THE
DARK RIDERTHE
DARK RIDER
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Demon; formerly "human" (or non-human wizard race), magic user
Occupation: Wizard, seeker of magic beings, would-be ruler of lesser beings
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Cotton Mather, his cat, his Night Bird
Enemies: Dr. Doom (Victor Von Doom), Moondragon, Scarlet Witch,
Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Vision;
formerly the men of the Last Age of
Wizards
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Rider of Time, the Master of Time
Place of Birth: Pre-historic Earth
Base of Operations: Salem, Massachusetts, USA (17th century); First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up I#42 (February, 1976) Powers/Abilities: The Dark Rider had vast, powerful
magic powers, the most part of which remains unknown. He knew how to summon
demons and how to entrap time. He seemed immortal, or at least, very long
life-spanned. He could absorb power from other beings, transforming it into
energy to feed on, to use and, probably to prolong his life. He could absorb
power simply by being near the person who held the power. The lesser the
distance, the more the draining. He could also increase his size. The holder of the power could feel loss
and weakness due to the draining process. The Dark Rider could absorb also
records and knowledge of a person. The Dark Rider was able to grant special
powers to other beings. The Dark
Rider transformed normal animals like a bird and a cat into
greater beasts under his control (he probably empowered Cotton Mather with
some special powers). The Dark Rider could fire magic blasts, and
probably any other energy absorbed from his victims. He probably could also
travel in time and/or have other people to do the same. Height: 15' The men (the lesser forms of life) rebelled and attacked the
Towers. The wizards were all slain except for the Master of Time, also known as the Dark
Rider. He abandoned the world (he probably traveled to another Era). It was the First Age of man. (Marvel Team-Up I#44 (fb) - BTS) - Many men served the Dark
Rider but they all died out while the Rider lived on. At an unspecified time the Rider met
Cotton Mather, who was a seeker and persecutor of people gifted with magic. The
Dark Rider plagued Cotton Mather to act as his pawn. He sent his
servant in 1691,
at Salem, Massachussets where the man fomented the Witchhunt using the
fear and ignorance still present in the village. (Marvel Team-Up I#43 (fb) - BTS) - The Dark Rider slowly and
secretly started
to absorb the Scarlet Witch's magic powers. (Marvel Team-Up I#42 - BTS) - Dr. Doom, attracted by an unspecified power from the Dark
Rider traveled back in time to the Salem Village of the 1962. (Marvel Team-Up I#42) - On the night between August, 17th and
18th, 1692, on his dark stallion, the Dark Rider,
shining in the night, arrived near the Salem Village and met Cotton Mather. Mather was attacked by Spider-Man and Vision. The Dark Rider transformed a
bird into the Night Bird that attacked Spider-Man. Vision eyeblasted the Night
Bird, and it died burning. Dr. Doom arrived on the scene. (Marvel Team-Up I#43) -
The Dark Rider secretly started to
absorb Dr. Doom's latent magic powers (and, probably, his memories). He
initially talked to Doom, thus delaying the fight and draining more power from
him. Spider-Man and Vision tried to attack him but the Dark Rider had a cat grow
larger than a tiger and hold back the two heroes. The Scarlet Witch arrived on
the scene and killed the cat. Meanwhile the Dark Rider grew in dimensions thanks
to the power absorbed from Dr. Doom and Scarlet. Doom energy-blasted the Dark Rider without
any result. Spider-Man distracted the Rider, but only the Vision stopped him for
a while with his heat eyebeams. The Rider, however, absorbed the flames around him
and, with the same energy, blasted Vision, knocking him down. The Scarlet Witch bound
the Dark Rider with her last spell but, using Doom's scientific knowledge, the Rider freed himself and knocked both Dr. Doom and
Spider-Man down. It was August, 18th, 1692. (Marvel Team-Up I#44) - The Dark Rider built machinery to
absorb the heroes' powers more quickly. Meanwhile, a spell sent by Scarlet Witch
had transported Moondragon to the scene. The Rider gave the Soul Blade to Mather, to kill the heroes and let all their power flow into the Rider's body.
Moondragon intervened, stopped Mather and hitting the Dark Rider with a mind blast.
The Rider staggered, but started to absorb Moondragon's power, too. The two were
mentally linked, and Moondragon could see his memories. Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch
and Vision awoke and freed Dr. Doom. Victor Von Doom, using his latent magic power
on the Dark Rider, caused him to scream in pain, the other heroes joined the attack, and the Rider fell.
Then he burnt in cinder. Cotton Mather became mad, trying to tell the history of the Dark Rider but nobody
believed him. It was August, 19th, 1692 Comments: Created by
Bill Mantlo,
Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito/Dave Hunt. For further discussion on the Salem Witch
Trials, see the profile for:
Charity Brown. From the Dark Rider's memories it seems that
the Last Age of Wizards came just before the First Age of man (if the First Age
of man is the Age of the Aryas' sons, then the Last Age of Wizards could be the
Hyborian Era. In the first panel depicting the Last Age of Wizards we can see a
vulcan erupting. It may mean that the Last Age of Wizards started with the Great
Cataclysm, or a lesser Cataclysm, or none of these).
It seems like the Hunt to the Witches in Salem was fomented by Mather with the
purpose to find "food" for the Dark Rider or only to cover the Dark
Rider's activities in that area/period of time.
It's not clear how the Dark Rider knew about Dr. Doom, his Time Machine, the Scarlet Witch, and the 20th
Century (probably he could also see in the future, he was also named Master of
Time, after all), nor was it known what power he employed to attract Doom in 1962.
The Rider knew Dr. Doom's past. I think he read it from Victor's mind. If in the Salem's
neighborhood real witches lived , the end of the witchhunt
could depend from the Dark Rider's presence. He could have drained most part
of the magic power in the zone, leaving real witches without powers and/or
defense.
I don't know if the voyage in the past of the Earth-616 heroes has spawned an
alternative timestream. IF so, from the Scarlet Witch arrival in Salem, this
reality should be named Earth-4176. Dark Rider has a one page profile (not very informative) as one of "Spider-Man's Forgotten Foes!" in Web of Spider-Man Annual#3 and a full profile in Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic. Clarifications:
The Soul Blade has no known connections to Images: Appearances:
First Posted: 12/13/2005 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. Non-Marvel Copyright
info Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
formerly the First Age of man;
formerly the Last Age of the Wizards (pre-historic Earth)
The Dirk Rider used a long knife, the Soul Blade, to quickly drain the power
of his victims, and other special equipment for the same purpose.
Weight: 3125 lbs.
Eyes: Black
Hair: Grey
History:
(Marvel Team-Up I#44 (fb)) - In the Last Age of the Wizards (at least 25,000 years ago according to the Mystic Aracana Handbook), the most powerful
of the wizards was the being known as the Master of Time. He, like the other
wizards,
summoned and bound demons. The wizards became equal to the demons and
mastered the dark laws of magic science. They entrapped time itself in their
Towers of Magic and became lords of the "lesser" forms of life who
lived under the Towers.
(Marvel Team-Up I#41) -
Cotton Mather
traveled to the 20th
century (probably
helped by the Dark Rider) and captured the Scarlet Witch in the Castle of Latveria.
Cotton Mather
brought Wanda back in the 17th century. Using Dr. Doom's Time Machine,
Spider-Man and the Vision also followed her to
1692.
Actually, I'd place the Last Age of Wizards as
pre-Cataclysmic, perhaps somewhere b/t 100, 000 B.C. and 30, 000 B.C. Just my
take. I'd consider placing the Dark Rider as a contemporary of Thulsa Doom, and
the Wizards as one more pre-human race on ancient Earth.
--Snood.
In the Marvel Team-Up Index Olshevsky was not sure when the Age of Wizards took
place in relation to the First Host of the Celestials,
but he guessed it preceded by thousands of years the time of Kull.
--Per Degaton
Yes...Marvel Team-Up Index declared that the Salem seen in that MTU
story was that of an alternate Earth due to the time travel involved, and that
therefore that was not the same Tituba as seen in Dracula Lives!
--Per Degaton
I give this some credence since it is from an Official Index,
but the rules of time travel are not hard and fast. They vary with author, etc.
Generally, I think that it is possible to travel to the past with time machines.
Sometimes actions taken by time travels can affect the past (or, more
accurately, those events had actually occurred in the past, they just had not
been previously revealed). Sometimes past actions actually do change the
present. Most often, changes in the past diverge a new timeline.
The way I see it is if the Dark Rider was revealed as the
orchestrator of the Salem Witch Trials and the outcome was the same as prior to
this information being revealed, it does not have to be an alternate timeline.
In fact, the Dark Rider may well have traveled forward in time to 1691, so that
would not have created a divergent timeline (if Captain America traveled to
Earth-691 @ 3000 AD and interacted with the Guardians of the Galaxy, that would
not create a divergent reality (unless it were the Guardians' past). So the Dark
Rider was already there. Since the Dark Rider did not conquer the world in 1691
in Earth-616, it can be presumed that this is because he was defeated by the
time-traveling heroes. I see no alternate reality evidence in this case.
Earth-616 AFAIC.
--Snood
--Markus Raymond
The Dark Rider has no known connections to
Marvel Team-Up I#43, p7, pan1 (Dark Rider,
full body)
Marvel Team-Up I#43, p11, pan12
(Dark Rider, head shot)
Marvel Team-Up I#44, p4/5, pan1
(Dark Rider's draining machinery)
Marvel Team-Up I#44, p6, pan2 (Dark Rider's
Souls' Blade)
Marvel Team-Up I#42-44 (February-April, 1976) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Mike Esposito & Dave Hunt (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Web of Spider-Man Annual#3 (1987) - Roger Stern (writer), Don Perlin (pencils), Jack Abel (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Last updated: 05/16/2011
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