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and senses to superhuman levels. The Bloodstone also provides vast regenerative capabilities that enable him to rapidly regenerate damaged or destroyed bodily tissue with much greater speed and efficiency than an ordinary human. The more extensive the injury, the longer it takes for him to fully heal. Bloodstone's healing ability is sufficiently developed to regrow severed limbs, which he has done at least once. On this occasion, Bloodstone enters a state of self-induced hibernation which lasts about 10 years. Aside from his greatly enhanced healing, the Bloodgem renders Bloodstone virtually immortal in the sense that he is immune to the effects of aging and to all known diseases. Bloodstone's life is dependent upon the presence of the fragment. As a result, Bloodstone doesn't require food, water, or air to survive. However, if he is forcefully separated from the gem, he will die.
Aside from his physical attributes, the Bloodstone provides him certain psionic abilities. He possesses a kind of invisible third eye on his forehead that allows him to see human auras, which allows him to see people even in total darkness, and the ability to travel onto the astral plane. Bloodstone also possesses some degree of telekinesis, the limits of which aren't known. He also has the ability to psychokinetically detonate certain explosives.
Bloodstone's greatly extended lifespan has afforded him many lifetimes' worth of time to study virtually anything he wishes to learn. Thus, he has a high degree in expertise in virtually all forms of armed and unarmed combat. In the modern era, he uses a variety of different weapons including high caliber firearms, swords, and knives. He carries a specially-designed sawed-off shotgun whose shells he could detonate mentally, as well as a stainless steel Bowie knife and .45 caliber handguns. He wears a flak jacket with storage pouches for a variety of weapons and ammunition.
In the alternate future of Earth X, in the afterlife Ulysses joins with dozens of other deceased heroes in attempt to stop the genocidal plans of Mephisto and Thanos.
Ulysses Bloodstone also appeared in Nextwave in many flashbacks relating to his daughter's training and is shown acting out of character - for example, Ulysses creates a robot tutor for Elsa that uses torture to teach her. In another incident, Ulysess throws a baby Elsa into battle against a monster. In 2006 Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada stated that "for the time being" Nextwave was to be considered set in a universe separate from the main Marvel continuity.[17] More recently Nextwave has been partially integrated with the Marvel Universe when someone dressed like the Nextwave version of Monica Rambeau was seen being deported back to Earth-A, from where people had been arriving on superhero vacation packages.[18][19] Furthermore, several characters in the Nextwave book, not including Elsa herself, appeared in other books, referring to some events of the series as actually canon. Civil War: Battle Damage Report[20] suggests that Nextwave adventures actually happened, but due to mental conditions and drug treatments given to the main characters, they were in a constant delusional state, accounting for the weird memories Elsa displays of her father.
Major appearances include:
Stories featuring him that have been collected into trade paperbacks include: