Lilith (Marvel Comics)

Lilith is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The first of these two to appear was Lilith, the daughter of Dracula. Like her father, she is also a vampire, although her powers and weaknesses differ from most other vampires. She first appeared in Giant-Size Chillers featuring Curse of Dracula #1 (June, 1974) drawn by artist Gene Colan.

The second is a demon sorceress who is known as the "Mother of All Demons". She first appeared in Ghost Rider, Vol. 2, issue 28 (August, 1992).^[1]

Dracula's daughter

Publication history

Lilith, the daughter of Dracula, first appeared in Giant-Size Chillers featuring Curse of Dracula #1 (June 1974), and was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan.^[1] Most of her solo appearances were written by Steve Gerber, who would later use a supporting character he created for these stories, Martin Gold, in The Legion of Night.

The character subsequently appeared in Vampire Tales #6 (August 1974), The Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 #23 (August 1974), The Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 #25 (October 1974), #28 (January 1975), Dracula Lives! #10-11 (January-March 1975), Marvel Preview #12 (September 1977), The Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 #60 (September 1977), Marvel Preview #16 (June 1978), The Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 #66-67 (September-November 1978), The Tomb of Dracula vol. 2 #3 (February 1980), 5-6 (June, August 1980), Uncanny X-Men Annual #6 (1982), and her apparent "death" occurred in Dr. Strange vol. 2 #62 (December 1983). She made a posthumous appearance in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #9 (November 1989).

Lilith returned years later in Ghost Rider vol. 3 #82-85 (February-May 1997), Spider-Man Unlimited vol. 2 #20 (May 1998), Dracula: Lord of the Undead #1-3 (December 1998), Witches #2 (August 2004), Nick Fury's Howling Commandos #2-6 (January-May 2006), and Legion of Monsters: Morbius #1 (September 2007).

Lilith received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #18, and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Horror 2005.

Fictional character biography

Lilith is Dracula's oldest child, and is his only child by his first wife, Zofia, who was forced on Dracula by his father. After Dracula's father died, he renounced Zofia and forced her and their infant daughter to leave Castle Dracula so that he could marry the woman he truly loved. Lilith was raised by Gypsies to whom she had been entrusted after her mother's suicide. Lilith's foster-mother was the gypsy Gretchin. When Lilith was a young girl, Dracula, now a vampire, attacked and murdered Gretchin's son Arni, enraging her into seeking revenge. She cast a spell upon Lilith to make her into a vampire, but one with rather different powers: unlike conventional Marvel Comics vampires, she did not fear holy symbols, and was not harmed at all by being out in the daylight. As part of the curse, she would haunt Dracula, ever opposing him, until Dracula was finally, irrevocably destroyed. Whenever she was "killed", she would reappear by taking over the body of a woman who hated her father and wished for his death; this included the ability to shift forms and clothing between Lilith's own form and that of her "hostess".

Lilith normally appeared, when in her own form, as a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair and a family resemblance to Dracula, dressed in a skin-tight costume with a bat-like ornament in her hair. As a vampire, she could change forms into a wolf, a bat, or mist, and had limited control over weather, as well as the ability to command wolves, bats, and rats. Although she can drink blood, she is not dependent upon it for sustenance.

In the modern era, Lilith's spirit possessed a woman named Angel O'Hara, who had come to hate her father when he accidentally killed her husband. Lilith killed Angel's father, but allowed her to live her life when Lilith was not using their shared body. Angel was eventually physically separated from Lilith by Viktor Benzel, a distant descendant of Gretchin; Viktor created separate bodies for Angel and Lilith.

At one point, Lilith and Dracula agreed to avoid each other, but the agreement broke down. When Dracula was stripped of his vampiric powers toward the end of the 70-issue The Tomb of Dracula story-arc, he asked Lilith to bite him and restore him to vampirism, only to be refused. In an issue of The Tomb of Dracula magazine that soon followed, Lilith and Dracula fought once more, and Dracula revealed to Lilith that the curse that made her his eternal nemesis also prevented her from being able to actually kill him. Lilith was destroyed along with her father and the rest of Earth's vampires when Doctor Strange used the Darkhold's Montesi Formula to eliminate vampirism.^[2] The Montesi Formula eventually weakened, and both Lilith and her father returned to life. Lilith subsequently appeared as Dracula's antagonist in the three-issue Dracula: Lord of the Undead limited series in 1998 and agent of Nick Fury's Howling Commandos in 2005.

Mother of All Demons

The demon Lilith is an ancient demon goddess and sorceress. She gives birth to demons called the Lilin which have lives of their own, but always remain obedient to their mother.

Fictional character biography

Lilith is an immortal who had lived in the city of pre-cataclysmic Atlantis, one of its few survivors. Over the centuries, she gave birth to many of her children – (the Lilin) – including Creed, Pilgrim, Fang, Doc, Meatmarket, Skinner, and Nakota. Trapped in the leviathan Tiamat by Atlantean sorcerers, she used her vast magics to influence outside affairs. While thus imprisoned, she encountered Dan Ketch's spirit, and then appeared in a vision to Blackout.^[3]

Lilith was finally released from her ancient imprisonment by two unknowing scientist explorers. Discovering that her Lilin children had been scattered across the dimensions centuries ago and that many of them were destroyed by Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze, she soon made enemies of them. She recruited the Lilin and Blackout, and sent Blackout, Creed, and Pilgrim to abduct John Blaze's son, Craig Blaze.^[4] She sent the Lilin Fang to attack Morbius.^[5] She witnessed Ghost Rider and John Blaze's battle with Steel Vengeance.^[6] Alongside the Lilin, she abducted Doris Ketch, Jack D'Auria, and Arthur and Stacy Dolan.^[7] She transformed the Darkholders' ninjas and sent them to kill Victoria Montesi. Alongside the Lilin, she battled Ghost Rider, John Blaze, and the Darkhold Redeemers.^[8] She then sent the Lilin Skinner to attack Ghost Rider and John Blaze.^[9] She then hired the Nightstalkers to kill Ghost Rider and John Blaze.^[10] Alongside the Lilin, she again battled Ghost Rider, John Blaze, Morbius, the Nightstalkers, and the Darkhold Redeemers.^[11]

After many attempts to kill the two, her enemies list grew to include Doctor Strange, Morbius the Living Vampire, the Witches, the Nightstalkers and the Midnight Sons. In her first attempt she and most of her children were killed. Many months later her children were reborn with the assistance of Meatmarket, a child Lilith did not expect would help her. This time they are allied with Centurious, the man without a soul.^[12] Their goal was to claim the mystical artifact called the Medallion of Power, and kill its inheritors, John Blaze, Daniel Ketch, and Vengeance. Lilith and her offspring betrayed Centurious and allied with his most hated enemy, Zarathos. However the Midnight Sons banished Lilith and her offspring to the shadowside. Zarathos was later turned into stone and killed. Lilith returned to the stoned Zarathos saying she abandoned her old offspring and replaced it with his offspring, promising vengeance for the both of them.

Lilith was one of several demonic beings imprisoned within Avalon at the start of the Secret Invasion, but was then freed by Pete Wisdom during Captain Britain and MI3's battle with the Skrulls.^[13] Lilith subsequently joins Satannish and the other freed creatures in killing the invading Skrulls, after hearing them state that any magical creatures that do not serve the Skrulls will not be tolerated.^[14] She later joins Dracula's inner circle as he plans to invade the United Kingdom.^[15]

Powers and abilities

Lilith's powers include superhuman strength, durability, and stamina. She has a vast ability to manipulate the forces of magic for a variety of effects, including energy manifestations and others as yet unrevealed. Additionally she is able to summon her demon children to Earth's dimension and the more demons she "births" the more her physical strength increases.^[16]

Video games

• Lilith is mentioned in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance when the player asks Vision about who resides in Mephisto's Realm.
• Lilith is a Boss in the Ghost Rider video game voiced by Carolyn Hennesy. In the game, she controls a train and uses it to haul Blackheart's body.

References

External links

• Lilith (disambiguation) at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Lilith (Daughter of Dracula) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Lilith (Mother of Demons) at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Lilith at the Marvel Database Project