EYE KILLERS

Membership: Unidentified twin siblings (one or two sets of twins; see comments)

Purpose: Predators, soul stealers, servants of evil

Aliases: Children of the Night, Binaye Ahani (see comments)

Affiliations: Adversary, Chthon, Darkhold, Darkholders

Enemies: Clea, Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Hannibal King, Douglas Royce, Storm (Ororo Munroe), Sara Wolfe

Base of Operations: Mobile in North America

First Appearance: Doctor Strange II#38 (December, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: The Eye Killers were snake-like creatures with owl-like heads and bear-like claws that could shapeshift into human forms and hide their aura even from powerful sorcerers. In their original and human form they could shoot black lightning from their eyes and use their unblinking stare to absorb the life force of humans and enslave their souls to leave behind nothing but withered husks. They possessed superhuman strength in their monstrous forms and could tear through stone with their claws. Their claws were also poisonous. Even in their human form, they possessed enhanced strength and heightened senses. They were weak to fire, sunlight and the light emitted by the Eye of Agamotto, which could force them to revert to their true monstrous forms. It is unknown whether their ability to shapeshift into large hawks and human-hawk hybrids was part of their regular power set or an ability granted to them while serving the Darkholders. In these forms they possessed greater strength (Class 10) and the ability to fly.

Height: 8'; (human male form) 5'11"; (human male form) 6'1"
Weight: 700 lbs.; (human female form) 125 lbs.; (human male form) 170 lbs.;
Eyes: Red; (human form) dark brown or blue (variable)
Hair: None; grey feathers; (human form) black (variable)

History:
(Uncanny X-Men I#222 (fb) - BTS) - The Eye Killers preyed on natives long before Europeans ever set foot on the continent.

(Doctor Strange II#38 (fb) - BTS) - The Eye Killers were beings feared by some North American native tribes as soul stealers.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb) - BTS) - The Children of the Night came from a reservation to Wisconsin where they became responsible for a number of cattle mutilations.

   Private investigator Hannibal King was hired to investigate the cattle mutilations and ran into writer Douglas Royce, whom he suspected to be responsible.

   The Children mutilated another cow, but hid in the shadows when Douglas Royce arrived. They watched King blame Royce for the killing.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb)) - The Children of the Night attacked Royce and King with knives, but were surprised by King's vampiric strength. They decided to flee and just vanished.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb) - BTS) - King and Royce tracked down the Children of the Night with the help of Royce's knowledge about Native American lore, but when they found their lair the Children were gone. Royce was intrigued by the parchments and items they had left behind and continued his investigation even after King was gone. He stayed in contact with King and informed him when he found out where the Children came from. While King was in England, Royce sent an urgent message to King that he had a lead on the Children of the Night and that King should be beware of the Darkholders.

(Doctor Strange II#38 (fb) - BTS) - The Eye Killers hunted Doug Royce for months. They ultimately caught up to him in New York City.

(Doctor Strange II#38) - Disguised as an elegantly dressed male one of the Eye Killers approached Doug Royce, who was getting drunk at the Hell's Bells bar while his date Sara Wolfe enjoyed the music and a nice conversation with her neighbor Doctor Strange. Royce punched the male Eye-Killer in the face and fled the bar, but was stopped by the female Eye-Killer before he could even make it across 13th Street. The Eye Killers surrounded their target and used powerful magic to turn him into a pile of ash.

(Doctor Strange II#38 - BTS) - Doctor Strange used the Orb of Agamotto to track down the Eye Killers on the way to their lair by following their unique psychic signature to Inwood Park at the Hudson River.

(Doctor Strange II#38) - The siblings approached Doctor Strange and Clea. The former was surprised that Royce's killers were apparently just students that were able to hide their aura and true nature from him like true adepts. Strange summoned the Shield of the Seraphim to protect himself and Clea and jumped out of the way before the Eye Killers could strike them with two massive bolts of black lightning. The surprised Eye Killers followed Strange and Clea into the woods. They turned boulders to dust and snapped trees like twigs with black lightning blasts until they found Strange and Clea trying to avoid them by flying away. The male Eye-Killer urged his sister to strike before sunrise, but Strange blocked her lightning strike, which left Strange and Clea pinned to the ground. Strange's spells showed no affect against the Eye Killers, whose true nature was still a mystery to Strange. Clea noticed that the Eye Killers' mere presence seemed to drain her and Strange's life force. The male ordered his sister to take their target's soul, but Strange used the Eye of Agamotto's light to blind them because it affected them like the sun and forced them to reveal their true form. The Eye Killers slithered away to their den, but Doctor Strange was ready for them and opened a hole in the ground using the power of the Faltine to banish the Eye Killers to Earth's molten core before closing up the hole again with a mere gesture. They never stopped screaming, but to Strange it seemed like their screams eventually turned to laughter.

(Doctor Strange II#59 - BTS) - In an apartment somewhere in Chicago a group of Darkholders serving Dracula conjured a demonic light that enabled the Eye Killers to return to the surface in Inwood Park.

(Doctor Strange II#59) - The returned Children of the Night were thankful that the Darkholders had finally freed them and knew that it had to be for a reason. The female felt the meeting of their old enemies Doctor Strange and Hannibal King and knew that they had to fly to them to stop them because they were a threat to them and the Darkholders, who were looking for the Darkhold for Dracula. They transformed into giant hawks and flew to Royce's former apartment in New York.

   Upon arrived at the apartment the Children of the Night attacked Strange, King and Sara Wolfe because they opposed the power of the Darkhold. King tossed Wolfe to safety onto a couch while he and Strange took the fight to the Children of the Night. Realizing that the Children of the Night drew their power from the Darkhold, Strange released the Eye of Agamotto and it became a portal, which pulled everyone in the room to another dimension where the Strange continued his fight against the Eye Killers. For the first time King used his full vampiric abilities to aid Strange against the Eye Killers. King had the male at the throat while the female got trapped by Strange in Flames of Faltine. King used his hypnotic gaze on the male to force him to tell him about the Darkholders and their connection to Dracula, but before the male could tell him anything he turned into ashes and feathers. The female revealed to Strange and King that they were empowered by the Darkhold in such a way that if they endangered the plans of Chthon and the Darkhold it would destroy them. The female then dissipated as well.

(Uncanny X-Men I#222 (fb) - BTS) - At some point the Adversary freed Eye Killers from the Spiritlands and made promises to them. They would be allowed to roam free and feast on the souls of humans again if they served him.

(Uncanny X-Men I#222) - During their trip on the Spiritpath through Colorado's Rocky Mountains Storm and Nazé (actually the Adversary possessing him) were sitting at their campfire when a scared woman (actually the Eye Killer in human disguise) ran toward them. A rock was tossed at them by an unknown assailant, who turned out to be the woman's brother, which she revealed while lifting up Storm by her throat and tossing her against a rock. She then grabbed "Nazé" and tried to absorb his life force while the male tried to hit Storm with black lightning from his eyes. Storm jumped out of the way, grabbed a stick and hit the woman holding "Nazé". The woman landed on the campfire's burning remains and hurt by the fire was forced to turn into her true Eye Killer form. She then set Storm's vest on fire with an eye blast, but Storm tossed the burning vest at her and "Nazé" shot the female in the back with an arrow. The male was tackled by Storm before he could reach "Nazé," but he transformed to his Eye Killer form as well and slashed Storm's back with his poisonous claws before trying to absorb her life force and enslave her soul, leaving behind nothing but a withered husk. "Nazé" tossed burning tumbleweed at the female Eye Killer, which distracted the male long enough for Storm to grab her dagger and stab the male in the throat. She then tossed the male into the brushfire and after another burning tumbleweed was tossed at the Eye Killers by "Nazé" they were apparently consumed by the flames.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Gene Colan & Dan Green.

It is weird that the handbooks completely ignored the flashback in Doctor Strange II#59 to their first meeting with King when the Eye Killers (aka. Children of the Night) even refer to him as a past enemy in the present day events in the same issue.

The handbooks made it pretty clear that the Eye Killers in Uncanny X-Men I#222 were not the same previously encountered by Doctor Strange and Hannibal King. The Uncanny X-Men Index though assumed that they could've possibly been the same. In addition the events seen in Uncanny X-Men I#222 did not take place on an alternate Earth as the Eye Killer's handbook profile claimed. Storm and Forge were only drawn to an alternate Earth at the end of Uncanny X-Men I#224.

Either works because while they seem unique there could've easily been more of them slithering around. It is also possible that the Adversary brought back the same Eye Killers from the Doctor Strange stories, who then served him out of gratitude.

The Eye Killers' attack on Storm and Nazé in Uncanny X-Men I#222 was likely just a ruse. They probably knew that Nazé was actually their master and that he needed Storm to further his plans. This means neither of them was in any real danger unlike the Eye Killers because the Adversary didn't seem to care about their ongoing existence.

In Uncanny X-Men I#223 (November, 1987) the Adversary, while possessing Nazé, faked an illness he claimed came from not being able to fight off the Eye Killers' poison any longer due to his magic getting blocked by getting closer to Forge's mountain Aerie. He instructed Storm to brew a potion and tricked her into drinking from it because she had also been slashed by the Eye Killers. The potion trapped Storm in a terrible nightmare that convinced her that Forge was a threat to Earth and needed to be killed because he had been corrupted by the Adversary, which was not true. In Uncanny X-Men I#224 (December, 1987) while climbing Forge's mountain Aerie she was nearly hit by black lightning identical to the Eye Killers' attacks. It is likely that the Adversary summoned the black lightning to drive Storm forward to the top of the mountain where she ultimately stabbed Forge only to realize that she had been tricked to see him as the enemy. The Adversary destroyed the mountain Aerie and trapped Forge and Storm on Earth-88426 afterward (seen in Uncanny X-Men I#226 (February. 1988)). On this alternate Earth a whole year passed before Forge helped Storm regain her powers, which was needed for them to return to Earth-616 in Uncanny X-Men I#227 (March, 1988). Back on Earth-616 Forge used his magic to sacrifice the X-Men to defeat and trap the Adversary. The X-Men got better by the end of the issue!

The Binaye Ahani (or a variation of spellings) or Eye Killers were creatures from Navajo mythology. They were part of a race of monsters known as Anaye that were born to women having intercourse with objects. The first Eye Killers were twins born to a chief's daughter at Tse'ahalizi'ni after she had relations with a sour cactus. She abandoned them, but they survived and grew up to become monsters that could fire lightning from their eyes and kill with their unblinking stare. According to legend these Eye Killers and their many children were slain by the monster slayer Nayenezgani, who allowed the two youngest to remain alive. The youngest turned into a screech owl and an elf owl to be useful to his people in the future while their parents became cacti.

Aaron Albert Carr wrote the novel Eye Killers (1995), which featured an Eye Killer as the antagonist of the story.

Comments by Donald Campbell:

From their first appearance, I have always believed that the siblings who fought Doctor Strange were two members of a species of North American demons known as Eye Killers, and nothing in their three appearances contradicts that idea. It was only earlier in this century, long after their most recent appearance, that I learned (via the internet) that the actual Eye Killers from Navajo mythology were a unique pair of twins and were supposedly killed long ago. Even with that knowledge, I can't tell from the stories whether or not either writer meant for them to be a race of demons.

I have mixed feelings about how Roger Stern handled the characters in his stories. On the one hand, Stern is known for caring about continuity and I was glad that he had picked up a plotline that had been dropped and seemingly forgotten after Chris Claremont left the book, and he provided a reasonable explanation for why the Darkholders would have brought the Children of the Night back. I also liked that he took the time to explain why Doctor Strange hadn't known that Dracula was still alive even though the two of them had met when fighting the Six-Fingered Hand.

On the other hand, Stern's take on the characters is significantly different from Claremont's, so much so that they almost seem like totally different beings. Chris Claremont's "Eye Killers" were non-humanoid demons who were powerful enough that they were able to shrug off the strongest spells of the Sorcerer Supreme. In contrast, Roger Stern's "Children of the Night" were "neo-demons" who came across as being human sorcerers who were carrying out cattle mutilation in order to gain power. Aside from being able to disappear, they demonstrated no powers and were so lacking in any offensive ability that they were forced to retreat when confronted by Hannibal King and Douglas Royce. Sure, King was a vampire but Royce was a normal human armed with a tree branch. The couple from issue #38 should have been able to crush them with ease.

Also, while the Eye Killers were centuries-old demons from North American Indian legends who had shape-shifted into their human forms, the Children of the Night appeared to be little more than contemporary humans. At least, that's how I perceived them in those stories.

I suppose it's possible that, between the flashback in Doctor Strange II#59 and their first appearance in Doctor Strange II#38, the twins could have somehow drastically increased their power, and maybe worshipping Chthon and agreeing to serve the Darkholders had contributed to that power up, but it would have been nice to see some mention of that in Stern's story.

As for their appearance in Uncanny X-Men I#222, I also am unsure if those "Eye Killers" were meant to be the same brother-and-sister team from the two previous appearances. Sure, the twins did disintegrate in DS II#59 but the Adversary could have (probably) resurrected/recreated them. Alternative, if the Eye Killers were a species of demon, then the Adversary could just as easily have summoned another pair of twins to be his disposable pawns.

The Eye Killers (and/or the Children of the Night) need to make another appearance so things can be clarified.

Also, when I did that Google search years ago, I came across that Eye Killers novel. I also found online criticisms that the villains were "Eye Killers" in name only, and were otherwise treated as Native American versions of vampires from European mythology. I have no way of knowing if those criticisms were accurate or not.

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Eye Killers aka. Children of the Night should not be confused with:

Douglas Royce has no known connection to:

Douglas Royce

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb) - BTS) - Douglas Royce knew Sara Wolfe from college.

(Doctor Strange II#58 (fb) - BTS) - Royce lived at the Dakota Apartments in Uptown, New York near Central Park. Sara Wolfe sometimes visited Royce in his apartment, which creeped her out.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb) - BTS) - Royce became a writer and at some point got a lodge in Wisconsin where he could do research and write. He became interested in Native American lore and hung enough totems up on his wall to make a museum envious.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb)) - During an investigation on cattle mutilations a blood trail led vampiric private investigator Hannibal King close to Royce's lodge in Wisconsin. Royce welcomed King in and they had a talk about what was going on in the area. Royce claimed he was too busy with writing to know anything about the mutilations, but he seemed to know a lot more than he led on and revealed that the cattle mutilations was something local natives had not done since the last century.

   The next night Royce was found by King standing next to a cow carcass with blood on his hands. Royce insisted he was innocent and urged King to get going to catch the real perpetrators, but the true culprits were still close and attacked King and Royce with knives. King's vampiric strength surprised the Children of the Night enough to flee by just vanishing.

   Royce suspected the Children of the Night to be vampires, but King assured him that they were not because he was a vampire himself and would've known if they were. After apologizing to Royce for blaming him for the cattle mutilations and convincing Royce that he was not after his blood, Royce helped King with his knowledge about Native American lore to track down the Children of the Night to their lair, but the Children were gone and had only left behind their parchments and stuff they needed for their rituals.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb) - BTS) - Intrigued by what they had found Royce continued the investigation even after King was gone. He found out that the Children of the Night had originally come North from a reservation and informed King, who warned him to be careful. Royce stayed in touch with King, who was back in England, and sent him an urgent cable when he had lead on the Children of the Night and warned King to be beware of the Darkholders.

(Doctor Strange II#38 (fb) - BTS) - Royce ran from the Eye Killers for months and ended up back in New York City.

(Doctor Strange II#59 (fb) - BTS) - Back in New York City Royce was in a nervous state when he reconnected with Sara Wolfe.

(Doctor Strange II#38) - On a Friday night in New York City Doug Royce went out on a date with Sara Wolfe at Hell's Bells literary bar on Sixth Avenue north of Greenwich Village. While Sara enjoyed the Irish duo Pierce and Larry from Wexford, Royce spent the time drinking at the bar. Sara knew that something was wrong with him because he wasn't a drinker and told her neighbor Doctor Strange, who was visiting the bar with his partner Clea. They didn't notice the elegantly dressed male Eye-Killer approach Royce at the bar because he had been looking for him. Royce punched the Eye-Killer in the face and ran out the front door. Royce didn't even make it across 13th Street before he was stopped by the equally, elegantly dressed female Eye-Killer. The Eye-Killer siblings surrounded Royce and killed him with magic, turning Royce into a pile of ash.

(Doctor Strange II#58 - BTS) - Royce's old friend Hannibal King tricked Sara Wolfe into a meeting at Royce's old apartment in New York to learn how she was connected to Royce, but Wolfe brought along Doctor Strange, who forced King to reveal his true identity and intentions. King believed that Royce's murder was connected to the resurrection of Dracula.

--Doctor Strange II#38 ([Doctor Strange II#59 (fb)], [58 (fb)], [59 (fb)], 59 (fb), [59 (fb)], [38 (fb)], [59 (fb)], 38, [58]

images: (without ads)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe HC#4, Eye Killers profile (main, refurbed version of Doctor Strange II#38, p16, pan1)
Doctor Strange II#38, p9, pan5 (elegant socialite male, head shot)
Doctor Strange II#38, p10, pan3 (elegant socialite female, head shot)
Doctor Strange II#38, p13, pan4 (elegant socialite forms)
Doctor Strange II#59, p5, pan8 (Native American forms)
Doctor Strange II#59, p14, pan1 (hawk forms)
Uncanny X-Men I#222, p8, pan3 (female)
Uncanny X-Men I#222, p11, pan4 (male)
Uncanny X-Men I#222, p10, pan8 (female Eye Killer on fire)
Doctor Strange II#59, p12, pan2 (Royce investigating Children of the Night)
Doctor Strange II#38, p9, pan6 (Royce throwing a punch)
Doctor Strange II#38, p11, pan1 (Royce's ashes)

Appearances:
Doctor Strange II#38 (December, 1979) - Chris Claremont (writer), Gene Colan (plencils), Dan Green (inks), Jo Duffy & Allen Milgrom (editors)
Doctor Strange II#58 (April, 1983) - Roger Stern (writer), Dan Green (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Allen Milgrom (editor)
Doctor Strange II#59 (June, 1983) - Roger Stern (writer), Dan Green (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Allen Milgrom (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#222 (October, 1987) - Chris Claremont (writer), Marc Silvestri (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)

First Posted: 08/11/2024
Last updated: 08/13/2024

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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