DARKHOLD
Real Name: Darkhold
Identity/Class: Mystically constructed magic user/living
magical
tome
Occupation: Student
Group Membership: Strange Academy student body (German Aguilar, Doyle Dormammu, Guslaug, Zoe Laveau, Shaylee Moonpeddle, Pia, Toth)
Affiliations: Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom), Zyrak Mortis, the Strange Academy student body, Tito Peping;
formerly Agatha
Harkness
Enemies: Agatha Harkness;
formerly the Strange Academy student body, Tito Peping
Known Relatives: Agatha
Harkness (creator)
Aliases: "Bro," "Master"
Base of Operations: Presumably Strange Academy;
formerly an unidentified island
First Appearance: Avengers VIII Annual#1 (November, 2023)
Powers/Abilities: The Darkhold is the living
embodiment of the original mystic Darkholdtome.
As such, he potentially possesses vast mystic powers and has
demonstrated the ability to levitate and cast spells that manifest as
mystic sigils that spiral around his body. These spells have included
the projection of mystic force blasts, generation of protective
shields, transforming beings into other forms (such as animal-like
forms)
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 4'5")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 65 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown (glowing various colors when using powers)
Hair: Brown
History:
(Avengers VIII Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - The witch Agatha Harkness
summoned forth vast amounts of mystic energy in an effort to restore
the Darkhold tome that had
been absorbed by the heroic Scarlet Witch but she was halted mid-spell
by Scarlet Witch and her heroic allies, causing the mystic energy to
secretly manifest itself in the form of a small boy.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#2 (fb)) - A physical embodiment of the Darkhold
tome itself, the Darkhold felt whole for the first time in its
existence, experiencing emotions such as joy and wonder for the first
time as it looked out over a large body of water from a beach. Hoping
to experience more, the Darkhold thought Agatha Harkness might be able
to help him come into the fullness of his new self.
(Avengers VIII Annual#1) -
While looking at the empty Darkhold
copy that the now-missing Agatha hoped to project the mystic energy
into to recreate the Darkhold
tome, Scarlet Witch noted to her allies that something felt off and the
vast quantities of mystic energy Agatha had summoned had to have gone
somewhere. As the heroes discussed what could have happened to Agatha,
Agatha herself awoke on a beach and frantically began searching for the
Darkhold copy she had created,
refusing to believe that she could have failed to recreate it. The
Darkhold construct soon approached and asked if Agatha was hurt.
Assuring the boy she
was not hurt, Agatha asked where his parents were and the boy replied
that he had no parents, addressing Agatha by name. As Agatha backed
away in shock, asking how the boy knew her name, the young boy began
glowing purple and proclaimed himself Agatha's greatest success: the
Darkhold.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#2 (fb)) - Knowing that
the Scarlet Witch was still searching for her, Agatha escaped in the
world, bringing the Darkhold with her in hopes of using his darkness to
her advantage and uncaring of the Darkhold's own desires.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#1/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Agatha brought
the Darkhold with her as she traveled the world, keeping a low profile and asking
the Darkhold to call her "mummy" when they were around others to keep their true identities hidden.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#1/2) - On a train, the Darkhold asked his "mummy" Agatha Harkness if they were almost to their destination and the two argued about when and when not to call Agatha "mummy" to maintain their disguises. As Agatha tried to explain how they had to keep a low profile so no one would realize they were one of the world's most powerful witches and the physical embodiment of an ancient black magic tome, respectively, the Darkhold argued that he didn't see the need for sneaking around and that he wished to learn about the world from his new perspective as a human. Agatha replied that they had to keep a low profile because the Scarlet Witch was searching for "them" and if they were found, it would be very bad, but a sarcastic Darkhold questioned back if the Scarlet Witch was his "daddy" since Agatha was his "mummy." Having lost patience with the childlike Darkhold, Agatha exclaimed that she was not his "mummy." Taking advantage of Agatha's anger, the Darkhold ran further into the train, asking passengers to keep Agatha away from him, as she was not his mummy. When one of the attendants questioned what was going, the Darkhold mystically transformed him into a humanoid tiger and sent him after Agatha. He then flew off the train and into the waters below, where he came across a man paddling a boat with his dog. Merging the two together into a hound-like demonic creature called Zyrak Mortis, the Darkhold ordered the creature to take him somewhere fun and the creature paddled the Darkhold towards Madripoor.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#2 (fb) - BTS) - The
Darkhold had only begun to taste freedom when vampires ran rampant
across the globe. Knowing that the vampire-destroying Montesi Formula
rested within him, the Darkhold began to make preparations to destroy
all of Earth's vampires using the spell.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#1) - When the mystic Strange Academy students teleported to Madripoor seeking the Darkhold tome to eradicate the recent vampire threat, they came across the Darkhold drawing mystic runes on the ground in preparation for his spell. The students, unaware of who and what the Darkhold actually was, asked if he had heard anything about the Darkhold tome and the Darkhold, feeling as if what Agatha had always told him about others coming after them had come true, announced that the students had found the Darkhold as he mystically hovered above the ground. Thinking they were under attack, the Strange Academy students went on the offensive but the Darkhold easily avoided their attacks, downing them all in just a few moments. The newest Strange Academy student, Pia, was the only left upright and her familiar, Tito Peping, attacked the Darkhold to defend Pia but the Darkhold easily swatted the familiar aside. Retaliating, Pia lunged at the Darkhold and bit into his neck, revealing her status as a vampire to her classmates for the first time.
(Strange
Academy: Blood Hunt#2) - While the other Strange Academy students
appeared shocked that Pia was a vampire, Pia assured them that the
Darkhold was only knocked out, not dead. Pia then revealed that the
Montesi Formula within the Darkhold would eradicate all vampires
including herself, at which point her fellow students decided they had
to stop the Montesi Formula from being used rather than helping find
the Darkhold to stop the vampires. As the students discussed the
situation, the Darkhold regained consciousness and escaped, prompting
the students to begin a search for him. During the search, student
Shaylee Moonpeddle texted her boyfriend Toth back at Strange Academy to
pass along a message that they had found the Darkhold in the form of a
young boy rather than a book. Academy head Doctor Voodoo immediately
left the find the students and seconds later, Agatha Harkness appeared
before Academy students Toth and Guslaug to offer her "assistance." The
Strange Academy students eventually located the Darkhold amidst a group
of vampires feeding on their victims and student Zoe Laveau sent a
swarm of zombies to prevent the Darkhold from escaping again. Darkhold
easily incinerated the zombies and ran, yelling that vampires didn't
deserve to survive and pleading to be allowed to destroy them all using
the Montesi Formula. The Strange Academy refused and pursued, only to
watch the Darkhold run into Toth and Guslaug, having arrived with the
help of Agatha Harkness. Upon hearing Agatha's name, the Darkhold
became worried but Guslaug assured him that Agatha had teleported away
after leaving Toth and himself in Madripoor.
The Darkhold then begged the Strange Academy students not to send him back to Agatha Harkness, leading to an argument over the Darkhold's desire to destroy Earth's vampires. Pia argued that the Montesi Formula would destroy her as well but the Darkhold pleaded that destroying Earth's vampires was the only chance he had to do the right thing and save humanity. The students became confused at the Darkhold's statement, prompting the boy to explain how had experienced emotions for the first time and how Agatha had taken him with her in hopes of using him to her advantage. Doyle Dormammu then asked the Darkhold what he truly wanted and the Darkhold explained that he simply wished for a chance to find out and become what he was truly meant to be, admitting that he was only just beginning to learn what freedom was when vampires ran rampant across the globe, something only he had the power to stop. Agatha soon appeared and feigned caring about the Darkhold but the Darkhold saw through her ruse and angrily teleported away with Pia, refusing to be under Agatha's thumb any longer. Latverian tyrant and mystic Dr. Doom appeared moments later and suggested another way to rid the world of vampires without destroying an entire race, unaware that the Darkhold and Pia had reappeared at a nearby wrestling match.
(Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#3) - Pia immediately
asked the Darkhold what he planned to do with her and the Darkhold led
her towards the wrestling ring, commenting that since she was so
convinced vampires should live, he had arranged an experiment to test
that worthiness. He then revealed a virtual army of demonic and
monstrous creatures and announced that the experiment would be called
survival of the fittest. Opting to assist Pia in battling the
creatures, a smiling Darkhold asked if the survival test was the human
way of giving someone a chance to prove themselves but an uneasy Pia,
who had texted Strange Academy student German Agular her location,
questioned the Darkhold's actions. Trying to further explain how he had
given Pia a chance to prove the worthiness of the vampire race in
battle, the Darkhold witnessed one of the creatures tackle Pia and
commented that he may need to use the Montesti Formula after all before
he was again interrupted by the arrival of Agatha Harkness. Agatha
immediately attacked the Darkhold, proclaiming him to be too powerful
and impulsive to be allowed to exist on his own and announcing that he
would be coming with her either in his current form or in his original
form as a book. She then cast a spell of transformation that hit the
Darkhold's agent Zyrak Mortis full-on, restoring his normal human form,
but some of the spell's fallout hit the Darkhold as well, temporarily
depowering the boy. Terrified, the Darkhold ran for his life as Agatha
attacked again and Pia followed, preparing to attack him as well.
Admitting his horror, the Darkhold
begged for Pia to halt her attack and revealed that the terror of being
powerless had open his eyes to the feeling of human vulnerability.
Further confessing his horrible treatment of Pia, the Darkhold
explained that he just wanted to continue existing as he was and his
confession convinced Pia to spare his life. Pia instead placed her
familiar Tito Peping atop the Darkhold's head to provide him additional
mystic protection until his powers returned, warning the Darkhold that
her protection of him did not mean she trusted him. Agatha subsequently
caught up to them and created mystic duplicates of herself to assist in
taking down the Darkhold, warning that she would go through Pia to get
to the Darkhold if she had to. The Strange Academy students soon
arrived to turn the tide of battle and when Agatha flew into the air to
prepare an attack on Pia to force Tito Peping to her and leave the
Darkhold defenseless, the Darkhold, whose powers were slowly returning,
reversed Agatha's spell back on her. Agatha demanded to know what the
Darkhold had done to her and he remarked on how he had reversed her
spell for attacking his friends, teleporting her from the scene.
Following the battle, German Aguilar asked what they should do with the Darkhold and Pia suggested sparing him, as he had proven himself enough for her to allow him into her good graces. Pia then suggested a different way for the Darkhold to experience humanity and Doyle Dormammu invited the Darkhold to join the Strange Academy. The Darkhold became excited at the prospect of staying with his newfound friends and the group soon departed to meet back up with Dr. Doom in Latveria, where Doom utilized drew upon the magic of the Darkhold and the assembled Strange Academy students to cast a spell to assist against the worldwide vampires.
(Werewolf by Night: Red Band#1 - BTS) - A group of
Chthon-worshiping Darkholders held a meeting in Transylvania, where
their leader, Elder Dorgana, claimed that they needed avoid detection
by Agatha Harkness and the Darkhold child if their organization was to
remains sustained. The criminals Hood
and Deathwatch soon showed up and assumed leadership of the cult, with
the Hood noting that the Darkholders had been in a slump since the
Darkhold manifested itself as a child.
Comments: Created by Stephanie Phillips, Alberto Foche and Alvaro Lopez.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Darkhold should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Avengers VIII Annual#1 (November, 2023) - Stephanie Phillips (writer),
Alberto Foche, Alvaro Lopez (art), Alanna Smith (editor)
Strange
Academy: Blood Hunt#1 (July, 2024) - "The City That Never Weeps" story
- Daniel Jose Older (writer), Luigi Zagaria (art), Nick Lowe (editor);
"How to Save a Life" story - Daniel Jose Older (writer), Eric Gapstur,
Scott Hanna (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange Academy: Blood Hunt#2 (August, 2024) - Daniel Jose Older (writer), Luigi Zagaria, Eric Gapstur (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Strange
Academy: Blood Hunt#3 (September, 2024) - Daniel Jose Older (writer),
Luigi Zagaria, Eric Gapstur (art), Nick Lowe (editor)
Werewolf by Night: Red Band#1 (October, 2024) - Jason Loo (writer),
Sergio Davila (pencils), Jay Leisten, JP Mayer, Craig Yeung (inks),
Devin Lewis (editor)
First posted: 10/22/2024
Last updated: 10/22/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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