KRAMPUS

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Demon (Class II)

Occupation: Corrupter, soul thief, punisher of naughty children

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Served by unidentified minor demons

Enemies: Danielle Cage, Luke Cage, Eleanor Camacho, Deadpool ("Wade Wilson"), Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Gerry Drew, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes/Eli Morrow), Hellstorm (Daimon Hellstrom), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Medusa (Medusalith Amaquelin), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Punisher (Frank Castle), Santa Claus, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), naughty children

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Gustav Silbe

Base of Operations: A cave on the North Pole;
   formerly Toyverse in Times Square, New York City;
   formerly Krampus' own Hell realm

First Appearance: Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1 (December, 2016)

Powers/Abilities: Krampus is an ancient demon, whose power level heavily relied on the amount of souls he corrupted and fed on. At peak level he can withstand most physical attacks and hellfire blasts. He can gain control over modern technology through unknown means, spit hellfire and is strong enough to break through walls with ease even at diminished power levels.

   Krampus is a shapeshifter capable of hiding in plain sight if necessary by posing as a human. At diminished power levels he is apparently unable to remain at his true size.

   He led an army of demonic minions and even ruled over his own small portion of Hell though the current status of his domain is unknown.

Height: 6'3" (variable) (by approximation)
Weight: 180 lbs. (variable) (by approximation)
Eyes: Red (variable)
Hair: Black (variable)

History:
(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - Krampus was an ancient demon, who was only capable of entering Earth's realm on Christmas, at which point he feasted on the souls of naughty children.

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 (fb) ) - More than a century ago Krampus traveled to Earth once again to lay claim on wicked children's souls, but Santa Claus thwarted him with a vicious beating. Krampus laid low for the next century, devising a plan to corrupt children's souls to make it easier for him to take them.

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - Krampus created the identity of Gustav Silbe and became a rich and powerful man. When Santa Claus wasn't seen for nearly a hundred years (see comments), Krampus took the next step in his plan.

   Utilizing modern technology as Silbe he created the Schnuckies brand, which started out as a highly popular video game franchise soon outpacing even Pokémon Go. He then moved on to create a Schnuckies toy-line and open a store on Times Square. Every Schnuckies article he sold corrupted the souls of children further, turning them into his slaves.

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1) - On Thanksgiving Night Silbe was interviewed in front of Toyverse before the grand opening. As the newest addition to Times Square Toyverse was the biggest toy store in the country and the exclusive home of the Schnuckies, the most anticipated toy of the year. Silbe discounted any criticism of him exploiting children with his game and toys because people came to his store to buy happiness. He promised Toyverse would be open 24/7 until December 25th to give people a chance to buy happiness whenever they felt like it. Sallie pointed out that "buying happiness" was corrupting the meaning of Christmas, but Silbe replied that unlike other stores he was inclusive and not honored the tradition of Christmas, but also all the other holidays during this time of the year like Chanukah and Kwanzaa. He then sang the Schnuckies theme before reminding everyone that Toyverse would stay open 24/7 until December 25th.

   On December 24th Hellstorm confronted Silbe at Toyverse and gave him the chance to leave Earth on his own accord, but over the last month Silbe had accumulated enough power to not only fight off Hellstorm, but to also collect the corrupted children souls. The hour had come and Silbe transformed into his true Krampus form in front of hundreds of customers, including Luke Cage, his daughter Danielle, Daniel Rand, Jessica Drew, and her son Gerry. While the Schnuckies toys transformed into their true demonic forms to attack Hellstorm, the Son of Satan tried to annihilate Krampus with a hellfire blast from his trident, but Krampus easily blocked the attack. Krampus sent his Schnuckies horde against Toyverse's customers and promised to dine on the souls of humanity that night.

   Krampus and his demon followers rampaged through the streets, attacking every person they saw in an attempt to take over the entire world. Though the minor demons were opposed by many of the city's heroes it was up to Hellstorm, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Spider-Woman to deal with Krampus himself. Krampus hacked into every video display on Times Square to corrupt the people, who were glued to their screens, even further. To provoke Krampus to fight them, Hellstorm claimed the Earth domain for himself and threatened to send his father's army against Krampus' if he didn't face them now. Krampus obliged and quickly got rid of Hellstorm by spitting hellfire at him. He then ordered his minions to bring him the souls of the other heroes opposing him because in his opinion their souls only existed to feed him. Krampus' minions overpowered Luke Cage and Iron Fist and were on their way to deliver them to Krampus when Danielle Cage called for help. A sleigh in the sky appeared and Santa Claus came to the aid of the heroes. He freed them from the grasps of Krampus' minions, and then watched them beat up Krampus before knocking out the demon himself. Santa thanked Luke Cage and Iron Fist for their help and promised to bring Krampus back where he belonged. Santa Claus dragged the unconscious form of Krampus to his sleigh...

(Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1 - BTS) - On December 24th in front of the Patrick Wellman Developmental Center Eli Morrow felt Krampus lurking around in Los Angeles and told Robbie Reyes, the other half of Ghost Rider, about it, but Reyes ignored his warnings.

   In the evening Krampus started abducting naughty children from their homes.

(Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1) - The young boy Blake, who liked to torture his kitten Mr. Snookie, heard bells and somebody walking on the roof. He believed it to be Santa Claus, but when he opened the curtains Krampus was staring at him.

(Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1 - BTS) - Krampus abducted Blake by breaking through his wall and dragging him to his sleigh.

(Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1) - Reyes finally listened to Morrow and as Ghost Rider they hunted drove past all the all the houses with holes in the walls because Krampus had kidnapped children from them. When they finally caught up with Krampus and his sleigh they saw a large bag filled with screaming children in the back. Krampus laughed and took off into the sky where Ghost Rider was unable to follow him, but Ghost Rider used his chain hold on to Krampus' sleigh. Krampus took Ghost Rider and the Hell Charger to the North Pole where Krampus landed his sleigh and caused Ghost Rider's Hell Charger to crash. Krampus took the bag of children inside his cave and sent his minions after Ghost Rider, who quickly dealt with them. When Ghost Rider found Krampus he was in the process of throwing one of the abducted children into a large cooking pot. The child begged him to stop, but Krampus considered it his duty to cook and eat bad children like the boy. Ghost Rider attacked Krampus, grabbing him by the neck his chain, but Krampus elbowed him in the face and then stomped on his head until Ghost Rider transformed back into Robbie Reyes. To Krampus' surprise Santa Claus came by in his sleigh and told Robbie to never give up. Robbie took Santa's words to heart, transformed back into Ghost Rider and burnt Krampus with hellfire until nothing but a pile of ash was left on the ground.

Comments: Adapted by Method Man (writer), Anthony Piper (pencils) & Balak (inks).

Santa Claus wasn't as inactive as the Power Man/Iron Fist special made you believe. Just check out the Santa Claus profile on this very site.

The Ghost Rider story was originally a digital comic and was first seen in print in the A Year of Marvels TPB (May, 2017).

Why place Ghost Rider after Power Man/Iron Fist? I did it because Power Man/Iron Fist had Krampus scheming for over a century and Ghost Rider seemed like nothing more than a foodrun. Krampus also appeared so much weaker in the Ghost Rider story, which could be the result of the beating he took from Santa, Cage and Iron Fist.

Who is Krampus actually?

A long time ago the Krampus was a creature (Celtic in origin apparently, so it is really old) that helped humanity face the coming Winter before Christianity turned him into a bad guy and then into St. Nicholas' slave.

During the 12th century the Catholic church tried to ban Krampus celebrations due to his resemblance to the devil.

During the 17th century Krampus became St. Nicholas' dark companion. He accompanied St. Nick on December 5th to strike fear into naughty children (or even punish them), which is a thing to this day, but I doubt a tamed Krampus beats up children for being naughty these days.

On the other hand there are the traditional Krampusläufe (Krampus Runs), where men (mostly I assume) of various ages dress up as Krampus or other creatures of folklore to scare the bejeebus out of spectators, whip them with birchwood rods, pull them out of the crowd and throw them on the ground. Visit Austria, Germany and other Middle European countries for some harmless Krampus fun and show off the welts you received from a Krampus whipping you to your friends afterward. Check out videos on Youtube to find out more!

BTW Krampus, despite the Internet insisting that it is the truth, was in no way connected to North Mythology until Brom wrote Krampus: The Yule Lord (2015). Now Krampus is known as the son of Hel not only in his book, but also in the video game world of The Secret World.

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Krampus should not be confused with:

Krampus' demon minions

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - As part of his plan to corrupt the children of Earth so it would be easier to steal their souls, Krampus temporarily transformed his minions into the Schnuckies toys.

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1) - On Thanksgiving Toyverse started to sell the Schnuckies toys. Krampus, as Gustav Silbe, promised to keep the store open 24/7 until December 25th so people could buy them whenever they wanted to.

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 - BTS) - Schnuckies toys were sold in Toyverse for a whole month. At some point Deadpool bought one for his daughter Eleanor.

(Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1) - On December 24th Luke Cage and Daniel Rand, who loved the Schnuckies franchise, went to Toyverse with Danielle Cage to buy a Schnuckie for her. Some customers at Toyverse began to fight over Schnuckies dolls. Danielle went looking for a Schnuckie, but liked none of them because they were looking at her mean. Rand recognized that something was wrong with the dolls and Danielle eventually decided that she didn't want a Schnuckie anymore and rather wanted to go home with her father. Meanwhile Hellstorm took a Schnuckie and recognized it as a transformed minion of Krampus. He gave Krampus a chance to leave Earth on his own accord, but Krampus then transformed into his true form and reverted the Schnuckies to their true demonic form to start an invasion of Earth. The former Schnuckies overpowered Hellstorm and hunted down all customers. Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Drew fought the minions and tried their best to protect the costumers from them. Many of Krampus' minions were slain by Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Drew and Hellstorm, but many more of them rose from Krampus' Hell to start an invasion of Earth, starting with New York City. Krampus and his minions attacked civilians, but heroes like Ms. Marvel, the Punisher, Doctor Strange, Deadpool, Medusa and Spider-Man fought them throughout the city.

   In a final assault on Krampus Iron Fist and Luke Cage were easily overpowered by his minions and carried to Krampus when suddenly Danielle's cry for help led to Santa Claus coming to their aid. Santa freed Cage and Iron Fist from the grasps of Krampus' minions, to give them the chance to beat Krampus up. Most of them were presumably defeated.

(Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1 - BTS) - Some of Krampus' minions joined him in his new home in the North Pole.

(Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1) - Krampus sent his minions after Ghost Rider, but the hero destroyed them with his chain.

--Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 ([Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 (fb)], 1, [1], 1, [Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1], 1

Krampus' Hell

A portion of Hell ruled by Krampus. Hellstorm called it the Bridgeport, Connecticut of Hells. Krampus was able to open a portal to his portion of Hell from Toyverse on December 24th to start an invasion of Earth with his minion demons. The plan was thwarted and the portal was presumably closed.

--Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1

Krampus' sleigh

Krampus used a sleigh similar to Santa Claus, but it was pulled by at last six flying reindeer skeletons presumably empowered by Krampus himself.

--Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1

images (without ads)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1, p11, pan1 (main)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1, p12, pan2 (head shot)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1, p3, pan2 (as Gustav Silbe)
Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1, p58, pan2 (head shot, posing as Santa)
Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1, p75 (posing as Santa Claus)
Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1, p64 (minor demons in Santa outfits)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1, p3, pan3 (demon as Schnuckie)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1, p14, pan3 (Krampus' demon servants)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1, p19, pan1 (Krampus' hell)
Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1, p45 (with sleigh)

Appearances:
Ghost Rider X-Mas Special Infinite Comic#1 (December, 2016) - Method Man (writer), Anthony Piper (co-writer/pencils), Balak (inks), Chris Robinson (editor)
Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas Annual#1 (February, 2017) - David F. Walker (writer), Scott Hebpurn (artist), Jake Thomas (editor)

First Posted: 12/24/2019
Last updated: 12/24/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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