Known Relatives: the family of Eternals

Aliases: Will Fanshawe

Base of Operations: Currently unknown;
     formerly the Borders of the Land of the Dead;
     formerly the Siberian wilderness

First Appearance: (New) Defenders I#147 (September, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Interloper shares the powers that all of the Eternal race do, including extremely long life, eye-beams, levitation and flight capabilities, and durability.   He can lift (press) roughly 40 tons.  Interloper wears a Cloak of Fear, that keeps humans from looking at or approaching him.   The Cloak’s origins are unknown.   Interloper developed the ability to sense the Dragon of the Moon anywhere on Earth, and could track the Dragon’s spoor to any location.

Height: 8'  Weight: 1000 lbs.  Eyes: Blue  Hair: Brown

History: Little is known about the background of Interloper of the Eternals.   He never cared much for his fellow Eternals, and mostly chose to live on his own in the wilderness.   Interloper, at some point, became the arch-foe of the Dragon of the Moon on Earth.

((New) Defenders I#152 (fb)) – Interloper battled the cosmic entity, the Dragon of the Moon, many times over the centuries, both on the Earth and in the stars.   The final time he battled the Dragon was alongside King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in ancient Camelot, a battle which led to Arthur’s death.

((New) Defenders I#151 (fb)) – Interloper spent centuries in the Siberian wilderness with no contact with the human race on an exile of his choosing.   At one point in recent years, a man used latent psychic abilities and tracked Interloper in the wilderness, the only human to do so in all that time.   Interloper sensed the man’s madness, but trained him in the use of his psychic abilities and some physical abilities.   He turned the man, who later became Manslaughter, loose, despite his reservations about Manslaughter’s madness.

((New) Defenders I#147) – As Interloper hiked through the Siberian wilderness, a group of rabid wolves prepared to attack him, but they cowered when he approached.   He had left his self-exile because he sensed the Dragon of the Moon’s presence on Earth.

((New) Defenders I#149) – Interloper approached a solitary Soviet tracking station, and was displeased to smell humans again.   No one would look at him because he was wearing his Cloak of Fear.   He found a map, and burst through the wall when two soldiers fired on him.   He made his way across the ocean, moving toward New Mexico.

((New) Defenders I#151) – Interloper located the Dragon of the Moon on a ship while walking on the water.   He saw the Dragon in its true form, but kept walking as it was too early, and he wanted the defeat to be true this time.   When Interloper arrived at Defenders Mansion, Manslaughter was there and had set the mansion on fire.   Interloper put out the flames and introduced himself.   He explained Manslaughter’s origins, and stated that both of them would need to join the team in order to defeat the Dragon just before the Dragon attacked.

((New) Defenders I#152) – Interloper revealed himself to the Dragon, who manifested over Moondragon’s body vowing to destroy Interloper.   Interloper hit the Dragon with a blast from his eyes.   He led the Defenders into battle against the Dragon, and his plan to use Manslaughter’s link with Moondragon to cause the Dragon to experience madness worked, and the Dragon fled.   After Interloper explained he and the Dragon’s origins, he sensed that the Dragon had new power (obtained from the Beyonder), but he could no longer sense the Dragon, and entreated the Defenders to hunt the Dragon down.   The Dragon possessed the Gargoyle’s form, and Interloper trapped the Gargoyle in his Cloak of Fear, but the Dragon used his newly obtained powers of bending time and space to escape.   In final battle, Interloper and the Valkyrie determined that the ultimate sacrifice must be made to save the Earth and vanquish the evil.   They joined hands and sacrificed their physical forms for energy forms, but they needed mortal forms to focus their power through.   Interloper focused his powers through Manslaughter, and Valkyrie through Andromeda.   Their powers focused on the Dragon, they all disappeared in a flash and left their mortal forms carbonized behind, seemingly dead.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme I#3 (fb)) – Interloper, Valkyrie, Manslaughter, and Andromeda’s souls entered a dimension called the Borders of the Land of the Dead, along with the Dragon of the Moon.   The Dragon quickly gained followers in the spirits, and the Defenders spent what felt like years battling the spirits and the Dragon’s influence.

(Strange Tales II#5-7) – When Doctor Strange made a pact with the Valkyrie, he gained the ability to summon the Defenders’ souls forth in battle on Earth, granting them life for a full 24 hours.   He summoned them against Erlik Khan, who fled before the battle was complete.   Later, they met Rintrah, Cloak and Dagger, and explained their origins.   Nightmare attacked the team through Cloak’s cloak and pulled them into his dimension.   After an ineffectual physical battle with Nightmare, Doctor Strange allowed the Defenders to return to “death,” in the other dimension.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme I#3) – In the final battle in the Borders of the Land of the Dead, the team was able to vanquish the last of the corrupted spirits when the Dragon of the Moon found a way to reenter Earth.   As a reward, the Vishanti asked them what they wanted, and agreed to return the Defenders to life.   Interloper manifested as a majestic bear and took over the form of trucker Will Fanshawe. Fanshawe and Interloper would now share the same form, taking it over at different times.   With the other resurrected members, ap Iowerth, and Doctor Strange, Interloper battled the Spirits of Air, Earth, and Water.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme I#4) – The group tracked the Dragon of the Moon spoor to Manchester, England, which had been corrupted and ruined.   They fought against men powered by the Dragon until ap Iowerth drove the Dragon influence out of the men.   They followed the Dragon to a nuclear plant where the Dragon had corrupted other humans.   Ap Iowerth drew the Dragon of the Moon out in the open and the heroes finally physically attacked.   Doctor Strange had the 5 heroes join hands and then cast a spell that granted them the power of a previously destroyed talisman that kept the Dragon off of Earth.   The heroes, now known as the Dragon Circle, watched as ap Iowerth crushed the Dragon’s remaining essence between his fingers.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(Eternals V#1 – BTS) – The Interloper (Betilakk) was said to be residing with the Eternals of Polaria.

(Eternals V#3) – Druig found Betilakk and many other Eternals in Polaria murdered.

Comments: Created by Peter Gillis, Don Perlin, and Dell Barras..

The Interloper's "Cloak of Fear" is given an origin in his OHOTMU profile, which states that it is simply an ordinary cloak enforced by the power of his own Eternal mental abilities.--TJ Burns

Interloper MAY have another appearance: