DREAD
DREAD
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Reanimated human corpse
Occupation: Agent of Anton Hellgate
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Anton Hellgate, Rak, Ripper, Snowblind
Enemies: The Avengers (Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, Crystal/Crystalia Maximoff, Deathcry/Shaara Neramani, Hercules/Alcaeus, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff), John Blaze, Capt. Gerard Arthur Dolan,
Stacy Dolan, Father Flynn, Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch/Noble Kale), Det.
Sgt. John Logan, Alec Maloni, Lt. Jim Sokolowski, Spider-Man (Peter
Parker), Vengeance (Michael Badilino)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: "The Great Dread" (name given to himself), "Killer" (insult from Vengeance)
Base of Operations: Anton Hellgate's lair in
Long Island, New York, USA; formerly Anton Hellgate's warehouse
headquarters, New York City, New York, USA
First Appearance: Ghost Rider III#47 (March, 1994)
Powers/Abilities: Dread was a low-level
psychic, able to telepathically read the immediate thoughts of those in
his
vicinity and sense the moves of opponents before they were made. He had
superhuman metabolism, allowing him to heal broken bones and bruises
within minutes. He also seemed to have enhanced physical attributes,
possibly related to his hyper metabolism, allowing him to perform
superior gymnastic stunts and move faster than most.
Dread originally carried a sword made of an
unidentified metal
capable of harming demonic entities such as Vengeance and cutting
through solid pavement. His swordsman
was sufficient to deflect a spike hurled from across a room. He could
channel energy through the sword but whether or not this energy was a
product of his superhuman powers or his sword was unrevealed. The
energy blasted from his sword could fry a human being and often caused
instant death. After his sabre was upgraded by Anton Hellgate, Dread
could also project a molecular disruption field from the sword.
Height: 5'10" (by approximation)
Weight: 165 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Flashing yellow and green
Hair: Gray
History: (Ghost Rider III#47 (fb) - BTS) - As a child, the boy who would become Dread stopped believing in the supernatural.
(Ghost Rider III#61 (fb) - BTS) - As he grew, the man who would become Dread was not much of a religious man.
(Ghost Rider III#48 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Dread died and Anton Hellgate resurrected him as his agent.
(Ghost Rider III#74 (fb) - BTS) - As part of his
resurrection, Dread had a failsafe device installed within his body
that prevented him from harming Anton Hellgate.
(Ghost Rider III#47) - When police Det. Sgt. John Logan began investigating Anton Hellgate, Dread was sent to kill Logan, whom he threw out of high rise window then fried with energy projected from his sword. Watching from the building's roof as police arrived to investigate the death, Dread made a gun motion with his finger when Lt. Michael Badilino saw him. Sufficiently provoked, Badilino ran for the building, asking Lt. Sokolowski to cover him. Thirty seconds later, Dread greeted Badilino with a blast from his sword, announcing that he had hoped to see Badilino as it made running Badilino into the ground easier. Dodging the blast, Badilino transformed into Vengeance and battled Dread until Badilino's fellow officers arrived and riddled Vengeance with bullets, thinking he was Ghost Rider. Later, Dread broke into Michael Badilino's apartment and cut the power, taking out the police officers stationed in the basement as well. Vengeance quickly caught up to Dread, hurling a spike at him that Dread deflected with his sword. The two then battled, with Dread admitting his mild psychic abilities to Vengeance and refusing to reveal any information about Anton Hellgate. When the police arrived, Vengeance exclaimed that Dread would talk soon enough and that he would deliver Vengeance right to Hellgate. Dread scoffed at the idea, claiming that Vengeance had caused a lot of pain that he wouldn't forget and as soon as Hellgate busted Dread out of jail and he healed, Dread would be coming for Vengeance.
(Ghost Rider III#48) - Once in custody, Michael Badilino spent over an hour beating on Dread in an attempt to get him to spill information on Anton Hellgate. Even after being beaten, Dread continued to remain silent about Hellgate, reminding Badilino that after all was said and done, he would still get a chance to kill Badilino for Hellgate. Badilino was eventually convinced to let Dread be for awhile and left, reminding Dread that he wasn't finished. Once the officers had let him be, Dread's hyper-metabolism healed him of all injuries and awaited his freedom at the hands of another of Hellgate's agents, Rak. When Rak busted Dread out of jail, he immediately attacked Vengeance, only to be kicked by Spider-Man, who had been photographing the earlier police press conference as Peter Parker. Angry that Spider-Man had hurt his friend, Rak hurled an air conditioner at Spider-Man, who dodged, causing it to hit Dread and knock him unconscious. Upon regaining consciousness, Dread stabbed Vengeance with his sword and was punched aside. Rak then reminded Dread that he was only sent to break him out of jail and, despite Dread's insistence that he could handle Vengeance and Spider-Man, the two escaped when Vengeance unleashed an explosion of energy due to his stab wound. Using a spider-tracer from Spider-Man, Vengeance and Spider-Man later tracked down Dread and Rak to one of Hellgate's warehouse headquarters, where they found Dread and Rak hooked up to machines. Upon seeing the heroes, both Dread and Rak attacked. During the battle, Vengeance knocked Dread away when Dread tried to stab him again and Spider-Man later punched Dread when Dread tried a second sneak attack. After Spider-Man prevented Vengeance from killing Dread, a hologram of Anton Hellgate appeared and expressed his interest in Vengeance. When Dread attempted to apologize for his failures, Hellgate announced that he had no interest in hearing of his failures and ordered them to suffer in darkness for a time, blasting both Dread and Rak with a laser. Once Hellgate's hologram dissolved, Spider-Man expressed shock that Hellgate would kill his own men but Vengeance explained that Dread and Rak would have to be alive to be killed. He further explained Hellgate's experiments with the dead and revealed that neither Dread nor Rak were truly alive.
(Ghost Rider III#61) - A resurrected Dread and Rak met with Anton Hellgate in New York Bay, where Hellgate reminded them of their past failures. Sent to find Ghost Rider, Dread and Rak tracked Ghost Rider to a Brooklyn church, where Dan Ketch was speaking with Father Flynn. Unable to fight his transformation with Dread and Rak present, Dan transformed into Ghost Rider and refused to fight them on sacred ground. Nearly laughing at Ghost Rider, Dread blasted him down then ordered Father Flynn to move so Rak could pick up the injured Ghost Rider. When Dread threatened Father Flynn, Ghost Rider got to his feet to defend Flynn but Rak brutally beat Ghost Rider until Dread reminded Rak of their mission to obtain Ghost Rider and return to Hellgate. Taking one final sword slice at Ghost Rider, Dread missed and his sword cut through the pavement, hitting a gas main that exploded. Following the explosion, Ghost Rider transformed back into Danny Ketch and Dread ordered to capture the boy despite Father Flynn's pleas. Dread then ordered Rak to kill Flynn if he didn't get out of their way but Rak was shot by the Punisher and Dread was subsequently kicked by the arriving Daredevil. The heroes and Father Flynn then took defensive positions inside the church while Dread and Rak remained outside. The police soon arrived and eventually, Ghost Rider grew tired of hiding and emerged, only to be shot down by police. In the ensuing confusion, Dread told Rak they should kill as many police officers as they could and escape. Witnessing Ghost Rider's shooting on television, Anton Hellgate exclaimed that Ghost Rider's "death" better be Dread and Rak's doing.
(Ghost Rider III#64 (fb) - BTS) - Dread and Rak were
captured and placed in the government facility known as the Black Hole,
headed up by the Spook.
(Ghost Rider III#64) - Escaping when Ghost Rider staged a breakout from the Black Hole, Dread and Rak battled the Avengers, who had arrived to help quell the breakout. Despite his confident boasts, Dread was easily taken out by Quicksilver and Rak was taken down by Hercules.
(Ghost
Rider III#73) - After Snowblind made a public spectacle out of his
attempt to capture Ghost Rider and failed, Anton Hellgate visited the
scene with his agents including Dread, Rak and Ripper. Upon seeing the
injured Ghost Rider, Dread commented that he looked "like Hell" before
Ripper began slashing Ghost Rider. Following police Capt. Dolan's
attempt to distract the agents from Ghost Rider, Dread slashed at Ghost
Rider before Ripper jumped in and Dread then hit Ghost Rider with
disruptor blast from his improved sabre. Rak then stomped on Ghost
Rider before Dread prepared for a killing blow with his sabre.
Unfortunately, Ghost Rider summoned his chains to trip up Dread, who
fell into his own sword. Recovering, Dread gymnastically leapt at
Blaze, who blasted Dread with his hellfire shotgun. Angry that Blaze
thought Dread could be destroyed so easily, Dread leapt at Blaze once
more, only to be clotheslined by Ghost Rider's chains and thrown in a
wall, where Blaze once again stabbed Dread with his own sword. Annoyed
at his agents' pathetic failure, Anton Hellgate departed the scene,
leaving Dread pinned to the wall with his own sword and his other
agents on the ground defeated.
(Ghost Rider III#74) - Dread remained pinned to the wall unconscious as John Blaze got into a fight with Ghost Rider over accusations that Ghost Rider had been murdering mobsters. Later, after having escaped police custody following their defeat, Dread, Rak, Ripper and Snowblind returned to Anton Hellgate's Long Island lair, where Hellgate chewed out Snowblind for his failures, announcing that he never should have resurrected him and accusing Snowblind of teaching his patterns of failure to his other agents. He then exclaimed that he should have wiped out his agents' personalities when he had them resurrected.
(Ghost Rider III#75) - Dread accompanied Anton Hellgate and his other agents to the annual Mobsters' Cotillion at the Grand Adventura hotel in Atlantic City, where Hellgate demonstrated the uses of his resurrected agents and offered to make agents for the other mobsters present for a price. Ghost Rider and his allies eventually crashed the party in their attempt to keep Vengeance from killing the mobsters present and Hellgate opted to let the heroes thin their own ranks out before rushing in and taking out Ghost Rider.
(Ghost Rider III#76) - Dread was present when Anton
Hellgate and his agents noticed Capt. Gerard Dolan and Stacy Dolan at
the Cotillion and later joined Hellgate's agents in a mass attack on
Ghost Rider and his allies. When Vengeance opted to take out as many
mobsters as possible as well as himself, he ordered Ghost Rider and his
allies to get to safety while Hellgate ordered Dread and his agents to
dogpile on Vengeance. Once Ghost Rider and his allies were safe,
Vengeance exploded, apparently killing Dread and Hellgate's agents in
the process.
Comments: Created by Howard Mackie, Ron Garney and Chris Ivy.
Even though Dread was presumably killed in
Vengeance's explosion, he has died before and been resurrected so
there's really nothing to stop him from being resurrected again, other
than Anton Hellgate being dead himself.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Dread has no KNOWN connections to:
images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider III#47, p4, pan2 (Dread with charged up sword, main image)
Ghost Rider III#75, p1, pan9 (Dread unmasked headshot)
Ghost Rider III#73, p14, pan4 (Dread with upgraded sabre & costume)
Appearances:
Ghost Rider III#47 (March, 1994) - Howard Mackie (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider III#48 (April, 1994) - Howard Mackie (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider III#61 (May, 1995) - Howard Mackie (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider III#64 (August, 1995) - Howard Mackie (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider III#73 (May, 1996) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James Felder (editor)
Ghost Rider III#74 (June, 1996) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James Felder (editor)
Ghost Rider III#75 (July, 1996) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James "Professor" Felder
(editor)
Ghost Rider III#76 (August, 1996) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Salvador
Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James Felder (editor)
Last updated: 04/24/15
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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