GREGORY RUSSOFF

Real Name: Gregory"Gregor"  Russoff, Baron Russoff

Identity/Class: Human werewolf (Pre-Modern era)

Occupation: Landowner

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Lilia Calderu, Wanda Maximoff, Margali Szardos, Taboo

Enemies: Chthon, Damballah (Josué Koulèv), local villagers

Known Relatives: Grigori Russoff, Baron Russoff; (great, great grandfather, deceased); Baroness Russoff (great, great grandmother, presumably deceased);
    Gregor Russoff (father or grandfather);
    Maria Russoff, Baroness Russoff (mother, deceased);
    Phillip Russell (nee Russoff) (brother);
    Laura Maria Russoff Russell, Baroness Russoff (wife, deceased);
    Jack Russell (formerly Jacob Russoff, son), Lissa Russell (daughter);
    Louisa Russoff, Baroness Russoff (first wife of Grigori)

Aliases: None
    His name has also been spelled Grigory, and is often called Gregor, but I'd prefer to refer to him as Gregory to more easily differentiate him from his ancestors.

Base of Operations: Castle Russoff, Borgo Pass, Transylvania;
    Formerly Mt. Wundagore, Transia

First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight I#2 (February, 1972)

Powers/Abilities: Russoff had some knowledge of the arcane arts via his study of the Darkhold and other such texts.
    As a werewolf, Russoff possessed enhanced human strength, speed, stamina, agility,  reflexes, and senses. His claws could rend anything from flesh to cinderblock and even soft metals. He was immune to most forms of conventional injury; though he could be injured or stunned, he healed rapidly (approximately ten times normal) from most assaults. However, assaults involving silver could cause permanent and/or fatal injuries.

    While wearing the Lunar Pendant, Gregory could turn into werewolf or even full lupine form and retain his own mind.

Hair: Brown (formerly brown, perhaps due to the Lunar Pendant.

History:
(Werewolf by Night I#3 (fb)) - Gregory came into possession of the Darkhold.

(Werewolf by Night I#3 (fb) / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#14: Werewolf / Dr. Strange III#27/2) - Reading of the origins of lycanthropy in the Darkhold under the light of the full moon drew upon the werewolf curse present in his ancestors, transforming Gregory into a werewolf, and transferring the curse to his descendents as well.

(Werewolf by Night I#14 (fb) - BTS / Marvel Spotlight I#2 (fb)) - Gregory met Laura via his brother, Philip, who had previous dated her, when she came to (?)Transylvania(?) on a holiday vacation while she was still a student. The two were married, moved into his family castle.

(Werewolf by Night I#14 (fb) - BTS / Marvel Spotlight I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Philip relocated to the USA and Americanized his name to Russell.

(Mystic Arcana: Scarlet Witch#1/2 (fb) - BTS) - Laura Maria gave Gregory the Lunar Pendant, which enabled him to better control his lupine transformations, as well as to turn fully into a wolf while retaining his own mind. Gregory also allied with Laura Maria's sorceress coven, including Margali Szardos and Lilia Calderu.

(Mystic Arcana: Scarlet Witch#1/2) - Per Laura Maria's guidance, Gregory chased the young Wanda and Pietro Maximoff back to their home on a miller's land. Gregory then returned to Castle Russoff where he met Laura and they made plans for Wanda to meet the sorceress coven. When Taboo and the zobop Damballah interrupted the meeting, intending to obtain the Serpent Crown (which Lilia had mystically summoned from its frozen resting place), Gregory activated the Lunar Pendant, transformed into a werewolf, and attacked Damballah's serpents. The struggle was interrupted by Chthon, who communicated to them from his own realm, banished the Serpent Crown back to its resting place and Damballah back to Haiti (to prevent Set's influence from affecting Wanda, for whom he had plans). Before disappearing, Chthon told all those present that they would bear children of occult significance.
    Gregory spoke with Taboo, learning of his Darkhold copy and wondering if it contained pages missing from the original that might cure him of lycanthropy. Taboo told him there would be a steep price, but that if he agreed they would meet in Istanbul one year from that day to arrange the transfer.

(Werewolf by Night I#14 (fb) - BTS / Marvel Spotlight I#2 (fb)) - Gregory and Laura Maria had a son, Jacob.
    Philip relocated to the USA and Americanized his name to Russell.

(Werewolf by Night I#2 (fb)) - Gregory held his young son upon his lap.

(Marvel Spotlight I#2 (fb)) - After two years of an idyllic life, Laura became pregnant again. By this time, she had begun to grow suspicious of the three days and three nights each month that Gregory would spend locked within the castle's tower.

(Marvel Spotlight I#2 (fb)) - One night lightning struck the tower, shattering its wall, and the werewolf Gregory escaped, making it into the local village and killing its carpenter.
    A group of villagers had discovered evidence that Gregor might be a werewolf. They came to Castle Gregory to confirm their suspicions, claiming to be seeking Gregory's aid against what they believed was a demon, hoping that his knowledge from reading arcane texts would be of some help; they found the tower empty.  The following night a hunting party came across the werewolf Gregory and they shot him down, using silver bullets.

(Marvel Comics Presents#55/2) - Jack Russell used a copy of Lemarchand's Mourning Call scrolls to perform a spell, summoning the spirit of Gregory Russoff. Jack asked him how he could be free of the curse of lycanthropy, but Gregory told him that he could not. Gregory encouraged him to seek communion with his beast and achieve a balance. Gregory also told him something of the origins of lycanthropy and warned him to beware the grandchildren (the Braineaters).

Comments: Created by Gerry Conway and Michael Ploog.

    Oddly enough, Jack Russell's father's death was shown in his first appearance, way back in Marvel Spotlight I#2.  Initial stories discussed Gregor Russoff as having obtained the Darkhold scrolls shortly after World War II (specifically, they mentioned "35 years ago" in a story written in 1972, thus 1947). As time stretched further due to the sliding timescale, Jack's father had to have been older and older to have done this. Then in the Evolutionary War back-ups, Baron Russoff was shown to have been a werewolf around 1930, meaning he would have had to have received the Darkhold prior to 1930, which would be weird, b/c his brother Philip was tied to the modern era and would have to be 50+ years younger than him. Worse, the end of the Evolutionary War showed Baron Russoff being slain by Chthon, and these events were retold over and over again. However, that story took place in the 1958. Jack's father could not have been killed back in the 1950s. Jack Russell turned 18 years old in Werewolf by Night I#18, and so he couldn't have been born back in the 30's (or much after his true father's death).
    Examining the stories over and over again, it became clear that Jack's father and the Baron Russoff who was involved with Wundagore could not be the same guy. Nothing in the stories definitely contradicts this. With the approval of Tom Brevoort, I confirmed that the two were different beings in the OHotMU: Horror 2005: Werewolf entry. Apparently Gregor was a popular family name.

Here's a related parody, courtesy of our own Loki:

Jack, showing someone an old family photo:
"This is my father, Gregor. That's my grandfather, Gregor. My uncle Gregor, my other uncle Gregor, my aunt Gregor, etc. What can I say? The family wasn't very imaginative back then, but at least no one ever forgot your name. Which was handy, because thanks to centuries of inbreeding, they all looked alike. We like to tell people the lycanthropy was a demonically inflicted magical curse, but frankly, given the numbers of cousins who married cousins, I think we got off lightly..."

    Initial stories discussed Gregor Russoff as having obtained the Darkhold scrolls shortly after World War II (specifically, they mentioned "35 years ago" in a story written in 1972, thus 1947). In fact, he has to have received the Darkhold prior to 1930.

According to Werewolf by Night I#13:
    Decades ago Taboo was forced to put his own son, Algon, in "The Spell of Changes", apparently to save his life and..."to alter him." Taboo did this, planning to use the Darkhold to complete the spell. However, the villagers knew of the dark magic practiced by Taboo, and they stormed his castle, destroying his darkling devices. Taboo took the inert form of Algon and fled, while the Darkhold fell into the hands of one of the peasants: Gregor Russoff.
    The Book of the Vishanti back-up in Dr. Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#15 shows Taboo, in Istanbul, selling the Darkhold to Baron Gregor Russoff at the end of World War II. It can't be AFTER WWII as Gregor had to have had the Darkhold and become a werewolf before 1930...unless Gregor's father were Gregor, too, which is even more confusing and certainly unprecedented in the comics.

    According to WwbN#3, the curse of lycanthropy had lain dormant in his ancestor's veins for nigh on eighteen centuries. It was later revealed that his ancestor Grigori had obtained the curse in the 18th century, which is about 1600 years different than originally stated. Perhaps there was another ancestor who became a werewolf @ 200 AD.

For further discussion on the origins of werewolves, see the Wolf-Men of Valusia profile.

Counterpoint by Donald Campbell

• I'm not so happy about the idea that it was that Gregor who rebound the Darkhold scrolls into book form and who activated the werewolf curse by reading from the Darkhold. Aelfric was pretty clear that it was Jack's father who did that. Also, if the hereditary curse HAD been activated in the early 20th Century, why did the later Gregory inherit the curse but his brother Philip didn't? Yes, I suppose it's possible that Philip might not really be a Russoff by blood (maybe his mother Maria cheated on her husband?) but I hesitate to cast aspersions on that poor woman's character if I can avoid it.
      Aelfric was clear on that, but Chthon was equally clear that Baron Russoff cursed his own name with the Darkhold's evil, and he sold Wundagore Mountain to the Drews to finance his dark pursuits. This Darkhold, in book form, is shown in his possessions, and this all takes place prior to the Mount Wundagore business. So the elder Gregor Russoff definitely rebound the Darkhold and cursed his family. Whether it was the earlier Gregor or the later Gregory who transcribed Grigori's diary would have been up for debate, but for now it has been stated that "it would seem more likely that the elder Gregor was the one who transcribed the Darkhold into the diary." It's unconfirmed.
      I respond to why Philip didn't inherit the curse with this: When Chthon struck down Gregor he magically stripped his power from Gregor and his descendents, preventing them from just inheriting the curse. Or Philip really was not a true descendent of Gregor's, as you mentioned above. Or perhaps Maria Russoff used magics to prevent the curse from passing to Phillip. Or something like that.
  --Snood
• Anyway, here's my version of Russoff family history in the 20th Century. Prior to July, 1930, Baron Gregor Russoff became a werewolf...after being bitten by ANOTHER WEREWOLF. Seeking a cure for his condition, Gregor acquired the Darkhold (which was in book form) but later lied to Magnus and claimed that he no longer had the tome. Decades later, Gregor used the Darkhold to summon Chthon to cure him but, thanks to interference by Magnus, Chthon ending up striking Gregor dead. Afterwards, Magnus took possession of the Darkhold and attempted to scatter its pages (as St. Brendan had done in the 6th Century) but he was far less successful and the Darkhold scrolls were gathered together again only decades later by Gregor's (grand)son, Gregory. It was Gregory who, by reading from the Darkhold by the light of a full moon, triggered the dormant (HEREDITARY) curse of lycanthropy in himself and in both of his children (but NOT in his brother, Philip).
      Reasonable theory, but in contradiction to existing stories, if only to a small degree. I figure Gregory could simply have gained the original Darkhold or Gregor's diary and triggered the dormant curse by reading it. I didn't get into that in the entry, b/c I wanted to focus on their being two different Baron Russoffs in those stories.
  --Snood

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
He should be distinguished from:

• Gregor Russoff his father or grandfather, @ Avengers I#187

• Grigori Russoff, his great, great, grandfather, @ Werewolf by Night I#15

images:
Marvel Spotlight I#2, p15, panel 7 (Gregory)
        p17, panel 4 (Werewolf)
Mystic Arcana: Scarlet Witch#1/2, p2, panel 2 (Laura Maria with Gregor (as a wolf))
    p21, panel 1 (Gregory w/ beard)

Last updated: 11/11/11

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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