FEAR LORDS

Membership: D'Spayre, Dweller-in-Darkness, Kkallakku, Lurking Unknown, Nightmare, Nox, Straw Man

Purpose: Conquering Earth and ruling by fear

Affiliations: See individual entries

Enemies: Clea, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Mephisto, Rintrah, Straw Man

Base of Operations: Infinite Embassy;
formerly Halls of Fear - served only as a gathering point, most have their own realms

First Appearance: Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#31/2 (July, 1991)

History: The Fear Lords are a specific subset of gods and demons who fulfill three qualities (according to the Book of the Vishanti):

• "First: The Fear Lord is no lowly demon, such as the denizens of Denak, but a mighty being whose power is measured on a cosmic scale.
• Second: Fear Lords are not motivated by base cravings for human worship or for dominion over lowly creatures, but by desire for the greatest, purest fear--which is sustenance and life itself to them.
• Third: Each Fear Lord is a mystery--his origins, often his very existence--known to few."

(Dr. Strange III#31/2-33/2) - The Dweller in Darkness summoned the other Fear Lords to the Halls of Fear dimension. After detailing their backgrounds to one another, the Dweller convinced them to unite to engulf the earth, and perhaps all the Cosmos in--the Great Fear! The Straw Man, actually a defender of humanity, had no interest in their plot, warned them to leave Earth alone, and left.

(Dr. Strange III#38) - The Straw Man warned Dr. Strange of the Fear Lords' plot. They, along with Clea, were attacked by the Lurking Unknown, but managed to defeat him.

(Dr. Strange III#39) - Nox and Kkallakku unleashed their plots against Earth, but both were defeated by Strange, Clea, and Rintrah.

(Dr. Strange III#40) - D'Spayre played the two remaining, most powerful Fear Lords against each other, planning to throw his power alongside the victor. The Dweller terrorized humanity in the waking world, while Nightmare filled their sleep with...nightmares. The two continued to escalate their assaults to prove their superiority. However, the sustained terror, combined with the fear caused by the other three Fear Lords, pushed humanity too far into fear, and it began to give in to...despair. The Dweller realized his and Nightmare's error too late, as the fear faded from mankind, and D'Spayre swelled to an unforeseen level of power. Nightmare and the Dwellerproved to be at his mercy and fled. Dr. Strange, Clea, Rintrah, the Straw Man, and Daredevil confronted D'Spayre and proved capable of rallying against the despair and driving him off.

(Journey into Mystery I#633) - The Fear Lords met to discuss the Serpent's recent attacks on Earth. Nightmare was not present at the meeting as he planned to harvest the fear left behind by the Serpent for himself.

(Journey into Mystery I#636) - Loki and Leah tricked the Fear Lords into a meeting to tell them about Nightmare's scheme to harvest fear the Serpent brought to Earth in a crown to become the King of Fear resulting in an endless battle over the crown between the Fear Lords in Nightmare's realm.

(Journey into Mystery I#645 (fb) ) - Loki tipped of Mephisto to the predicament of the Fear Lords. Mephisto interfered and overpowered the Dweller-in-Darkness, the current holder, to take the crown for himself. He secured the Fear Lords' alliance and subservience by feedig them a ration of the fear collected by the crown. Mephisto hoped to gain enough power to fill Satan's empty throne eventually.

(Journey into Mystery I#645) - Loki sacrificed his thoughts and dreams to destroy the crown as it had been created hy his mind in the first place. Without the crown the Fear Lords no longer served Mephisto and chased him away.

COMMENTS: Created by Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Larry Alexander

The Dark Man, aka Fear, the Asgardian manifestation of fear, @ Thor I#323, was not considered (or was forgotten) as part of the Fear Lords. I'm sure there are a ton of others who were missed. However, the Book of the Vishanti does specifically state that there are seven Fear Lords--the ones seen in these issues.

D'Spayre and Nightmare are more mainstream characters and get their own entries in the OHotMU and the UOHotMU website.

You can get more info on the Great Fear saga at the individual entries for the Fear Lords.

The Great Fear storyline is the ONLY time I've found D'Spayre to be an entertaining villain. For once he was actually a little complex--until the heroes rallied against their despair and overcame him, as always!!!

The Man without Fear, to me, means no more than "The Invincible" in front of Iron Man--just part of the title. It seems goofy to summon Daredevil to stand up to the Fear Lords, as if he possesses some total immunity to fear.

Could one of the Fear Lords (Dweller-In-Darkness or Nox) have empowered Blazing Skull villain Doctor Fear's mask (Mytic Comics I#8 (March, 1948)). Comics.org synopsis says that he scared citizens to death with his appearance.
--Gammatotem

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:

• The Fearsome Foursome (Devos, Huntara, Klaw, and Paibok the Power Skrull), @ Fantastic Four I#377