MINISTER BLOOD

Real Name: Melvin Scarbo

Identity/Class: Human technology user

Occupation: Hypnotist, agent of the Red Skull

Group Membership: Skeleton crew

Affiliations: Eric Gruning, Mother Night, Red Skull (Johann Shmidt), Sisters of Sin

Enemies: Avengers, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Dum-Dum Dugan, Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., Watchdogs, Aces Wilde

Known Relatives: Susan Scarbo (Mother Night, sister)

Aliases: Malachi

Base of Operations: Various Camps of Hate throughout America;
formerly the Isle of Exiles

First Appearance: Captain America I#123 (March, 1970)

Powers/Abilities: Minister Blood is an expert at hypnosis, and often wears a medallion around his neck which increases his power; he can use hypnosis to cast illusions and control the minds of others. In battle, he sometimes wields handguns and steel knuckles.

History:

(Captain America V#15 (fb) - BTS) - Melvin and Susan Scarbo were secretly working for the Exiles' Gruning and served them sometimes off the Isle of Exiles.

(Captain America I#123 (fb) - BTS) - Melvin Scarbo and his sister Susan were once stage performers whose powers of hypnosis were billed under the name "Scarbo and Sister-- Hypnotists Supreme!" However, their ambitions grew over time, and they decided to turn to crime. Susan took the alias of "Suprema," and they began to train themselves an army.

(Captain America I#123) - With their training at last complete, Scarbo stood by Suprema as she addressed their men, and prepared to send them out to conquer New York's crime scene. They began with casino owner Aces Wilde, and soon had much of New York under their control.

For the next stage of their plan, Suprema and Scarbo planned to take control of S.H.I.E.L.D., and hypnotized Dum-Dum Dugan in order to have him bring them to Nick Fury. Dugan brought them to the weaponry range where Fury was testing new weapons, and took control of him and his agents. However, Captain America was also present, and his shield interferred with Suprema and Scarbo's hypnosis, cutting off the emissions from Scarbo's medallion. Captain America outfought Suprema, Scarbo, and their men, and escaped in their Wolverine Jet.

When Captain America realized that Suprema and Scarbo were hypnotists, he returned in the Wolverine Jet and generated an electrical current which broke Suprema and Scarbo's control over the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He then used the vehicle's gas jets to knock them unconscious.

(Captain America I#356) - Scarbo joined his sister in her new identity as Mother Night as they led the Sisters of Sin in organizing Camps of Hate, where they would bring teenagers to be brainwashed. At one hate rally, Scarbo led the teenagers in murdering a member of the Watchdogs, hurling him into a bonfire. When Captain America (regressed to a teenager by Sersi) was discovered in the camp by Sin, Scarbo interrogated him, but he and Mother Night did not recognize him as Captain America because of his age. After Hoodwink created a hypnotic illusion of herself snapping the neck of Jennifer, a teenager Captain America had been protecting, they set him loose to be killed by the Sisters of Sin.

(Captain America I#357) - As the Sisters of Sin argued over which of them deserved to kill him, Scarbo asked Captain America which executioner he chose; he replied that he chose all of them, and they attacked, only to be defeated when he reverted to his normal age. Scarbo then attacked Captain America while his sister set off to prepare their students, but Captain America defeated him in battle, and turned the siblings over to the police.

(Avengers I#324/2) - Minister Blood met up with his sister and Machinesmith as they were involved in a scheme to hypnotize the Avengers Support Crew into bugging the Avengers' new headquarters, so that they could present it to the Red Skull as a birthday present. He offered his support to the effort.

(Avengers I#325) - After Machinesmith demonstrated the effectiveness of his bugs to Mother Night and Minister Blood, Minister Blood set out with his sister for lunch. When they returned, they found that Machinesmith had been discovered by the Vision, but had deactivated him. They disposed of the Vision's body in the east river, and returned to Machinesmith's truck.

When the Avengers tested an anti-eavesdropping device of Vaughn Security Systems', Machinesmith's bugs were destroyed, altering the villains' plans. Aware that the support crew were attending a party at Sersi's with several Avengers, Mother Night and Minister Blood disguised themselves hypnotically as caterers, and gave the support crew orders to kill the Avengers, arming them with neuronic neutralizers. However, the Avengers reacted quickly enough to halt the attacks, and the Vision, having revived, confronted Mother Night and Minister Blood, and defeated them both. He then revealed that he had melted the tips off of the ammunition in the guns they had handed out, rendering the plot entirely ineffective.

(Captain America I#394) - Minister Blood attended a meeting of the Red Skull's many section chiefs, apparently representing the various Camps of Hate.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Gene Colan and Joe Sinnott.

Mother Night called her brother "Malachi" in Captain America I#357, but called him "Mel" in Avengers I#324; since the OHOTMU identified him as Melvin Scarbo, that's the name I've gone with.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Minister Blood should not be confused with:

• Minister of Hoard, accountant of the Thieves Guild, @ Gambit III#4
• Minister of Tome, librarian of the Thieves Guild, @ Gambit III#4
• Minister Ashe, cult leader, enemy of Team America, @ Team America #10
• Ministry of Crosstime Transport Regulation Monitor and Control, agency run by Saturnyne, @ Excalibur I#42
• Ministry of Information, of the One World Church, @ Cable and Deadpool #1
• Ministry of Insinuation, of the One World Church, @ Cable and Deadpool #1

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