MICHAEL BOWEN

Real Name: Michael "Mike" Bowen

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Catholic priest

Group Membership: Catholic Church

Affiliations: Cloak (Tyrone Johnson), Leong Xui Cao Mạnh & Nga Cao Mạnh, Dagger (Tandy Bowen), Doctor Fetzer, Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Dennis Fiedler, Karma (Xuân Cao Mạnh), Mayhem (Brigid O'Rielly), Rebecca "Rusty" Nales, New Mutants (Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Magik/Illyana Rasputin, Mirage/Danielle Moonstar, Sunspot/Roberto Da Costa, Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair), Power Pack (Alex Power, Jack Power, Julie Power, Katie Power), Professor X (Charles Xavier), Punisher (Frank Castle), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), X-Men (Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Rogue/Anna Marie;
formerly Father Francis Delgado

Enemies: Crimson Daffodil (Vernon French) and his gunmen, Father Francis Delgado, Disciplinarian, Ecstasy (Renée Deladier), Mister Jip

Known Relatives: Melissa Bowen (sister), Phillip Carlisle (former brother-in-law), Nathan Tyler (Lord of Light, former brother-in-law), Tandy Bowen (Dagger, niece)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: St. Anne's Parrish in Manhattan's Lower East Side, New York;
   sometimes Holy Ghost Church in Manhattan, New York

First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#100 (December, 1980)

Powers/Abilities: As a priest Michael Bowen presumably has a degree in philosophy and theology. He was very accepting of minorities, accepting of the weird and often selflessly aided people in need.

Mike was trained in armed combat during his time in the military.

He was temporarily possessed by Mister Jip through a spell, which turned his at night into a monstrous being with sharp claws and a deformed body similar to Mister Jip.

Height: Unrevealed (5'6"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (160 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red (balding)

History:
(Marvel Team-Up I#100 (fb) - BTS) - Michael Bowen was an infantryman during the Vietnam War (see comments). During his time in Vietnam he met Xuân Cao Mạnh and her family.

(New Mutants I#24 (fb) - BTS) - During his combat tour in Vietnam he saw and did many things that kept haunting him for years.

(Marvel Team-Up I#100 (fb) - BTS) - After the war he joined priesthood and eventually was put in charge of a church on Manhattan's Lower East Side where he also established a self-help relief agency for refugees.

(Strange Tales I#13 (fb) - BTS) - Father Michael Bowen christened his niece Tandy when she was a baby.

(New Mutants I#25 (fb) - BTS) - Michael Bowen knew his niece Tandy when she was still a child.

   The Navy gave Xuân Father Bowen's name after fleeing with her younger siblings from her criminal uncle General Ngoc Coy Mạnh and they made their way to the church run by Father Bowen because she had known him most of her life and trusted him. With Father Bowen's help Xuân rented an apartment and secured a job. Her younger siblings were preparing to enter school, but were abducted by their uncle one night to force Xuân to use her mutant powers for him in his criminal endeavors.

(Marvel Team-Up I#100) - Xuân returned to Father Bowen and his church after failing to free her younger siblings by taking control over Spider-Man, but Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four were already after her. Spider-Man burst into the church with Human Torch close behind him. Spider-Man attacked Father Bowen because he believed him to be the one that had taken over his mind earlier, but Xuân quickly took control over the Human Torch and took the fight to Spider-Man. Invisible Girl restrained Spider-Man and the Human Torch until Father Bowen urged everyone to stop this insane battle inside a church. Xuân asked Father Bowen for forgiveness, but he was not mad at her. Father Bowen took Xuân and the heroes to the rectory to give the former the chance to tell her story.

(New Mutants I#24 (fb) - BTS) - Leong and Nga became Father Bowen's wards and stayed with him while Xuân joined the New Mutants. At some point he met Xuân's teammates Cannonball, Mirage, Sunspot and Wolfsbane and other living at Xavier's School...

(Uncanny X-Men I#196 (fb) - BTS) - ...including Nightcrawler.

(New Mutants I#24) - Father Bowen was cleaning up at St. Anne's Parrish with the help of Leong and Nga when Sunspot suddenly teleported in with Wolfsbane (they had gained the powers of Cloak and Dagger at this point due to drugs given to them in Marvel Team-Up Annual I#6). Sunspot begged Father Bowen for help because he believed to have killed Colossus, but Rahne told felt that he was still alive and traveled inside Sunspot's darkness to save Colossus. The darkness within Sunspot reached out to Bowen and made him remember his time in Vietnam.

(New Mutants I#24 - BTS) - Professor X arrived at St. Anne Parrish's with Rogue, Magik, Mirage and Cannonball.

(New Mutants I#24) - While Xavier psi-probed Sunspot without much success, Father Bowen brought something to drink and eat for his guests. When Moonstar connected through her powers to Sunspot, she accidentally released Darkforce, which ate away at the soul of everyone present, including Father Bowen. Magik interrupted Moonstar and teleported with Sunspot and Wolfsbane to Limbo in front of Bowen and the others, but she returned with them to St. Anne Parrish's after her plan to cure them had failed.

(New Mutants I#25) - Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen arrived at St. Anne Parrish's and Father Bowen was rather surprised that his niece was the heroine Dagger. Father Bowen had not seen Tandy in years and was impressed how much she had grown up while she had not known that he had become a priest in New York with less hair then the last time she had seen him. Though Father Bowen welcomed Tyrone as well, the former Cloak acted so cold toward Tandy's uncle that it made Tandy cry. Mike took his niece with him to comfort her.

   They returned when Xavier allowed Tandy to listen in on their conversation about Tyrone's fears. Xavier told Magik to teleport everyone present to Limbo and Father Bowen began to pray. In Limbo prayed with Sunspot and Wolfsbane after the powers of Cloak and Dagger had been removed from them by the combined efforts of Professor X and Rogue and returned to Tandy and Tyrone.

   Back in St. Anne Parrish's Father Bowen felt exhausted, but was glad that Roberto and Rahne had been cured. Cloak and Dagger returned and Father Bowen told them that he would be there for them whenever they needed him.

(New Mutants I#25 - BTS) - Later that night Father Bowen received a call from Dagger, who told him that they would be sending two kids to him that needed a place to stay and some counseling from him.

(Uncanny X-Men I#196) - Nightcrawler visited Father Bowen at St. Anne Parrish's and talked to him about struggling with his faith after meeting the mad god-like being known as the Beyonder, whom Kurt believed to be God and how this being was now on Earth. Father Bowen tried his best to comfort Nightcrawler.

(Cloak and Dagger II#3 - BTS) - Father Michael Bowen put Phil Carlisle his niece's step-father, who was looking for her, in touch with Father Delgado.

(Strange Tales II#13 (fb) - BTS) - Father Bowen received permission from the church to open up part of the abandoned Holy Ghost Church as a community outreach center a couple of days a week.

(Strange Tales II#13) - Mike was cleaning the floor when Cloak and Dagger returned to the Holy Ghost Church. They heard him and nearly scared him to death because they thought he was an intruder and he got drenched in dirty water. Dagger was surprised to see her favorite uncle in her home. He explained what he was doing her and told Dagger that her stepfather was in town after leaving Dagger's mother and was on his way to the Holy Ghost Church.

   In the alley behind the church Dagger told Mike that she didn't need her stepfather to look after her and wondered how he will react to what she had become. Moments later, the Punisher cornered Dagger and Mike and wanted answers from Dagger because he believed Cloak and Dagger were dealing drugs.

(Strange Tales II#14) - The Punisher quickly realized that he had been set up when the young heroes Power Pack and Father Bowen stood up for Cloak and Dagger. Phil Carlisle arrived and tried to defend his stepdaughter as well against the Punisher, but Mike calmed him down because he knew that Phil would only get hurt despite knowing Judo because during Phil's time in the army he had been a cook.

(Strange Tales II#15) - Father Bowen visited Francis Delgado at the Dillard Sanctuary for the Insane. He told Delgado that he was working at the Holy Ghost Church a few days a week and that Cloak and Dagger were doing fine. He knew that Dagger had visited Delgado the day before, but didn't know if she had told him that her stepfather had come to town to look after her. He was glad Delgado was feeling better. Mike was told that visiting hours were over, but before he left he prayed with Delgado, unaware that Delgado was not praying to God anymore but the evil Mister Jip.

(Strange Tales II#16) - Tandy had a talk with her uncle before she went to bed in her room at the Holy Ghost Church about her stepfather asking her to move in with him, which she didn't want to because she liked her independence. Mike told her not to be so quick to reject his offer, but she didn't want to. Mike left because he had to get back to St. Anne Parrish's Church and blew out a candle for Tandy before leaving.

(Strange Tales II#17) - At St. Anne Parrish's Father Bowen told an addict to report to the drug addict center the next morning and to tell them that he had sent him. Phil Carlisle arrived at the same time and wanted to talk with Mike about Tandy. Phil wanted her to move in with him because the Holy Ghost Church was no place to live, but didn't want to impede her independence either. Mike told him to think if Phil was only doing this to make up for neglecting Tandy or if he actually wanting to watch after her. Mike then told Phil that Tandy's inner strength would surprise Phil if he got to know her better.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#1) - Detective Nales went to the Holy Ghost Church looking for Cloak and Dagger, but only encountered Father Bowen, who told her that Cloak and Dagger were not at home at the moment. She told him that she was looking for them because her ex-partner Brigid O'Rielly had been seen with them after she had apparently died. This seemed pretty normal to Mike for Cloak and Dagger and he only asked one favor of Nales in case she found them and that was to go easy on Dagger because she was his niece.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#2) - Mike and Phil went to the hospital together to learn from Doctor Fetzer that they couldn't help Tandy and that she would remain blind. Mike met with Cloak in a closet to tell him the bad news. Mike still hoped that the doctors were wrong.

   Mike told Phil that the doctors recommended therapy for Tandy, but Phil just wanted to take her home to his apartment to take care of her by himself. Mike kept talking to the doctors about what could be done for Tandy, but Phil didn't want to listen to them at all and took her home.

   Mike returned to the Holy Ghost Church and found Cloak cleaning up some debris. Cloak didn't want to talk about what had happened. Mike told Cloak that Tandy was feeling miserable and that she needed to come to terms with her condition before she could start therapy, which her overprotective stepfather didn't want. He was afraid Phil could slow her process of restoring herself. Cloak teleported away to visit Tandy to tell her how important she was to him, which Mike thought was a great idea.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#3) - Uncle Mike brought therapist Dennis Fiedler to Tandy. Dennis gave her a watch with raised numbers, but despite that she had no interest in therapy. Mike was sure she would come around and left with Dennis. Before leaving he told Tandy that Julie from upstairs would be down at later. On their way to the elevator Dennis told Mike all the bad signs Tandy was showing. Mike wanted to pray with Dennis for Tandy.

   Mike later hat coffee with Rebecca Nales at the Holy Ghost Church. They talked about Tandy and Rebecca's meeting with Cloak, who was very kind and charming to Rebecca. Mike was surprised not only that Cloak could be charming but also that he was supposed to visit Tandy and never showed up.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#4) - Back at St. Anne's Parrish Mike remembered how it recently seemed like the world would end. He then told Dennis that he felt like he had failed Tandy because he couldn't supply her the spiritual aid and comfort she needed. Dennis told Mike to not be so hard on himself because he was there for Tandy and it was normal for blind person to grieve over their loss of sight before rehabilitation can began. He still wished Tandy had not refused his offer to help her.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#5) - Mike heard Tandy crying and went to her room only to learn that Cloak had seemingly died fighting demons. Tandy felt guilty because she only thought about her blindness and never had the chance to tell Cloak how she felt about him, but Mike assured her that he already knew. He put the cloak in a chest, locked it and took Tandy into the country where he buried the chest before saying a prayer for Cloak. He wished to give Tandy a chance for her farewells, but she wasn't ready yet and returned with Mike to his car.

   Mike and Phil watched Dennis Fiedler start the therapy with Tandy. They watched how she used Dennis' techniques to get around in Phil's apartment and congratulated Tandy for her quick progress.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#6) - Father Bowen was visited at the Holy Ghost Church by former priest Francis Delgado, who told Mike that his lord had asked him to help Mike at the church. Mike was okay with that though he was unaware that Delgado was not referring to God, but Mister Jip.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#6 - BTS) - Francis worked at the Holy Ghost Church during Mike's counseling sessions.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#6) - Tandy visited the Holy Ghost Church with her therapist Dennis Fielder and encountered Delgado. Mike explained the situation, but Tandy was just happy that Delgado was feeling better again (though he absolutely didn't). Mike noticed that Tandy was running a fever and Dennis brought her home.

   Phil later called Mike because Tandy insisted that he knew how to help her fever. Mike arrived and learned that Tandy, who was supposed to release her excess light regularly, was storing it because she believed Cloak would return. Mike brought the delirious Tandy to the roof where he tricked her to release the light by telling her that Cloak had arrived.

   The next morning Mike went to the bank with Tandy before breakfast. She was not mad at him for lying to her the night before because she wasn't acting rationally. Upon entering the bank they were confronted by robbers.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#7) - Crimson Daffodil and his gunmen robbed the bank and used Mike and Tandy as hostages. Mike saw Daffodil convince a guard to just give up his weapon, but the bank director took and was grazed by a bullet. The bank was surrounded by Detective Nales and the NYPD, but Daffodil's men threatened to kill Mike and Tandy if the police didn't cooperate. Nales made a deal with the criminals to release all the hostages in exchange for her cooperation. Everyone except Mike and Tandy were released and Nales got a chance to get inside the bank. Nales wasn't pleased that Mike and Tandy were not released with the other hostages, but Daffodil promised that they were under his protection while his men considered a cop, a priest and a blind girl the perfect hostages.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#8) - Tandy was ready to take out the criminals with her powers while they were distracted and Mike helped her determine where they were standing. The plan failed when they began to move after their van arrived, but Ecstasy, who had taken the cloak, was taking them out. Mike was shocked when Dagger got herself in danger when she confronted Ecstasy to save Detective Nales from her. Mike stayed with Nales and they watched as Ecstasy got into a fight with Tyrone Johnson and the assassin known as the Disciplinarian arrived. Mike told Dagger were the assassin was standing, but she accidentally hit the Crimson Daffodil, who tried to protect Dagger. The Disciplinarian then slowed down time around Dagger, but her light was still fast enough to take him out. Mike and Dagger then watched Cloak defeat Ecstasy and reemerge as the true owner of the cloak. Mike realized how weakened Cloak was and stayed with him while the robbery ended with another gunman shot by Brigid O'Rielly and Crimson Daffodil escaping.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#9) - Mike visited Francis Delgado at Midtown Hospital. Mike believed that Delgado was shot when he selflessly tried to keep the Disciplinarian away from Dagger, but he actually did the opposite. Mike thanked Delgado and then listened to Delgado's insane rambling about Cloak's return and the lord punishing him for giving in to the demon's temptation (Delgado lusted after Ecstasy, whom he believed to be Cloak and then the Disciplinarian shot him). Mike considered talking to Delgado's psychiatrist because the injury had apparently set back his progress a bit. Mike then accidentally went to a restricted area in the hospital and was escorted out.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#11 (fb) - BTS) - Rebecca Nales was looking for Cloak and Dagger at the Holy Ghost Church and was told by Uncle Mike that they were at the Central Park Zoo.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#12 (fb) - BTS) - The doctors decided that Delgado was fit enough to be discharged into Mike Bowen's care.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#12) - Mike returned with Delgado from the hospital, heard a door slammed at the Holy Ghost Church and entered because he thought something weird was going on, but it was only Cloak and Dagger. He told them how Delgado was released into his care and Dagger still felt sorry that Delgado was seemingly injured protecting her. Rebecca and Brigid entered to reveal that Brigid had secretly been spying for Mister Jip, but she wanted to atone for it now by leading the heroes to Mister Jip's base and taking him down. Mike had to keep Dagger steady after she temporarily burnt out the eye Jip had used to spy through Brigid.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#12 - BTS) - Delgado told Mike about a sight specialist in Europe. He decided to tell Cloak, but keep it secret that he got the information from Delgado because Cloak still didn't trust Delgado.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#12) - While everyone got ready to leave for Jip's base, Mike pulled Cloak aside to tell him about a sight specialist that could possibly heal Dagger. Unfortunately the doctor was old and in failing health, so Dagger had to hurry to get the opportunity to see him. Mike had already bought tickets for that evening, but he was sure Dagger would refuse to give up the mission with Cloak and the detectives. He asked Cloak to convince her to not go on the mission and instead fly to the doctor in Europe. Cloak agreed and promised to force her to go to the doctor if he had to. Cloak tried his best, but Dagger wouldn't budge and Mike suggested letting the one that had as much at stake as Dagger to decide. Though Brigid O'Rielly knew that she needed Dagger to stave off Jip's influence, she agreed that Dagger should go the European doctor. Dagger stayed behind with Mike.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#12 - BTS) - Delgado reported to Mister Jip that he had succeeded to manipulate everyone to get Dagger on the plane to Latveria and got killed by Jip, who returned to the Holy Ghost Church posing as Delgado.

(Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger#12) - Mike told Dagger that her father would soon arrive to take her home and pack her things for the trip. He was glad that Dagger had stayed behind. "Delgado" appeared and received a hug from Dagger for all his help and promised to return again that evening.

   "Delgado" arrived with a taxi at the Holy Ghost Church and told Mike that it would wait for them and bring them to the airport. Mike was sure that Tandy would arrive shortly with her stepfather. He was going for one last prayer before their trip when he was suddenly stabbed in the back by Mister Jip.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#115/4 (fb) - BTS) - Jip seemingly cast a spell during the attack.